FORE Magazine

Top Menu

  • About Me
  • Contact Us
  • Home

Main Menu

  • Current Issue
  • Digital Book
  • Profiles
  • Sustainability
  • Travel
  • 19th Hole
  • Classic Course
  • FORE Her
  • More
    • Know the Rules
    • Handicap Hints
    • SCGA Junior
    • Where Are They Now?
    • News
    • Public Affairs
Sign in / Join

Login

Welcome! Login in to your account
Lost your password?

Lost Password

Back to login

logo

FORE Magazine

  • Current Issue
  • Digital Book
  • Profiles
  • Sustainability
  • Travel
  • 19th Hole
  • Classic Course
  • FORE Her
  • More
    • Know the Rules
    • Handicap Hints
    • SCGA Junior
    • Where Are They Now?
    • News
    • Public Affairs
Fall 2021Travel
Home›Issues›Fall 2021›Of Goats & Golf: The Silvies Valley Ranch Experience is Golf Solitude at its Remote Finest

Of Goats & Golf: The Silvies Valley Ranch Experience is Golf Solitude at its Remote Finest

By Matt McKay
October 27, 2021
6170
0
Share:

Consider: There’s almost nobody here.

The Seneca, Oregon-based resort has only 34 rooms and 46 total beds. There is a reversible 18-hole course, a nine-hole course and a seven-hole “gauntlet” course. The idea is to disappear into Eastern Oregon’s wide-open solitude, wide-open golf courses and limited guests. Social interactions are encouraged through nightly dinner seatings and S’mores sessions by the fire pit. But if you want to be alone and unbothered, Silvies Valley Ranch is pure gold.

WILL WORK FOR PEANUTS

Silvies’ goat caddies work on the McVeigh Gauntlet Course, wearing Seamus Golf-made custom-designed backpacks to carry a few golf clubs, extra balls and tees, refreshments and peanuts (those are for the goats, but they don’t usually mind sharing) for the round. The McVeigh course is only 7 holes, but very steep in places to get to hilltop greens – hence, the need for goat caddies. (No humans lost their jobs to the goats.)

HIGH DESERT LINKS

The courses are as linksy as one could hope for in a high-desert setting, with vast, speedy fairways; bold, imaginative bunkering; and massive green complexes with innumerable hole locations. The spectacular rural setting and 160 feet of elevation change ensures players will use every club in their bag, and every shot in their arsenal.

COMFORT IN ABUNDANCE

Silvies’ eight lakeside log cabins have one or two bedrooms with king size beds, luxurious rain showers, a stocked in-room wine cooler, stone floors, hot tub and a comfy living room with fabulous views. Located just down the boardwalk from the Lodge, they’re plush with western decor, including operable skylights, copper sinks, large flat-screen TVs and a fireplace.

THE WILD WEST

Silvies is actually a 144,000-acre working ranch, so should players ever tire of golf, there’s plenty of other activities: ranch tours, pistol and rifle shooting, homestead tours, and biking, hiking and fishing are among the offerings, and the Rocking Heart spa and fitness center offers a rock-climbing wall, a half-Olympic sized lap pool, and a weight/workout room. After all that, you might need a massage, scrub and/or a facial, also available at Rocking Heart.

Previous Article

The Member Guest: Some Rules of Thumb ...

Next Article

Pickleball: A New Craze is Taking Place ...

0
Shares
  • 0
  • +
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

Matt McKay

Matt McKay is an Idyllwild-based freelance writer and radio show host. Originally from Oklahoma City, Okla., and an Oklahoma graduate, he moved to Southern California in 2008 after spending 25 years in Dallas, Texas. In Dallas, Matt served 11 years as area golf columnist for The Dallas Morning News, winning four Bob Galt Awards for media contribution from the Northern Texas PGA.

Related articles More from author

  • Summer 2021Travel

    Big Sky, Big Fun

    July 22, 2021
    By Judd Spicer
  • Summer 2019Travel

    Travels with Archie: Morro Bay

    July 25, 2019
    By Judd Spicer
  • Travel

    Greater Palm Springs: The Prose (and advice) From the Pros

    January 17, 2017
    By admin
  • Fall 2019Travel

    San Diego Flies High

    October 20, 2019
    By Tod Leonard
  • TravelWinter 2019

    The Pearl of La Paz

    January 21, 2019
    By Judd Spicer
  • Fall 2021Profiles

    Xander’s Golden Year: For Schauffele, Golf is Truly a Team Sport

    November 3, 2021
    By Tod Leonard

Recent Posts

  • At The TurnFeaturedProfilesSummer 2025

    The Walking Man

  • 19th HoleFeaturedSummer 2024

    A Feast for the Senses

  • At The TurnFeaturedSummer 2025

    Indoor Golf

  • FeaturedIn The ClubhouseSummer 2025

    Local Rules

  • FeaturedOn The TeeSummer 2025

    Work Harder, Not Smarter

FALL 2025FeaturedIn The ClubhouseSCGA Junior

Crown Jewels

Norma García — González has led the way for L.A. County’s beloved golf courses, in good times and bad. It’s a good bet that a large majority of concertgoers who ...
  • PAIR OF ACES

    By Scott Kramer
    November 4, 2025
  • Competition, Connection, Camaraderie… and Charity

    By Tom Mackin
    November 4, 2025
  • Raising Golfers

    By Tina Mickelson
    November 4, 2025
  • Cousin Klubs

    By Robert Earle Howells
    November 4, 2025
© 2016 FORE Magazine About Us | Contact Us | Advertise