After waking up at our camp site in the trees alongside Oregon’s McKenzie River, we got some coffee going over the fire and loaded up for what was to be our last day on the trail. We ended up taking the scenic route back up the highway and over to Lebanon (Oregon, haha). We had some time to kill before our last stop and figured it would be a good time to catch up on emails and the rest of the world, since we’d been more or less off the grid for the last few days. 

After some sneaky good brewery pizza and a VHS raid at a local thrift store (50 cents per tape!), it was time to head to our last stop: Woodburn Golf Club. Months prior, I had told Luke about Woodburn, a sand green golf course in the city of Woodburn, just south of Portland. My grandma used to live there, and any time we would go to visit her, we would always pass by this course. At a young age, I was also so confused by the sand greens. I hadn’t ever heard of sand greens before. Time went on and I learned a little more about it, but it wasn’t until I met Luke, Lie + Loft’s founder, that I truly began to understand the history around sand green golf courses, why they exist and why they matter. Suffice to say, I was pretty stoked to get to play one with him. 

We decided to put out a bat call on the L+L instagram to see if anyone wanted to join us. Super late notice and very little details around what we would actually be doing, and where. “Bring your sticks and meet at this spot,” we said. Sure enough, two brave and curious souls showed up — our new homies Chris + Wes. Not bad for about an hours notice on a weekday! 

The look on both of their faces was priceless as they got out of their car and looked around as if to say “Where the hell are we?”, but accompanied by that was a smile and a warm greeting, immediately establishing common ground and getting familiar with one another as we went to the pay station. There’s no crew at Woodburn. No starter and no one in the building to direct you. Everything is done on the honor system. You pay with cash or by Venmo (awesome), and head to the first tee.