Cascade Golfer April 2022 by Varsity Communications

VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 1 • APRIL 2022 • COMPLIMENTARY

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PUETZ 2022 SPRING HOT LIST! Chambers Bay to host U.S. Women’s Am Remembering Fred Couples’ Masters win 2022 CG Cup events announced Walla Walla a golf travel favorite N ORTHWE ST GO L F N EW S & VI E W S

202 2 Players

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A LOOK

INSIDE Features

Departments 4 PUBLISHER’S PITCH 6 SHORT GAME

• Highlander GC ready for 2022 • Castle is the Queen • Puget Sound Senior Golfers • UW to host Pac-12 • 14th Cascade Golfer Cup • Duke’s Seafood Scholarship • CG’s Match Play • Cascade Golfer Players Card • Northwest Golfers Playbook

25 RISK VS REWARD • Salish Cliffs | Hole No. 1

26 IN THE BAG

• Titleist SM9 wedges • TaylorMade Stealth • XXIO R12 product Line • Srixon Golf Balls • Mizuno Pro irons • TaylorMade Spider GT • PING i525 irons • Cleveland ’22 Bloom women’s • Orlimar package sets • Bridgestone 2022 Tour B

38 TEEING OFF • Bret Boone

56 SAVE SOME GREEN • Meadow Park GC • Oakbrook GC • Eagle’s Pride GC

40 46 52

Fred Couples is Rain Man We relive Fred’s Masters win 30 years later

Walla Walla Calling

This Washington jewel is bringing in golfers and wine lovers from around the world

Our favorite 19th Holes — Part 1

Here’s some great spots to relax after your round

PUETZ GOLF SAVINGS 32 - 37

58 POSTGAME • By the numbers 2021 THIS PAGE Port Ludlow Golf Club, designed by Robert Muir Graves, has been a standard bearer for Puget Sound excellence for decades and only gets more glorious each year. ON THE COVER Featuring 36 holes of championship golf (our cover featuring the Coal Creek Course’s 17th fairway) framed by stunning, panoramic views of Lake Washington, Mt. Rainier, the Olympic and Cascade Mountains, and the Seattle skyline, Newcastle is a Northwest Neverland.

Win Free Golf and More! Spring is here and golf courses are still booming in 2022. Enter to win some CG Swag and hit the links on us. Check out all these courses we are sending our readers to. Get on the green!

Gamble Sands GC • Brewster

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Congratualtions to the CG SWAG winners from the Decenber 2021 issue:

• Camaloch GC Twosome and Radmor Golf Swag • Page 12

Eagles Pride Twosome & NW Golfers Playbook Steven Ivey • Olympia

• Gamble Sands Twosome • Page 21

The Classic Twosome • Bob Clark • Bonney Lake

• Four Boeing Classic Tickets and Two Northwest Golfers Playbooks • Page 58

Whidbey GC & Swinomish GC Twosomes Craig Bowen • Mount Vernon

APRIL 2022

Volume 16 • Issue 1 • APRIL 2022

CASCADE

GOLFER cascadegolfer.com Cascade Golfer is published and owned by Varsity Communications, Inc. It’s mailed via USPS to 50,000 homes and e-mailed to 100,000 golfers in Puget Sound.

VARSITY COMMUNICATIONS, INC.

PUBLISHER’S PITCH

DICK STEPHENS

Our 2022 offers, deals, events and scholarships are ready to roll

ello and welcome back to the 16th season of Cascade Golfer. Since we last chatted back with December’s issue of CG, so much has gone on here with the magazine, our golf projects and the world we live in. Our time, heart, focus and energy has been expended on managing Covid and the winter variants that if you’re like me, you’re ready to start anew with spring and 2022. It’s been more than a journey for all of us here — one filled with high highs and a few low lows. But we’re better for it, stronger and more grateful to our countless clients, partners and readers that have all been pulling the same rope as we have been. Golf is still booming while we glide through this slalom course.

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Seattle Golf Show is back — thank you! EDITORIAL STAFF P U B LI S H E R S Dick Stephens & Kirk Tourtillotte E D I TO R Tony Dear ART D I R E C T I O N & G R A P H I C D E S I G N Robert Becker W R IT E R S Bob Sherwin & Jim Street FOR EDITORIAL SUBMISSIONS AND INQUIRIES: Dick Stephens • Publisher stephens@varsitycommunications.com FOR ACCOUNTING INQUIRIES: Kirk Tourtillotte • Publisher kirk@varsitycommunications.com

ADVERTISING & MARKETING STAFF SALES/MARKETING MANAGER & TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR Simon Dubiel simon@cascadegolfer.com COPYRIGHT 2022 Cascade Golfer. PRINTED IN THE USA. All rights reserved. Articles, photos, advertising and/ or graphics may not be reprinted without the written permission of the publisher. Advertising and editorial contained herein does not constitute endorsement of Cascade Golfer or Varsity Communications, Inc. Publisher reserves the right to edit letters, photos and copy submitted and publish only excerpts. The publisher has made every effort to ensure the accuracy of all material contained in this issue. However, as unpredictable changes and errors do occur, the publisher can assume no liability for errors, omissions or changes.

Crystal clear evidence of that was the Seattle Golf Show we just produced in early March at the Washington State Convention Center. After more than a year off because of the pandemic, the show came back to life with nearly 150 exhibits and a stellar lineup of sponsors like Puetz Golf, Seattle BMW, Corona Premier and many others. The show was still a masked event to be in compliance with local mandate rules, but thousands came out to attend the show and stand with the sport and the show’s comeback. It was exciting and our honor to put on such a great event after this long pause. The show was very robust, and albeit different to do it in what we hope is the tail end of the pandemic, it was special to be in person again. We can’t wait for the 2023 Seattle Golf Show. In addition to the Seattle show, we produced the Portland, Connecticut, Kansas City and St. Louis Golf Shows all February and March as well. It’s been an amazing ride, and an education to see how each market has responded to the sport uniquely. For us, the coastal shows had a little different overall vibe versus our productions in the Midwest. The culture of the marketplace in how they have managed Covid is different, and we respected each spot and fanbase on the map accordingly.

Golf is still booming One thing that was spot on in each show was enthusiasm for the game, spending on goods and services and a general bullish outlook for 2022. See our Post Game story on page 58 to back that up. Rounds played in 2021 eclipsed the highest point in American golf history back in 2000. The ‘Tiger Era’ was the driving force behind the golf boom 20-plus years ago — this time it took a global pandemic to fuel golf’s surge.

All photos are courtesy of the course or individual unless otherwise noted.

CG’s fan loyalty card and playbook on sale now PRODUCER AND OWNER OF THE PROUD CHARTER MEMBER

APRIL 2022

Back to you, our fans, and readers, we have teed up a 2022 to celebrate your hunger and readiness for another record year. Our Cascade Golfer Players Card is off to a huge start — with 11 rounds of golf for only $279 it’s a no brainer. We also just rolled out our Northwest Golfers Playbook, which is filled to the brim with

120-plus offers from golf courses and facilities all over Washington and Oregon. However, Puget Sound has the most offers and after buying the book and using it twice, you are already getting your ROI. See our offer in this issue.

CG Cup, Match Play and Corona Premier Shootout at Gamble Sands are set Over a decade ago, we realized our followers wanted more from us in the face-to-face world, and our 2022 Cascade Golfer Cup series is scheduled and set with a slate of two-person team events that are just as fun as they are competitive. We’re happy to announce we will again have our Cascade Golfer Match Play Championship starting soon and our 2nd Annual Corona Premier Shootout at Gamble Sands will again highlight our warm weather madness. The Shootout is our only two-day event, and we truly feel it’s the summer golf event of the year.

Duke’s Seafood and Moscrip family generosity makes a difference — scholarship nominations being accepted now Last, but certainly not least, we have again renewed our partnership with Duke’s Seafood in bringing Puget Sound youth golfers another year of generous scholarships to worthy aspiring players. John and Duke Moscrip crafted this program with us many years ago and dozens of young golfers through the area have seen over $20,000 in cumulative gifts go right to work. The recipients don’t have to be state championship caliber. The Moscrips have done a masterful job at recognizing young people living right, academically focused and playing golf for the love of the game. So, if you are a youth player, a coach, parent or a supporter of golf and have a worthy applicant that could use these funds to deepen their association with the sport, send a letter of inquiry to stephens@varsitycommunications.com today. You find all this information in this issue and on CascadeGolfer.com. We are ready to go in 2022. Keep up with us online and we will see you here and on the links this spring and summer. THANK YOU for standing with us during these interesting times and, as always, — TAKE IT EASY. cascadegolfer.com

SHORT GAME Highlander GC survives almost insurmountable odds heroically

t certainly wasn’t the only course to suffer during last summer’s unprecedented heatwave when temperatures reached an incredible 120 degrees in some parts of central Washington, but Highlander Golf Club, seven miles southeast of Wenatchee, had a harder time than most. On June 25, during some of the most insufferable heat, the course lost a vital source of irrigation when a booster pump connected to the Columbia River, about three quarters of a mile away, suddenly malfunctioned. “We got it back on Sunday,” says the course’s Director of Golf and Head Professional Mark Babst, “but the two days of water we missed was enough to severely damage the greens.” Babst describes what the course endured as “like having a blow torch pointed at it” and though the longer grass in the rough just about survived, the course’s shorter grass took a colossal hit. Highlander, one of our favorite courses in central Washington, has T1 Bent grass greens, and anyone who knows anything about grass knows bent is a cool-season turf that really doesn’t do well in the heat, especially not that kind of heat and definitely not when 175-200 golfers

APRIL 2022

a day are walking on it. And matters only got worse when, after a period of heavy watering that sought to revive the grass, Pythium set in. Commonly associated with hot, humid conditions, Pythium fungus is a common soil-inhabiting water mold that causes many different turfgrass diseases. Symptoms include wilting, stunting, uneven plant growth, crown rot and, eventually plant death. Needless to say, getting Highlander back into an acceptable, playable condition took an awful lot of hard work and it’s a testament to the efforts and expertise of Babst, Superintendent Mark Daley and the maintenance crew of seven that Highlander remained open. “We dropped the green fee significantly,” says Babst. “And we had to limit cart use, but we didn’t close at all.” Several rounds of punching, feeding and sanding did deter many golfers, a lot of whom suspected the owners were giving up on the course and selling it, but Babst insists Highlander is on the way back. “We’re not going anywhere,” he says. “Work continues and though supply chain issues have made sod very

hard to come by, we’re taking a delivery from British Columbia’s Bos Sod Farms in the second week of March. And not only will we improve the surfaces, we’re also taking the opportunity to change the dimensions and slopes on a few of the greens, the 9th, 11th and 15th in particular.” Faced with a similar crisis, many courses would likely have expired. And Babst admits there were days when the situation did indeed look hopeless. But though conditions aren’t back to what they were quite yet, Highlander survived and is preparing for another busy season. We’ll see you up there sometime this summer when we hope the temperature is a bit more comfortable.

cascadegolfer.com

SHORT GAME

EXTRA

Q A

Castle is the Queen

Q & A with reigning U.S. Women’s Amateur Champion Jensen Castle as she eyes her title defense at Chambers Bay this August

A CONVERSATION WITH TONY DEAR • CG EDITOR

hambers Bay will host its fourth USGA Championship August 8-14 when 156 of the best women amateur golfers in the world descend on University Place. They will compete for the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship title and one of the great trophies in world sport – the magnificent Robert Cox Cup named for the Scot and member of British Parliament who donated it in 1896 making it the longest-serving original USGA championship trophy. Its current holder is Jensen Castle, a University of Kentucky junior who pulled off quite a comeback in last year’s championship at Westchester Country Club, just outside New York City. After a seven-over-par 79 in Monday’s first round of stroke play qualifying, the 20-year-old from South Carolina needed a one-under 71 in round two just to make it to a 12-women play-off for a spot in the knockout rounds that would decide the eventual winner. She entered match play seeded 63rd and won six straight matches defeating the University of Arizona’s Yu-Chiang Hou 2&1 in the 36-hole final. With five months to go before she defends her title, Castle answered a few questions for us between Marketing/Management classes and golf practice.

How used to media attention have you become since winning last year? I think I have gotten more used to the media attention and become more comfortable since the Am. A few minutes after I won, I was told my life would change forever. I laughed thinking they were kidding, but it really did change. The USGA is a very prestigious golf association that’s known around the world. With that, there were a lot of people who were watching the tournament on TV so I’ve had random people recognize me while traveling or when I’ve been in the grocery store, and that’s pretty neat.

Has much changed at the University of Kentucky for you or is it business as usual? Kentucky is still the same, very business as usual. My team and I have been focusing on our season and getting after our goals. All of us are extremely competitive and we love seeing each other succeed, so it makes everyone better. It’s a very special team here at Kentucky.

Have you visited this part of the country before? I have never been to Washington! The closest I’ve been is California for the U.S. Women’s Open last year at Olympic. However that’s it. I’ve actually never been to any of the states on the top left border of the U.S. so I’m extremely excited to see what it’s like.

Your victory earned you a place on the U.S. Curtis Cup team for the match at Conwy Golf Club in Wales (Americans won 12½-7). Was that your first experience of links golf and did you enjoy it? Conwy is a links course but, instead of wind and rain, we got sunshine and calm. I did get something of an idea of how to play a links though watching the British and Irish players hit shots that our team was not. They usually pitched their approach shots short of the green while we flew it onto the greens. I’m excited to play another course similar to that. It brings out a different side of players and you get to see what other shots they have in their bag.

APRIL 2022 2022 APRIL

cascadegolfer.com

SHORT GAME Puget Sound Senior Golfers prove the sport is a game for life

n 2017, and again in 2018, we featured a group of 55-and-over male golfers that met every other Thursday between the end of March and the end of September on one of Seattle’s or the South Sound’s public courses for a few hours of competition, companionship and, most of all, fun. Commenting in the second of those articles was Paul Quay who has been a member of the organization since reading the first. A Professor of Oceanography at UW, Quay certainly appreciated the opportunity to get out for a game of golf with players of a similar age and ability, a sentiment he believes is true now more than ever. “I haven’t played much the last couple of years because of the pandemic,” he says, “so now I’m really looking forward to those games. I love visiting the wide range of courses we go to and having a fun few hours with guys who have become good friends. I really want to get back into it and plan on playing at least 14 of the 16 events this year.” The Puget Sound Senior Golfers was founded in 1987 by retired Boeing employee Dave Geary and, at one time, boasted a membership of 175. Despite all the Covid-related restrictions of the last couple of years, the list of golfers eager to make new friends and remain active in the game

APRIL 2022

still numbers 138, and the society’s 35th season (2020 was cancelled because of the pandemic) promises to be every bit as enjoyable and memorable as any. Taking up three of the TPSSG’s officers and board positions is Larry Karmil, a former restaurant manager and newspaper man, who joined in 2010 and is about to start his 12th year as treasurer. Also the foursomes chair and tournament setup coordinator, it’s his job to liaise with the venue, write the checks, ensure every player gets a scorecard and record the scores. Typically 80 or 90 members will show up at each event (about 15 percent make it to all 16) though 69-year-old Karmil intends to make all of them. “I definitely don’t want to miss any,” he says. “It’s so good playing with friends or guys I’ve not met before. There are a few members with single-digit handicaps who still take their game quite seriously, but the emphasis is always on having fun.” Annual dues are $55 and the entry fee for each tournament is $40 which includes greens fee and prize fund. Members do not require an official GHIN handicap and are given an internal handicap after three rounds for use in future TPSSG tournaments. Members are matched with others of a similar skill level and play in divisions.

There are no official meetings at the events and players are able to come and go as they please. Some, says Karmil, will meet up for breakfast before their tee time while others will stick around for a beer after they’ve finished. Rounds usually take between four and five hours, the Rules of Golf are observed with a few concessions like winter rules, and scores will usually range from the low 70s to the low 100s. “We do have a season-long contest culminating with the Club Championship at the Home Course in Dupont,” Karmil adds, “but there are prizes at each tournament — a 1st gross, three net awards, lowest number of putts, and front and back KPs.” The average age of the group at the start of the year was 74 but rose a smidge when 79-year-old Gary East, a Seattle-based commercial real estate and electronic commerce lawyer, joined in February. East has been playing the game for 11 years and tees it up at Jackson Park, West Seattle and Mill Creek whenever a friend invites him for a game. A 90s-shooter, East plans on playing all 16 TPSSG events this year. “It’ll be great to meet the other members and play a lot of courses that will be new to me,” he says “I can’t wait to get involved.” For more information, visit www.tpssg.net.

cascadegolfer.com

SHORT GAME

I Enter to Win a Camaloch Twosome

rab a buddy and get on up to Camano Island to play Camaloch, a hidden gem for the north-enders. We’re sending two of you try to tame their 15th and 16th, two of the tougher back-to-back tee shots you will find. Enter to win at Cas-

cadeGolfer.com.

APRIL 2022

UW ready to host — and perhaps crown one of its own — Pac-12 Championship at Aldarra

f you want to know who to watch for in the upcoming Pac-12 Golf Championship (April 25-27 at Aldarra Golf Club in Fall City, Wash.) just check the watch lists. Pac-12 Conference golfers, traditionally and annually, rank among the best in the country and are well represented on the national watch lists of elite players. Among the nation’s top 30 players on the Ben Hogan Award list this spring were five from the Pac-12 – R.J. Manke of UW, David Puig and Cameron Sisk of ASU, and Michael Thorbjornsen and Karl Vilips of Stanford. The Haskins Award, considered the Heisman Trophy of men’s college golf, has those same players on its watch list, with Manke and Puig ranked among the top ten. Past Pac-12 Haskins Award winners include: Scott Simpson, USC (1977), Sam Randolph, USC (1985), Billy Mayfair, ASU (1987), Robert Gamez, Arizona (1989), Phil Mickelson, ASU (1990-91-92), Tiger Woods, Stanford (1996), Jamie Lovemark, USC (2007), Kevin Chappell, UCLA (2008), Patrick Cantlay, UCLA (2011), Michael Kim, Cal (2013), Patrick Rodgers, Stanford (2014), Maverick McNealy, Stanford (2015) and Norman Xiong, Oregon (2018). This spring, watch the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings, which change periodically depending on the results of the various collegiate tournaments around the country. By

UW star R.J. Manke is a favorite to win

mid-February, Manke, who grew up in Lakewood, Wash., and was part of Pepperdine’s 2021 national championship team before transferring, was ranked No. 2 based on his victories in three fall events. Sisk, who won the Maridoe Collegiate Invitational, was ranked eighth. Other Pac-12 players who have been ranked in the Sagarin top 100 include: Vilips, Thorbjornsen, Puig, Preston Summerhays and Mason Anderson of ASU, Christian Banke of Arizona, Noah Woolsey of UW, Barclay Brown of Stanford and USC’s Jackson Rivera. Other conference players who could be factors at the championship are: Henry Shimp, Nate Menon and Ethan Ng of Stanford, Devon Bling and Eddie Lai of UCLA, Blake Tomlinson and Tristan Mandur of Utah, and Oregon’s Tom Gueant. All of them are expected to tee it up at Aldarra. These Pac-12 golfers have yet to make their mark on a global scale and their names don’t carry much weight, yet. However, if history is our measure, there’s a good chance some of them will rank among the best in the world one day. Just look at some of the Pac-12 champions over the past decade: Jon Rahm, ASU (2016), Collin Morikawa, Cal (2019), and Patrick Cantlay, UCLA (2011). Earlier this spring, they were ranked 1, 2 and 3 in the world, respectively.

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14th Cascade Golfer Cup features a star-studded lineup of courses

ast year the Cascade Golfer Cup safely resumed our April-to-October schedule in full and, responding to the pent-up demand and interest in getting back in the swing, we added two more events to bring us up to eight for the first time. We also ended the season with a Chambers Bay event and, once again, we’ll begin and end there in 2022. We are adding a new course this summer — Oakbrook Golf Club in Lakewood, replacing White Horse this year. Here’s the scoop. Season Opener at Chambers Bay, April 16 — We begin where we ended — Chambers Bay. The University Place course will host a two-person, best-ball Stableford event. It’s the ultimate kickoff. Players Championship at Washington National, May 7 — Three weeks later, it’s the Players Championship at Washington National — our 10th consecutive year at the Auburn layout. This event will be a two-person best ball. Cascade Golfer Challenge at Salish Cliffs, May 28 — Salish Cliffs Golf Club in Shelton will host the first major of the summer on — a two-person shamble. Both golfers tee off then use the best drive for their second shot. They then will use their own shots to finish the hole. This allows everyone to hopefully play from the fairway. Best Ball at Port Ludlow, June 18 — Beautiful Port Ludlow, designed by Robert Muir Graves, will be the site of the fourth event, a two-person best ball. This is a case where the journey is as good as the destination. Golfers can take a ferry from Port Townsend, Port Angeles, Kingston, Bainbridge Island or Bremerton. Michelob ULTRA Open, July 9 — A unique, two-person, stroke play, aggregate Stableford format will be used for the fifth event of the CG Cup at The Home Course in DuPont. The score you make at each hole gives you a certain number of points. The champion is the team with the most combined points. Puetz Golf Shootout, Aug. 20 — Oakbrook makes its return with a two-person shamble. This is the same format as Salish Cliffs. Cascade Golfer Invitational, Sept. 10 — The Classic Golf Club in Spanaway will run the only two-person scramble in the eight-event schedule. Scramble is one of golf’s oldest formats. There can be subtle local rules, but generally the players tee off then decide which drive to use. The team records one score for the hole. Fall Classic at Chambers Bay, Oct. 1 — Chambers Bay finishes the 2022 season with a two-person best ball. This differs from the scramble in that both players use their own ball through the hole and the best score between them is recorded. Each of the tournaments is a separate event with its own prize-pool. Prizes include stay and play packages, twosomes and foursomes at various courses and golf products. Our season standings will be used to crown a champion in both gross and net divisions. The Cup prizes out all teams finishing in the top 10 in each division at every event and on the season. And you get free beer. Time to get inside the ropes. Anyone can play with an established handicap, a playing partner and a desire to have fun. Visit CascadeGolfer. com/Cup or email simon@ cascadegolfer.com.

2022

Cascade Golfer Cup Great prizes at every tournament April 16 8 am

May 7

Season Opener at Chambers Bay Players Championship at Washington National

7:30 am

11 am

May 28

Cascade Golfer Challenge at Salish Cliffs

June 18

Best Ball at Port Ludlow

10 am

July 9

Michelob ULTRA Open at The Home Course

11 am

August 20 Puetz Golf Shootout at Oakbrook

11:30 am

Sept. 10 9 am

Cascade Golfer Invitational at The Classic

Net and Gross Divisions 2-Player Format

The Fall Classic at Chambers Bay

Oct. 1 8 am

Open to all golfers with a handicap

Get a partner and get inside the ropes! To Register Visit

Contact: Simon Dubiel simon@cascadegolfer.com (206) 778-7686

cascadegolfer.com Click on the Cup!

WELCOMING

PRESENTING

SUPPORTING

Play at beautiful Snoqualmie Falls Golf Course

Scenic 18 Hole Public Golf Course In Fall City, Washington, East of Seattle

Golf Digest Best Places to Play in 2004 and 2008!

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APRIL 2022

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Available at snoqualmiefallsgolf.com 425-441-8049 or 425-222-5244

Duke’s Seafood awards Cleveland High School golf team it’s first gift of 2022

wo years ago, Jon Hughes and Steve Barker were enjoying a drink in the Attic Pub in Seattle’s Madison Park neighborhood. As it had quite often, the subject of Cleveland High School’s golf team came up. Hughes, the school‘s athletic director, was explaining to his friend how the golf program’s lack of history and the fact it had rarely included more than half a dozen players, together with the effect Covid was having on the athletic department and schools in general, meant that recruiting players had been incredibly difficult. Indeed, just three kids had signed up that year. The lack of a coach didn’t help either. “I think Steve had grown tired of me talking about it,” says Hughes now. “So, he just said, ‘Okay, I’ll do it.’” Barker, a manager at facilities solution company MacDonald Miller, really didn’t have much to work with, but quickly showed what he was willing to contribute to the effort by donating his stipend — about $2,000 — to help purchase some necessities. “It was obviously a great gesture,” says Hughes. “We were able to get some uniforms, caps and bags.” Last fall, Barker took a back seat as the school found another coach eager to step in. Bob Mathews had grown up in Seattle and graduated from Garfield HS in 1982. He had been involved in coaching high school athletics for 20 years, having started out as the freshman boys’ basketball coach at Newport HS in Bellevue in 2002. He became the JV coach and assistant varsity coach before leaving in 2016. He then helped coach basketball at Bellevue HS for a couple of years. After being out of coaching for a while, Mathews, a huge fan of both basketball and golf, began to miss the thrill of helping kids grow, learn, and succeed. The former stockbroker and housebuilder knew that if he was to get back into coaching, golf would be his No. 1 choice, so he contacted the Newport golf coach to ask cascadegolfer.com

if there were any positions open. Fortunately, Coach Frank Nimmo was looking for an assistant. Mathews spent a season at Newport before Jon Hughes at Cleveland contacted him. “Jon asked if I would be interested in joining Cleveland’s golf program ahead of the Fall 2021 season,” Mathews recalls. “And what a season it was. I had a great group of kids who all had the desire to learn how to play golf.” Mathews soon discovered there was a wide range of abilities in the team that practices and plays its home matches a mile away at Jefferson Park. He had two sisters who had been to the driving range a few times with their dad but not actually been on a golf course. “But they were soon competing in nine-hole matches,” he says. “Another girl, a junior, had played a little recreational golf but ended up playing in every match.” Really, the only kids with any experience at all were the Tounaloms, Colin and Sophia, who had both started out in the First Tee program at Jefferson a few years ago. “Sophia placed fourth in her first All-Metro match and then received 2nd Team All-Metro honors,” says Mathews. “Colin, a sophomore, was the only boy we had for a while. He managed to break 50 for nine holes and really held his own despite going up against the other teams’ best players by himself. Colin played in last year’s District 2 tournament and, this May, Sophia will play in her first.” In October, the Cleveland girls’ team won its first ever All-Metro encounter, beating Lincoln HS at Jefferson and, though it was just one match, and no one is claiming Cleveland’s end of season stats boggled anyone’s mind, it was a remarkable achievement considering the barriers the school faces. As Mathews, who took the team to Dick’s Drive-In to celebrate, says, not many kids at inner-city schools are outfitted for golf. “We started with four kids that didn’t have any golf equipment,” he adds. “Most turned out in tennis shoes, and one even wore flip-flops. We had to scramble for clubs and bags every time we played.” But Mathews was impressed with how the kids stepped up. “They came to all the practices and took on all our instructions and coaching,” he says. “And they bonded really well.” Right now, the Cleveland HS golf teams boast four girls and eight boys — a testament to the positive influence first Steve Barker and now Bob Mathews have been on Cleveland Eagles golf. AD Jon Hughes doesn’t hesitate when asked what spurred this new enthusiasm for the game. “The coaches,” he says. “Definitely the coaches. They’ve made a huge difference.” John Moscrip and Duke’s Seafood couldn’t be happier awarding the golf scholarship to the teams at Cleveland HS. Giving kids a chance to learn and play the greatest game in the world is what the scholarship is all about. But we can all help. If you have any unused golf equipment in the house (ideally not more than, say, 20 years old) the kids at Cleveland would be more than happy, not to say extremely grateful, to take it off your hands. If you’d like to donate something you won’t miss, please contact Jon Hughes at jchughes@seattleschools.org. If you wish to nominate a worthy young golfer or entity, please send you submission to stephens@varsitycommunications.com and tonydear71@comcast.net — subject line Duke’s Scholarship Nominee. cascadegolfer.com

APRIL 2022

2022

202 2 Players Card

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Highlander GC

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Snoqualmie Falls GC

Apple Tree Resort

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Eagles Pride GC

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Apple Tree Resort

Salish Cliffs GC

Cedars at Dungeness

Eagles Pride GC

Highlander GC

Camaloch GC

Cascade Golfer Players Card has 11 rounds for only $279 — that’s $1.40 a hole

W Port Ludlow GC

Puetz Bucket of Balls

Sudden Valley GC

Snoqualmie Falls GC

Whidbey GC

Kahler Mt. Club

11 Rounds of golf for only $279! Good for one 18 hole greens fee at all 11 courses!

To Purchase or for more information visit 16

APRIL 2022

cascadegolfer.com

hat a change for golf from what you knew in the past. We are playing the game in greater numbers with higher frequency and course operators will tell you they’ve never been so busy. Even country clubs, devastated a few years back by a declining economy and declining memberships and more recently by pandemic restrictions, are maxing out member rolls. Golf is ahead of the curve as the world recovers from the pandemic. For those returning to the game, the Cascade Golfer Players Card can help you get on public courses more often for much less. The 2022 CG Player Cards will cover you at 11 different Northwest courses. This is the 10th edition of our Players Card, and the courses involved are many of the Northwest’s finest, spread throughout the state. Old favorites like Salish Cliffs in Shelton and Apple Tree in Yakima are two of Washington’s more playable and enjoyable layouts on either side of the mountains that are part of this year’s savings. And there are nine other east and west courses that are CG Card benefit providers. Other top courses on the eastern side are Highlander in East Wenatchee and Kahler Mt. Club in Leavenworth. There are six on the west side, up and down the I-5 corridor — Eagles Pride, the JBLM military-base layout just south of Tacoma, Port Ludlow and Whidbey around the Sound, Sudden Valley in Bellingham, Camaloch on Camano Island and Snoqualmie Falls in Fall City. However, at a time when restrictions are easing, one remains — the number of Players Cards is limited, at the time of printing only 50 remained. How long they last is uncertain as folks know they can save a bunch of cash. The card costs $279 but that’s a faction of the $700 total savings without it. Log on to CascadeGolfer.com and get your card today. cascadegolfer.com

All roads in CG’s Match Play 2022 lead to Salish Cliffs – sign up today

ascade Golfer, much like the NCAA and its ‘March Madness’ basketball tournament, has its own crazy event. It’s the CG Match Play tourney that begins with ‘May Madness’ and ends with ‘August Lunacy.’ A 64-player field begins play at the end of May, and the field is then whittled down to the Elite Eight who advance once again to Salish Cliffs for a two-day tournament in August. This year marks the tenth edition of the tournament. Like the NCAAs, players are seeded in regions. Your opening match will be against someone with a similar handicap from your same area. You and your opponent decide which course and which tees to play. The winner moves on and plays a match about once a month. You’ll need to win three matches to move on to Salish Cliffs. It’s competitive certainly, but everyone can play because of the handicap system. A qualified handicap is therefore necessary to participate. Low handicappers need to play at their best throughout the tournament because the higher handicappers can occasionally spring up with an exceptional round for the upset. But the loaded-up handicapper also needs to play above his/her usual standard in each subsequent round for continued success. Whatever the skill level, the tournament puts a premium on clutch play. The cost to enter (and a Salish Cliffs 2-for-1 deal — a $100 value) is only $85. Keep winning and the prizes only get better. Enter at CGMatchPlay.com and let the fun begin. Log on to CGMatchPlay.com to learn more and register, or email Cascade Golfer tournament coordinator Simon Dubiel at simon@cascadegolfer.com with questions.

2022

CASCADE GOLFER MATCH PLAY

CHAMPIONSHIP

THE ROAD TO SALISH CLIFFS Matches played locally at the golf course of your choice. • Net Based Matches. • Open to the first 64 golfers with an active handicap. • You choose the course and the tees. • Matches start in May with a four week window to play.

GET INSIDE THE ROPES!

• Win a match and win a prize. Prizes only get better as you climb the bracket. • Win three matches and advance to the Final Eight August 26th - 28th at Salish Cliffs.

For more information or to register visit

CGMatchPlay.com cascadegolfer.com

Add a little fun and competition to your 2022 golf schedule!

APRIL 2022

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With 120 offers, Northwest Players Handbook pays you back after a couple of redemptions — be in the black all summer

The 2022 Northwest Golfers Playbook is back. Here’s to saving some green while playing on some of the best greens in the region. Two new courses are included in this year’s Playbook, closer to the South-enders, with Oakbrook Golf Club in Lakewood and The Classic Golf Club in Spanaway now in the fold. With golf still going bonkers as the pandemic, we hope, continues to fade, the NWGPB offers a ton of savings at many of your local favorites. That includes some of the top courses in the state as well as your local favorites. Salish Cliffs, White Horse and Apple Tree also have something for you. And, how about some of those hidden gems that don’t get talked about enough? At Port Ludlow, you can get two rounds with a cart any day of the week for just $109 — a $30 savings over the rack rate. Eagles Pride? Get a foursome for $100 and save $40. Avalon? Get 25 percent off your 18-hole green fee. All ten of the Premier-managed municipal courses are in the book and you’ll save $5 at each. The Nile? Foster? Camaloch? All three have an offer for you. We are coming off a two-year span with so many new players getting involved in the game. You can save on golf lessons at multiple locations including Puetz, GolfTec, Pacific Northwest Golfer Center and Snohomish Valley Golf Center (SVGC). And Puetz and SVGC have you covered on range balls, too. Deals on golf gear, apparel and more? Puetz Golf includes $10 in Puetz Bucks with the purchase of every Playbook in addition to their lesson, range and repair offers. If you live on the north-end, we have several tracks for you to hit up including Camaloch and Gleneagle and even something for you in Whatcom County with North Bellingham, Sudden Valley and Homestead part of the Playbook. For those looking to take it on vacation make sure you bring it if you’re headed to the Tri-Cities, Suncadia, Olympic Peninsula, Bellingham, Portland, Hood River, the Oregon Coast or Central Oregon. With more than 120 pages of golf deals, you simply need to use a coupon or two and you’re already in the black. The book is sold online for $39.95. Though readers can use the code SAVEBIGONGOLF to shave $5 off that, making a good deal even better. Pick one up at NWGolfersPlaybook.com and don’t be afraid to tell someone at the course you appreciate them being in the Playbook when you make your next tee time. Get out and play more golf! cascadegolfer.com

APRIL 2022

SHOOTOUT AT

GAMBLE SANDS

Two Amazing Days of Golf at Gamble Sands Including an Evening on the New Quicksands Short Course

JOIN US JULY 23-24 BEST GOLF WEEKEND OF THE YEAR! CONTACT: Simon Dubiel simon@cascadegolfer.com • (206) 778-7686

Two-Person Best Ball Net and Gross Divisions SPONSORED BY

SHORT GAME Corona Premier Gamble Sands Shootout returns July 23-34 – register today

ow could we not go back and do it all again? Last summer’s Corona Premier Shootout at Gamble Sands was one of the most memorable events we’ve ever staged, and the consensus for the 112 participants was it would need to be repeated. So that’s exactly what we’re doing. The event will return July 23-24 to one of the state’s most beloved courses for two days of unbelievable fun, competition, and more laughs than you can shake a 48-inch driver at. David McLay Kidd’s awesome Sands Course has been one of our favorites since the day it opened nearly eight years ago, mixing firm, linksy golf on amazing fescue turf with amazing views over the Columbia River. We can’t get enough of it and everyone that entered in 2021 said much the same. On both the Saturday and Sunday you experience 18 magical holes of a two-person Best Ball competition with Gross and Net divisions and extra prizes for KPs (4), long drive and straight drive. On Saturday evening, we’ll hang out on the wild Cascade Putting Course (also designed by McLay-Kidd) for Corona Premier Happy Hour and, of course, anytime that day you can take a spin round the incredibly entertaining Quicksands short course (designed by guess who) where anything goes be it bare feet, music, trash-talk and, yes, a cold brew or two. Like 2021, we will prize out the top five teams daily

CORONA PREMIER SHOOTOUT AT GAMBLE SANDS July 23-24, Gamble Sands Two-person best ball Saturday & Sunday Net and gross divisions Prize pool daily & total 4 KP’s, Long Drive, Straight Drive daily in both Gross and Net, plus the top five overall in both divisions for the weekend. Thirty team prizes available plus Long Drive and Straight Drive daily and more closest-to-the-pin competitions than you will be able to keep track of. Fee is $1,180 per team and includes the tournament entry and green fees, Saturday round at Quicksands, use of a cart, range balls, plus lunch on Saturday and Sunday. Lodging is available at the Inn but will go fast. Now go find a playing partner before you miss out on the best golf weekend of the year. Go to CascadeGolfer.com to register

Saturday Corona Premier Happy Hour at Quicksands/Cascade Putting Course YOUR $1180 TEAM FEE INCLUDES Greens fees, cart, range & lunch Saturday & Sunday plus Saturday afternoon/evening round at Quicksands. Go to CascadeGolfer.com to register

The Corona Premier Happy Hour on Saturday evening at the Cascade Putting Course is a great way to chill with new friends and old.

The Quicksands course is rollercoaster golf fun.

Enter to Win a Gamble Sands Twosome

Gamble Sands GC • Brewster

lay golf the way it was meant to be played, FUN. We are sending two of your to perhaps the most FUN course in the Northwest — Gamble Sands. Don’t forget to order the Tower of Tots for the post round! Enter to win today at CascadeGolfer.com.

cascadegolfer.com

APRIL 2022

P R ESENTED BY

For nearly 100 years, Foster Golf Links has been open for play

PROPERTY

A Seattle urban public golf monument A Bucket with the Head Professional • Deron Pointer

Toughest Tee Shot — 12th hole

oster Golf Links rarely gets the love it very definitely deserves. At just 4,804 yards off the back tees with a par of 68, it gets dismissed by those who assume it’s a picnic, a piece of cake or a walk in the park. The subject of a ‘Save Some Green’ feature last year, Foster is three years short of its centenary, and a very lovely walk in the park. It might not appeal to the player who thinks golf can only be good if it’s difficult and PGA Tour-worthy, but for those who are new to the game, just love to play for fun and have a little spare time to get some fresh air and a little physical activity Foster is perfect.

The 12th, the old 3rd, is only 326 yards long but it’s pretty dangerous. There’s the river on the right for anyone that slices it over the trees, and the fairway gets pretty narrow at about 220 yards with trees on either side. There’s one on the right that overhangs the fairway a little, so it pays to go left of center off the tee. But the way the tee is positioned kind of encourages a left-to-right shot. So it’s pretty tricky.

Best Birdie Opportunity — 14th hole If you lost a shot at the 12th, you have a great chance to get it back two holes later. The 14th is only 248 yards but we play it as a Par 4 . There’s a big tree on the left and a bunker on the right, but most people can fly them. And the green’s pretty big so you can definitely find the green from the tee. The next hole is also a really short Par 4 but there’s a big tree on the right of the fairway and bunkers short of the green that make it play a little tougher.

Best Par 3 — 11th hole

The old 2nd is just 135 yards long and a lovely tee shot over the river to a long, narrow green with a bridge on the left. There’s a bunker short right for those that mis-hit their tee ball a little.

Favorite Hole — 6th hole The 6th is actually our Handicap 1 hole and definitely one of the toughest here at 420 yards and with the river on the left, but a lot of bald eagles hang out in the trees between the river and the fairway and it’s just great to watch them. Foster Golf Links

Emergency Nine — front or back?

13500 Interurban Ave South • Tukwila, WA 98168

I’d take the back. There are some interesting holes and a number of scoring opportunities. It’s just a really fun nine.

(206) 242-4221 • fostergolflinks.com

Go-to lunch item on the menu at Billy Baroo’s — Street Tacos

Built in 1925 • Course Designer George Eddy

HOLE PAR

There are so many good things on the menu at Billy Baroo’s but I have the tacos more often than not. You get three with a choice of catfish, brisket or pork. So good!

Blue

324 300 295 302 144 420 334 268 124 445 135 326 290 248 224 120 220 285

4804

Red

314 290 285 288 134 402 316 252 114 435 121 297 277 223 202 104 252 265

4529

APRIL 2022 2022 APRIL

MEN

18 TOTAL

COURSE RATING

WOMEN

RATING

SLOPE

TEES

RATING

SLOPE

62.8

101

Blue

Red

65.4

105

cascadegolfer.com

RISK vs. REWARD Salish Cliffs Golf Course

Hole No. 1 Par 5 490 yards (Players Tees)

By Simon Dubiel

The Setup

The Reward

There is a reason why we host our Cascade Golfer Match Play Final Eight at Salish Cliffs — it’s full of fantastic holes with all sorts of interesting decisions to make. When you stand on the first tee, staring at the massive maple tree down the right side, your first decision is only moments away. A bunker guards the left side off the tee along with a downhill side hill lie and rough. Split the fairway and you are in that 200-240 range to a bunkerless green. Tall grass with eat up anything long or right. It’s go time. Or is it?

If your opening tee ball is good, then pat yourself on the pack and strap in. It is time to start your round at one under. The approach is slightly uphill to a relatively flat green. Anything short is a simple chip and anything left (but not long) should kick towards the green. Just don’t be right — at all.

The Risk Although short of the green is fine and left may get a kick off the hill, anything right or long is toast. For those playing it safe, few shots are more frustrating than pulling the reigns back and still making a big number. With the fairway bunkers in play right or left for your layup, this hole puts you to the decision.

Final Call You conquered the opening tee jitters and now can take a crack at getting home in two. I like that spot. Salish Cliffs will giveth and taketh away so you must eat while you can. Give yourself a chance to start the round with a circle on the scorecard before heading to the very short par four 2nd hole. Don’t be scared to put your chips in the middle with this hand. Time to pull a head cover. Giddyup!

PRESENTED BY

cascadegolfer.com

APRIL 2022

IN THE

BAG PRODUCT REVIEWS and equipment news you can use

BY TONY DEAR — CG EDITOR

Our spring hot list has something for every golfer

ccording to various sources, most of our savings accounts are flush with the cash we haven’t spent on travel, concerts and other non-essentials the last two years. Apparently, we’ve stashed away trillions of dollars (that’s all Americans you understand, not just readers of Cascade Golfer) thanks to government aid, benefits and our own restraint. Well, what better way to spend it than splashing out for some new golf equipment? Okay, green fees, golf travel, golf media, golf clothing (and, ahem, a little golf gambling perhaps) will certainly appear somewhere in your golf spend, but it seems now might be the time for that shiny new driver or gleaming set of irons. Manufacturers admit quite openly that changes and improvements to modern golf equipment are usually (but not always) pretty minor these days. Whether it be a driver, a wedge, a putter or a ball the differences between it and last year’s model might not be immediately noticeable and only come to light after a few rounds or range sessions. But, if you’ve not changed your driver for four or five years you’re most likely going to produce more ball-speed and less spin, and thus carry the ball significantly further, with a new driver despite the fact you’re four or five years older. If your irons have seen half a decade of action, you will definitely benefit from the last five years’ worth of improvements and if you’re still hitting the same wedges you were in 2016, your grooves are probably spent and you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how much better today’s clubs feel and perform around the green. Far be it from us to tell you how to spend the money you’re saved since Covid-19 first appeared, but we have some suggestions. Here are 10 we recommend.

APRIL 2022

TAYLORMADE

Stealth2

PUETZ GOLF PRICE

$579.99 Stealth $599.99 Stealth Plus $579.99 Stealth HD

very material used to make driver-heads remains desirable for only so long. Ash, hazel and beech eventually gave way to persimmon (aluminum was popular around 1900 but prone to breaking so didn’t last long) which was finally superseded by steel. Titanium took over when its strength and weight (lighter) advantages became apparent. The majority of clubmakers still use titanium, of course, but, with its new Stealth Driver, TaylorMade believes it has found Titanium’s successor…in the face at least. By compressing 60 layers of carbon-fiber together (strategically-arranged), TaylorMade claims the face (the body is still largely titanium) of the Stealth is lighter (about 40 percent) faster and stronger than titanium, leading to elevated ball-speeds and, consequently extra distance. Being lighter, it allowed TaylorMade to position more weight low in the clubhead increasing its MOI and facilitating launch — i.e. you can get the ball up in the air quickly and increase your carry distance. The carbon-fiber is covered with a Polyurethane nanotexture material to protect the face and optimize spin. The shape and curvature of the head is designed to create a pleasing, powerful sound — something that previous carbon-faced drivers (Callaway C4, TaylorMade Gloire Reserve, which was available only in Japan) may have missed the mark. There are three models — standard Stealth, Stealth Plus and Stealth HD. The Plus has a moveable weight enabling you to create a little draw or fade bias, while the Stealth HD (‘HD’ stands for High Draw) has internal weighting to lock in the draw bias.

Order online at puetzgolf.com • Call Toll Free (866) cascadegolfer.com 362-2441

C A P B ACK DESIGN WITH TOE WRAP CONSTRUCTION THAT REDISTRIBUTES WEIGHT LOWER FOR DISTANCE AND FORGIVENESS

IN THE BAG

TITLEIST

SM9 wedges

PUETZ GOLF PRICE

$179.99

ob Vokey has been creating wedges for a long time now, and if you haven’t discovered yet how well he makes them it’s probably time you did. The SM9 is an absolutely beautiful club available in any of the six grinds that the Canadian master craftsman is known for. Each of them, be it D, F, K, L, M, or S is built for a specific swing-type and ground condition allowing you to customize your wedges depending on how steeply you attack the ball and how firm or lush the ground/turf is at your course. “Wedges need to be versatile,” says Vokey. “And every player is different. It’s never one size fits all for wedges. That’s why we have so many grind options.” By altering the width of the topline or the length of the hosel, the position of the Center of Gravity (CG) in the SM9 wedge has been optimized for each loft — the higher lofts having a higher CG in order to produce a lower, more controllable ball-flight. And with the CG being forward of the face the club has an increased Moment of Inertia (MOI) which means it’s more forgiving. The loft of the club also determines the width and depth of the Spin-Milled grooves, again, to maximize the effectiveness of each club. The SM9 is available in 23 loft/ grind options and four finishes — Raw, Tour Chrome, Brushed Steel and Jet Black. Get fitted for SM9 wedges and your 100-yard-and-closer game is likely to see a significant improvement. There’s a reason the Vokey’s are so popular — quality and consistency. Visit Puetz Golf this spring and join the Titleist faithful fans.

APRIL 2022 2022 APRIL

XXIO

R12 Product Line

SRIXON

Q-Star and Z-Star 4 PUETZ GOLF PRICE

PUETZ GOLF PRICE

See PuetzGolf.com for pricing

apan’s XXIO, part of the same stable as Srixon and Cleveland Golf, makes no attempt to conceal which type of golfer it makes clubs for. Its sleek ads, featuring a foursome of beautiful, upwardly-mobile, people flying off for a weekend’s golf in a (presumably private) DC-3 propeller plane suggest its equipment is meant for not terribly serious golfers unconcerned with budget. The budget part is largely true — the XXIO 12 Driver retails at $700, the irons at $220 each — but it’s not entirely fair to say they’re purely for show. Ernie Els, “The Big Easy,” swears by XXIO. And with one of the largest swing arcs in professioanl golf putting XXIO to the test, you can stand assured you can, too. The fact is, XXIO knows how to make a lightweight, forgiving club for players with moderate swing speeds. The XXIO 12 Driver has what the maker calls ActivWing, which corrects the clubhead’s face angle at the start of the downswing, improves aerodynamics and, ultimately, tightens up your shot dispersion. The Rebound Frame, meanwhile, consists of four alternating layers of stiff and flexible zones to increase face-flex at impact transferring more energy into the ball. The irons feature XXIO’s thinnest Titanium faces ever and thus flex more at impact than any XXIO iron. The Rebound Frame flex zone in the sole, supported by the rigid body, is designed to amplify ball-speed. And, in addition to the extra ball-speed created, the variable-thickness face and tungsten-nickel weight in the top ensure added forgiveness – perfect for XXIO golfers.

$34.99 per dozen and $44.99 per dozen

he introduction of Srixon’s two-toned golf balls has been surprisingly successful. The Q-Star Tour Divide appeared first, early last year, mixing the Q-Star Tour’s familiar FastLayer Core (soft at the center, firmer towards the outside to increase speed), 33-dimple pattern and thermoplastic urethane cover with Spin Skin (extra friction) with the 50/50 paint scheme, like the Eye 2 ball Ping had introduced in 1983. The split colors enabled users to line up putts (using the center line) and observe how much the ball spun. It is available in three colorways — yellow/red, yellow/blue and yellow/orange. At the beginning of this year, Srixon doubled-up by offering the elite Z-Star (the Z-Star is the Tour-preferred ball and played by Srixon’s stable of players which now includes four-time major winner Brooks Koepka as well as the current Masters champion, Hideki Matsuyama) and Z-Star XV in the Divide colors too. With the same FastLayer Core, 338-dimple pattern and urethane cover, the Z-Star lends much of its tech to the lower-priced Q-Star Tour, but also features a new FastLayer Core. While the Z-Star XV has an inner core for extra resiliency and what it calls ‘faster snap off the clubface’, meaning extra speed and, consequently, distance. The Z-Star Divide and Z-Star XV Divide are just available in white/yellow. The legion of Srixon ball buyers globally is one of the fastest growing. Visit Puetz today and try a dozen and put them to the test.

Order online at puetzgolf.com • Call Toll Free (866) cascadegolfer.com 362-2441

5 MIZUNO

TAYLORMADE

Pro irons 221, 223, 225

Spider GT

PUETZ GOLF PRICE

$187.50 per club

IN THE BAG

izuno Pro irons arrived in the U.S. at the end of 2021, possibly because the company wanted to present a unified, global logo that included the word pro (Mizuno Pro had only been available in Japan) to the influx of new players the game has seen over the last two years. Anyway, whatever the reason for the logo, the irons themselves are the attractive, well-designed, great-feeling clubs seasoned Mizuno users would expect. The lines between the three models are desgined with some overlap for the player that wishes to blend their new set. The 221 is a classic muscle back designed for excellent ball-strikers and those able to generate good clubhead speed. The MOI isn’t high, of course, but what they lack in forgiveness they more than make up for in looks, feel and shot-shaping potential. Because they’re forged from a block of 1025E Mild Carbon Steel, perfect contact with the 221 feels about as good as contact can. The 223 is an ‘elite player’s cavity,’ which means it has all (well, most of) the feel of the 221 with a little extra forgiveness. The 4-7 irons are constructed with very strong Chromaly, meaning the faces can be made very thin which means greater face-flex. The beautiful 225 looks much like a muscle back but is in fact a Player’s-Distance model whose 2-8 irons are made with Chromaly and feature a hollow-body with 28.5 grams of tungsten inside for stability and a higher launch. Strong lofts keep trajectories manageable.

PING

i525 irons 7 PUETZ GOLF PRICE

$299.99

$187.50 per club

f the four new Spider shapes, two are clearly conventionally mallet-shaped and two don’t quite fit the mold. And the two that are recognizable as mallets — GT and GT Splitback are different from previous Spiders in that they don’t feature an enclosed ring of metal but rather wings, which have the same objective — to stabilize the head. About 80 percent of the GT’s weight is positioned in the wings. The Tri-Sole helps you sit the putter evenly on the ground while the TPU Pure-Roll2 insert (23 percent firmer than in the last generation) with grooves pointing 45 degrees downward, produces a rolling, rather than skidding, putt. Fluted Feel shafts allow you to sense a little more weight in the clubhead and feel the toe release. Three colorways are available and two types of shaft — single-bend favoring a straight back/through stroke, and short-slant with 21 degrees of toe-hang that suits arcing strokes. The wings of the Splitback are prominent and feature a little tungsten in the back making a very stable putter — black/white with either the short-slant or single-bend hosel. The Rollback may not look much like a mallet but it is weighted like one with aluminum front and center and heavy tungsten weights toward the rear on either side– all silver or silver/black. Again, short-slant and single-bend hosel options are available. The Notchback doesn’t really have a notch, nor is it mallet-shaped, but it does have mallet weighting — short-slant (30 degrees of toe-hang) or single-bend hosels.

cascadegolfer.com FREE SHIPPING on orders of $99 and more • exceptions apply

he i500, which the i525 replaces, was a typically excellent club. And yet Ping has somehow made the i525 markedly better producing higher ball speeds, creating even better feel and ensuring greater consistency. The forged, variable-thickness, high-strength maraging steel face is largely responsible for the distance gains but an internal sole undercut in the 17-4 stainless steel body which also helps increase face-flex is a factor too. Greater face-flex means greater ball-speed off the face, which should mean greater distance. Being a Ping club, there has also been a rise in MOI because making a club more forgiving is how Ping made its name. The face’s weight-loss together with tungsten weights in the heel and toe (the heel weight is under the tip of the shaft as in other Ping models) effectively expands the sweet spot, which means even off-center strikes perform well. The i525 has a slightly shorter blade length than that of the i500, a thinner top-line and a little less offset. So it’s smaller but still more forgiving. Ping’s EVA polymer thermoplastic adhesive (‘hot melt’) on the back of the face gives it the improved feel. There’s an average of four more milled Micro-Max grooves on the i525 clubface which, Ping says, reduces fliers from the rough. The Hydropearl finish sheds moisture from the face making it more consistent in wet and dry conditions, and Friction Face adds a little roughness between the grooves to enhance the Hydropearl finish, keeping results from wet and dry conditions less variable.

APRIL 2022 2022 APRIL

29 29

IN THE BAG

8 CLEVELAND

’22 Bloom women’s

PUETZ GOLF PRICE

$799.99

hile the surge in new players taking up the game holds, it makes sense for manufacturers to offer complete sets which give you all you need except for a handful of tees, a few balls and a glove which you can purchase in the pro shop before you tee off. Cleveland’s Bloom set for women makes getting the ball up in the air just about as easy as it can be with clubs that are light weight and which put the CG low and back in the head to make them more forgiving. The 44.25-inch driver has plenty of loft to further assist with getting the ball airborne. The same is true for both the fairway-wood and hybrids (5i and 6i) which are designed to make a potentially difficult shot — hitting a wood off the ground — a good deal easier than it could be. There are just three irons (7, 8, 9) and two wedges (PW and SW), which have a deep cavity to ensure plenty of forgiveness, and wide soles to keep the CG low in the head. The putter (the only club in the set with a steel shaft — the rest are graphite) likewise has some perimeter-weighting to keep the putter head stable throughout the stroke. The stylish and lightweight Bloom Max cart bag has eight pockets and an extra wristlet for valuables, and every club bar the irons has a headcover to prevent nicks and keep out moisture. It’s available in a variety of colors. Complete golf sets are all the rage right now and are flying off the shelves — get yours today before someone else does.

APRIL 2022

ORLIMAR

BRIDGESTONE

PUETZ GOLF PRICE

Mach 1 & Allante package sets 9

2022 Tour B 10

$499.99

$49.99 per dozen

ou Ortiz and two friends — Pedro Liendo and Emilio Martinez founded their golf club company Orlimar (a few letters from each of their last names) in a California horse stable in 1960. They made good-quality persimmon drivers but never really hit the big time. In the late 1990s, Lou’s son Jesse hit upon an idea for a fairway-wood and in 1998 it took the golf world by storm with the help of a half-hour infomercial starring Roger Maltbie and Ken Venturi. The TriMetal saw Orlimar’s revenue jump from $1.5 million to nearly $100 million in just two years as Tour pro after Tour pro put it in their bag. The success sadly fizzled out quickly though, and Ortiz left in 2003, the company sold soon after. The brand more or less disappeared for about 15 years and was eventually sold to Japanese components firm Hireko Golf. Hireko has sought to revitalize the name and now makes good-quality discount clubs aimed at higher-handicappers and new golfers. This complete men’s set, comprising a 10.5-degree, 460cc Titanium driver, a fairway-wood, a 5-hybrid, 6, 7, 8, 9 -iron, PW, SW, mallet putter, a premium stand bag and three headcovers is the ideal set-up for the new golfer. The Allante complete set is likewise idea for women taking up the game. The attractive 12-degree driver is similar quality to the men’s driver and there’s an extra fairway-wood as well as the hybrid. You get 7-9-irons, PW, SW, mallet putter, cart bag with rain hood and four headcovers.

he 2020 Tour B line introduced the concept of impact science and impact modifiers — a material added to the urethane cover that, Bridgestone said, increased distance and greenside spin. The four ball models all got the same treatment and were very well-received. Tiger Woods and Bryson DeChambeau liked them so much they asked Bridgestone to speed up production. This year, after much testing, the company is giving each of the four models its own formula, the goal being to increase ball-speed and, therefore, distance for all swingspeeds and improve greenside spin for all swing types. The Tour B X, played by DeChambeau, is designed for fast swing-speeds and to fly on a flatter trajectory than its predecessor. It also generates more greenside spin — 300 rpm more for a 15-yard pitch which is remarkable for so short a shot. Woods played the Tour B XS at last year’s father/son tournament where he and son Charlie finished second. It is likewise meant for those with fast clubhead speed and flies higher. It also deflects less on slower swings producing a lower ball-speed which Woods likes so he can pinch chip and pitch shots a little more aggressively. For slower swing-speed players, there is the Tour B RX and Tour B RXS. Lexi Thompson plays the Tour B RX. Both are designed to spin a little more around the green than their namesakes in the previous generation. The Tour B RXS, says Bridgestone, will carry a little further than the 2020 version.

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TEEING OFF Bret Boone still hits the long ball — now with a driver rather than a Louisville Slugger

AP Photo / Jim Bryant / File

A CONVERSATION WITH TONY DEAR • CG EDITOR

ret Boone is still hitting the long ball. The longtime former Seattle Mariners second baseman now living in San Diego, hit 143 of his 252 home runs in his seven seasons with the Ms. He has not launched a baseball for more than 15 years, but boy can he still swing a club. Boone, who will turned 53 on April 6, spends much of his spare time making golf balls disappear on Southern California’s courses. He says that when conditions are right and he’s feeling good, he can really get it out there but doesn’t get much satisfaction when they fly over a fence. Known for his affable, approachable personality,

Boone was the go-to guy for the media after games, and he’s still sharing his opinion with the world via a twice-aweek podcast in which he interviews sports figures and celebrities. The Bret Boone Podcast can be downloaded from Apple, Spotify and Stitcher, and new episodes come out on Tuesdays and Fridays. He has much to be proud of like a 14-year baseball career, his podcast and his ‘extended’ family. His four children are making their way in the world. Daughter Savannah is engaged to Nick Allen, a prospect in the A’s system, and twins Judah and Isaiah are high school seniors pre-

paring for college. Jake, meanwhile, played baseball for three years at Princeton and now is a Class A prospect in the Washington Nationals’ system. Jake’s progress through the Nationals’ system will be noted because of his family legacy. Jake’s great grandfather Ray Boone played in the big leagues and was followed by his son, Bob. He produced two big-league sons — Bret and Aaron, the Yankees manager. Jake has the potential to make the Boones baseball’s first fourth-generation family. Golf fills Bret’s competitive spirit now. We gave him 10 questions — enjoy his answers.

How often could you break away for a round during spring training or the season? “I played as much as I can until the games started. After that, I usually put the clubs away during the season.”

Have you had any aces or eagles you can tell us about? “I’ve had a double eagle (albatross) on the 7th at Isleworth (564 yards) where I hit a 3-iron into the cup.”

What’s your best club? “I’d say my 8-iron. I hit it pretty straight and 165 yards max.”

When you hit a great shot, right on the screws, do you have the notion to flip your club (like your old home run routine)? “Haha no, but I got a great twirl.”

Have you had the chance to play any of the nation’s best courses? What are some of your favorites? “Yes, my favorites are Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill on the Monterey Peninsula, Shadow Creek in Las Vegas, Winged Foot in New York, and Isleworth in Florida.”

What was the most bizarre or incredible shot you’ve seen on a golf course? “Sometime in the mid-1990s I was playing with Mark Portugal (former right-hand pitcher who played for six big-league teams) in Cincinnati when he made a hole-in-one on a par-4. The ball hit off a tree, travelled down a cart path, ran onto the green and finished in the hole.”

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Who would complete your ultimate foursome? “I’ve had some great ones, but I’ll go with Jack Nicklaus, Larry Bird, and Hank Aaron. I think that would be interesting.”

Have you ever been in a tense match with a significant reward on the line? How’d it work out? “Yeah I’ve won a few but have definitely lost a few as well.” How far can you hit your driver? “Flat conditions, no wind, 300 pretty consistently. But I can hit it 325 if I really catch it. ”

Is golf harder to master than baseball? “No, the ball isn’t coming at you at 95 mph. It’s sitting on a tee.”

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APRIL 2022

FRED COUPLES’ 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF HIS MASTERS WIN

Fred Couples Photos from Shutterstock

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Rain Man Seattle’s

Fred Couples danced between the raindrops from Beacon Hill, to Augusta to St. Augustine

BY BOB SHERWIN • CG STAFF WRITER

rom the beginning, rain has been part of Fred Couples’ life. Born and raised in Seattle, he became an all-year, all-weather golfer who frequented Jefferson Park, the venerable public tract on Beacon Hill. Couples understood wet conditions. He has a close relationship with mud be it on clubs or balls, or up ankles. “You are as a golfer,’’ he once said, “where you came from.” It was with some irony that, so many years later, a rainstorm thousands of miles from Seattle contributed to the greatest achievement of Couples’ golf career — his 1992 Masters victory. The 2022 tournament marks the 30th anniversary of Couples’ milestone victory. That win, his only major, was career-changing, life-changing and reached even beyond this life. He has been immortalized forever by the World Golf Hall of Fame with his induction in 2013. The Masters was an essential component for his HOF election. Fate, in the form of a thunderstorm during the third round, visited Augusta late in the day. As Brook Benton sang, it was ‘A Rainy Night in Georgia’. The thunder and lightning show set off the alarms and sent contending play-

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ers and patrons scrambling for shelter. Play was suspended for three hours as rain soaked the course. It delayed play so long that six of the leaders, including Couples, had to return early Sunday morning to complete their rounds. When the fourth-round began later that Sunday morning, Craig Parry held a one-shot lead over the field at 12-under-par. Couples was 11-under followed by Raymond Floyd at -10 and Ian Baker-Finch at -9. The overnight rain had an impact, slowing and softening the course, making it more receptive for pin-seeking shotmakers such as Couples and Floyd. As folks say, the Masters doesn’t begin until the back nine on Sunday. That’s when Couples made his move. By the time Couples reached the elegantly diabolical Par 3 12th hole, playing 166 yards that day, he had a twoshot lead over a struggling Parry. Couples then hit his fateful tee-shot perilously short. It hit the slope in front of the shallow green and began trickling back down toward Rae’s Creek. Balls never stop on that descent. They always trundle down the embankment and fall into the murky waters. And a player who finds the water on 12 typically doubles. In Masters lore, it’s Augusta’s most consequential hole.

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“That was the most nervous I’ve ever been,” Couples said later, “and it showed. I was screaming at myself inside.” But he watched, we all watched, in amazement. Somehow, the ball never reached the water. Somehow, it found a spot to sink into the heavy wet grass and held up there, one foot from the water, eight feet below the hazard line. Credit the rainstorm. “How it stayed up is a miracle,” Couples said. “And so is winning the Masters.” At one point, a tournament volunteer walked toward the ball, but Couples frantically waved him away, fearing any sort of vibration could dislodge it. “How many times have you seen it stay dry from there?’” asked the lategreat golf analyst Ken Venturi on CBS’ coverage. Vern Lundquist, then covering the 11th and 12th holes, responded, “Never.” Couples gingerly took some swings at the top of the slope, careful not to ground his club. Or cause a vibration. The ball had mud on it and was laying down a little. There was nothing he could do but take one swing at the ball as it was, where it was. “If he makes a three here,” added Venturi, then in his 25th Masters broadcast of his remarkable 35-year analyst career, “it may be the luckiest three I’ve ever seen on this hole in my life.”

APRIL 2022

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Four holes ahead, Corey Pavin birdied the Par 3 16th to go 10-under, two shots behind. Floyd, the fourtime major champion who would turn 50 later that year, also stood at 10-under. Couples was unaware and unconcerned with the others. Bogey was still very much in play. He just needed to make a clean lift out of purgatory. He took one smooth three-quarter swing, popped the ball over the slope and watched as it rolled to within 18 inches of the hole. He holed the putt to remain at 12-under, two ahead. It was a monumental par, one he’ll remember forever, although Floyd was not backing off. He birdied 14 to draw within one shot at -11. But Couples would match him, sinking a 15-foot birdie putt to go to 13-under and stretch the lead back to two again. Floyd’s last good chance came at the 16th where he barely missed a birdie attempt. Couples, who admitted that making the big putt on 14 really relaxed him, created some anxiety for himself at the 17th where his first putt rolled 5½-feet past the hole. But he made the comeback putt to maintain his two-shot lead heading to 18. Victory was in his grasp, though his drive up the hill found the second of the fairway bunkers on the left. He picked his 7-iron clean off the sand, the ball finishing on the second tier from where he would two-putt for par. He finished at 13-under 275, two ahead of Floyd. Where would Fred Couples be without that victory? Would he be considered one of golf’s greatest players? Would he have been elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame without it? Why does he seem to be the one guy who invites those questions? It’s all moot anyway because he did win. Yet some have complained, particularly Mark O’Meara, who owns 16 PGA victories, two majors (1998 Masters; 1998 Open Championship) as well as the 1979 U.S. Amateur title. “I get the fact he’s (Couples) a huge fan favorite,” O’Meara said in 2013 after Couples was elected to the Hall. “I’m OK with that even though I’ve actually won more tournaments than Fred and he’s in the Hall of Fame and I’m not. So, I might have a little bit of an issue there. But hey, it is what it is.” That squeaky wheel got the grease. The 14-member HOF committee bypassed nominations in 2014 to rework qualifications, massaging the previous parameters in place from 1993 to 2013. The committee recommended that each candidate must be at least 40 years old, or five years removed from being an active competitor, and must have at least 15 professional wins or two majors. O’Meara was selected in 2015. One major is a significant factor, but it offers no guarantees. Looking at the 458 major champions, entering

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this year, 178 have been one-time winners, 20 of them Masters champions. Most of those Masters one-timers can’t match Couples’ overall credentials for Hall of Fame consideration. Lone winners such as Charles Coody, Tommy Aaron, Bob Goalby, George Archer, Mike Weir, Gay Brewer, Craig Stadler, Trevor Immelman and Danny Willett are all fine players but don’t have the victories or the status for bronze busts. One one-time Masters champion who does compare is Welshman Ian Woosnam – the 1991 champion who won 29 times in Europe and was a former world No. 1. He was voted into the Hall in 2017. Other more recent one-timers at Augusta, Charl Schwartzel (2 PGA; 13 international wins), Adam Scott (14 PGA; 14 international) and Sergio Garcia (11 PGA; 17 international) are virtual locks. Scott and Garcia are now in their 40s and can expect a phone call. There is a relatively small percentage of one-timer winners of the other three majors who have managed

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to reach the Hall — Lawson Little, Gene Littler, Davis Love III and Venturi among them. Drilling down on their records, you find support for each of them with other significant victories or contributions to golf. Couples is far more than one big win. In 1992 alone he had three of his 15 PGA Tour victories, rose to No. 1 in the world and was named Player of the Year. He won the 1984 and ’96 Players Championship and 1984 Tour Players Championship. He was a two-time Player of the Year, won three times in Europe and 24 other tournaments, and was part of five Ryder Cup teams and four President Cup teams. In 620 career PGA Tour events, he finished second 17 times, third 23 times and in the top ten 161 times. There are two intangibles that also work subtlety in Boom-Boom’s favor. One is, as O’Meara suggested, he’s just a popular guy, a man’s man, handsome, athletic, smooth-swinging, gentlemanly. The other is the fact that he has endued significant back pain for most of his career. He has had to sit out countless tournaments when

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it flares up and has had nine mid-tournament withdrawals in his PGA career. It shouldn’t be a factor, but it begs the lingering question — how many more victories and majors would he have had without his nagging back issues? Whatmight-have-beens do factor into the equation. Couples certainly is not unworthy. He not only meets the standard, he IS the standard. He is golf’s Mendoza Line that all future candidates must rise above to get through the HOF door. Some veteran Tour members are already over the line or closing in on it. Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Bubba Watson, Zach Johnson, Jordan Spieth, and Justin Thomas are already there or will be considered. International players such as Justin Rose, Graeme McDowell, Louis Oosthuizen, Shane Lowry, Jason Day and Henrik Stenson also are approaching the fringes of immortality. Couples has provided the blueprint. Just do the same. And maybe pray for rain.

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APRIL 2022

W Wine Valley has become an international bucket list course.

Waterbrook winery • Walla Walla

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Walla

AWAITS

All roads lead to this oasis that brings the

best of golf and gastronomy together in one place

hat is it about towns like Walla Walla? Whether it be ley lines, some other mysterious source of powerful, subterranean energy or perhaps something divine, the ‘Place of Many Waters’ — a nod to its proximity to the Snake and Columbia Rivers — somehow manages to punch well above its weight. Less than 13 square miles in area and with a population of barely 35,000 people give or take, the whole of this extraordinary, far-off place in southeastern Washington is considerably greater than the sum of its parts. Walla Walla is situated between the Columbia River’s sweeping turn to the north and the Umatilla National Forest and Blue Mountains. And, though it endured its share of problems during its formative years in the 1850s when settlers clashed with the Walla Walla, Cayuse, Nez Perce, Yakima, and Umatilla indigenous peoples, it has certainly enjoyed a rich bounty since incorporating in the winter of 1862. The fertile valley in which it sits saw Walla Walla become a significant agricultural center. In the second half of the 19th century it yielded wheat, apples, peas and the two crops for which it became famous nationally if not globally — onions and wine grapes. Incredibly, given its size, it was referred to as ‘The Cradle of Pacific Northwest History’. And the accolades have continued pouring in during the first quarter of the 21st century. In 2001, it was named a Great American Main Street Award winner and in July 2011, USA Today selected it as the friendliest small city in the country, an award

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BY TONY DEAR • CG EDITOR

Rand McNally duplicated as part of its annual Best of the Road contest. A year later, it was a runner-up in the best food category for Best of the Road and the 40,000-member/47-chapter American Planning Association designated it a Great Places in America Great Neighborhood. In 2013, it was second again in Best of the Road’s best food category. Perhaps its most gratifying award though was earned in 2020 when the Walla Walla AVA (American Viticultural Area) won USA Today’s Readers Choice Award for Best Wine Region. Forty-three years after Gary and Nancy Figgins had established the town’s first winery at Leonetti Cellar, Walla Walla was recognized as the nation’s finest wine-producing area. And to prove the win was no fluke, it won again in 2021. But there’s more. There are three colleges here; the 115-year-old Walla Walla Symphony is the oldest continually operating symphony west of the Mississippi; and the city has produced a number of notable individuals including 1956 Nobel Prize for Physics winner Walter Brattain, Journalist and writer Edward P Morgan, NFL Quarterback Drew Bledsoe and the actor who first portrayed Batman on TV, Adam West. And though it won’t win any Nobel Prizes, certainly isn’t the oldest of its kind west of the Missississippi and will never be as cool as the original Batman, Walla Walla added another world-class attraction to its impressive collection in 2009 with the opening of Wine Valley Golf Club. Fifteen minutes west of town, Wine Valley was a Dan

Hixson design that some regard as the best golf course in the state and which many others would were it not for Gamble Sands and Chambers Bay. Prior to Wine Valley’s arrival on the scene, Hixson’s design resume was pretty short consisting of just one course. And though his debut project at Bandon Crossings in Oregon had won widespread approval, Wine Valley’s co-owners, John Thorsnes and Jim Pliska (also the owner of Creswell, Oregon’s Emerald Valley GC) still took a chance hiring him to transform about 250 acres of wheat and alfalfa fields into a golf course good enough to attract people out of Walla Walla, let alone Spokane, the Tri-Cities, Yakima and yes, even Portland and Seattle. But Pliska had known Hixson for some time and was confident he had the talent, good golfing sense and capability to do the job. Plus, he had a number of elements working in his favor — none that would guarantee success perhaps, but things that Hixson could definitely take advantage of. First, the site was neither flat nor steep but featured the variety of dips, ridges, hills and valleys that would maintain a golfer’s interest the whole way round. Second, the soil was a loosely compacted loess, a fine silt laid down during the Ice Age that would help the course drain and produce the firm surfaces that make for fun golf. Third, thanks to the effects of the economic downturn the previous year, golf course construction was virtually at a standstill meaning some of the best shapers and construction experts were available for hire.

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Walla

Kye Goalby, Brian Cesar and Dan Proctor were the expert shapers that created the beautiful bunkers and contoured the exciting greens, while respected, Portland-based general contractor Rexius did all the heavy lifting, built ponds and laid irrigation pipe. The result was magnificent, a course that, 13 years later, is firmly established in Washington’s top three and one whose name would have spread much further than it has if it were located within an hour’s drive of a major city. Despite being 300 miles from the nearest coastline, Wine Valley plays very much like a links course. There are no trees so your ball is at the mercy of the wind, and the ground is firm so you can pitch your approach shots short of the green and have them roll up to the hole. The mounds, rises and swales can produce some awkward, unexpected bounces so it usually pays to play the ball along the ground rather than in the air. This is the sort of golf you want to play again and again and many are the visitors who come off the 18th green and wonder how soon they can tee it up again on the 1st. At some point though, you’ll need to stop playing golf and enjoy what else the city has to offer. You’ll certainly need to visit one or more wineries to visit the tasting rooms or stock up for your own cellar/cooler/garage/fridge at home. Daylan Gibbard, Director of Sales and Services at Visit Walla Walla, recommends three wineries within a few minutes’ drive of Wine Valley GC — Waterbrook, Reininger and Three Rivers. “Waterbrook is the fourth oldest winery in Walla Walla and the only tasting room with a full on-site kitchen,” he says. “Reininger reflects the adventurous spirit of owner/winemaker Chuck Reininger who was the first to use fruit exclusively from Walla Walla. And Three Rivers has beautiful views from its massive patio, and it’s a great place to grab some wine on your drive back to town.”

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Add a round to Kahler Mountain Club to any of your Central Washington Golf Road Trip! • Conveniently located off Hwy 2, just 2 hours from Seattle • Aqua driving range • New 5 star onsite restaurant • Great Stay and Play Package Available

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The Marcus Whitman Hotel is known around the world for its luxury and cuisine.

When you arrive, you’ll need to eat. And again, Gibbard has some suggestions. There are a handful of really top-notch fine-dining options in town, but Gibbard says Walla Walla Steak Co. is an excellent choice where you’ll find the finest certified USDA Prime steaks including The Hatchet — a signature, 34-ounce bone-in rib eye for two. A more casual experience can be found at Public House 124 which offers premium cocktails and beers as well as wings, burgers, fries and flatbreads. “For more of a pub/ sports bar-type atmosphere,” says Gibbard, “head to Hop Thief Taphouse where you pour your own drinks from one of 40 rotating taps.”

After all that, you might need to put your head down. Stay & Play packages are available at the historic landmark hotel The Marcus Whitman which opened in 1928, or the more familiar Hampton Inn and Courtyard by Marriott which offer tee-times at Veterans Memorial GC and Walla Walla Country Club as well as Wine Valley. Again, we don’t know quite how Walla Walla came to be such a remarkable little town, but it most assuredly is. And far from being some distant, untouchable Shangri-La that’s tantalizingly out of reach, it’s only four and a half hours from Seattle. So, start making some reservations at VisitWallaWalla.com.

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PRO TRAVEL TIPS

Walla Walla and Wine Valley continue to gain visitors as it appeals to both golfers and foodies.

Travel-fitting makes golf globetrotting tailor-made to your tastes and budget

ne of the most important aspects for folks who like to travel is making sure that everything they carry fits. The road is no fun with chafing shoes, clothes that are uncomfortable or a wardrobe that can’t be easily and repeatedly squeezed into a suitcase. That’s when a vacation becomes an irritation. Michael and Michelle Cypher, who have operated the Travel There and Back agency in Monroe for the past seven years, understand the frustrations of travel. They do their best to prepare their clients for what they should pack. More importantly for their purposes, they want what fits in their clients’ travel package, with other questions such as where, why and who is going. “It’s not cookie-cutter,” says Michelle. “It’s not onesize-fits-all. It is tailor-made for what you, as an individual want and what you are looking for. My goal is not to find the cheapest way to do something, but I do pride myself on providing value for the money clients spend.” Golf packages are a growing part of their business, blossoming with the sudden interest in the sport as well as the gradual easing of pandemic restrictions. Over the years, they have put together hundreds of golf trips throughout the state, region, and world. A few have been for individuals, which are generally uncomplicated, but the vast majority have been for groups, twosomes, foursomes, buddies, couples – groups that may have only a handful who want to break away for a round. The Cyphers seek to accommodate everyone and everything. Michael says for larger groups they must thread the needle. “We need to find experiences the entire party

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finds enjoyable, and not have a situation where people feel like they’re giving up their vacations for someone else.” That’s when their ‘travel fittings’ are put to the task. It begins with questions probing the basics - where do they want to go; how many are going; how much can they spend; and how long do they want to go for. Then every session diverts, as Michelle says, as she drills down into each travelers’ interests and what else they might want to do. “What are the must-haves?‘’ she says. “Then I ask, what activities would be nice, but aren’t required. Then what could clients not care less about. Then, when I’m putting it together, if the must-have category uses up the entire budget then there isn’t room for more. If not, then it would be nice to add some extra touches.” Those extra touches might be excursions that fill the day for the non-golfing travelers. Michelle says many of the options are influenced by the destination, such as a visit to a distillery in Scotland or the beer factory in Ireland. But she has found many cultural bonuses for folks in different countries based on her initial questioning. Some examples she mentioned recently are: Booking a cooking class where the chef came to the clients’ villa; a couple visiting Germany and interested in orchestral music attending a workshop where violins are made; another couple taking part in glassblowing in Venice. She also has set up factory tours for golfers interested in how clubs are made. “During our conversations, things just come out,” she adds. “We arrange museum tours for those going

to the cultural cities of Europe. And a growing number of golfers/travelers also are interested in researching their ancestry, especially in Ireland. “I can absolutely do that,” says Michelle. “We can do packages that include renting a car for self-tours. There’s a lot of that in Ireland. Norway is another big one.” She adds that another increasingly popular combination is golf and a safari in South Africa. “Clients can go to the world-famous Kruger National Park for a safari and then play the excellent Leopard Creek GC on the other side of the Crocodile River.” Or golfers can do a two-for-one deal at Skukuza Golf Club, within the boundaries of Kruger. There are no fences around the course, so golfers can enjoy a golf-cart safari where a possible foursome of impala, warthog, hippo and baboon play through. The most natural cultural option with golf for all members of all traveling parties in all areas of travel, though, is wine. Golfers and non-golfers can gather at the end of the day for wine-tasting and culinary delights. “Wine with golf is big,” says Michelle. “They can easily be paired together. Walla Walla is big for that, but there are many other places in the Pacific Northwest where you can combine the two, because you can find golf and wine pretty much everywhere.” Of course, wine and golf do have their own separate places because you want to avoid spillage while swinging a club. Get travel fitted and visit travelthereandback.com and take your first steps in globetrotting. APRIL 2022

Take a tour of some of CASCADE GOLFER’S FAVORITE 19TH HOLES

BY JIM STREET AND BOB SHERWIN • CG STAFF WRITERS

t’s a view that must be seen. The Golf Club at Newcastle has one of the best vistas of any golf course in the state. Or any state. It contributes to a non-pareil ‘19th Hole’ that is so appealing you can skip the first 18 and go right to it. The view spans the entire length of the relatively treeless property with glimpses of Mt. Rainier as well as the Olympic and Cascade mountains. The only views that might be comparable would be if you were on top of one of those mountains. There are a variety of post-round options for golfers (or non-golfers) in the 44,000-square-foot stone build52

The Calcutta Grill at The Golf Club at Newcastle is one of the finest 19th holes anywhere in the U.S.

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ing. You can get the full meal package in the Calcutta Grill. The restaurant’s featured item, every Friday, is a slow-roasted, bone-in Royal Ranch prime rib, dipped in black garlic demi sauce with house-cured horseradish, buttermilk mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus. It’s a mouthful to eat or say. You can toast your feast with the popular drink, the Queen Mary, at the table or float boat with a leisure cruise on the expansive patio. It faces west toward Puget Sound with glimpses of Seattle, the Olympics and, it seems, the curvature of the Earth. All that is spectacular and not to be missed, but

Newcastle also possesses the quintessential 19th Hole with the Wooly Toad. The richly appointed lounge looks like a private dining room at some of the ancient and venerable Scottish clubhouses such as Muirfield, Royal Troon or North Berwick. The Wooly Toad has a private sanctuary feel that makes you feel like you need to show your birth certificate, DNA evidence and at least two references to get in. But it is accessible to anyone who likes leather sofas, high ceilings, a private bar featuring an array of single malt scotches, and billiard and poker tables. You might be tempted to skip the back nine to get a head start at the Wooly Toad. cascadegolfer.com

On the patio at Newcastle

Snohomish Valley Golf Center VALLEY GRILL 8511 Marsh Road, Snohomish snohomishvalleygolfcenter.com Chef / Bartender: Jason Lavinsky Menu: snohomishvalleygolfcenter.com/valleygrill

The Golf Club at Newcastle CALCUTTA GRILL AND WOOLY TOAD BAR: WOOLY TOAD 15500 Six Penny Lane, Newcastle newcastlegolf.com Chef / Bartender: Bill Beck. Executive Chef; Steve Kirsch, Director Food & Beverage. Menu: newcastlegolf.com/dining What makes it cool: Oh, the view. It can’t be matched, copied, replaced, diminished, or dismissed. It’s 900 feet above the Sound and you can see cities, sites and natural features that are miles away. There are 350 acres within the property with two 18-hole layouts and the view can be gathered in from just about anywhere, especially from different clubhouse vantage points. The Calcutta Grill, the Wooly Toad lounge and the whole west-facing patio have all the elements to appeal to your senses, as well as your stomach. Another great view might be your plate sitting in front of you with the featured prime rib or other items such as shrimp & grits, wild mushroom risotto and Drunken Minterbrook Manila Clams. You also can take your scotch or suds to the grass outside adjacent to the 18th hole or the Rusty Putter, a real-grass mini-golf layout below the patio. It’s at ground level but you still have the high view of the same sites. — Bob Sherwin

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What makes it cool: The easy answer would be the ice. But it’s not as cool as you’d expect, at least not in the frozen water sense. It’s synthetic ice. “It’s kind of a slippery plastic surface,” says Josh Reines, the facility manager. You can twirl around on this artificial surface that never needs a Zamboni. But the rink operates primarily in the winter. When spring comes, the focus shifts from double Salchows to backswings and putting strokes. There’s the driving range, with 30 covered stalls and another 60 grass and/or artificial turf bays, the 18-hole mini golf layout and an area for club fitting, lessons, and Trackman rental. All the activities set you up for the 19th Hole at the Valley Grill. Take on the Beast Burger, an ample-sized sandwich filled with pepper jack cheese, grilled onions, jalapeno, bacon and chipotle aioli. The loaded fries make a delectable complement as it comes with roasted jalapeno, white cheddar, bacon and the spicy house sauce. The menu is stuffed with items made from scratch. It doesn’t mean you have to be a scratch player to enjoy. You can take your meal and brew and stretch out on the two large patios – with fire tables – or listen to music on the synthetic lawn area. — Bob Sherwin

Foster Golf Links BILLY BAROO’S SMOKEHOUSE & BAR 13500 Interurban Ave. S, Tukwila fostergolflinks.com Chef / Bartender: Connie Deorsak Menu: billybaroos.com What makes it cool: They got the meat. It’s hard to find a better roundender than an array of smoked and BBQ meat menu selections. “We can cook about 1,000 pounds of meat at a time,” says Connie Deorsak, Billy Baroo’s manager. “We’re known for our good 19th Hole food. The custom wood-smoker is located just off the kitchen and adjacent to the 9th hole (golfers are teased by the inviting aroma). The smoker yields such specialties as BBQ pork ribs, briskets and pulled pork as well as a whole chicken. On the side, you can get various Billy Baroo’s hot and BBQ sauces. You might want to open the full-meat deal with an appetizer such as a sour-dough bread bowl. And it’s just your luck that you also happen to be in the ‘Home of 20 Taps.’ Wash your meal and your round down with a frothy draft and sit on the wide wraparound porch overlooking the course. It’s there you settle into your perfect world, the view, the smells and the tastes. — Bob Sherwin

APRIL 2022

Sudden Valley Golf Club Bellingham’s Hidden Gem White Horse Golf Club CEDAR RIDGE GRILL 22795 Three Lions Pl NE, Kingston whitehorsegolf.com Chef / Bartender: David Briggs/Junior Esguerra Menu: whitehorsegolf.com/bar-grill

For tee times and best rates visit our website at

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The Home Course GOLF HOUSE GRILL Golf House Rd, DuPont thehomecourse.com Chef / Bartender: Piper Strand/Michelle Ennis. Menu: thehomecourse.com/eventfacilities/golf-house-grill What makes it cool: Imagine playing the best round of golf in your life and celebrating the exhilarating experience with a special treat – the popular ‘Score Beer’ at The Home Course in DuPont. You pay for what you shoot. “It is something we have been doing for the past couple of years and it’s very popular, as you can imagine,” says Justin Gravatt, the facility’s General Manager for the past six years. “It’s a penny per stroke. If you shoot a 75, the first draft beer you have at the Grill costs 75 cents.” But the Score Beer is only one of the perks that makes The Home Course’s 19th hole something special. Another is the ambiance provided on the Grill’s patio where golfers can watch the action on the picturesque Par 3 14th green, the back side surrounded by water. “It’s a really cool spot to hang out and have a beverage,” says Gravatt. “Besides watching shots from the tee, the sun sets right over that green as well.” — Jim Street 54

APRIL 2022

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What makes it cool: It is one thing to have a cool place to relax and enjoy the completion of yet another stellar (or not) round of golf. But few places in the Northwest measure up to the Cedar Ridge Grill at White Horse Golf Club. “It sits up 20 feet above the 18th hole and you are right above the green,” General Manager Bruce Christy points out. “You look out and see a 2 ½-acre lake around the green and can watch players hit their approaches on to the putting surface, or sometimes into the water. “It’s kind of like sitting up in the grandstands watching play,” Christy adds, “and yet there is so much more to it.” Not only do golfers make it their after-round place to stop and have a beer and a burger, but it has kind of taken on its own identity. ”It has become a date night for people on Friday and Saturday,” Christy says. “We have two fire pits and people just love to be out on the patio.” — Jim Street

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Harbour Pointe Golf Club THE POINTE 11817 Harbour Pointe Blvd, Mukilteo harbourpointegolf.com Chef / Bartender: Carl Boscawen/Maiya Veighey Menu: harbourpointegolf.com/dining What makes it cool: It has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. With that in mind, picture a painting that takes up most of one wall inside the Harbour Pointe Golf Club restaurant. The one-of-a-kind painting — 12 feet long and 5 feet tall — is the focal point of the dining area that serves as the 19th hole at the Mukilteo course. “I found it in the back room,” says Shawn Beattie, the Harbour Pointe General Manager for the past three years. “I told myself, ‘this is too gorgeous to be sitting in a closet.’ So, we put it up facing the driving range and put some lights above it. We don’t know how old it is, but it could go all the way back to the original owners.” Regardless, the billboard-size painting that shares wall space with photos of signature holes the 7th and 11th is a definite eye-catcher. — Jim Street

Where Golf Meets Family, Friendship and Community

2022 Two Person Best Ball Saturday April 30 Tee Times Start at 8am Entry: $95 Includes golf, range balls, lunch & prizes. Over $4,000 Prize Fund

Offering Office & Home Delivery & Coffee Service for over 30 Years

3 Days of Golf! 2022 Men’s Invitational May 27-29

Redeem for 2-for-1 Green Fees

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Practice round • horse race Friday May 27 Entry: $235 Format: 36 Hole Stroke Play 1 practice rd. • 2 tourn rds. • 2 lunches Tee prizes • Over $15,000 Prize Fund

WhidbeyGolfClub.com • (360) 675-5490 2430 SW Fairway Lane, Oak Harbor WA 98227

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APRIL 2022

In the “Sun Belt”

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At The Golf Course

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APRIL 2022

Meadow Park Golf Course • Tacoma

Meadow Park GC TACOMA

In a September 1915 edition of Tacoma’s Daily Ledger, which many generations, owners and rebirths later would become the News-Tribune, businessmen W.F. Jowders and W.B. Beal ran an ad touting the new publicly accessible golf course they had built on 165 acres in a neighborhood then known as Manitou. Situated close to a station on the American Lake streetcar line, the city’s residents could reach the course, which opened three months after the newspaper ad had appeared, quickly and easily paying just five cents for a one-way ticket. Jowders and Beal had selected John Ball to design the course — not the famous, eight-time British Amateur Champion and winner of the 1890 Open Championship, but another John Ball who, like his namesake, was born in England but who had emigrated to the United States around the turn of the century. Before getting the job in Tacoma, Ball had constructed prestigious Town and Country Club in St. Paul, Minn., then Seattle Golf Club’s first course in the Laurelhurst district. He designed the nine holes at Grays Harbor in Aberdeen in 1912 and the opening nine at Bellingham Golf and Country Club in 1913. Later, he built and co-designed Allenmore with his son Ray who was a well-known professional in the Pacific Northwest. Golfers could play the course Ball designed seven miles south of downtown Tacoma for 25 cents or buy annual tickets for $12 which bought them all the golf they could play, access to the clubhouse and a locker. Of course, clubs in those days were made predominantly with hickory, and the course welcomes hickory golfers to this day, hosting a midweek hick-

ory league and staging a hickory open tournament on the first Sunday of May every year when between 40 and 50 players, dressed in knickers, knee-length socks, buttoned-down shirts, ties and flat caps take on the gorgeous, conifer-lined course that, at its longest, measures 6,136 yards (the Gold tees offer a far more accommodating 3,965-yard layout). Ownership changed hands several times before Tacoma Metro Parks purchased the course for $250,000 in 1961, a year after fire had destroyed the original clubhouse. Old army barracks were used to create a new building. Being municipally owned, Meadow Park Golf Course is a hive of activity recording an incredible 83,000 rounds a year. It offers a Special Olympics program each summer and is a hub of youth golf as the home of the First Tee of South Puget Sound, and offering Drive, Chip and Putt clinics, PGA Jr. League and summer camps. There’s a 30-bay driving range (with six Toptracer stalls), beginner programs, numerous clubs and leagues and FootGolf. And there’s the nine-hole Williams Course, a fun executive layout for those short on time, that was named after J. Ralph Williams, the Metro Parks commissioner behind the purchase of the property.

YARDAGE (PAR) 3,965-6,136 yards (Championship 18 par 71) RATES $29.50-$35.50* TEL (253) 473-3033 WEB metroparkstacoma.org/place/ meadow-park-golf-course * Check website for current rates cascadegolfer.com

Eagle’s Pride Golf Course • Tacoma

Oakbrook Golf Club • Lakewood

Oakbrook Golf Club LAKEWOOD

A poster on a Facebook group I follow recently asked which of a selection of Tacoma area courses he should play with a friend who was visiting from out of town. Not surprisingly, Chambers Bay polled the most votes, but not far behind and quite a way in front of the third-choice course was Oakbrook Golf Club, just a mile east of the 2015 U.S. Open venue as the crow flies, but a sixmile drive in Lakewood that meanders around Chambers Creek. Opened in 1966 and renovated by Washington’s own John Steidel in 1990, Oakbrook operated as a private course for 56 years before being purchased by Tacoma native Ryan Moore and his new company, Ryan Moore Golf Management LLC, made up of the fivetime PGA Tour winner, his father Michael and a dozen other investors who changed the club’s business model entirely. No longer a somewhat exclusive members-only club, Oakbrook became a public course that offered an innovative payment plan for local golfers who paid monthly subscriptions, the rate depending on how much golf they played and at what time of day. Some options include and all-access status, featuring unlimited golf and range balls, which is currently $230 per month. Subscriptions are 12-month contracts. It proved incredibly popular with well over 600 new golfers signing up, which was a 420 percent rise in the number of players calling Oakbrook home. Moore instigated immediate improvements to a course badly in need of some TLC, punching and sanding the fairways to produce much firmer surfaces and upgrading the greens to what they had been years before. The initial burst of activity inevitably slowed, and the condition of the course couldn’t quite sustain the immediate RMG Golf effect. The bunkers took a prolonged hit after the Ravensdale Sand plant near Maple Valley was decommissioned in 2015. “As its operations wound down,” says Michael Moore cascadegolfer.com

Eagle’s Pride GC TACOMA

who works at Oakbrook as the General Manager, “the final deposits had quite a bit of clay in them which wasn’t ideal for bunkers.” Thankfully, Oakbrook has found a new source of sand and the maintenance team, led by Superintendent Jay Griswold, has been working on the course’s 64 bunkers in recent months. All 40 greenside traps have now been repaired and work has begun on those next to the fairways. Robert Moshcatel, one of the many golfers who took advantage of RMG’s arrival 10 years ago, admits to breaking a couple of sand wedges in the old ‘sand’, but is thankful the course is upgrading the bunkers. “It’s making such a difference,” says the retired Boeing employee who not so long ago was playing 275 rounds a year. Moshcatel, who loves the course so much he bought a house off the 14th fairway in January 2018, can’t say enough about the current conditions. “The course is looking fantastic for February,” he says. “I’m so excited to play the course this year and work on getting my handicap back down into single figures.” Many of Oakbrook’s greens and fairways are surrounded by residential streets and houses, but unlike some courses we could mention (but prefer not to) they never encroach too close, allowing the course to retain something of a northwest flavor. Off the Blue Tees, it measures a challenging but not intimidating 6,715 yards, playing to a Par of 71 and a slope of 128, but there are, of course, teeing options for golfers with slower swing speeds. The halves are very evenly matched though the back, which includes the very attractive Par 3 13th with water short-right of the green, is probably favored by most.

Leave it to Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM), one of the nation’s pre-eminent tactical, mobilization and artillery training installations, to offer more bang for your buck when it comes to greens fees at its Eagle’s Pride Golf Course. A round on the venerable 27-hole, 82-year-old layout that caters to the public as well as military personnel costs as little as $26. Who wouldn’t salute to that, especially considering the quality of the course? Eagle’s Pride is considered one of the best courses under the auspices of the Department of Defense and has been ranked among the top ten military courses (out of 155), by Travel and Leisure magazine. It opened in 1940 as an 18-hole layout and was originally called Red/Blue at Fort Lewis Golf Course. A Works Progress Administration (WPA) project, it was designed by Frank J. James who was born in England before emigrating to Washington where he was involved in the creation of several other local courses such as Tacoma’s Fircrest GC, Olympia G&CC, Overlake CC, Rainier CC, Yakima CC, Jackson Park GC. He was likewise involved with dozens more on the East Coast. The nine-hole Green Course was added in 1979 and designed by the late Bill Teufel who also designed Useless Bay CC in Langley, Gleneagles GC in Arlington, and Wing Point G&CC on Bainbridge Island. Both designers let nature do the talking at Fort Lewis. They weaved their nines in and around tall firs and water features, providing views of Mt. Rainier at various points throughout the property. Each nine has been awarded Audubon certification. Bird walks are organized on the third Thursday of each month, as more than 100 different species have been identified on the property. The original 18 holes (Red/Blue) are used during the winter — early November to last March — before Eagle’s Pride becomes a 27-hole facility in summer. A lighted and heated practice range with ten covered hitting bays is available year-round, and Footgolf is also becoming popular. After swinging, kicking or birding, the Samuel Adams Brewhouse is just a wedge away, in view of the 18th green. Eagle’s Pride is located close to Dupont, about 20 miles south of downtown Tacoma on the northwest side of I-5 and is one of three courses affiliated with JBLM — the others being Whispering Firs at McChord Field and American Lakes Veterans GC in Lakewood.

YARDAGE (PAR) 4,878-6,715 (Par 72) RATES $39.10 midweek, $26.45 after 12.30 p.m. TEL (253) 584-8770 WEB oakbrookgolfclub.com * Check website for current rates

YARDAGE (PAR) 5,323-6,679 yards (Red 37, Blue 35, Green 36) RATES Winter $26 daily public, $18 military, $23 DOD retirees $9 juniors 6-High School. * Check website for current rates TEL (253) 967-6522 WEB jblm.armymwr.com/programs/eagles-pride-golf-course APRIL 2022

P R ESENTED BY

With record participation numbers in 2021 besting Tiger-era marks for play, what will 2022 be like? BY DAVID LORENTZ • THE NATIONAL GOLF FOUNDATION

ewton’s first law of motion deals with inertia. An object in motion stays in motion unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. Beginning around the turn of the century and over the course of two decades, the number of golf rounds played in the U.S. had been trending downward — a result of not only fewer players but also declining frequency among those still active. From 2000-2019, the volume of golfers playing 25 or more rounds each year was cut in half. Think about that. Golf, like so many other things in the pre-internet world, had been an unbreakable routine for many millions of Americans. Only acts of God could get in the way of someone’s Saturday and Sunday morning tee times. Objects in motion stay in motion. But the internet changed things for golf. It brought new distractions, ideas and opportunities, and effectively broke the inertia of standing tee times. In fact, there’s little coincidence that golf demand in the U.S. — whether measured in rounds, equipment purchases, Google searches or anything else — truly began to wane as social media spread beyond early adopters and tech geeks. The pandemic, of course, broke inertia too. Routines changed overnight and the winds suddenly began to blow at golf’s back again. No travel, no ballgames, fewer office commutes. But there was golf, and we all know how that went. Rounds in 2020 were almost unthinkably high — we erased 20 years of decline in about six months. There were more beginning and returning players than ever before, but existing golfers increased their play in a significant way too. When asked to explain these

increases, the majority response was about golf being the only game in town (in August 2020, 67 percent credited their increased play to “having fewer alternative ways to spend leisure time”). We all wondered how 2021 would go. Would demand maintain, or regress as people presumably fell back into old routines? Emphatically, the former. Over the past year we measured more rounds at golf courses across the United States than ever before. Think about that. What’s even more encouraging than the record itself is what’s behind it. A year later — this past October — when

we again asked golfers to explain their increases in play, the majority response had shifted, with 56 percent saying golf had become “more of a priority.” Objects in motion. As we look ahead and consider what 2022 will bring, the obvious challenge will be to not only retain new and returning players, but to keep the devoted core engaged at these higher levels. In both cases, doing so will require creative engagement strategies. Key word is “strategies.” This is not a passive issue, and so the question must move from ‘will demand maintain?’ to ‘how are we keeping golf demand in motion?’

Enter to Win — Four Boeing Classic Tickets & Two Northwest Golfers Playbooks

ou and three friends are headed to the Boeing Classic to watch the legends of the game, plus save money all summer with a couple Northwest Golfers Playbooks. Enter to win at CascadeGolfer.com.

APRIL 2022

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Cascade Golfer April 2022

Articles inside

• Four Boeing Classic Tickets and Two Northwest Golfers Playbooks