Eugene Country Club - Hole #5

Robert Trent Jones Jr on Eugene Country Club

By Brian Weis

Recently I interviewed legendary golf course architect, Robert Trent Jones, Jr, and we discussed current and past golf projects. One of my all time favorite golf courses is Eugene Country Club.

Brian Weis, GolfOregon.com: One of my favorite courses is Eugene Country Club. What was your involvement with the course? And is it true your flipped the greens and tees?

Robert Trent Jones, Jr: I golfed Eugene Country club when I played for Yale in the late 50's in the NCAA's. 10 years later under my fathers banner we came back and redid Eugene Country Club. Flipping the tees and greens was really my dad's idea. But I took it, I defiantly encouraged him to do that. The idea was that in a Country Club you can build the green on the tees and keep playing while the course is being under construction. So the idea was that they could keep playing although it becomes a shorter course. Build new greens on the old tees, keep the forest as it was. Its a deep northwestern forest of firs and conifers and other trees, and not disturb the site and yet keep playing it. Then when you get the greens ready to play, you turn around, destroy the old greens, put new tees in, sod them and you can go, your off. That was my dad's idea and I thought it was a great way to get revenge for not qualifying in the NCAA. (chuckle)

BW: The par 3's have simplicity and beauty to them. I just remember great holes over water.

RTJ: Well I think that's a hallmark of the Jones style. My dad was famous for his water holes. He added the holes on 11, pretty much 13, the creek and clearly 16 at Augusta. When I say added, he dammed the creek a little bit on 13, but he added the ponds on 11 and 13, and so water holes are like the way the ball was being manipulated and the better players were playing more and more difficult shots because they had better equipment. No longer wooden shafts, they were playing with steel shafts, and so on. Basically he was saying hey we need a stronger defense. So the Great Bobby Jones, Robert Tiger Jones Jr said that the difference between a sand bunker hazard and a water hazard is the difference between a car crash and an airplane crash. You can recover from the former but not likely in the latter. So water holes are unique and they are also very beautiful and scenic. President Eisenhower painted the 16th hole when he was President of the United States, and its just a very special beauty. I'm glad you like them at Eugene, I do too.

Revised: 03/08/2014 - Article Viewed 31,026 Times - View Course Profile

About: Brian Weis

Brian Weis is the mastermind behind GolfTrips.com, a vast network of golf travel and directory sites covering everything from the rolling fairways of Wisconsin to the sunbaked desert layouts of Arizona. If there’s a golf destination worth visiting, chances are, Brian has written about it, played it, or at the very least, found a way to justify a "business trip" there.

As a card-carrying member of the Golf Writers Association of America (GWAA), International Network of Golf (ING), Golf Travel Writers of America (GTWA), International Golf Travel Writers Association (IGTWA), and The Society of Hickory Golfers (SoHG), Brian has the credentials to prove that talking about golf is his full-time job. In 2016, his peers even handed him The Shaheen Cup, a prestigious award in golf travel writing—essentially the Masters green jacket for guys who don’t hit the range but still know where the best 19th holes are.

Brian’s love for golf goes way back. As a kid, he competed in junior and high school golf, only to realize that his dreams of a college golf scholarship had about the same odds as a 30-handicap making a hole-in-one. Instead, he took the more practical route—working on the West Bend Country Club grounds crew to fund his University of Wisconsin education. Little did he know that mowing greens and fixing divots would one day lead to a career writing about the best courses on the planet.

In 2004, Brian turned his golf passion into a business, launching GolfWisconsin.com. Three years later, he expanded his vision, and GolfTrips.com was born—a one-stop shop for golf travel junkies looking for their next tee time. Today, his empire spans all 50 states, and 20+ international destinations.

On the course, Brian is a weekend warrior who oscillates between a 5 and 9 handicap, depending on how much he's been traveling (or how generous he’s feeling with his scorecard). His signature move" A high, soft fade that his playing partners affectionately (or not-so-affectionately) call "The Weis Slice." But when he catches one clean, his 300+ yard drives remind everyone that while he may write about golf for a living, he can still send a ball into the next zip code with the best of them.

Whether he’s hunting down the best public courses, digging up hidden gems, or simply outdriving his buddies, Brian Weis is living proof that golf is more than a game—it’s a way of life.