This coming weekend Portland, Oregon will be hosting the 2023 Portland Open sponsored by Latitude 64. This is an Elite+ Series tournament this year. Weather conditions for the tournament seem to be pretty good for playing a great tournament with a prediction of some slight wind and temperatures in the in the lower to mid 70’s so I would expect to see some great scoring for the weekend.
From the 2022 Portland Open the Pro Tour played Blue Lake Course for the first and second round and for the third and the final round they played at The Glendoveer course. In the previous year we played at the Glendoveer East Course when Simone Lizotte took the -34 to win the tournament. This year the Pro Tour will be playing at The Glendoveer East and West Disc golf course layouts. The West Layout looks to be more of an open layout to match the East so I would imagine that the big arm distance throwers are going to be licking their chopping for this course.
This course was played 2 years ago but the layout has changed. Let’s dive into a few holes from the Glendoveer West Layout and see what these players are going to be dealing with this year.
- Hole #1
FPO: Par 4, 699 foot hole with hazards all over and around the basket. There is an OB spots to the upper left of the basket and just off to the right of the basket. Players are going to throw a backhand turnover and land short left of the large hazard area and then have about a 150 foot approach to the pin but there so much danger all around the pin so you will need to land just to the right of the basket.
MPO: Par 4, 741 foot with the same danger as the FPO breakdown. The only difference is that the MPO teepad is just about 80 feet farther back from the FPO.
- Hole #4
FPO/MPO: Both are playing this hole as a Par 4, 485 foot hole with a pond within Circle 2 and slightly into Circle 1. There also is a hazard bunker just about 75 feet in front of the basket. The FPO players that don’t have this range are going to lay up short left of the pond near the cart path and approach the basket long to prevent them from going into the pond.
MPO players on the other hand with 500 feet of power may try to go for the shot but it will be a very risky shot and very unlikely to see anyone throw it. I think more likely just as above, player will throw off to the left of the pond, approach and take a birdie.
- Hole #6
FPO: Par 5, 960 foot hole with multiple placement shots. I think the only real danger that the players need to worry about is going to be the OB to the right of the basket. The mando that is shown I would assume is only for the MPO players.
MPO: Par 5, 1,180 foot hole with a wide open fairway. I can see big arm throwers being able to get that 500+ foot distance will have a definite opportunity to get an eagle. Both FPO and MPO players will have to worry about hitting trees right off the teepad, it looks to have some small gaps but nothing that these players have to worry about.
- Hole #10
FPO: Par 4, 585 foot hole with a mando about 300 feet down the fairway forcing players to stay right but not too right because there is OB on thr right all the way down the fairway. If you miss the mando to the left then you will proceed to the drop zone. Players are going to throw something straight or slightly understable and push close to the OB and then approach the basket.
MPO: Par 4, 625 foot hole with the same breakdown from above. MPO players are going to try to get 300-350 feet up and past the mando and then have another 300 foot shot to the basket. Players that want to get aggressive may try to push a little farther down the fairway for a easier upshot.
- Hole #13
FPO: Par 5, 930 foot wide open fairway shot. This is going to be another multiple placement shot hole for the FPO players. Players are going to want to be on the right side of the fairway to give the best access to the tunnel where there is a mando The OB also pinches in to make a narrow shot then if you land in the area you are trying to then you have about 400 feet to the basket with OB lining the right side of the fairway.
MPO: Par 4, 930 foot same as FPO but they reduced the par down to a Par 4. Players are going to again try to aim for the right side of the fairway with a backhand turnover shot towards the OB line on the right and then fades back landing you at the right side of the mando then a hyzer approach shot over the OB again to get yourself an outside look at the birdie. This looks to be a tough hole to get so I would imagine that this would be a bonus birdie to get with the wall of trees on the left and the OB on the right.
- Hole #15
FPO: Par 5, 765 foot double mando off the tee to a wide open fairway. Depending on what the OB area looks like (tall grass or if it is just long grass) there may be (2) different plays. The more obvious play is to pitch to the right side of the green and land at the mouth of the opening to the island green. The other play, if it isn’t tall grass is to risk going to the left and throwing over the OB onto the island green. The green you have to land in is about 66 feet round so you need to make sure your shot is landing on the island.
MPO: Par 4, 879 foot double mando off the tee also but players are trying to work their way more to the right side than the FPO players needed too. From there, they will have to lay up short of the OB marsh area/grass area or turn something over and land to the far right of the green and approach from 90 to 100 feet straight at the OB. MPO players also need to worry about not overthrowing a turnover off the tee and landing on the ball golf green which is marked as OB.
- Hole #18
FPO: Par 5, 1036 foot (2) double mandos at about 500 feet and another at about 800 from the teepad to prevent you from going into the other fairway and going down the generally straight line towards the basket. For the FPO, this will be a pretty tough birdie to get you will need about (4) 400 foot shots to get you within range of the par but I think there are a few players out there that we will see get the tough birdie and getting some good strokes on players.
MPO: Par 5, 1,107 foot with (2) double mandos at the same spots as the FPO but with the MPO I can see there being more birdie looks for this hole because most of the MPO players have that 450-500 foot distance shot. As long as they can keep it between the mandos then they should have no problem getting this birdie. The only other danger on this hole is if you saw something off on your approach to the green and throw it OB into the Spectator Viewing area.
