Red Tail Golf Center

The course and driving range are fine. Their instructors are awful. Signed up for a free lesson with one of their female instructors. She wasn’t all that great so chose a different instructor to purchase a lesson package from. Huge mistake. Matt is a horrible instructor. He is impatient, unkind and treats you without respect. He is so bad that I did not finish up my lesson package with him. I found better quality people at Meriwether National Golf.

I first learned to golf at the junior clinics at what was called Progress Downs in 1964.
Today when I was having my 4^th of 8 lessons with Cindy Lincoln I heard all the kids in the clinic giggling. It brought back such fun memories of those early days.
Cindy is great. They have the most up to date video equipment and they get delivered right into my text. I belong to 2 private golf clubs and neither has the up to date teaching equipment or instructors that Red Tail has.
Cindy is able to identify exactly what I’m doing wrong and has great teaching tools to help me improve.
My last club fitting was at Red Tail and my 8 year old clubs can be replaced with newer lighter ones. Stewart will take care of me with Cindy’s help as to my needs.

This review is about the pro shop:
I came in today to try out new clubs and possibly buy some. I had an appointment with Stuart, and assumed I would try some clubs and probably come back and try more later. Stuart was excellent, he realized early on what I needed (senior men’s clubs and not ladies), and found clubs that worked well with my swing, amount I play, and price range. I wasn’t sure on the driver, so he assured me that I should think about it and wrote down the info for me. I came home with a new set of Taylor Made Irons that were 50% off (2014 model), a Taylor Made 3 wood and a 4 hybrid. I’m super excited to play, and very impressed with the the service and enjoyable experience I had today. If you are coming in for new clubs, ask for Stuart or make an appointment with him– he knows his stuff and has a no pressure approach!

Great practice facility and very fairly priced for greens fees and equipment. The course definitely

Pluses: range open long hours and lots of great deals in pro shop. Nice putting and short game facility
Seems like it could be a great teaching facility, but teachers don’t seem to operate as team.
Minuses: It is Oregon, why so few ranges with actual grass?
Have taken a few lessons here and not sure of philosophy. Realize they have lots of Trackman devices, but other than telling me what I seem know, not sure how that helps.
Course itself is ok, some weird holes though 589 yd par 5, really?

I figured I give red tail one more shot since its close in distance. Once again, beyond terrible customer service. Forgot to book us down for our tee time, got us out late and didnt bother to give us a heads up that 6 groups of 4 kids walking the next 6 holes and that we probably wouldnt finish even 4 holes for twilight. The starter was rude to the group behind us, the gentleman at the front desk didnt even want to give us a raincheck even though I had spoken to someone on the phone 5 minutes prior and they said we could.

I swore I would never do it again, but because of peer pressure (dam those guys), I relented and played Red Tail Golf Course this morning.
From the beginning it was a bad experience. For those of you have experienced this City of Portland course, you know it is by far the most poorly staffed course in the cities collection of public courses. The Pro Shop sets the tenor with over the top rudeness! They treat you as thought hey are doing you a huge favor by allowing you to even speak to them. This not a one time complaint. Over the years I’ve witnessed and experienced it almost every time I have walked up to the desk. To give them one star is over rating them.
This morning there was no starter on the first tee. Our time was 7:12, but when that time rolled around we were still waiting for a foursome in front of us AND they were waiting for a foursome that must have taken almost 30 minutes to play the relatively easy opening par four. The slow group did allow the first foursome to play through, but for the remainder of the day, we were stuck behind them, waiting and waiting on every shot. Strangely on the 18^th hole the Player Assistant came up to us and apologized that we were forced into such a Slow round (just over five hours).
The course itself never improves. Initially designed to be the flagship course for the city, it has deteriorated terribly.
Well, enough said. This is the last review I will ever make in regards to Red Tail — I will never, I repeat never, play the course again!

This review is for the pro shop, haven’t golfed here yet.
My buddy bought new clubs and let me try them out, turns out my hand-​me-​down clubs had been shortened by one of the previous owners. I went to redtail after work one day to check them out as I had heard good things about their pro shop. I walked in, looked at the rack of irons, and was taken aback by their pricing. Looks like pretty much full blown retail for what is on the rack.
So I went up to the counter and talked to a guy about buying clubs on a budget, he was very receptive and understanding that I couldn’t afford any of the clubs on the rack. He explained that they had a bunch of sets of different length and shafted clubs that are on sale, and took me into the range to hit some different clubs.
He worked with me on irons as well as a driver for over an hour, and I was just a walk-​in. He was giving me tips on my driver swing, and by the end I felt like I got a golf lesson. I ended up buying a set of irons, but passed on the driver because I didn’t have enough money with me to buy both. Overall very pleased with this buying experience.

I’m reading some of these reviews and I have to laugh. People that give this place more then 2 stars must not play a lot of golf. If you just want to hit balls at the range then I would give it 3 stars at best but this is a overall experience review app so if I could give it zero stars I would. Let’s start with the golf course, this place is a dog track! There is no drainage on almost the entire course. Hole #7 has a inch of water on the landing area and it hasn’t rained in 2 days. Every fairway is mush! And guess what happens to a fairway that is so mushy that a law mower can’t run over it? It Grows! So basically the fairways are as long as the rough at every other course it town. The greens are terrible and hard. Explain to me why your fairways can be marshlands but I can’t even get a divot tool in the green. That’s probably why no one fixes ball marks there and why would anyone care to when they know the managment could care less. A normal round of golf there on a Saturday is 5 ½−6 hours long. I’d expect 5 hours these days but they don’t even get that. As for the rest of the facility, the practice chipping green is crap. It is built of a slope that you would never see on a normal golf course. Normal greens have anywhere between 0% and 4% slope. There are areas on the chipping green that are 6% but not even one spot that is below 2%. So if you want to practice shots around the greens that make up about 3% of what you would really face on the course this place is for you. For the other 97% go somewhere else. They have a second chipping green there too that hasn’t been mowed tight in the 7 years I’ve been there. And the only reason I go there is because it’s down the street from my house. The range balls are so old some of them are as smooth at ping pong balls. There is two good things about this place. The club fitting bay is sweet and the club fitters know what they are doing and merchandise is good. The rest of this place is a joke. It sucks too because being so close to my house I really want this course to be cool. Too bad!

My boyfriend and I recently started getting into golf and have visited this driving range a few times. I like how it is two levels and open late (until 10pm). I enjoy going later in the evening when it’s not as crowded. We also decided to take a lesson so that we can learn proper technique and hopefully improve. Our instructor, Jeff, was awesome! He showed us video comparisons of our swing next to a professional’s and I really appreciated how he took the time to really explain why we needed to change certain things and how we could reach the goals that we set for ourselves. I would definitely give him 5 stars. We are looking into taking a few more lessons from him soon.
Sadly, a lot of the sales associates we have dealt with in the store weren’t very friendly and sort of has this «why are these kids who don’t know anything about golf in here» attitude towards us. So unfortunately because of that, I have to give it 3 stars.

I really like the layout of this course. It’s unusual and interesting. It’s a pretty challenging golf course, but the greens aren’t terribly difficult, it’s getting there that can be hard. Well maintained and a great pro shop. Gets really slow when crowded though

Yes it might play slow at times with all the hackers playing in the summer, but it is the best practice facility with best instructors in the Northwest. The course plays long and it is in great shape especially the greens.

Warm, sunny days in March are such a tease. Unless you get your ass out and do something to enjoy it. Then it’s simply an opportunity to get some… sun.
I just spent a gorgeous spring day golfing about 15 holes on twilight at Red Tail. It’s my first experience here and I’m impressed. For a public course, this has a pretty nice facility and set of links… at least compared to some of the muni courses in PDX. The pro shop is huge and well-​stocked and the driving range has a ton of berths. The 18-​hole course has a great design, with plenty of long holes, interesting water, solid bunker action and deceptive hills. And even this early in March, the ground for the most part was pretty solid, with only a few muddy bogs here and there.
Twilight in spring cost us $ 23 (carrying) which is a solid price for a course of this quality. It seems really well-​kept. The only drawback was the crowd — it was heavy even on this sunny March weekend. I’m guessing the location in the heart of Beaverton and the lack of many other alternatives nearby make this a go-​to for westsiders, of which I am not one. So maybe I’d stick to this during the weekdays when it’s less crowded. I hate crowded courses.
Overall, I definitely see myself coming ack to this course. I really enjoyed playing it.

«Golf center» captures it. Red Tail lacks character compared to the other Portland public courses. Long, uninteresting layout, unmanageable sloping greens and unappealing aesthetics — all yours for a relatively high greens fee.

Great driving range. It is two levels so almost no waiting!!! Also, it is open late so if you get the urge to whack some balls late in the evening you can.
The pro shop is well appointed. When we went there was a big sale going on. Hubby was able to get a pair of $ 120 Nike golf shoes for 50% off.

If you live next to this place you are very lucky. I got fitted and bought my new stix here. I get my lessons here and I live 1000 miles away. Dude they have the most track mans there, than any in the world!!! c’mon. I too live in one of the most expensive places in the world, other than Hong Kong, and here in San Francisco Bay Area and we have only 2 track mans, 1 in SF and 1 in San Jose c’mon really.
In case you don’t know track man, it is a machine that can tell you were to place your pinky toe on club impact to add a 100 yards to your drive. Believe it!!!
So go here if you want to shave 20 strokes off your game.
Don’t trip about the staff they are all just all pre-​occupied on how to shave strokes off your golf game. give ‘em a break.
In the end, you will walk out of there a better golfer. Trust me, I wouldn’t have wasted my time writing this.

Tough for a city «suburban» course. I like it, but it’s a bitch.
The pluses:
good challenge,
okay shape,
decent in the winter,
driving range,
cheap clearance area (packed with stuff).
The minuses:
It’s in Beaverton, –getting there and leaving there is annoying – unless you live in Beaverton, Tigard.
prices are high for a city course.
Hint: Go Monday — Thursday before 2pm for price break and speed of round.
It gets super packed on evenings and nice weekends.
Full of beginner golfers and kids.
The pro shop is busy, because there’s no real golf store around.
The regular priced merch is expensive
Goose Poop
This course is not easy for a new golfer and still is challenging for an experienced player, but it’s a nice option if you happen to be in SW Portland. No current comment on current beverage /​food situation: Bunker’s for the snack shack, beer in cooler in pro shop, and the StockPot Broiler on premises. Brilliant for a nice meal-​Steak. They have regular beverage cart service, too.

Many reviews have focused on the staff, pace of play, teaching pros and driving range. But if you want to know about the course itself, and you are an average 90’s Golfer; (Don’t lie to yourself), Yeah you will like it.
I’ve played Muni’s in 4 states and Red Tail stands up as one of the best as a Golf Course. Challenging but fair, well maintained, smattering of hazards that only penalize really poor shots, forgiving fairway width and greens ample enough for the weekend warrior in size and with minimal slope and average roll. Tee to green lengths on most holes reward an average drive with a 7 iron approach and all but 16 are well designed holes. 16 needs to be bulldozed and redesigned.
Obviously these statements relate to the course if you were playing it alone, so here is the Caveat.
The Pro Shop manager doesn’t like people. Customers or staff. He needs a new vocation as his attitude infects the otherwise nice people helping you spend your money.
The start times are 8 minutes apart which is revenue driven. Expect excruciating wait times on most rounds as no weekend warrior plays at this pace. I’ve payed for 18 several times and had to quit at the end of a 4 hour first 9.
If you choose your day and time of play carefully to avoid slow play, and you are there for golf, not for warm and fuzzy treatment by the staff, Red Tail is a good choice in the area.

I’ll be honest, I’ve only played on the course once. It rained… so it wasn’t fun.
This review is really about the lessons that Redtail has. About a year and a half a go I decided to pick up the game of golf after about 2 years of not playing. It was a new years resolution to be playing more golf. At first I was hacking the grass. I needed a «restart». I was talking with my boss at work about my lack of golf skills and how I’m better at wacking weeds and she recommended that her, myself and my brother sign up for winter classes at Redtail. It was like $ 99 per person so i thought, why not.
What a difference the class made. All this time I was hacking all my problems were due to my gripping. Everthing else was a crash course and I quickly redeveloped my game.
The teacher recommended that my brother get new clubs as the clubs he had were not fitted for him. The change did make my brother hit better. I’m a better chipper because of the class.
The lessons are six lessons but I only took 5. Unfortunatly the last class didn’t happen due to communication errors and my brother got the heat for it from the teacher. We told them that we had to cancel and the front desk guy said he would let our teacher know, but apparently that didn’t happen.
Not a way to end a great experience.

NOTE: This is not a review of the course. I’ve done two things here, buy clubs and take a 6-​session group introduction to golf lesson.
ON PURCHASING CLUBS — I used a Nike «Fit to Play» pass, which means that while I had never played golf before (except for pitch & putt and mini) I went through a club fitting. I was a little hesitant because I figured that the minute I took a few lessons, I’d need to get new clubs. Turns out, that wasn’t even close to the case. The pro talked to me about the different kind of clubs and which ones would be good for a beginner and a pro and why. I probably took over 100 swings with 2 different irons from 3 different kinds of irons and a couple of different drivers. Through all this he would put different angled pieces of clubs together. The results? Well, after my lessons I asked about some of the changes and it turns out, you can properly fit someone for golf clubs, even if the golfer has no clue what he’s doing.
The overall selection was overwhelming for a novice, and potentially dangerous for more experienced players. I’d expect that if you can imaging wanting it, they’ve probably go it. It’s a good thing I had help because I definitely needed it. Score 1 for Redtail. Well actually, let’s give them a –1. This is golf after all.
ON 6-​WEEK INTRO LESSONS — I waited a year to take lessons, because well, I’m just so awesome I don’t need no stinking lessons! Ok, actually playing pre-​lesson wasn’t so great because I was trying NOT to improve just in case I was doing it wrong. Not useful OR fun. Redtail offers a variety of lesson options from frequent private lessons, to short terms «address an issue» lessons and lessons for kids and in groups and women only and wow, was I confused. I decided to take the approach that I have no clue what I’m doing, and I’m glad I did. I signed up for a 6-​Week Intro to Golf Lesson for $ 149, and took all six weeks with the same instructor.
I could not have asked for a golf pro more suited to my learning style. He was an engineer in a previous life so along with the what-​to-​do he also explained the physics of why it works. He was very consistent and answered every question from «could you do that with this other club?» to «What benefit does a glove offer?» Another thing I liked was side-​by-​side video comparison of my swing with a pro’s swing. It’s very helpful to see what you’re doing right, and what you’re doing the same and different, and seeing the change helped me address the issue.
Since I just finished the lessons, I don’t know how much my game has improved, but I would expect a noticable amount. The most important thing I got from the lessons though, was how and what to practice. Believe me, I’m much more comfortable holding clubs now than I was before, and at least on the range, I’m much more accurate. I’m confident that I can make decisions on the course, even if they are inexperienced ones.
(If you want the name/​contact info for the golf pro, shoot me a message. I definitely recommend him personally.)