Great Blue at Heron Lakes Golf Club

Great Blue at Heron Lakes Golf Club occupies a low-lying site in north Portland, sharing the property with its companion Greenback course. Robert Trent Jones, Jr. designed the original layout in 1992, and Kyle Phillips completed a significant renovation in 2009 that reshaped greens, bunkers, and strategic elements throughout. The course sits on relatively flat terrain carved from former wetlands, with water features and mature trees defining many holes. The routing makes extensive use of the site's natural drainage patterns, and several holes play along or across ponds and streams that remain integral to the design.

The Jones foundation emphasized length and target golf typical of early-1990s championship layouts, while Phillips introduced more ground-game options and visual clarity in his redesign. The bunkering now features more natural, ragged edges, and green complexes offer varied pin positions with subtle internal contours. Par threes play across water on multiple occasions, and the closing stretch includes risk-reward decisions around the property's most prominent water hazards.

Heron Lakes operates as a public facility managed by the City of Portland, making Great Blue accessible for daily-fee play. The course has hosted regional amateur championships and qualifiers over the years. Conditioning standards remain high for a municipal property, and the layout provides a test that appeals to accomplished players while remaining playable from forward tees. The setting offers views of surrounding wetland preserves and distant mountain ranges on clear days, reinforcing the course's connection to the Pacific Northwest landscape.