Aspen Lakes Golf Course

Aspen Lakes Golf Course, designed by William Overdorf and developed by the Cyrus family on 1,084 acres in the shadow of the Cascade Mountains near Sisters, Oregon, is distinguished by its perfectly maintained bentgrass fairways, red volcanic sand bunkers, and sweeping views of Three Sisters, Black Butte, and Mount Jefferson. The front nine opened in 1996 and the full 18-hole course in 2000, with the layout routing around natural water features and rock outcroppings that were preserved and incorporated as design elements. Aspen Lakes was the first course in Oregon enrolled in the Audubon Signature Sanctuary Program and was recognized by Golf Digest as the eighth best new affordable course in the United States.

Aspen Lakes Golf Course is an 18-hole public course in Sisters, Oregon, designed by William L. Overdorf and developed by the Cyrus family on a 1,084-acre parcel adjacent to their family farm. The concept for the course began in 1987 when Keith Cyrus and his sons Matt and Brian acquired the land, spending the remainder of the 1980s and the early 1990s in planning, permitting, and securing financing before breaking ground. The first nine holes opened in 1996 under the supervision of Overdorf, a course architect with extensive experience in western American golf design, and the second nine followed in 2000, completing the full 18-hole layout that plays to 7,300 yards — the longest course in Central Oregon and a demanding public test in the Pacific Northwest.

Sisters, Oregon sits at the junction of the Cascades Highway and the southern approach to the McKenzie Pass, in a high desert valley where the Three Sisters volcanic peaks — North, Middle, and South Sister — rise to the west and the Deschutes National Forest surrounds the community on three sides. The landscape that Overdorf worked with at Aspen Lakes reflects this setting directly: the course takes its name from the aspen groves that were preserved and incorporated into the design, providing color in autumn that contrasts with the ponderosa pine and high desert vegetation of the Central Oregon plateau. Overdorf's routing uses the natural topography of the site to create a course whose 7,300-yard length is supported by genuine strategic variety rather than simple length accumulation. Elevation changes across the property create different visual perspectives on the Cascade peaks from various points on the course — a feature of the Central Oregon golf landscape that distinguishes the region's courses from the flat terrain that many comparable distance tests occupy.

The mountain views from Aspen Lakes are among the most complete available from any course in the Sisters area, with the Three Sisters visible throughout most of the round. The Cyrus family's development approach reflects a commitment to the long-term quality of the course rather than the rapid-development model that characterized many golf projects of the 1990s. The extended timeline from concept to completion — more than a decade from land acquisition to the opening of the second nine — allowed the family to ensure proper permitting and financing rather than rushing a project whose scale required patient investment. The result is a course built on a permanent foundation appropriate to its 1,084-acre site and its ambitions as a destination for serious golfers visiting Central Oregon.

Sisters and the surrounding Deschutes County area have developed into one of the Pacific Northwest's premier golf destinations, with courses ranging from the Bandon Dunes model of links-style coastal golf to the mountain courses of the Cascade foothills. Aspen Lakes occupies the mountain category with particular distinction: its combination of championship length, Overdorf's design intelligence, and the visual presence of the Three Sisters volcanic peaks makes it one of the signature public golf experiences in the region.