Spring Hill Golf Club at Albany Golf and Event Center is an 18 Hole semi-private golf course in the heart of the Willamette Valley in Albany, OR. Formerly a private club, the golf course became semi-private in 2010. The unique layout at Spring Hill Golf Club includes 6 par 3’s, 6 Par 4’s and 6 par 5’s. In fact, only once throughout your round so you even play a hole with a similar par on back-to-back occasions. Before teeing off at Spring Hill Golf Club be aware that the yardage book alone does not reflect the difficulty of the golf course. You will be forced to hit narrow fairways and land on small firm greens. The course will challenge most golfers regardless of which tee box you are playing.
The tight fairways and firm grounds at Spring Hill Golf Club present challenges throughout your round. If you are playing straight shot from fairway to green, these holes allow for great scoring opportunities. However, spray your shot off the box and a punch out may be needed out of the old growth trees that line many of the fairways. Most of the Par 5’s require three shots to reach the greens and all Par 3’s play long enough to require accurate, high shots that land softly enough to hold the petite greens. Landing high on the greens and rolling off the back into the rough can lead to challenging par saves. If you plan approach shots based on avoiding greenside bunkers and targeting the front center of greens, you may be much more successful at producing birdie putts. While firm, the greens at Spring Hill Golf Club are rarely quick, but do run true to their line.
Playing Spring Hill Golf Club
A good starting hole #1 will prepare you for many of the challenges you will face all day. From the White and Blue tees you must shape your shot to avoid trees lining the left side of the fairway. A fairway bunker must also be avoided down the right side in the landing area off the tee. Like so many of the holes at Albany Golf Club, finding the fairway by avoiding the trees should be your only goal as any tee shot in play will leave you with a short approach to this elevated green. The Par 5 2nd hole plays as the #1 handicap mainly due to the yardage. Conservative, straight first and second shots here will leave you with a short approach from the fairway.
A good starting hole #1 will prepare you for many of the challenges you will face all day. From the White and Blue tees you must shape your shot to avoid trees lining the left side of the fairway. A fairway bunker must also be avoided down the right side in the landing area off the tee. Like so many of the holes at Albany Golf Club, finding the fairway by avoiding the trees should be your only goal as any tee shot in play will leave you with a short approach to this elevated green. The Par 5 2nd hole plays as the #1 handicap mainly due to the yardage. Conservative, straight first and second shots here will leave you with a short approach from the fairway.
Visually the 9th hole leading all the way up to the clubhouse seems to share all the same characteristics as the rest of the front. Strategy wise you want to play this hole unlike any of the previous 8. The longer tee shot is rewarded on this hole as the landing area widens further down the fairway. After finding the fairway, go ahead and attack the pin here as this is the largest green on the course, slopes from front to back and leaves a difficult two-putt for those that don’t find the same tier as the flag. The 10th hole must be played to the left side of the fairway as all tee shots will land hard and bounce dramatically to the right. There is OB to the left side on 8 out of the last nine holes. You must find the fairway on all holes in order to succeed here, but at all costs, avoid missing left on the back nine in order to save strokes and golf balls. The greens seem minimally larger on the back nine, but amazingly the fairways seem to tighten up even further towards the end of your round.The 12th holes yardage may leave you eager to try and reach in two, but there is really no safe place to bomb a tee shot too. Instead use your yardage book and choose your target wisely to set up your next shot. Hitting a great drive on the Par 5 15th hole may be the best opportunity for long hitters to go for it as there is not much trouble long, but with another short green, sand in front and trees to the left and right, the high percentage play is to create a short approach from the fairway. The trees lining the fairways on all the holes are well maintained and branches do not carry all the way to the ground. So, even if you miss wide left or right you are almost always left with a good opportunity to play back into the fairway on your next shot with a well executed punch out.
With one of the more unique par 3’s on the course, the 17th hole plays over water if the pin is on the right side meaning you can’t be short. With a pin to the left side of the green, keep your ball to the right of the greenside bunker and don’t miss long. Your round concludes with a monster 3 shot Par 5 that you should be prepared for by now. Find the fairway twice on #18 in order to finish strong. Your 3rd shot will be uphill to this two-tiered green which is the second largest on the course. This green is semi-shared with the 9th, but you do not want to be as aggressive towards finding the pin here, just place the ball on the correct tier and finish your day with a putt for birdie.
