As if you needed another excuse to schedule the trip, we've got a really good one.

Between Bandon Dunes and the new Chambers Bay, the Pacific Northwest has become the dealmaking golfer's summertime version of Phoenix. If you don't already have business taking you out there, it can be very tempting to find some. And I have another stop to add to your itinerary, one that might actually let you get some work done: Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club, a.k.a. the Great Pumpkin. Located just 24 miles west of Portland, this unusual facility has both a championship-caliber private course and a top-notch public routing, meaning you can sneak in two rounds before anyone even notices you're gone.

Serious golf fans may remember Pumpkin's private Witch Hollow Course as the place where Tiger Woods won his third U.S. Amateur in 1996. The Bob Cupp design presents 7,017 yards of gorgeous, clever mayhem mandating the kind of decision-making that usually requires a conference call. Consider number 18, for example, a 545-yard puzzle encompassing two ravine crossings and a green that falls off quicker than the Nasdaq on a bad day.

The 6,839-yard, public-access Ghost Creek Course is another Cupp that runneth over with rugged, clean-cut fun as it whisks through forests, meanders through open meadows and curls around two lakes. Classical bunkers feature overhanging edges so pronounced they cast shadows, and a creek appears and disappears throughout the round like a specter. Number 17 proffers a great par-four of just over 300 yards with several landing areas protected by water and a tight two-tiered green.

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