Pete and Cis Johnson

DAYVILLE – Pete and Cis Johnson will be busy this weekend.

The couple own the South Fork Golf Course and will host the Cow Pasture Golf Scramble July 5. The scramble is an annual event held in conjunction with Dayville’s Fourth of July celebrations.

Dayville city recorder Ruthie Moore said the event takes its name from the fact that it was previously held in a cow pasture, before the golf course was opened.

This year marks the third year the Johnsons have hosted the scramble. They bought the golf course in 2006 without ever having played a round of golf themselves. The Johnsons were ranchers from Wyoming looking for a place to live in Oregon to be closer to their grandchildren in Eugene when they found the property.

“We weren’t looking to buy a golf course,” Pete said. “We just wanted a house with some land and a shop for me to play around in. This place was nice, and a golf course just came with it.”

Since taking over the golf course, the couple have made several improvements and are working on more. They added underground watering systems and planted trees around the course.

The Johnsons are working on expanding the six-hole course by three holes. Right now each hole has three tee boxes in order to make a total of 18. The addition is expected to be ready to play about September 2009.

They also are adding a new water hazard to an already difficult sixth hole. The hole is about 160 yards from the tee box and has a narrow fairway with the river and an out-of-play hillside bordering it. The green is being moved 45 yards farther away and a pond will be put directly in front of it.

The golf course features Kentucky bluegrass mixes for the fairways and a specialized grass called creeping bentgrass on the greens.

“Getting bentgrass seed can be expensive,” Pete said. “There’s a guy in St. Paul that sells it for like $8 a pound. The seed is like sand it’s so fine.”

The course is open seven days a week from sun-up to sun-down. The greens fees are $10 a day. Annual memberships are available for $125 for an individual, $175 for a couple and $225 for a family. Contact Pete or Cis at 987-2488 for more information.