1/ The venue
Eagle Landing is a wedding venue, kids’ birthday hotspot, mini-golf center, and 27-hole pitch-and-putt in the southeast suburbs of Portland, OR. There’s also a soccer golf course. (Remember soccer golf?)
Somehow, Eagle Landing seems to succeed with the oxymoronic strategy of having a huge variety of offerings, none of which ever seem busy. I think most of their business is weddings. Most of the time, the course is completely empty, which is perfect for me and my friends — we can play all 27 holes in about an hour and a half.
If you live in Portland and you’ve never tried pitch-and-putt, go play! What are you waiting for? It takes 90 minutes and it’s low-stakes and fun. And it’s golf!
2/ Pitch-and-putt basics
The rough definition for pitch-and-putt seems to be that the holes are less than 100 yards, so you only need to bring a few clubs.
Adam from Not A Scratch Golfer credits pitch-and-putt for honing his unbelievable short game. He promotes pitch-and-putt as a great way to improve your golf game, and I agree with him. Getting lots of reps with your wedges from a variety of distances will absolutely improve your distance control.
But it’s not just the practice. Learning to score well on an easy, short course is a great stepping stone to better strategy and lower scores on a full length golf course. The reality is that pitch-and-putt is humbling.
When I step up to a 60-yard wedge shot with no bunkers or hazards in play, it’s easy to feel like I should be firing a dart inside 10 feet. Making a few bogeys usually helps adjust my mindset. I seem to score better when I lower my expectations and just try to get the ball on the green off the tee.
In fact, I think I’m better at pitch and putt with worse clubs, because I play less aggressively. These days, I only go to Eagle’s if I’m in town visiting family, which means rooting around in my parents’ garage for my old high school clubs. Last time I played, I used only a Nike CCI gap wedge (49°) and a Nike iC putter, both from 2007. I shot a smooth +2 over 27 holes and beat my friend by 9.
3/ What to bring
You won’t need a tee time. (I guess you can make one, but I never have.) Bring a couple of wedges and a putter — the longest shot you’ll hit is about 90 yards. There are a few bunkers on the course, so you’ll probably want a sand wedge… just in case.
Also, bring at least one extra ball. One thing that’s nice about pitch-and-putt is that it’s easy to keep your ball in play. After all, these are little pitch shots we’re talking about. But the 18th does feature a pond (with a lovely fountain) and there are a couple of spots near the boundary of the course where it’s possible to let one get away from you. There are few things more embarrassing than walking all the way back to your car to reload after skulling a wedge into the woods 20 yards over the back of the green (not that I would know, of course).
There’s nothing wrong with bringing your whole bag, especially if it’s your first time on the course. But in my view the true pitch-and-putt experience is more casual — just walking around with your buddies, carrying a couple of clubs. No need for all the preparation.
4/ The course
There are “better” pitch and putt courses than Eagle’s. Even within the Portland area, Edgefield probably has more atmosphere. When I lived in Austin, I also liked to play at Barton Creek, which was always in great condition and has the added bonus of food trucks and trendy merch.
To me, the main selling point for Eagle’s is how empty it always seems to be. I can’t remember ever having to wait for anyone else, even on a beautiful summer afternoon. That’s no small thing in a world where most public courses in the city seem to be jam-packed.
One caveat to the above: if you play on a summer evening, especially on a weekend, there’s a good chance there will be a wedding going on. Whether that’s a positive or negative is left as an exercise for the reader.
As far as the layout, there are plenty of memorable holes. The fifth on the North course is only 45 yards or so, but the green is tucked over a surprisingly large bunker, adding drama to what should be an easy shot. There’s dramatic elevation change on several holes. The 15th on the north side features an uphill approach to a two-tiered green that can create some fun short game challenges.
But the “signature hole” is probably the 18th on the North course, where I’ve had demons for years. It’s a 60-yard pitch shot over a small pond (the only water on the course). For whatever reason, I’ve come up short in that pond probably 80% of the time I’ve played that hole, and most of the other 20% I’ve been way over the green.
5/ The future
As golf continues to adjust to a large increase in popularity, and “off-course” options like Topgolf become less of a novelty, I think we need more pitch-and-putt. Just like Hancock in Austin, pitch-and-putt is a great, low-stakes stepping stone to learn the game, and we need more places like this to keep the game accessible and fun.
In fact, there’s another new option in the Portland area: Shortland Golf Club, a 19-hole pitch-and-putt with all synthetic turf tees and greens, way out there east of Wilsonville. In addition to the pitch and putt, they’re planning the Nest, an even shorter chip-and-putt (or “sip-and-chip”) concept.
I love everything about this, especially the sip-and-chip. Personally, I’d love to see even more creativity in format. Why does golf have to be 18 holes? Why does it need to take up so much space? If you don’t like these new formats and only want to play a “real” course, great news: there are already 10,000+ public golf courses out there for you to visit. For everyone else, let’s experiment with some new ideas.
To get new posts in your inbox, enter your email below: