Sunriver Resort

River meadows, ponderosa pine and a Champions major.

Sunriver is a resort community on the Deschutes River about 15 miles south of Bend, in Oregon’s high desert at the foot of the Cascades. Its golf has changed shape recently. In spring 2024 the long-public Meadows and Woodlands courses became part of the private Sunriver Golf Club, and Crosswater, the Bob Cupp course that hosted a senior major, was already members-only. Resort guests remain the exception on all three, which makes a Sunriver room the key to some of the best golf in central Oregon.

Sunriver Resort green fees and tee times.

All three courses are reserved for Sunriver Resort guests and members, so book the stay first. Meadows and Woodlands are sold to guests at a daily resort guest rate; The Bulletin reported the 2024 peak guest green fee as US$175, but no current rate is published on the resort’s site, so ask for the figure when you book. Crosswater is a separate members’ club, and guests reach it through the resort’s golf packages, which have offered one round at Crosswater for each night of lodging plus unlimited play on Meadows, Woodlands and the nine-hole Caldera Links, a par-3 course built for Caldera Springs owners and guests. The resort has required package stays to be paid in full 60 days ahead. Package terms change from season to season, so check what is included before paying. In 2024 Deschutes County residents who were not staying paid the US$175 guest fee plus a US$50 one-day club membership, so a room is also the cheaper way in.

The courses at Sunriver Resort.

Crosswater (par 72, about 7,683 yards)

Bob Cupp’s 1995 course is the reason serious golfers come. It sits within a private residential club, and the pro shop is open only to members and resort guests holding tee times. Expect open marshland, long carries over the two rivers and real length from every set of tees, so most guests take a cart.

Woodlands (1981)

Robert Trent Jones Jr.’s course is the tighter, tree-lined one, with pines pressing in on the fairways. It has been private since 2024, open to resort guests at the daily guest rate. Accuracy off the tee matters more than length here.

Meadows (1968)

The original Sunriver course, later redesigned by John Fought, is the most open of the three, with ponds and big views of the mountains. It is the friendliest choice for a mixed group or an arrival-day round after a flight into Redmond.

The round, in perspective.

Crosswater opened in 1995 and plays through wetland meadow and marsh where the Deschutes and Little Deschutes rivers meet; the rivers cross the routing repeatedly, so many holes demand a carry over moving water. At about 7,683 yards and par 72 from the back, it is a serious test, and it hosted the JELD-WEN Tradition, a PGA Tour Champions major, from 2007 to 2010. Woodlands, by Robert Trent Jones Jr., opened in 1981 and threads tight corridors of ponderosa and lodgepole pine. Meadows dates from 1968 and was later reworked by John Fought.

Know before you go.

Access

Resort guests and Sunriver Golf Club or Crosswater members

Crosswater

Through resort golf packages; pro shop for members and guests with tee times

Guest rate, 2024 peak

US$175 (as reported by The Bulletin)

Caldera Links

Nine-hole par-3 course at Caldera Springs, included in the Crosswater package

Make the trip work.

Sunriver sits at about 4,200 feet, so the ball flies a little further than at sea level, and mornings can be cold even in July. Most visitors get around on bicycles: the community has many miles of paved paths, and the resort rents bikes. Book Crosswater for the first full day, then let the package carry you round Woodlands and Meadows. Smoke from summer wildfires in the Cascades occasionally affects air quality, so leave some flexibility in the itinerary.

Redmond Municipal Airport (RDM) is about 33 miles north, around 40 minutes by car, with direct flights from several western hubs. Portland (PDX) is about 176 miles away, a three-hour drive over the Cascades. A hire car is useful for Bend and the volcanic sights, though the resort itself is easy to explore by bike.

Where it is.

Somewhere to settle in.

The Sunriver Lodge is the resort’s hub, with the Lodge Village rooms, each with a fireplace and deck, a short walk from the main building and the Cove pool. The River Lodges look towards the Cascades and sit near the Great Hall, the former officers’ club from Camp Abbot, a Second World War training base. Sunriver also has hundreds of vacation homes; check whether a rental qualifies for guest golf rates before booking one. Bend, 15 miles north, has the widest choice of hotels and restaurants.

Make a trip of it.

Tetherow, a David McLay Kidd course on the western edge of Bend, sells public tee times and plays very differently, with firm, links-style ground. Black Butte Ranch, north-west towards Sisters, adds two more pine-forest courses. Off the course, Newberry National Volcanic Monument’s Lava Lands are just south of Sunriver, the High Desert Museum is a short drive north, and Mount Bachelor offers summer chairlift rides and winter skiing.

Find your season.

Central Oregon golf runs roughly from late spring to mid-autumn, and in November 2026 the resort marked Crosswater as closed for the season. July and August are dry and warm by day, with cool nights. June can still bring frosty mornings and delayed starts. September is often the pick, with settled weather and fewer families.