{"id":4649,"date":"2013-07-31T17:21:32","date_gmt":"2013-08-01T00:21:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/?p=4649"},"modified":"2013-08-04T10:05:35","modified_gmt":"2013-08-04T17:05:35","slug":"pronghorn-resort-antlers-and-awesomeness-in-the-oregon-high-desert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/golf\/courses-and-travel\/4649\/pronghorn-resort-antlers-and-awesomeness-in-the-oregon-high-desert","title":{"rendered":"Pronghorn Resort: Antlers and Awesomeness in the Oregon High Desert"},"content":{"rendered":"\"Pronghorn_Nicklaus_15\"<\/a>\n

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The Golf Road Warriors love nothing more than discovering a golf resort development where everything has been done right\u2014from the Pro V1s at the practice range to the genuinely warm reception in the pro shop and restaurant. \u00a0In central Oregon\u2014surrounded by terrain that begs to be hiked, biked, rafted, fly-fished, and skied\u2014 Pronghorn Resort <\/a>joins the legion of great western mountain communities that just darn feel good.\u00a0 A twenty-minute drive from Bend, Pronghorn lacks the exclusionary chicness that has infiltrated some of the west\u2019s last, best places.\u00a0 It remains a luxurious yet welcoming community as pure and intoxicating as the high-desert air and the views of nine snow-capped volcanic peaks visible from the property.<\/p>\n

\"Pronghorn_Golf3\"<\/a>And not just the views excel. \u00a0In terms of golf the 7,381-yard Jack Nicklaus course is an exhilarating tour of local geography.\u00a0 Holes play directly at or frame such features as Mt. Bachelor, Smith Rock and several fistfuls of other topographical jaw droppers. \u00a0It\u2019s as if Nicklaus worked his entire career\u2014 moving through phases of penal architecture, softer periods, and other iterations\u2014 in preparation for designing Pronghorn, possibly his most inspired work yet.\u00a0 While it reflects typical Nicklaus design values such as risk\/reward ratios, Jack has taken some daring chances himself\u2014such as using split fairways, blind shots, grassy swales, and crowned greens\u2014 nearly all of which pay off on this unpredictable layout routing through sage and juniper.<\/p>\n

Built atop a plateau of undulating lava, the course plays firm and fast with crisp transitions, clean lines, and a minimalist feel.\u00a0 Pot bunkers punctuate flawless fairways like drops of dew on a flower petal.\u00a0 Pod tees float atop islands of natural desert that recall Arizona.\u00a0 Waste areas and rock outcroppings force you to plot strategies from the tees– you can hit run up shots to some of the canted greens if you\u2019re well positioned. One par five presents a mystery that doesn\u2019t reveal its solution until you reach the green.\u00a0 And the putting surfaces are so pure you\u2019ll be tempted to remove your shoes.\u00a0 Attention to perfection of details makes Pronghorn a visual confection sure to prove as irresistible as Krispy Kremes to a sugar freak.\u00a0 Even the rhythm of holes creates a unique beat.<\/p>\n

On the front side, a 254-yard par three with a punchbowl green is followed by a 331-yard par four\u2014confusing your notion of length as if you drank too deeply from the punchbowl.\u00a0 On the back side, holes 15 and 16 offer successive par fives that will test your mettle as well as your length.<\/p>\n

The property also boasts a 55,000 sq. ft clubhouse designed in the style of the west\u2019s great National Park lodges, a children\u2019s camp and adult adventure program, a spa and fitness center, and other features that will make you worry less about the rest of the world because you\u2019ll never want to go forth into it again.\u00a0 Real estate options range from fractional ownership of Residence Club units, to home sites, to wholly owned villas.\u00a0 You\u2019ll want to move like an antelope yourself to grab a piece of this good, good life.<\/p>\n\"Pronghorn_Resort3\"<\/a>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  The Golf Road Warriors love nothing more than discovering a golf resort development where everything has been done right\u2014from… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4655,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39217,895735,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-golf-road-warriors","category-grw-bend","category-courses-and-travel"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2013\/07\/Pronghorn_Nicklaus_15.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4649"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4649\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4661,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4649\/revisions\/4661"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}