TIM STETSON recalls how frustrated he was early in 1993. The Oregon Golf Association's dream of building its own golf course was stuck on hold.

"The organization had been raising money for the course for so long, and we just couldn't keep up," said Stetson, the OGA president at the time.

The OGA's golf course fund, started in 1976, was up to $1.2 million.

"But we were losing ground," Stetson said. "The money we were raising wasn't keeping up with the increase in the cost of land and construction."

Then the OGA caught a break, and the eventual result was the opening in late April of the OGA Members Course at Tukwila, an 18-hole public course in Woodburn, Ore.

"You bet there is a feeling of great satisfaction," Stetson said at a grand-opening celebration. "This means a lot to many people who have worked so hard."

The OGA looked with pride at being only the second state association to build its own 18-hole course. The Northern California Golf Association is the other with its Poppy Hills course on the Monterey Peninsula. Poppy Hills was opened in June 1986, built at a cost of just under $9 million.

The break that made the Oregon development possible came when the Tukwila Partners, a Woodburn real estate firm, offered to donate 170 of 300 acres it owned. There was, of course, an ulterior motive. The firm stipulated the land had to be used for a golf course in order that 600 homesites could be developed around the perimeter. An agreement between the two parties was signed in May 1993, and work on the course began almost immediately.

"It was a perfect marriage," Stetson said. "It made it possible for us to move ahead, and it gave the Tukwila Partners the golf course they wanted as a part of their development."

The firm laid out plans for 600 homesites. More than 40 already had been sold at the time of the opening of the full 18 holes.

With the problem of land for the course solved, the OGA moved quickly to secure $2 million in loans to combine with its growing fund. A driving range was opened in the spring of 1994, and the first nine holes followed that August.

And it all began in 1976 when Dale Johnson, now retired, was the OGA's executive director. "It was becoming more and more difficult for us to get courses for our tournaments," Johnson said. "It became obvious that we were going to need our own facility to supplement the use of our member clubs' courses."

So the OGA, which has grown to nearly 50,000 members in 154 member clubs in Oregon and southwest Washington, began charging each of its members an annual $1 dues for a Golf Course Acquisition and Usage Fund. Later, the charge was raised to $2 per member and, finally, to $5 when a five-year capital assessment went into effect in 1993.

"There were times when I wondered if we ever would get it done," Johnson said. "There were so many people who worked so hard on keeping the idea alive, but still it was difficult."

Then Stetson came into OGA office in 1989, first as a member of the executive committee. He brought with him a background in lumber and shipping.

"Golf had been important to me for a long time," he said. "I had a feeling that it was time to give something back."

Making the golf course dream come true turned out to be just the challenge he was seeking. Shortly after Stetson became active in the OGA, he was appointed to the organization's Acquisition Committee, and that's when things began to percolate.

"I don't think this would have happened without Tim," Johnson said. "He had some time and he really sank his teeth into the project."

Now Stetson is general manager of the course, which has an advantageous location about 30 miles south of Portland and 15 miles north of Salem. He is looking ahead to the time when a clubhouse can be built to replace the current temporary structure. When it is, the OGA's administrative office will be moved there from its present home in Beaverton, a suburb of Portland.

The project presently stands at $3.7 million, an amount made possible only because of the agreement with the Tukwila Partners.

"The clubhouse won't happen right away because we don't want to overextend ourselves," Stetson said. "But I think it is just a matter of time."

He said that after watching more than 200 golfers show up to play on a rainy first weekend day after the full 18 holes were opened.

The course, which plays to 6,650 yards from its back tees with a par of 72, was designed by Bill Robinson of Florence. It sits on relatively flat land with several fairways meandering through filbert orchards. Those orchards led to the course's name. The word tukwila is an Indian name for filbert, or hazelnut.

Robinson used mounding in several places to enhance character, and water comes into play on 14 holes. The variety of challenges, including some deceptively undulating bentgrass greens, seems to be one of the course's major attractions.

There even is a Scottish look at the short 17th hole. A small but scary-looking pot bunker with a steep sod well is an eye-grabber from the tee.

"That pot bunker is something to talk about more than anything else, but we already have had one player take seven shots to get out of it," said head professional Chuck Siver.

And Siver marveled at an early development after the opening. In less than a month, two players made eagles at one of the layout's most difficult holes, the 437-yard 16th.

Steve Krieger and Rick Dimick, both of whom have worked at the course, were the eagle-makers -- Krieger with a 5-wood against a stiff wind and Dimick with a 5-iron. "Two eagles on that hole this soon?" Siver said. "I never would have dreamed of such a thing."

Play at Tukwila picked up dramatically once the full 18 holes were available.

"The impact was quite a bit more than we expected," Siver said. "We immediately began having 180 to 200 players on weekdays and from 225 to 275 on weekend days. I can see us headed for some 300-player days in July and August."

Within a month, it became obvious one of the new holes, the fourth, would be the course's most challenging. It is a par-5 of a modest-sounding 516 yards from the back tee. But the hole requires a tee shot to a downslope that doglegs to the right. The fairway then dips down to a marshy hazard before resuming on the other side of the hazard and climbing sharply uphill to a well-bunkered green.

"I hear players talking about having a lot of trouble there," Siver said.

The OGA didn't waste time employing the course as a tournament site. Its own Team Championship for 1996 was scheduled there and so were three USGA qualifiers -- for the Junior Amateur, Girls' Junior and Senior Amateur.

OGA officials also express satisfaction that the course is easy to walk and, with the use of four sets of tees, playable for golfers of all skill levels.

For the moment, the OGA Members Course also is one of the most affordable in the Pacific Northwest. OGA members can play nine holes for $13 and 18 holes for $22 on weekdays, $14 and $34 on weekends and holidays. The fees are higher for non-members -- $18 and $32 on weekdays, $20 and $37 on weekends and holidays.

"Providing affordable golf is one of our main goals," said Jim Gibbons, the current OGA executive director. In the process, the organization has also fulfilled a 20-year dream.

-- Bob Robinson