Orchard Hills Golf and Country Club

About This Course: A Golf First Private Club on an Old Washougal Prune Orchard

Orchard Hills Golf and Country Club in Washougal is a private club built around one thing: golf. The club says it has a golf course, a practice area and a clubhouse, and that is it. There is no pool, no fitness room and no racquet sports, so dues go into the course, and the club calls itself the only true golf club left in the Portland metro area.

The 18 holes play to par 70 and 6,016 yards from the Blue tees, with a 70.1 rating and a 124 slope for men. The front nine is a former prune orchard that opened as a public course on July 4, 1931 and went private in the 1940s. Today golf is for members and the guests they invite and play with.

Orchard Hills Golf and Country Club Fast Facts

Course Overview

The club’s own history tells the story. When prune farming stopped paying at the end of the 1920s, W.H. Wood turned his orchard into a golf course with a sweeping view of the Columbia River. George Junor, groundskeeper at Portland’s Alderwood course, laid out nine holes of 2,895 yards through the prune trees, and green fees were 25 cents for all day play. Wood never turned a profit and announced a sale in 1943, so local golfers sold memberships, bought the course for $16,500 and made it a private club. Members built a new clubhouse in 1953, bought 53.4 acres in 1963 and hired architect Bill Sanders to plan a back nine for construction in the summer of 1968.

The back nine opened nearly bare of trees, and members planted the many that now narrow it. The club leans on conditioning: it topdresses its fairways every fall with 450 tons of sand, which it says makes it one of the driest winter courses around. Superintendent Shane Hadwick, a past president of the Oregon Golf Course Superintendents Association, has led the crew since 2012, and the March 2026 member newsletter says work continues on log tee markers for five new tee sets.

Hole by Hole Highlights

Blue tee yardages are from the scorecard on stymie.golf; par and notes are from the club’s hole by hole guide.

• Hole 2, 228 yards, par 4: A short dogleg. A 170 to 180 yard tee shot leaves a short wedge to a well bunkered green.
• Hole 6, 389 yards, par 4: Arguably the hardest hole on the front nine, per the club, with a guarded multi tiered green.
• Hole 9, 363 yards, par 4: A slight uphill dogleg left. Anything left is grabbed by “Willie,” the tall fir guarding the corner.
• Hole 10, 464 yards, par 5: Long hitters can go for it from the right side, but a creek runs in front of the green.
• Hole 13, 581 yards, par 5: The longest hole on the course. Trees and water guard the fairway, and the green slopes hard left to right.
• Hole 15, 438 yards, par 4: A dogleg left with a blind approach and trees waiting on the left.
• Hole 17, 205 yards, par 3: The signature hole, with water to clear, out of bounds left and big trees narrowing the way.
• Hole 18, 454 yards, par 5: A short par 5 to finish, with a narrow layup through a chute of trees to a two tiered green.

Amenities and Practice

Practice is compact by design: the club describes a small practice area, and its dress code covers a putting green and a chipping green. Every professional on staff teaches, led by Head Golf Professional Chuck DaSilva, PGA, who came from more than 20 years at Rock Creek Country Club. Junior programs run from mid March to mid October around PGA Junior League and PGA Family Cup, for ages 5 to 18. The golf shop handles regripping, shaft work and loft and lie adjustments.

Food and Drink

The Orchard Hills Restaurant and Lounge in the clubhouse serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. Posted hours, subject to change: closed Monday, Tuesday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Wednesday through Friday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., with breakfast until 11 a.m. Saturday and noon Sunday. Executive Chef Shaun Rowley, a Le Cordon Bleu graduate, runs the kitchen, and the clubhouse hosts wine pairing dinners, trivia nights and family bingo.

Plan Your Visit

Rates, Tee Times and Local Tips

Orchard Hills is private, so there are no public tee times. Guests are welcome when invited and accompanied by a member. The club’s March 2026 member newsletter lists a 2026 green fee of $80 for 18 holes and $45 for 9 holes, effective April 1, 2026; ask your host or the golf shop how it applies to your round. Proprietary golf memberships run $490.76 a month for a family and $442.56 for a single, with fees and tax included, plus a $5,000 initiation fee; social membership is $80 a month. To schedule a tour, call 360-835-5889, ext. 3.

Dress for a traditional club: collared golf shirts, tailored golf pants or shorts and soft spikes. Denim is allowed only from December 1 through the end of February.

Washougal is where our guide to the north bank of the Columbia River Gorge begins, Spending a Day in Downtown Camas covers the town next door, and our Clark County page has the rest. For a public round nearby, Camas Meadows Golf Club is about 7 miles west.

How to Score Here

• Stay below the hole. The club says it on 8, 9, 15 and 18.
• Club up on the climbs. The 7th, 9th, 11th and 14th all play uphill, and the club says to take an extra club on each.
• Take par and run on 17. An extra club over the water is the smart play.
• Pick your tees honestly. Blue plays 6,016 yards; White at 5,783 or the Blue/White combo at 5,919 fits most club golfers.

Final Word

With no pool or tennis to fund, Orchard Hills puts everything into a tree lined 18 that has anchored Washougal golf since 1931. If a member invites you, go.