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http://www.omniture.com --> Email Story to a Friend July 16, 2006 Doug Miller of Denver, Colo., found Friday afternoon�s round at Centennial Golf Club to his liking. Thanks to new championship courses, golf has become one of the top tourist draws for Southern Oregon. (Mail Tribune / Roy Musitelli) One more round for the Rogue Valley By Damian Mann Mail Tribune Like legions of others who visit Southern Oregon, Denver resident Doug Miller came to Medford Friday for one purpose: golf. "That's the reason we came out here," said 38-year-old Miller, who was with some of his golfing buddies trying out the new Centennial Golf Club at the Rogue Valley Manor. Miller and other visitors have made golf one of the biggest tourist draws for Southern Oregon in the past 10 years, its popularity now on par with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and outdoor recreation. "As the number of courses has grown, golf has joined some of the long-standing attractions to this area," said Carolyn Hill, managing director of the Southern Oregon Visitors Association. With almost 30 courses from Bandon to Klamath Falls, golf has helped bolster this area's image as a prime tourist attraction. Tourist spending in Jackson County during 2004 totaled $381 million, creating 4,260 jobs, according to the visitors association. Hill said her organization has been running ads in many Northern California publications touting the local courses and pointing out that golf can be enjoyed here year-round because of the temperate climate. Southern Oregon's reputation for golfing has increased since the opening in 1999 of Bandon Dunes, which is often ranked as one of the top 10 courses in golfing magazines. The popularity of golfing locally is underscored by the Centennial. Open for seven weeks, Centennial already has sold all 700 of its $149 memberships that entitle users to reduced greens fees and other services. "The participation has been better than expected," said Vince Domenzain, Centennial general manager and director of golf. Greens fees are $62 during the week and $72 on weekends, although residents of Jackson, Josephine, Klamath and Siskiyou counties pay $43 on weekdays and $50 on weekends. While he hasn't seen golfers fly in on Lear Jets like they do at Bandon Dunes, Domenzain said the word is just getting out about his new championship course in Medford. At 7,309 yards, the course is the longest in Jackson County. Domenzain expects a lot of tourists will try out the course during their travels to this area. "Instead of people just coming to Crater Lake or the Oregon Caves or some of our other attractions, they'll just throw golf clubs in the car and include us for one day," he said. Miller said he was worried about playing on a new course, but after trying a few holes at the Centennial, he said, "This is the kind of course I like, with rolling hills. It's not too steep and the fairways are wide enough." He predicted the Centennial will be a popular attraction because of its location in Jackson County, its proximity to the Manor and the fact that it's just off Interstate 5. The visitors association also thinks golf courses will help attract tourists, particularly those staying overnight. This will mean more money for hotels, restaurants and shops, Hill said. "We are a drive market away from the highest concentration of wealth in the United States," Hill said, referring to the San Francisco Bay Area. For every hour of travel time, visitors want to have at least four hours of fun at their destination, said Hill, citing a rule of thumb used in the tourist industry. For Bay Area visitors who travel six hours, Hill said, "That means they need 24 hours of fun." With 400,000 visitors to the association's Web site each year, Hill said information is requested most frequently about Ashland, followed by Crater Lake and then Bandon. She said Web site users appear to want information about not only golfing, but wine and culinary events locally, Crater Lake, water and recreation activities and things to do on the coast. The Oregon Shakespeare Festival continues to be the top local attraction, she said. The visitors association plans to complete a study of how many visitors travel to the seven-county area of Southern Oregon, and to find out what interests them the most. Based on anecdotal information, Hill said golf appears to rank in the top five reasons for visiting this area. Hill doesn't think the growing number of golf courses in the area means the market is saturated, pointing out that at least one course — Cedar Links in Medford — is scheduled to close. Jacksonville resident Bill Leep is counting on the popularity of golf as his company, Sequoia Properties LLC, gets ready to start a Sunriver-type destination resort in Merlin, just north of Grants Pass. He said construction could start within a month to build the 7,400-yard course, a 100-room cottage complex for guests and 200 home sites surrounding the fairways. Scheduled for completion by 2008, the championship course would become the longest course in the Rogue Valley and would also be the first destination resort here. "We'll probably have nine holes in by next June," Leep said. Reach reporter Damian Mann at 776-4476 or [email protected] . Advertisement s Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2006 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. 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