A herd of golf bag toting goats serves as caddies at McVeigh’s Gauntlet, a seven-hole ridge course. (Image: Silvies Valley Ranch)
Oregon’s award-winning Silvies Valley Ranch mixes outstanding golf with an eco-friendly livestock ranch and guest retreat.
Silvies Valley Ranch in Oregon, perhaps best known as the home of golf bag toting goats, has been named one of the Top 12 Golf Resorts in the United States by the Robb Report.
Founded in 1883, Silvies Valley Ranch is marketed as an ecologically sustainable Western livestock ranch and guest retreat, complete with herds of cattle, goats and other wildlife. The property, which has helped set the standard for sustainable ranching and environmental practices in the resort industry, mixes its lodge, golf and spa amenities with an authentic working Western ranch.
Silvies Valley Ranch is an ecologically sustainable Western livestock ranch and guest retreat. (Image: Silvies Valley Ranch)
It’s all magnificently set in 140,000 acres of deeded and leased National Forest lands in and surrounding Silvies Valley in rural Oregon. There are mountain meadows, Ponderosa Pine forests, the Silvies River, and more than a dozen creeks.
The golf lineup at the 34-room luxury eco-resort is also impressive. Choose from two reversible 18-hole courses (the Hankins and Craddock Courses); McVeigh’s Gauntlet, a seven-hole ridge course; and Chief Egan, a mountain meadow nine-hole par three course.
On the short but steep McVeigh’s Guantlet layout, goats outfitted with backpacks that carry a few clubs and extra balls serve as caddies.
The only potential catch for visitors is the property’s remote location. Silvies Valley is a five-hour drive southeast from Portland; three hours due west from Boise.
