Cascade Golfer April 2023

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Westport Golf Inc., will hopefully break ground on a new global golf stop in Grays Harbor

PUETZ GOLF SAVINGS 34 - 39

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This month’s cover and table of contents imagery is courtesy of White Horse Golf Club in Kingston, Wash. The rolling wooded terrain of this Olympic Peninsula jewel brings the golfer a unique perspective and playability morning, midday and twilight with shadows and slight elevation changes that dazzle the eye and test golfers at every level. Just a quick drive from the Edmonds-Kingston ferry terminal, White Horse has become a mainland and peninsula top 10 place to play on everyone’s list.

CASCADE GOLFER

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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. varsitycommunications.com

EDITORIAL STAFF PUBLISHERS

Dick Stephens & Kirk Tourtillotte

EDITOR

Tony Dear

ART DIRECTION & GRAPHIC DESIGN

Robert Becker

WRITERS

Bob Sherwin & Taryn Hauglie

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 2023 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.

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

PRODUCER AND OWNER OF THE

The last three months, for me, have felt like being a passenger on a bullet train. In 30 years in the business, I’ve never experienced the speed and weight of a first quarter quite like this one. I’ve learned a lot and benefitted greatly from the pace and opportunities.

The weight and ballast in my ‘backpack’ so to speak since January, has been dense and kept me rooted – that is a certainty. I am pleased to say that I’ve now set the pack down and feel the incredible lightness of being once again — waxing retrospective on all I’ve seen, done and collaborated on.

For those that have read my ‘stardate logs’ here over the years, you’re aware we also produce spring golf shows in St. Louis, Kansas City, Portland, Seattle and Hartford, Conn.

I’ve got my fill of golf this year and enjoyed the ride. I’m in awe of my teammates that endure this odyssey with me each year.

Of all that I experienced in 2023, there’s one moment that will be forever etched in my memory. We had the pleasure of having eight-time major champion Tom Watson grace our main stage at the Kansas City Golf Show Feb. 25.

This was sacred for me since I grew up in KC and Watson was the biggest sports star there — on ‘par’ with George Brett, Jan Stenerud or Danny Manning.

At our shows, I host the stage, so it was my honor to produce a one-hour program with Tom and the Director of the First Tee of Kansas City Tony Blake without whom none of this would have happened. They were there to promote Watson Links, which is an ingenious program where they are building youth short courses all over KC.

Tom’s heart is all in on this as he speaks passionately about it.

After their impressive mission outline, I was able to steer the session into an Inside the Actor’s Studio style and touch on some of his career highlights as man and boy.

Flat out, from 1975-85, there was no player more dominant. He’s the only American to win five Open Championships — his Major victories in Scotland and England are his calling card. His two green jackets and Masters wins in 1977 and 1981, the 39 PGA Tour career titles and the chip in birdie on 17 at the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach in 1982 make Watson one of the top 10 golfers of all time.

That image of him holing from the rough on that windy day on Monterey Bay is right up there for me with Jack Nicklaus’ ‘Yes Sir’ putt at the 1986 Masters.

I asked Tom on stage a question I’ve had the chance to pose to Hale Irwin, Fuzzy Zoeller and a few other icons with whom I’ve been one-on-one. “Of all the moments in your incredible career, which is the one red zone shining moment you’re most proud of where you rose to the occasion?”

He didn’t bat an eye and we were expecting him to say the Pebble chip in or the 1977 Open Championship ‘Duel in the Sun’ — both where he narrowly catapulted past Nicklaus for the win.

Tom stumped us all and shared something way better — pairing perfectly with why he was there. It was his vic-

tory at the 1964 Kansas City Match Play as a 15-year-old, beating the best adult players in the region and making his first mark on the golf world.

Emotionally he said if he was good enough to beat them as a boy, maybe he’d be good enough to someday be a pro or be as fine a player as his mentor Stan Thirsk (longtime head pro at Kansas City Country Club).

Shortly after sharing that, the place erupted in applause and just five feet from me, a misty-eyed Watson shared his utter respect for Thirsk and the role he played in his life — overcome with emotion which we all felt and heard. The crowd rose to the occasion and THAT made the day for everyone involved.

To play a part on a stage with my idol, enjoy it with my friend of 36 years Dave “Sheeves” Arnold, my co-event producers Tiffanie Neyens and Taryn Hauglie and others in the crowd that were a part of my youth was more than I can aptly express. It was a red-letter day.

To close out the session, Tom took a final question from a young man and his father, which was “what’s the best advice you can give a young golfer?” Tom’s answer was immediate and simple. “Play for something when you compete.” He shared play for anything. “A dollar, a candy bar, but play for something.” Tom intimated that it’s not just about winning the prize and having something on the line. It’s how to accept the loss and lose graciously – respectfully.

If anyone saw Tom Watson win or lose his reaction was always the same. A humble, assured man with that recognizable smile, hat off, and his hand out first accepting victory or his being vanquished. Back in the day, if you turned down the sound and couldn’t hear Jay Randolph or Ken Venturi on your TV, and just saw the final putt that decided winner from loser, it was hard to tell if he won or lost.

That’s the mark of a gentleman hero – that’s who we got to share an afternoon with — I will never forget it. I hope you enjoy spring as much as I will. Soak in the long days and AS ALWAYS, TAKE IT EASY.

The afternoon with my hero Tom Watson was better than I could have imagined

SHORT GAME

Sahalee CC to host 2024 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship dates announced soon

Sahalee Country Club, which stepped up on short notice to host the 2016 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and helped enhance the status of the second oldest women’s major, has been awarded another one.

The PGA of America, which took over running the KPMG-sponsored event for the LPGA Tour in 2015, announced in December that the Sammamish club had been selected to host the event in 2024. The date for the event is still uncertain but likely will be the third week in June.

“We have an active championship committee,” says Bryan Nicholson, the club’s director of golf. “The mission statement of the club is to host significant championships.”

The tournament, originally known as the LPGA Championship, was first held in 1955 at Orchard Ridge GC in Fort Wayne, Ind., where a match play final (Bev Hanson beat Louise Suggs 4&3) followed three rounds of stroke play. Following the 2015 event, played at Westchester CC in Harrison, N.Y., and won by Inbee Park, the PGA of America elected to rotate the event throughout the country.

The announcement gave Sahalee just 11 months to prepare. In 2016, it pulled off an incredibly well-attended event that included a Women’s Leadership summit fea-

turing Condoleezza Rice, and a thrilling finish as Brooke Henderson defeated Lydia Ko at the first playoff hole.

“They reached out to us, and the club threw together an unbelievable championship that year,” Nicholson says. “We got unbelievable crowds which speaks to the interest for professional golf in the Northwest as well as the power of the women’s game.”

Sahalee opened in 1969 and was designed by Ted Robinson with a renovation by Rees Jones in 1996. It has 27 holes with the North and South nines being used for the tournament. The media center, merchandising, sponsor tents and other tournament-related operations, meanwhile, will go on the East Course.

When the club hosted the 2016 Women’s Summit in the clubhouse’s ballroom with speeches by Rice (the former U.S. Secretary of State under George W. Bush) and other women’s leaders, there was concern the event would not be well attended. In fact, it was oversubscribed, and people had to be turned away. Nicholson is expecting a similarly-large gallery for the 2024 tournament which will feature 156 of the best women golfers in the world — a number that includes 20 club professionals.

Canada’s Henderson took the title seven years ago becoming the youngest ever winner of the event. The then 18-year-old birdied the first extra hole to beat Ko, a New Zealand native and 18. Then the best women golfer in the world, Ko slipped for a couple of years before regaining her form in 2022 when she recorded 14 top-10 finishes and three wins, making 19 LPGA Tour victories in all, including two majors.

Also expected to compete are the talented Korda sisters, Nelly, and Jessica. Nelly, now 24, was still burning up the junior ranks when Sahalee first hosted the event. She turned professional in 2017 and has now won eight times with one major (2021 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club). Jessica, 29, has six wins.

Sahalee just completed a $2.5 million bunker renovation and plans a tree removal and championship tee expansion following the KPMG.

NBC plans full coverage all four days of the tournament. Tickets are expected to go on sale this summer. The 2023 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship will be held at the Baltusrol Golf Club (N.J.) on June 22-25.

Brooke Henderson won in 2016.

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CG Cup kicks off in DuPont April 29 trips to Bandon Dunes, Maui and Pinehurst on the line

Perhaps the most consistent and highest compliment we get about our Cascade Golfer Cup is ‘can I play with so and so again? We met them at the last event and they were awesome to play with.’

Although we don’t take pairing requests, we love to hear how enjoyable the experience has been for the folks that tee it up in our CG Cup events. Sure, the prizes are totally bonkers, and yes, the courses are fantastic and the formats terrific, but in the end having fun is what matters.

This year we changed it up a bit, teeing off our first CG Cup event, our Season Opener on April 29 at a Northwest favorite, The Home Course in DuPont. If you want fun, this track is about as enjoyable to play as any, plus the two-person best ball is an exciting format.

From there we take the show on the road to one of Washington’s most pristine tracks, May 20 at Salish Cliffs in Shelton with our 13th annual Cascade Golfer Challenge. If you like good course conditions, that’s the place

We love shambles and that’s the format for the season’s third event, the Puetz Golf Shootout June 10. Kingston’s White Horse Golf Club is the host, which sets up nicely for this format, a beautiful, forested course that can

be a tough test for all skill levels.

Making the turn, the Cup’s fourth event keeps it on the Peninsula, July 8 at Port Ludlow. This might be the most underrated course in the state as the conditions there have been nothing short of spectacular these last few years.

The Michelob ULTRA Open, an aggregate Stroke Play event, will be Aug. 12 at Oakbrook, quite a fun course as just about any golfer in Lakewood and the south end can attest.

This is followed by another two-person best ball, Sept. 9 at The Classic, the Spanaway layout that is a tough and tight challenge.

Of course, our schedule wouldn’t be complete without our annual pilgrimage to Chambers Bay, with the Fall Classic Sept. 30.

Prizes and the CG Cup go hand in hand, since, well, nobody does it better. Just like we have done over the past 14 years, a ton of loot is handed out at every event. Once again, we will prize out the top 10 teams in both the Net and Gross Divisions (all teams are entered into both).

These aren’t just your run-of-the-mill book money from the pro shop. We are sending folks all over the country, including half a dozen stay-and-play packages to

Maui, golf packages to Bandon Dunes, Central Oregon, Myrtle Beach, Pinehurst and several other destinations. Plus, we have dozens of products, including drivers, wedges, putters, bags and, of course, a ridiculous amount of great golf to offer, such as twosomes and foursomes sent off to Gamble Sands, Chambers Bay, Suncadia, Salish Cliffs, Home Course, Loomis Trail, Port Ludlow, Cedars at Dungeness, The Classic and Oakbrook. The list is long.

In addition to prizing out each event, the CG Cup is also a season points race, so there are prizes for the top 10 teams in Gross and Net on the season. Plus, you are allowed to have an alternate, so when you have a conflict and your buddy still wants to grab a partner and play, no problem. Consider it a three-person team for the season.

Nothing is more fun than playing golf with your favorite golf partner. Each event is a two-person team game, varying from best ball, best ball Stableford, stroke play and shamble.

Sounds like a good time? Time to get a partner and get inside the ropes. Anyone can play. You just need an established handicap, a playing partner and the desire to have fun. Visit CascadeGolfer.com/Cup or email simon@ cascadegolfer.com. We hope to see you in the fairway.

The Classic GC • Spanaway

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Don’t leave home without it! CG Players Card features 13 Washington courses and 234 holes of golf the most ever for just $299

Now read this — 234 holes for $299. Does it get any better? That is what our Cascade Golfer Players Card holders have in store for them in 2023. The card, our largest ever, offers greens fees to a baker’s dozen of golf tracks throughout western and central Washington. It is a golf bonanza — all you have to do is go play.

The Cascade Golfer Players Card is simply ‘golf for less.’ The 2023 card will cover you at 13 different Northwest courses, all unique in their own way. This is the 11th edition of our Players Card, and the courses involved are many of the Northwest’s finest, spread throughout the state. All are back from our 2022 card, already a great lineup and now we added two more, Snohomish and High Cedars.

The card has 13 great courses individually but also sets up nicely for those looking to play 36 in a day or maybe make a two-day journey out of it. We have the favorites, like Salish Cliffs in Shelton and Apple Tree in Yakima,

no doubt two of Washington’s most enjoyable loops. Hit up Sun Country on your way over to Yakima and maybe High Cedars or Eagles Pride on your way to Shelton.

Take a trek to Wenatchee to play Highlander and make a pit stop at Snoqualmie Falls before you go over the pass or Kahler Mountain Club just outside of Leavenworth.

From the north you have Sudden Valley, Whidbey and Camaloch, plus one of our favorites Snohomish, a first-time participant. The peninsula offers some great golf, and we are excited to have Port Ludlow and Cedars at Dungeness part of the card once again. That is a great day of golf.

The number of Players Cards is limited, at the time of printing less than 50 remained. How long they last is uncertain as folks know they can save a bunch of cash. The card costs $299 but that’s a fraction of the $850 in golf you get. Log on to CascadeGolfer.com and get your card today. See you on the first tee.

With 120 offers, Northwest Golfers Playbook pays you back all summer

It’s back, and bigger and better than ever. The 2023 Northwest Golfers Playbook once again is packed full of golf savings, making sure you can golf all year long and save as you play.

In addition to the usual suspects -- several of the best tracks in the Northwest such as Gamble Sands, Wine Valley, Suncadia, Apple Tree, White Horse, Port Ludlow – we are happy to see a few new faces, Snohomish, Lakeland Village and Swinomish Golf Links. This is in addition to all our local favorites, too many to list.

Golf is busting out and we are also seeing the indoor golf craze in full bloom. We’ve had several new indoor facilities jump into the book, including Five Iron Golf on Capitol Hill, Lounge by Topgolf in Kirkland, Kutting Edge Fitness in Redmond and Loft Golf out of Olympia.

This is in addition to our NWGPB vets, Golftec, Back 9 Parlor and Pacific Northwest Golf Centers. Oh, and, of course, Puetz Golf. You get $10, as usual, with other offers included.

Whether you live in Seattle, lay your head down up North, or call the South end your home, the NWGPB has a ton of options for you. Plus, if you love to hit the road, we have 18 tracks on the peninsula or across the passes to central and eastern Washington.

What type of offers you ask? Anything goes. If you are looking for 2 for 1’s, 4 for 3’s, percentage discounts, free carts, lessons, range balls, twosome specials, foursome specials…you will find pretty much any offer imaginable in the book.

We are coming off a three-year stretch with so many new players getting involved in the game. Even with courses packed, we are excited to be able to put together a book still jammed with so many great offers. With more than 120 pages of golf deals, you simply need to use a coupon or two and you’re already in the black.

You can purchase a book online for $39.95. Use the code SAVEBIGONGOLF to save another $5. Put the book in your golf bag and count the savings all summer long. Maybe even open it up and find a new course to go play. Either way, pick one up at NWGolfersPlaybook.com and start saving today!

Sudden Valley Golf Club

Hidden Gem

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CASCADE GOLFER CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH PLAY 2023

Bracketville! CG Match Play 2023 is the ultimate test of golf and gamesmanship

Even if you might not be a basketball fan, there’s a good chance that you’ve heard of March Madness, the annual NCAA tournament that engenders as much intensity as it does insanity in its win-or-go-home format.

For Cascade Golfer, our Match Play event might not be in March, but it brings out just as much chaos. One shot can steal a win from the jaws of defeat. That’s what makes it so fun.

A 64-player field begins play at the end of May. 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 tournament’s 11th edition.

Like the NCAAs, players are seeded in regions. Your opening match will be against someone in your area with a similar handicap. You and your opponent decide what course to play, and which tees to use. The winner moves on and plays a match every four weeks. Keep winning and the prizes only increase, with the final eight duking it out for two days at one of the great match play courses in our state, Salish Cliffs, where we cover your green fees.

Yes, it’s competitive, 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 consistency pays off as one bad round can lead you to the exit. Whatever the skill level the tournament puts a premium on clutch play. Can you hit the shot when you are tied sitting in the 18th fairway?

The cost to enter (and a Salish Cliffs 2-for-1 deal — a $100 value) is only $90. 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 Director Simon Dubiel at simon@cascadegolfer.com with questions. We will see you in the bracket. The only question is how long can you survive?

The road leads to Salish Cliffs GC

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The Home Course to host fourth USGA Championship this May

The Home Course, opened just 16 years ago, has become one of the country’s go-to venues for USGA competitions, and will host the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship event in May.

The DuPont, Wash. facility was built for championship golf and has already co-hosted stroke play rounds for the 2010 U.S. Amateur Championship and 2021 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship alongside Chambers Bay. It also hosted the 2014 Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship, an event that had begun in 1922 but which ended at the Home Course after the USGA decided to replace it with the Four-Ball championship. This year’s edition of the tournament will therefore be the eighth.

“When we held the Men’s Four-Ball with Chambers Bay, we showed the USGA what we were able to do,” says Justin Gravatt, the course’s general manager. “I think that event pushed our name toward the top of their list. We enjoy hosting USGA events. We also host the Canadian Tour Q School annual event, and we’ll stage the PGA Northwest Open the week after the Four-Ball.”

The reason The Home Course is an ideal venue for

tournament play is partly because of the perception that it’s playable. The fairways are wide, it rolls well, and the greens are ample and receptive. But it can become championship-tough and show its teeth with tight pin positions and by pushing the tee markers back.

How the USGA will set up the course isn’t certain, but it will be long — somewhere around 6,900 yards (the men played it at around 7,400 yards). That’s plenty of golf course for the women who’ll play in this year’s tournament and who likely average around 260 yards off the tee.

“Instead of hitting a mid or long-iron to the green, they may need to hit a hybrid,” says Gravatt. “That brings the bunkers more into play. It’s the green complexes, not the tee shots, that will be their main challenge. It’s a different perspective when you take a step back. It’s more of a challenge.”

Twenty-six qualifiers were held across the country between August 22 and December 7 last year when entrants could not have a USGA Handicap Index exceeding 14.4. Seven-hundred-and-thirty-two players participated (366 pairs) with 128 (64 pairs) making it through to May’s event to be held from the 13th to the 17th.

The format is essentially two-player best ball. For the first two days it’s stroke play, as each golfer plays her own ball with the best team score recorded for each hole. After stroke play, the field is cut in half with the top 32 teams proceeding into a match play bracket.

As is so often the case these days, many the players who qualified are teenagers. In fact, 80 of the qualifiers are aged 18 or younger. The reason for that might be because the event, generally held in late spring, presents a conflict for many of the top collegiate golfers. Those women are deep into their college schedules and don’t have the opportunity to qualify or play in this event.

High-Schoolers Angela Zhang of Bellevue and her partner Alice Ziyi Zhao of California were among the top qualifiers at the Home Course last September and will start among the favorites. “Angela has been out here at different times for other events,” says Gravatt. “She came through here for the Drive, Chip and Putt event then went on to Augusta National. She played PGA Junior events here too.”

Zhang and Zhao will no doubt be hoping their familiarity with the course proves crucial.

The 2022 champions Thienna Huynh and Sara Im won at the Grand Reserve GC in Puerto Rico.

SHORT GAME

State-of-the-art performance center a popular addition to Northwest Golf House complex

The Home Course, whose essential mission is to be known as the ‘Northwest Golf House,’ has added another element designed to improve every golfer’s game.

On Oct. 22 last year, the 16-year-old facility, cooperatively owned and operated by the Pacific Northwest Golf Association (PNGA) and WA Golf, opened a state-ofthe-art Performance Center adjacent to the driving range. It joined the growing number of indoor facilities in the Northwest where you can work on your game even in the roughest of weather conditions and, so far, the response has been hugely positive.

“We had been talking about it for some time,” says Justin Gravatt, The Home Course’s General Manager. “It’s a teaching and fitting hub for the south Sound. We’re centrally located.”

It’s the next step for The Home Course in its effort to

provide a space for all aspects of the Northwest golf community. Under its umbrella, the club has plans to build a facility housing the PNGA, WA Golf, and local USGA offices as well as a junior golf association plus a turfgrass research and environmental stewardship department.

The Performance Center features the GC Quad System by Foresight Sports which uses four cameras to record shot data. “The focus is on the clubhead,” says Gravatt. “It’s a great tool for fitting.”

The GC Quad is the only launch monitor on the market to use Quadrascopic Imaging and, says Foresight Sports, delivers the most accurate and detailed image of ball and club head performance in the industry.

There are two hitting bays in the teaching center with 14-foot-high garage doors that open out on to range. The facility is heated so the teaching can go on year-round. There’s

also the fitting system for putting called L.A.B. (Lie Angle Balance), which is designed to keep the putter balanced and completely square to the target for repeatable strokes.

The Performance Center is headed by PGA Professional John Cassidy along with PGA instructors Mitch Runge and Shane Prante.

The Home Course is one of just a handful of courses around the country that was developed and is operated by state golfing associations. It welcomes tournaments of virtually any size, mostly amateur.

Three USGA events have been held there with a fourth — the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship — scheduled for May 13-17. The course, designed by the late Mike Asmundson and opened in 2007, also holds national and Canadian qualifiers as well as annual WA Golf and PNGA championships.

Esli Choi is our top choice for the Duke’s Seafood Junior Scholarship

Not surprisingly, most of the nominations we receive for the Duke’s Seafood Junior Golfer Scholarship come from parents and grandparents (though a few aunts have been quick to promote their niece or nephew, too). We can’t get enough of their stories saying how their kids and grandkids are being introduced to, and developing within, the game. Reading about how much those families enjoy playing golf together is pretty cool.

Every so often though, a nomination comes in from a teacher or coach and, somehow, it hits differently. We know it comes from a different place — metaphorically speaking — professional recognition rather than unconditional love.

This month’s nomination arrived from a First Tee coach who has been working with — or rather mentoring – the student she recommends for the award since 2019. Which is remarkable when you consider the student in question, Esli Choi of Maple Valley, is just 12 years-old and a 6th-grader at Summit Trail Middle School in Ravensdale.

John Moscrip of Duke’s Seafood who helps select each winner, has awarded the scholarship to only one person younger than Esli – Nixon Dremousis in August 2020. So, this award is indeed special.

It was Leslie Guzman, the Program Manager at the First Tee of Greater Seattle based at Jefferson Park, that nominated Esli, the oldest of four siblings, noting that she is fully invested in the game and seems to have the maturity and tenacity of someone twice her age. “She has so many great qualities,” adds Guzman. “She is one of the hardest-working and most motivated participants here. She encourages others and can be very empathetic. She has set big golf goals for herself, plays US Kids Golf, and has entered into the WJGA circuit.”

Esli hit her first shot when she was seven and now loves to play golf with her cousins and dad at Maple Valley and Bellevue Municipal, but mostly on the simulator at home. And she really loves the First Tee. “What I like about it is that you get to make new friends and the coaches teach you really well,” she says. “I’ve learned a lot there and am getting so much better.”

Moscrip is delighted Esli is embarking on a life in golf and says it “was a joy to select her” as the next worthy winner. “With maturity beyond her years,” he adds “this impressive young golfer epitomizes our vision for the award with her dedication, vision and hard work.”

Esli’s favorite players are Lydia Ko, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy all of whom she is determined to meet one day. Until that happens, she will continue working on her game and plans to use the scholarship money to buy a video card for the at-home simulator that will enable her to play St. Andrews, Pebble Beach and Augusta National (good choices, Esli!) where, who knows, we might see her at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur one day.

Leslie Guzman, for one, wouldn’t be surprised if that ever happened. “Esli will be a great junior golfer with time,” she says. “More importantly, perhaps, she is becoming a really outstanding individual. We are very lucky to have her in our program.”

Win $500 For Your Young Golfer

The Duke’s Junior Golfer Scholarship is a $500 scholarship awarded three times this year in Cascade Golfer to a deserving young player from the Puget Sound region. If you know of an area youth that loves golf and has a desire to take their career to the next level, submit your letter of inquiry for scholarship consideration to both tonydear71@comcast.net and stephens@varsitycommunications.com

— subject “Duke’s Scholar.”

Cancun is Calling

The ultimate Caribbean golf experience at Moon Palace is one click away

Michelle Wicks Cypher and her husband Michael, travel agents who have been fashioning golf trips all over the world for nearly a decade now, have put their expertise together for what they hope will be an ultimate golf trip in May 2024 to Cancun.

The couple, who run the Travel There and Back agency in Monroe, Wash., are taking orders for a fournight, five-day stay at Moon Palace Cancun, a five-star, all-inclusive resort on the Caribbean. There is a 27-hole Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course on the Moon Palace property that participants will play.

“We wanted to do this before COVID,” says Michelle. “But travel is coming back and we’re happy to be part of this.”

The event is planned for May 2-6, 2024. Golfers will play the Moon Palace course each day except Saturday, when they’ll move over to the nearby Riviera Cancun Golf and Resort course, also a Nicklaus-design.

Moon Palace is a massive 1,300-room property right on the beach. Six large pools, all interconnected, feature swim-up bars, a FlowRider double surf simulator, and a kids’ pool with slides and water features. Tennis courts,

pickleball courts, basketball courts and a mini-golf course are dotted throughout the property. There are nightly theater shows, a dance club and 11 restaurants. The Moon Palace also connects to the Grand Palace next door.

It’s an all-inclusive property, which means all food and drinks are included in the up-front price. The golf is also unlimited. If golfers want to play more than one round in a day, they can schedule that, sunrise to sunset. For any accompanying non-golfer, the Cyphers have secured a $250 credit that can be used for the full-service Awe Spa.

The cost of the trip is $1,995 per person, based on double occupancy (air fare not included). “We were happy we could get it at that price,” Michelle adds.

The trip is open to anyone, though it will likely have a decidedly Northwest flavor. The Cyphers will promote it through golf shows from Seattle to Kansas City to Connecticut and, of course, through Cascade Golfer which reaches more than 100,000 readers in this region.

The Cyphers have operated the Travel There and Back agency for the past eight years, offering all varieties of travel packages including golf tours which have gradually become a prominent part of the business.

The company has put together hundreds of trips to Scotland and Ireland so customers can play the ancient links courses. They have put people on some of the best courses in the world, but golf takes up only four-five hours a day which means the Cyphers need to find enjoyable ways for people to fill the rest of the day.

Golf may be the connecting factor for many in the group but, invariably, some non-golfers are along for the culture, climate or cuisine. Those interests need to be accommodated in some fashion so that no one feels they are giving up their vacation for the benefit of others.

Travel There and Back takes pride in offering a variety

of side trips and adventures, such as museum visits, beer and/or whiskey tours, glassblowing or cooking classes. The Cyphers can also set clients up with ancestry experts. They’ve planned golf trips to Africa that might include a safari and domestic golf trips to eastern Washington, Oregon and California (with the obligatory wine-tastings, of course).

The couple has developed a system of ‘travel fittings,’ in which all the vital questions are asked/answered. After a sit-down session, they determine what the priority is for each traveler. Then, working within the travelers’ budgets, they assemble travel packages based on their interests and what they might find interesting.

For more information on the Moon Palace trip, you can contact Travel There and Back at Michelle@travelthereandback.com or call 425-361-5212. There is a discount for anyone signing up for the trip before March 31.

SHORT GAME

Chambers Bay 15th green undergoes amazing repair and rebuild following wintertime pipe burst

At some point during the night of December 23rd last year, a lateral irrigation line short and to the left of the 15th green at Chambers Bay burst, sending thousands of gallons of water rushing down the hill and onto the putting surface. Water takes the path of least resistance, obviously, so this sudden deluge began to erode the sand core beneath the poa annua turf.

This, says Casey Kalbrenner of Ridgetop Golf which was hired to mitigate the impact and restore the characteristics and dimensions of the green, created large washouts under the existing turf and carried rocks, debris, etc. into the green cavity. “When breaks like this happen,” Kalbrenner adds, “the damage can be extreme, especially on sandy sites like those at Chambers Bay.”

It meant visitors to the 2015 U.S. Open venue had to play a 17-hole course as the 15th is one of the course’s few holes with no viable alternate location. “We had a lot of conversations as a team about other modifications to provide 18 holes,” says General Manager Zac Keen-

er. “But all of these would either modify another hole — thereby impacting two holes or would have dramatic flow/pace-of-play impacts.”

It took a couple of weeks for Director of Agronomy, Eric Johnson, and Senior Assistant Superintendent, Heather Schapals, to prepare the ground for the arrival of Ridgetop on Jan. 20, the highly respected golf course construction and renovation company that has worked on dozens of courses throughout the Northwest.

Kalbrenner didn’t really know what to expect but went in fearing the worst and “hopefully then being able to adapt to a much smaller scale of work.” Fortunately, Kalbrenner adds, there was no damage to the existing drainage or pea gravel layer which, according to the USGA, “allows the rapid movement of excess water out of the rootzone and into drainage pipes”.

“The impact was only contamination to the greens mix,” says Kalbrenner. “So, our next job was to excavate out all of the contaminated materials. This was rough-

ly 30 percent of the green. Then we imported the new greens mix.”

The challenge here was to match the compactions and get a consistent soil profile throughout the green. So Kalbrenner, and Ridgetop’s other employee on-site Josh Jahns, tilled the complete green and tied it all in together when the complete regrade of the surface needed to happen.

Using the most up to date Straka data (shows the existing percentage slopes), Kalbrenner matched the new contours to the old as closely as possible. He and Jahns were on-site for about five days and left once architect Robert Trent Jones, Jr., had approved the work (and added a little more pin-able space). Sod was then brought in from Chambers’s own nursery, and Johnson, together with his maintenance team, took over to ensure a smooth grow-in.

Keener says that at some point in March, when consistent growing temperatures arrive, he will be able to provide a timeline for reopening.

SHORT GAME

Register for the Corona Premier Shootout July 29-30 and meet designer David McLay-Kidd

Every experience, no matter what it may be, is time beautifully spent at Gamble Sands — it’s beyond special. The golf, food, vistas, lifestyle, climate and culture are unique. It’s for that reason Cascade Golfer continues to produce the ever-growing Corona Premier Shootout year after year.

So, save the dates July 29-30, select your playing partner, and register before it too late because this year will be our best event ever as we have a headline celebrity appearance with global golf course designer David McLay-Kidd — the mastermind behind Gamble Sands.

That’s right, McLay-Kidd will be at Gamble Sands on the weekend of the event to lend his support for the event’s beneficiary, the Multiple Sclerosis Society. There will be programming being run in conjunction with the Cascade Golfer event that weekend. You’ll have the chance to get your photo taken, perhaps interact with him and talk about how the second course will compare with the first.

It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

McLay-Kidd-designed the Sands Course, opened in 2014, which is ranked among the top 100 public courses in the country and located in one of America’s most stunningly beautiful places with views over the Cascade Mountains and Columbia River. The condition of the fairways and greens is always top-notch with some of the best fescue putting surfaces in the world, the staff is amazing, the food as good as anything between Seattle and Spokane (have you tried the Bison Burger, Salmon Filet, or Zabuton Steak?) and the Inn a delightful place to rest up for the night. As the saying goes — what’s not to love?

This year will be a noteworthy season for the central Washington resort, however, as work on the second 18 holes has begun and will continue until the fall/winter weather closes it down. What it will be named hasn’t been announced yet, but we do know it will open sometime in 2025 and that McLay-Kidd has designed it along with his partner at DMK Golf Design Nick Schaan. Having driven past the site (north of the clubhouse) numerous times and knowing what

McLay-Kidd can do on terrain like this, the anticipation needle is moving quickly into the red zone.

The Scot, designer of the original course at Bandon Dunes, Mammoth Dunes at Sand Valley in Wisconsin and numerous other highly-acclaimed courses around the world, is already part of the furniture at Gamble Sands having built the Sands Course as well as the insanely fun, 14-hole QuickSands Course and similarly entertaining Cascades Putting Course — all 100,000 square feet of it.

Considering the views and some of the features of the site, we suspect the second 18 will be every bit as fun to play as the first. But don’t take our word for it. Come and hear the man himself talk about the virtues of the site and his plans for Gamble’s next adventure at the Corona Premier Shootout on July 29-30.

Just like last year, and the year before that, the Corona Shootout will have a two-person, best ball format with gross and net divisions and extra prizes for KPs (four), long and straight drive.

On Saturday evening, we’ll hang out on the wild Cascade Putting Course for Corona Premier Happy Hour. Plus, you’ll have the chance to play Quicksands if you have time for it (you want to make time). While you may have your game face on for the competitive rounds, you can let loose on the Par 3 course -- bare feet, music, trashtalk, a couple of cold Corona Premiers.

As we did the last two years, we’ll prize out the top five teams daily in both gross and net divisions plus the top five overall in both divisions for the weekend. That’s a total of 30 team prizes in addition to those for long and straight drive each day and several closest-to-the-pin prizes. You ask what kind of prizes? Well, four of you will be going to Maui courtesy of our friends at Ka’anapali Golf Resort.

The fee is $1,000 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.

Enter to Win a Cedars at Dungeness Twosome

This place is flat out fun! The course is very playable and beautiful and home to the only set of bunkers shaped like a crab. Hit up the casino and new hotel when you are out there, since we already have your green fees covered for you and your playing partner. Enter to win today at CascadeGolfer.com.

CORONA PREMIER SHOOTOUT AT GAMBLE SANDS

July 29-30, Gamble Sands

Two-person best ball Saturday & Sunday

Net and gross divisions

Prize pool daily & total

4 KP’s, Long Drive, Straight Drive daily Saturday Corona Premier Happy Hour at Quicksands/Cascade Putting Course

YOUR $900 - $1,000 TEAM FEE INCLUDES Greens fees, cart, range & lunch Saturday & Sunday plus Saturday afternoon/evening round at Quicksands.

Go to CascadeGolfer.com to register

A shining example of golf and gaming

Shelton’s Salish Cliffs Golf Club has been setting the bar high since 2011

The new normal at Salish Cliff Golf Club is starting to look like the old normal. As COVID-19 restrictions fade away, people are beginning to get reacquainted with the world.

“We’re seeing some familiar faces from Seattle, Tacoma and up the Peninsula,” says Brian Green, the associate golf professional. “We might have seen them once a month but now it’s starting to be more frequently.”

Salish Cliffs opened in 2011 and was installed as one of the top 10 public courses in the state. It was the first on the Olympic Peninsula to welcome golfers when Governor Jay Inslee lifted restrictions for golf courses three years ago.

“It didn’t seem to affect us as much as other areas ( the economy),” Green says. “We saw a little dwindling off in spring of 2021, but golf is growing.”

The course is a beast as Salish measures 7,269 yards from the championship tees. That includes the 601-yard par-5 8th hole and the 587-yard par-5 10th.

Owned by the Squaxin Tribe, Salish Cliffs as an amenity of the nearby Little Creek Casino. Notable golf course architect Gene Bates, who also designed the acclaimed Circling Raven (Idaho), created Salish with nines that return to a shared green.

The course is about to embark on another major project in replacing sand and liners in the bunkers. Here’s Brian Green’s own quick assessment of favorites.

A Bucket with Associate Golf Professional Brian Green

Toughest Tee Shot 12th hole

My choice is 12 (par 4, 434 yards). It’s the narrowest tee shot on the course with hazards on both sides of the fairway. And it usually plays into the wind. There are drop-offs on both sides of the fairway with bunkers on the right side.

Best Birdie Opportunity 2nd hole

It’s a par 4 and is a great risk/reward hole. There are hazards (four bunkers) all along the right-hand side of the fairway. Long hitters can drive the green, but it doesn’t take a whole lot for shorter players to get to the fairway. Then it’s a short wedge to a receptive two-tier green.

Best Par 3 6th hole

Elevated tee is 168 yards to the pin. There’s a great bunker complex just to the left of the green that you must carry. There’s a bowl just short of the green that can affect how your ball rolls or bounces. It’s a beautiful hole, and not that difficult but can be tricky also.

Favorite Hole — 17th hole

I really like No. 17 (par 3, 161 yards), a short hole where the tee is probably 60-feet above the green. It’s a great view from up there. And visually a great backdrop, too.

Emergency Nine front or back?

I prefer the back nine. It requires a little more thought, and the holes have just a bit more character to them.

Go To Lunch Item On The Menu

The French Dip sandwich, with house-made Salish chips.

RISK vs. RE WARD

Snohomish Golf Course

Hole No. 10 Par 5 482 yards (White Tees)

Setup

By Simon Dubiel

For many, the 10th hole is one of the most iconic anywhere in Snohomish County. At under 500 yards in length, this beautiful par 5 is reachable in two for those that can navigate the challenging downhill tee shot. The hole doglegs left from there, wrapping around the trees and leaving you staring down the barrel of a mostly wide-open fairway all the way through the green. Only a bunker guards part of the right side with plenty of bail out room all around the green. The front left side is subtly protected by a mound that creates some very tricky chipping and putting spots.

Risk

The more you can favor the left side of the fairway the shorter the hole is, but many scores have been dashed for those that cut it too close. Although the approach shot from the fairway seems harmless, the bunker right of the green is no place to try to get up and down from and if it’s a front pin and you miss left, forget about making a four. What appears to be a tantalizing second shot can easily leave you in an almost impossible spot to try to get up and down with on your third.

Reward

Find a way to stay out of tree trouble off the tee and you may be looking at 200-240 clicks, equivalent to your 10 or 11 at the blackjack table. Doubling down and taking a swing at is the move to make. Anything that is short/front is a great leave. Bunker right, mound left? Eh. Not today. Hit your second between them and go dancing. If you get dealt that five, well, even a very poorly hit second should leave you with a chance to get on in regulation with your next.

Final Call

I always have good vibes walking around the barn at Snohomish and turning the corner to the 10th tee. The view looking down at the fairway below is almost as good as the fresh sandwich I just got at the turn. Time to go eat. The first four holes on the back are tame and where you need to make your money. ‘Amen Corner’ waits at holes 14-16 and has taken stacks from many a bankroll. Get one in off the tee on 10 and then strike one low and pure up the gut. Circles on the scorecard look good. Just make sure you tip the dealer when you hit that jack.

PRESENTED BY

Prelude

During the pandemic, we opened a new feature aptly named ‘You Need a Drink.’ It was a runaway hit with our readers, so we knew we were on to something. So, we followed it up in December with a Cascade Golfer favorite, mixologist Niles Peacock, and it just reinforced the notion that we needed a 19th Hole department each issue with an anchor partner.

After a magnum opus performance at the Seattle Golf Show in March, Ryan Reeder and William Grant and Sons — with their Hendrick’s Gin Experience — wowed everyone at the event with their Hendrick’s Negroni Machine. The bar area was standing room only all weekend, which just underscored our decision here.

So, we are excited to unveil our new Hendrick’s 19th Hole section this issue featuring another favorite — Duke’s Seafood, John Moscrip and his mixology team. Cheers!

Spring forwardWith The King And Duke

Hendrick’s Gin is beloved by OG golfers and newbie linksters alike

BY TARYN HAUGLIE • FOR CASCADE GOLFER

Gin is Cool and Old School

What do golf and gin have in common? If you ask John Moscrip, co-owner of Duke’s Seafood Restaurants, he might tell you, “Drinking and golfing go hand in hand together.”

Both gin and golf are old school, which he says can make for a good partnership. Moscrip recognizes that gin can be an intimidating spirit to some people. “So many people are turned off by gin because it’s like eating pine trees,” however, he says, “a lot of these companies like Hendrick’s appeal to a more sophisticated gin drinker, or drinker in general.”

Moscrip describes Hendrick’s as “not your grandpa’s gin,” and explains that there’s a versatility that lends itself to

At Home Bar Mixology

Duke & The King

By Duke’s Seafood

INGREDIENTS

• 1.5 oz. Hendrick’s Gin

• 1 oz. Duke’s Sour

• .5 oz. Giffard Wild Elderflower Liqueur

• .25 oz. Torani Pure Cane Sugar

• 5 basil leaves and fill with ice

INSTRUCTIONS

• Shake very hard with ice for six seconds.

• Strain into chilled coupe glass.

• Keep out extra ice chips with fine strainer.

• Float small basil leaf on top as garnish.

more cocktails than a simple gin and tonic. “Hendrick’s Gin has citrus and other botanicals and it’s still really interesting spirit-wise.” He says Hendrick’s sources their botanicals from all over the world in the places that are best known for that element. By using this practice, he says consumers can feel confident in the quality of the spirit, as many people want to know where their products are coming from.

Whether you’re starting a round at your favorite course or relaxing at the end of a long day at the office, a gin cocktail like the Duke & the King is versatile enough to satisfy every palate. Or head down to your closest Duke’s Seafood and let one of their skilled bartenders make you a gin cocktail to your liking.

IN THE BAG

BY TONY DEAR • CG

Hurrah, the new season is upon us. The clocks have gone forward, there’s more light in the day, and we’ll soon be enjoying those evening rounds. Oh, the thought of it!

Hopefully, you’ve found some time and a break in the clouds to get out for a few holes over the last few months. Sure, it’s been cold and wet – all Seattle winters/early springs are. But to be fair, it hasn’t been the absolute worst start to the year — the Old Farmer’s Almanac predicted a milder than usual winter with slightly less precipitation, which seems about right. We know, we know — we shouldn’t tempt fate and acknowledge there could be plenty rougher weather to come, but we’re not taking that attitude.

We’re optimistic we’ll be out playing regular golf, albeit in slacks and with two or three layers on top, sooner rather than later.

With the new season comes thoughts of new equipment. Is it possible your 2005 driver isn’t giving you the most return for your effort and practice? Are your irons all dented and scratched up from years of (mis) use? Have the grooves on your wedges all but disappeared? Did your putter behave itself in 2022 or does it need to be shown the door? Are your shoes coming apart at the seams?

Whatever you need, Puetz Golf will stock it. Here are 10 items that could help you score better this year. And talking of scoring better, if you haven’t been fitted for your clubs yet, discover how much better you hit the ball (and how much more fun you can have) with clubs that are customized for your swing. Puetz can do that too.

Bring on 2023!

Watching Kyle Berkshire swing a driver at 145 mph (Google it if you haven’t) and generate over 230 mph of ball-speed is a little shocking and likely will make you feel awfully slow. Half of us can’t crack 95 mph with a driver, in fact, so the X-flex Paderson Kinetixx shaft Berkshire has in his driver probably wouldn’t do us much good. XXIO’s range of ultra-lite equipment, designed specifically for golfers with moderate swing-speeds, might though. XXIO, part of the Dunlop Sports family that also includes Cleveland Golf and Srixon, has built a reputation for being the mid-high-handicapper/ moderate-swinger’s friend (assuming he/she can afford its high-end products, of course) building very lightweight and forgiving clubs that can be swung faster without exerting any extra effort. While standard XXIO clubs are considered ideal for those that swing a driver between 80 and 95 mph, even they might not be suitable for super-seniors and many women golfers who can’t quite manage 80 mph. Those golfers need XXIO Prime. Prime clubs aren’t standard XXIO with a senior shaft but are built differently. The head features the same Rebound Face found in Srixon drivers and, together with the Super-TIX PLUS Titanium face, creates a sweet spot that’s 200 percent larger than that of the previous XXIO Prime driver – 200 percent! The irons, while featuring similarly lightweight components also have a little tungsten in the head to elevate the MOI and increase forgiveness. A 10-piece set comprises: 12.5-degree driver, 3-, 5- and 7-wood, 6-hybrid, 7-iron through sand wedge and head covers.

These 2023 product selections will enhance your game and dazzle the eye

EDITOR

What was once seen as a possible trend 15 years ago with the advent of the rangefinder – many seeing it as a product that was a luxury item to keep in your bag – it’s now become an invaluable tool and the “15th club” in your arsenal. Laser rangefinders are probably the piece of golf equipment improving the most rapidly, and Bushnell is one of a handful of manufacturers leading the charge. The Pro X3 features an incredible range of features including Elements -- the ability to compensate for both temperature and altitude. Together with Bushnell’s patented Slope technology (not legal during tournament play), Elements assures you get the most accurate distance every time. And you can put in your home elevation to get compensated distances at the elevation where you play most of your golf. Dual Display gives you the ability to easily toggle between red or black display settings based on lighting conditions and your preferences. The Slope-Switch, with interactive locking mechanism, significantly reduces the risk of accidently setting the unit to Slope mode during tournament play. Bushnell says the Pro X3 is the most powerful golf laser rangefinder ever made and will give you consistent yardage readings within a yard to flags from 600-plus yards. The integrated BITE magnetic mount allows you to adhere the unit to the cart, which saves you the trouble of taking it out of your bag every shot. The Pro X3 comes in a rubber-armored, metal housing meaning it won’t get damaged if dropped, and is fully waterproof.

IN THE BAG

SCOTTY CAMERON Super Select Putters

$449.99

As is the case with most golf equipment, Scotty Cameron usually has a two-year shelf life. But the Special Select Line enjoyed a third year at retail thanks to COVID-related supply-chain issues. Its successor, the Super Select, was introduced in January and though a lot of golfers won’t notice much difference between the two, Cameron aficionados surely will. For starters, there’s a new neck — the ‘I Beam’ that Cameron describes as having a ‘racier, industrial look that allows for the removal and targeted repositioning of weight from the neck to the heel and toe of the putter head.’ Another significant enhancement is a second pass of the drill-bit over the face during the milling process, which levels the peaks of the original deep-milling creating a slightly deeper sound as well as softer feel. Six Super Select models are currently available. The Newport and Newport 2 are shaped blades with heel and toe weights. They are very similar to past versions, but the Newport Plus and Newport 2 Plus, while the same length from heel to toe with the same heel/toe weights, are slightly longer from front to back. They also have an area of 303 Stainless Steel removed from the sole which is replaced by 6061 Aluminum. That pushes weight to the perimeter and raises the club’s MOI meaning the clubhead will twist very little at impact if the strike is imperfect. Four additional models — the Del Mar, GoLo 6, GoLo 6.5 and Fastback 1.5 will be released in May. Scotty Cameron is a line that moves fast, so visit Puetz Golf before it’s too late.

CALLAWAY

Paradym Drivers & Irons

The Paradym’s titanium-free body is new and is as exciting as Callaway’s past Jailbreak Technology or A.I.-design they introduced in recent years — it’s considered another genuine breakthrough. The all-carbon chassis of the driver is made with Triaxial Carbon in the crown and Forged Carbon in the sole making it 45 percent lighter than a typical titanium body. The newly designed Jailbreak frame is 33 percent lighter than that in the Epic Speed, and a new A.I.-optimized titanium face is designed to boost ball speeds and improve consistency. There are three Paradym drivers — Paradym, Paradym X and Paradym Triple Diamond. The Paradym has a 15-gram Adjustable Perimeter Weight to manipulate shot-shape, launches high and is the most forgiving of the three. The Paradym X has no sliding weight but internal weighting that gives the club a draw-bias. The Triple Diamond is for the better player — more compact head, low spin, launches low. There are two Paradym irons — Paradym and Paradym X. Both have 455 Stainless Steel heads, with a forged Cup Face and Speed Frame that connects all points of the head without preventing the face from flexing. The hollow bodies are filled with Callaway’s Urethane Microspheres to soften impact. The Paradym is a players’-distance iron with more compact heads and a relatively thin top line. The Paradym X is a game-improvement club with strong lofts and up to 79 grams of tungsten (the Paradym has 67 grams) placed low in the head to create a high launch and increase the club’s MOI.

PUETZ GOLF PRICE Driver $599.99 Irons $127.31 per club

PUETZ GOLF PRICE

$449.99, $429.99, $429.99

In the early 1990s, entrepreneur Robert Bettinardi owned a manufacturing company that used CNC machines to mill steel for hydraulics companies. At the time, putters were typically built by welding the neck and head together, but Bettinardi believed he could create a club from a single block of steel. He approached Callaway and was soon building all its putters. In 1993, he began a five-year relationship with Scotty Cameron Putters while also working for numerous other OEMs. Five years later, he opened his own shop — Bettinardi Golf — whose putters featured the patented Honeycomb face pattern ensuring a perfectly flat surface. Bettinardi had other alliances with Ben Hogan Golf and Mizuno but, since 2008, has built putters only for the Bettinardi Golf brand in its Tinley Park, Ill., facility. There are currently six ‘families’ of Bettinardi putters headed by the Studio Stock Series. The five different 2023-24 Studio Stock models (six including the Studio Stock 16 Left-Handed Putter) are each milled from a single block of 303 Stainless Steel. They feature the company’s Roll Control face-milling that helps prevent the ball skidding immediately following impact and are given a Diamond Blast finish to prevent glare from the sun. The darker BB Series putters (eight models with the left-handed BB1) have an aggressive FlyMill face pattern which creates a super-soft feel, while the four Queen B models (five with the left-handed Queen B 6) are finished with a distinctive caramel-copper PVD coating and feature a miniature-Honeycomb face-milling pattern that enhances feel.

The SM9 Wedge was launched in January 2022 and featured an updated version of the Progressive Center of Gravity design introduced in its predecessor. A longer hosel (higher lofts), thicker topline and a metal pad added to the back of the toe pushed the club’s Center of Gravity (CG) higher and further forward promoting the flatter trajectory. Better players prefer this to keep the ball below the wind. The new wedge offered increased spin by cutting micro-grooves in between the wider, deeper grooves, while those grooves were given a heat-treatment to make them more durable. Six grinds were made available at the initial launch: F, S, M, K, L and D. The T, popular with Tour players, was added in June. There were nine lofts (46-62 degrees), three finishes —Tour Chrome, Brushed Steel and Jet Black (Raw as a custom option) and visitors to Vokey’s WedgeWorks could choose between six toe-engraving and various stamping options. You can also customize the loft, bounce, grind and BV wings logo paint-fill. Australia’s Cameron Smith won the 2022 Sentry Tournament of Champions after finding his new SM9s in his locker at Kapalua three days before the first round. The current Open champion (now a LIV Golf player) is one of 26 Titleist-contracted pros using the SM9. In January, Titleist/Vokey announced the Jet Black Premium model which would be treated with a titanium carbide vapor to prevent them from chipping and stop wear lines appearing on the face and sole. Vokey is certainly standard setting.

MGI AT (All Terrain)

Motorized Cart 7

PUETZ GOLF PRICE

$1,599.99

Motorized Golf International (MGI) was born in 1993 at Caddymatic Australia. While powered trollies had become popular in the UK, they were struggling to get a toehold Down Under where the vast majority of golfers walk. It wasn’t until, MGI’s founder, Ian Edwards, designed his own remote-controlled Tornado trolley in 2000 that the company really began to take off. Numerous successful models followed, before the most successful trolley of all — the Zip Series (X1, X3, X5, Navigator) was launched in 2017. The pandemic saw a significant rise in the number of people playing golf in the USA and the number using powered trollies with the Zip Navigator being a particularly popular model. By 2018, the company’s 25th year of doing business, the ZIP Series had become available in 23 countries around the world. In 2019, responding to customer’s calls for something a little heartier to meet the challenge of longer, more remote and extreme courses, the Zip Navigator AT (All-Terrain) was launched with an impressive list of features — check these out: dual swiveling independent front wheels; full-directional and speed remote control; patented Gyroscope Straight Tracker Technology; downhill speed control; twin 230-watt calibrated motors powered by a Lithium battery; all terrain tread rear wheels; fully-foldable rear fifth wheel; USB charging port; and adjustable ergonomic T-bar handle and bag. Amazing right? And all this is lightweight coming in at only (with battery) 37 pounds. MGI has been touring the golf expo circuit and turning heads across the U.S. in 2023 establishing themselves as the market leader.

PUETZ GOLF PRICE $249.99

IN THE BAG

The Japanese company’s first generation of ZX irons, launched in 2021, had a large and committed following. So, when Srixon’s Senior Product Manager, Brian Schielke, says the second generation has been “improved in so many ways,” you can’t help but be curious. Designed for the best ball-strikers in the world, the ZX7 Mk II Iron is a true players’ iron (Shane Lowry, Keegan Bradley, Sepp Straka) with incredible feel. PureFrame, an all-new design characteristic exclusive to ZX7 Mk II Irons, enhances feel by reducing unwanted vibrations. PureFrame is forged into the body of the iron — just behind the sweet spot – as an 80 percent thicker portion of 1020 carbon steel. The result is a soft yet solid feel at impact. Meanwhile, the rest of the ZX Mk II Iron line features the second generation of Srixon’s MainFrame technology. MainFrame is a variable thickness pattern of grooves, channels, and cavities carefully milled into the back of the ZX4 and ZX5 faces that maximize flex at impact. It not only boosts ball speed, but also, says Srixon, repositions mass away from the face and more toward the toe which makes the club more forgiving and consistent. A mainstay of Srixon Iron design, the Tour V.T. Sole which helps maintain the speed of the clubhead through impact, and popular sole notches which reduce drag, are a feature of the ZX Mk II Irons. Finally, the forged Z-Forged II is a muscle back blade that certainly isn’t for everyone regardless of how attractive it is. By the way, Srixon was the official club at the Seattle Golf Show in March and wildly popular all weekend.

Pat Ripp, Research and Business Solutions Engineer at Cleveland Golf/Srixon USA, says the RTX 6 ZipCore Wedge may have the classic look on the outside but is “packed on the inside with three technological breakthroughs.” HydraZip is a dynamic blast and laser-milled line system that creates roughness that increases friction at impact. That increases spin in all conditions from anywhere around the green. ZipCore is Cleveland’s low-density core technology added to the heel/hosel that is designed to position the club’s Center of Gravity (CG) at the exact point the club contacts the ball. That, according to Cleveland, not only expands the sweet spot and helps optimize spin but also helps increases feel and control to help you hit more consistent short-game shots. Meanwhile, by adding an abundance of high/low and heel/toe MOI into every loft in the line, you should experience increased spin, consistency, feel, and control. And UltiZip is a system of grooves that are sharper, deeper, and more tightly spaced than is typical. That allows the club to slice through debris and bite harder for enhanced spin and control. “All the work put into this wedge, we really focused on finding the perfect balance of versatility and consistency,” Ripp says. “UltiZip is a notable example. Without grooves you don’t have a wedge, so we equipped the RTX 6 ZipCore with our sharpest groove radii ever.” The RTX 6 ZipCore Wedge has four different sole grinds (LOW, LOW+, MID, FULL) with a variety of lofts available ranging 46-60 degrees.

There’s nothing better than getting the opportunity to feature one of our own on these pages – that’s to say a company from our neck of the woods that makes golf equipment — and not just any old golf equipment but truly innovative, ground-breaking stuff with a global reputation. True Linkswear is, of course, the shoe brand conceived by the Moore boys — Ryan and Jason back in the days when Jason caddied for Ryan on the PGA Tour. A third brother, Jeremy, is also a big part of the company (and President of Makers Sports Management, too) who oversaw its rise to sixth in global market share amongst several billion-dollar companies. The Tacoma-based manufacturer’s first shoe, the TRUE Tour (T1), was spikeless, significantly wider than conventional golf shoes and featured a flat, zero-drop sole. It looked and performed very differently to its competitors and, like every pair TRUE has ever made, could be worn out to dinner just as easily as on the golf course. Dozens more shoes have come and gone since the T1, while the current list of offerings (which also features apparel now) includes these three typically comfortable, stylish models. The Lux Hybrid is a leather saddle combined with the company’s popular Knit upper. The Original 1.2 ‘Bulletproof’, with alternative (eco-friendly) leather upper and two-year waterproof guarantee. And the new All-Day True Knit 3, which features an updated Wanderlux foam in the midsole that makes you feel like you’re walking on clouds, coupled with stylish cosmetic changes, makes this an exciting shoe.

BY TONY DEAR • CG EDITOR

His LinkedIn profile says he’s the ‘General Manager’, but Mike Livingston is not a big titles guy. He really doesn’t mind what position you credit him with or what comes after his name. But make no mistake, Livingston is the man in charge at Puetz Golf, and has been for 20 years.

After a nomadic childhood (his father was in the Marine Corps), Livingston settled in the Seattle area and attended Inglemoor High School, graduating in 1981. He immediately joined the Army and spent four years as a reconnaissance scout for the 25th Infantry Division in Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.

Following his time in the military, Livingston went to work for Pro Golf Discount simultaneously earning an Associate degree from Bellevue College and playing on the golf team.

From there, he transferred to the University of Washington and left there with a Bachelor’s in Economics. During his time at Montlake, he also made the move from Pro Golf Discount to Puetz Golf, working at the company’s second store in Bellevue when not knee-deep in textbooks.

Things started ramping up from there. “In the fall of 1990, I was given the opportunity to open Puetz Golf’s third store — in Tacoma — and jumped on it,” Livingston remembers. “I stayed there from the fall of 1990 to the spring of ’95 when I had the game-changing opportunity to design, build, staff, stock and merchandise the fourth location in the Southcenter area.”

Three years later, David Puetz had seen enough. The son of Peter Puetz who had founded the company at its humble Aurora Avenue driving range in 1945 together with his brother Alvin, and who was now operating the business, summoned Livingston from Southcenter and installed him at company headquarters where he assisted with marketing and buying.

In late 2003 though, Puetz stepped down from the daily operation, and gave Livingston the responsibility of steering the company at a time when golf equipment was about ready to explode with innovation.

Livingston acknowledges the terrific impact David Puetz had on his career. “David was an absolute gem to work for,” he says. “He was the wizard behind the curtain — just got the job done quietly and efficiently.”

Livingston clearly learned a great deal from his boss, because in the 25 years he has been Puetz Golf’s general manager (or whatever you want to call him) he’s become something of a behind-the-scenes wizard himself.

Mike Livingston has built upon the founders’ legacy and traditions and made one of the most respected golf retailers in America

And he’s seen a lot of changes in his time. “I remember starting in golf retail when woods were made of wood,” he says. “But when titanium took over and, though it certainly wasn’t the only factor, it helped revolutionize golf equipment. Golf gear got so much better very quickly and, though its rise wasn’t quite as lively, club fitting wasn’t very far behind. The level of fitting we can offer today with state-of-the-art launch monitors and a highly-skilled team is like night and day compared with where fitting was 20 years ago.”

How he does business has also evolved almost beyond recognition. “The internet and improvement in software has obviously changed the world and, consequently, how companies are run,” he says. “Today, I can keep track of everything incredibly close, and even remotely. I can access sales figures, inventory numbers, staff details, etc. from a desk at home, or on the road, and conduct meetings with vendors virtually.”

Outside of Puetz, golf retail has seen many significant developments this century and equipment sales have evolved. Hard goods have moved almost entirely out of pro shops (green grass accounts) and into big-box golf stores of which Dick’s Sporting Goods, PGA Superstore and Worldwide Golf Shops (made up of eight separate retail brands including Edwin Watts Golf, Roger Dunn Golf Shops and the Golfer’s Warehouse, with a total of over 80 stores in 20 states) are currently the leaders, and Livingston recognizes the stability they have brought to the industry.

“Their emergence has generally been a good thing for the golf consumer,” he says. “They’ve helped bring a large measure of cohesion to golf retail since the economic meltdown of 2008 through 2010.”

The stores Livingston mentions are certainly competitors, of course, but the Seattle market is dominated by two entirely local, independent companies — Puetz Golf and Pro Golf Discount with whom Livingston says he enjoys a healthy, respectful relationship with their principal leadership.

Retaining that dominance in the face of big-business is one of Livingston’s proudest accomplishments at Puetz, and has been achieved, he adds, partly by being a member of a powerful, 43-member buying group (National Golf Buyers Association,) partly because of his hard-working and passionate staff and partly because the western Washington golfer feels comfortable buying at Puetz.

“Our relationship with our customers is obviously very important,” he says, “and something we’ve always worked hard to foster. I think they appreciate the authentic, local vibe.”

The success of the Southcenter store which he opened 28 years ago has been another highlight of Livingston’s career but, despite these, and numerous other significant wins, he distills the reason for his longevity at Puetz into a few simple words. “I just think I’ve made more good decisions than bad,” he said.

While that’s certainly true, it could be a straightforward, more instinctive, visceral quality that has enabled Livingston to thrive — he loves it. Golf, business, and the golf business — he loves it all.

He does have interests outside the game, but Livingston would be the first to admit he is a golf person. “I met my wife on a golf course,” he says. “My best friends are all golfers. I love the people I work with and making deals with our vendors whom I regard as good friends. I love the golf industry and feel very fortunate to be a part of it.”

Livingston has obviously earned the perks that come with the job, and some of those perks are special for sure. He’s been invited to Oakmont, Oakland Hills, and numerous other historic courses. He’s been a patron at countless Masters and been a guest at Berckmans Place (mega-exclusive, club-owned hospitality building to the right of the 5th fairway at Augusta National). “And I’ve played with the likes of Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk, Tony Finau and most notably Tiger Woods.”

The occasion was a Nike client day at Trump National in Palos Verdes, Calif., in the fall of 2006 where Woods had just come off five or six victories in a row. “That was pretty special,” says Livingston.

Most days aren’t like that, of course. A more typical

day might see him settling in his office around 7 a.m. when he’ll begin working through an extensive ‘to do’ list that might include Zoom or in-person meetings with vendors, checking inventory, previewing new equipment, renewing store location leases, reviewing 401k plans, interviewing candidates for staff positions, and any number of smaller, but no less important, tasks to ensure the continued success of Seattle’s original golf retailer.

After all that and when he finally calls it a day, Livingston might prepare dinner for his wife and son, a competitive ski racer with whom he heads to Snoqualmie for practice three or four times a week. “I’m a bit of an amateur chef,” he says, “and there’s no greater pleasure than cooking and eating a good meal with my family.” In addition to being a true family man, he’s also a huge Seattle sports nut — a season-ticket holder of the Kraken, a Mariners apologist and die-hard Huskies fan.

If there are no games on and dinner’s over, however, he’ll sit down in front of the TV and turn on the Golf Channel. He might have been surrounded by the game and its people for nearly 40 years, and it might take up 90 percent of his waking hours, but he can’t get enough of the game. Because, at the end of the day, the only title Mike Livingston really cares about is ‘golfer’.

Dream Delivered

Visionary Bob Screen saw White Horse Golf Club open but never fully flourish. Now owned by the Suquamish Tribe, it’s more popular than ever and a new favorite among Washington’s top 10 public courses.

IBY BOB SHERWIN • CG WRITER

t has been more than 35 years since Bob Screen, a wealthy businessman from Bainbridge Island, walked around 440 wooded acres in Kingston, Wash., with the notion of carving out a parcel where his daughter, a competitive showjumper, could train and board her horses. He was dissuaded from doing so, however, by the man he invited to walk with him that day. Screen’s fellow-ambler told him it was not the optimum use of the property and advised him the land could provide so much more. “Don’t put a horse pasture here,” he said. “You have the makings of a great golf course.”

Screen sensed the fellow, a native Norwegian named Karsten, knew what he was talking about. And with good reason. Karsten Solheim, who grew up in Ballard and attended the University of Washington before the Great Depression, founded Karsten Manufacturing which would create its first Ping golf club in 1959. Solheim obviously knew golf, and Screen found him at the Suquamish eatery -- Karsten’s Fine Dining Restaurant – that his sister Elaine managed.

Solheim’s advice was crucial. Screen, who had initially been interested in only about 20 acres, changed his mindset, and decided to purchase the entire North Kitsap property. A year or so later, in 1991, he requested permits for building the course – a move that set off 15 years of courtroom battles with environmentalists and fisheries. Screen would win the legal war and, in June 2007, he finally opened White Horse Golf Club.

As it turned out, however, neither Screen nor Solheim would be around to see White Horse in full bloom. Solheim, who had no stake in the development, had passed away in 2000, and Screen, financially depleted following the legal scrimmages, could barely find the money to staff, fertilize, sand or aerate the course which needed to borrow equipment in order to complete even the most minimal maintenance.

“There were times when you didn’t know if the key would still fit in the door,” says Bruce Christy, White Horse’s longtime Director of Operations who had overseen the City of Everett’s golf courses before Screen hired him in 2006.

Inevitably, in 2009, just two years after the course had opened, the bank foreclosed on Screen who owed $5 million and lost the dream he had worked so hard to create. It would only get worse though as the bank, American Marine, was dissolved. In January 2010 it ended up being taken over by Columbia State Bank. The responsibility for maintaining the golf course property was given to golf management firm, Touchstone Golf LLC.

It was at this point that Port Madison Enterprises, the business arm of the Suquamish Tribe, took over. The Tribe, which viewed the course as a potential amenity for guests of its Clearwater Casino Resort, purchased the property in March 2010 and pumped millions into improving the course which sits on the Tribe’s ancestral homeland.

“Golfers get used to a lot of noise, cars, traffic, homes, airports, trains,” Christy says. “So it’s very refreshing to play a course that winds its way through the Northwest scenery. It’s quiet and peaceful here. Only three holes have actual homes on them and the Tribe is keen to keep it at that number. They want it to retain its pristine, parklike setting forever.”

Maintaining the beauty was one thing, improving the actual golf course quite another, however. For many, Cynthia Dye-McGarey’s original design had always been just a little too much to handle. Pete Dye’s niece, Dye-McGarey had built a fine course that Golf Digest had named ‘Best New Course of the Year’ (Dye-McGarey was the first woman to build a course so honored),

but it didn’t play well for most golfers.

Waist high fescue close to the greens and cart paths, a lack of bail-out areas, small and uneven landing areas, rock-hard greens and 156 bunkers added up to a test too tough for most. Low-handicappers loved it, but most high-handicappers found it taxing and frustrating and rarely returned — not good for business.

Tacoma’s John Harbottle was hired to soften the course in 2012 and spent $700,000 removing about 200 trees and over 90 bunkers (leaving only 62), cutting back the fescue and adding a new, shorter set of tees. Tragically, Harbottle died just weeks after completing his work on the course which, last summer, was voted seventh best in the state by Cascade Golfer readers.

The Tribe also committed to a clubhouse upgrade, removing the former double-wide trailer, and replacing it with something altogether more comfortable, functional, and impressive. “The Tribe wanted nothing but the best,” says Christy. “They put a lot of effort into the design of the building.”

Christy took Tribal committee members to various

Northwest courses — Salish Cliffs, Coeur d’Alene, Circling Raven and Suncadia — to compare clubhouses. “They settled for something like Suncadia has,” he says. “They’re very happy about it. It’s a Northwest design that looks like it’s been here for years.”

Its most popular feature is the wide and inviting outside patio, with fireplaces, overlooking the 18th green.

“White Horse was the best kept secret for a while which is fine if you’re a private course but not so much for a public course as being a secret doesn’t pay the bills,’’ Christy says. “We had to make sure we got people over here, that they enjoyed the experience and wanted to come back.”

The course, about a five-minute drive from the Edmonds-Kingston Ferry dock, is not as accessible as many so the Tribe made a big effort to get the word out with improved funding for advertising and promotion. More tournaments and events have been scheduled in recent years. The USGA Women’s Senior Championships has been played at White Horse twice and both times competitors have raved about the layout and its level

of condition. “It took time for people to realize what an amazing golf course it was,” says Christy.

Unfortunately, that awakening to the delights of White Horse coincided with the onset of COVID, which obviously set the course’s continued revival back a bit. Thankfully though, the Tribe was well-prepared for the moment Governor Jay Inslee gave golfers the all-clear to return to the course.

“The Tribe was way out in front,” says Christy, “and players of all ages and skill levels, first-timers and familiar faces, showed up in droves. It was like drinking from a fire hose every day. We’ve had two of the busiest years the facility has ever seen, most rounds and revenue.”

Christy says that, between the new clubhouse and course revision, White Horse has become more profitable and sustainable. Golfers came back to give it a second chance and loved it. “We were on a razor’s edge for a while but it’s very different now. We’re very happy with what the Tribe provided. Their vision was for a premier facility, and I think they got it. They have completed Bob Screen’s vision.”

“It took time for people to realize what an amazing golf course it was,”

Photo courtesy Shutterstock

David

Washington golfers thought Christmas had come nine days early last year when King 5 News NBC Seattle reported that a 600-acre site at Westport Light State Park on the Grays Harbor County coastline, 20 miles west of Aberdeen and a two-hour drive from Seattle, would be developed into a golf resort with a genuine links course designed by David McLay-Kidd.

The story’s headline said plans for the recreation/tourism project had reached the ‘final stages,’ suggesting approval from all the necessary governmental and environmental bodies was imminent and that construction would begin soon.

Sadly, developing a golf course, especially one on the coast, is rarely a simple process with so many stakeholders to satisfy (and often placate), and it could still be a year or more before the green light to go ahead finally appears. Only the staunchest of conservationists, however, could be blind to the profoundly positive impact the course and associated resort facilities would have on the town and county whose 15.1 percent poverty rate in 2020 was 5.6 percent higher than Washington’s as a whole and 3.7 percent higher than the national rate.

Westport Golf Inc., and

McLay-Kidd will hopefully be given the all-clear to build an authentic Scottish links-style course in Grays Harbor

Photo by Capture Share Repeat

Day’s bid to build golf here is the third such attempt. The first, in the 1960s, was short-lived while the second had a name — the Links at Half Moon Bay — and would include a 200-room luxury hotel and Jack Nicklaus-designed course.

On the drawing board between 2000 and 2008, this plan might well have happened were it not for the economic collapse.

The current proposal, conceived by Seattle contractor Ryann Day, who formed Westport Golf Inc., along with a group of private investors, is almost four years down the long and winding road already having been created in 2019. The plan always has been to build the golf course and resort lodging and transform the entire park into a tourism attraction with hiking/biking trails through a revenue-sharing agreement with landowner Washington State Parks.

Day, a self-confessed golf ‘nerd’, grew up playing Bellevue Municipal and is now a member of Sand Point Country Club. He’s been coming to Westport with his family for nearly 15 years and, when jogging the park’s dune trail, always looks across the low-lying sand hills imagining a Scottish-style links course.

He’s not the first to do so. Day’s bid to build golf here is the third such attempt. The first, in the 1960s, was short-lived while the second had a name — the Links at Half Moon Bay — and would include a 200-room luxury hotel and Jack Nicklaus-designed course. On the drawing board between 2000 and 2008, this plan might well have happened were it not for the economic collapse.

has the makings of a truly amazing

A couple of years after the Half Moon Bay idea died, and as the economy slowly began to recover, a group headed by Chris Van Der Velde, who had played a major role in the development of Tetherow in Bend, Ore. (and who subsequently bought it alongside partner Willem Willemstein in 2009) sought to make something of the desirable land at Westport. He sent Kidd, who had designed Tetherow, to have a look but the Scot wasn’t impressed.

“I told Chris to run for the hills,” Kidd remembers. “The location and terrain were great, but the course would be squeezed onto far too small a site and the surrounding park was just a mess. I wasn’t going to touch it.”

Kidd would no doubt have felt the same when Day approached him in 2019 were it not for two key changes that had occurred since the time he had last seen the site. First, it’s a good deal bigger now than it was back then. Before December 2015, there had been two much smaller parks — Westport SP and Westhaven SP — along with the 300 acres owned by the developer hoping to build the Links at Half Moon Bay.

The Westport site has low-lying, rumbling dunes like those at St. Andrews.

Photo courtesy Shutterstock

David McLay-Kidd’s initial routing plan (and may not be the final version)

coastal links experience.

Photo by Capture Share Repeat

When the state purchased those 300 acres in December 2015, with a $1.9 million grant from the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program, and added them to the two existing spaces, the whole parcel became one 603-acre state-owned park.

And second, in 2017 the new Westport SP was identified by the state as a Recreation Concession Area (RCA). State funding for parks had fallen by approximately $70 million between 2007 and 2013 and the state legislature wanted parks to become self-funding through the Discovery Pass, daily access permits, overnight camping fees and RCAs that would allow for ‘conditionally permitted activities at some state parks.’

Basically, RCAs were private enterprises on public land that would help sustain the state park system.

Day, a past-president at Sand Point CC who had seen Kidd work his magic in transforming the once pleasant but mediocre course into an intriguing, strategic delight considered only Kidd for the design job at Westport and, together with Nick Schaan, a partner in Kidd’s firm, approached the state with his ideas.

And in August of 2020, Westport Golf Inc. signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission documenting an agreed upon plan whereby Westport Golf Inc., could develop the golf resort then manage and maintain the facilities as part of a revenue-sharing deal.

Kidd, who perhaps had always suspected the sandy terrain and ocean views had potential, was now eager to get involved. “The ground at Westport is very much like that on the Fife or East Lothian coasts in Scotland,” he says. “These aren’t massive sandhills like you see at Ballybunion or Lahinch in Ireland, but low-lying, rumbling dunes like those at North Berwick, Muirfield and even St. Andrews.”

Another cool feature will be the 107-foot-tall Grays Harbor Lighthouse, which opened in 1898 and stands in the southeast corner of the site. Not surprisingly, it adorns the course’s proposed logo.

Westport Golf Links is about so much more than building a great golf course though, Kidd continues. “This project will totally revive the rest of the park, which

Photo courtesy Shutterstock

Play at beautiful Snoqualmie Falls Golf Course

is full of noxious, invasive weeds,” he says. “Non-golfers will be able to come here and enjoy the 500 or so acres that aren’t golf.”

And, equally as important if not more so, the financial impact on the town, county, region and, indeed, the whole state, will not be insignificant. According to a 42page economic and fiscal benefits study titled ‘Lighting the Way for Economic Development in Westport’ and completed by Renton-based Sieger Consulting SPC, Westport Golf Links is projected to have a one-time impact of over $55 million. The project will create 349 jobs during the construction phase and an ongoing impact of more than $25 million annually for Grays Harbor County, and $29 million for the state, with the creation of 303 jobs.

With all the likely environmental, economic and recreational benefits, to say nothing of the civic pride a world-class golf course could generate in a town whose economic heyday was back in the 1970s, the terms ‘slam-dunk’ and ‘no-brainer’ come quickly to mind.

Kidd, who this year will be working on another course at Bandon Dunes (New River, located south of the town), a second 18 at Gamble Sands, GrayBull in Nebraska and a handful of other projects around the country that haven’t yet been announced to the public, knows only too well the dangers of assuming any new golf development will get the go-ahead, however. “I’m confident Westport could be very special,” he says, “but I’ve learned never to take anything for granted in this industry.”

Though obviously hopeful his project will eventually happen, Ryann Day is likewise reluctant to count any chickens. He knows something of the legal process surrounding development and construction, as owner of RJ Day Construction, but admits to not being familiar with the process of developing a golf course.

He and his management team are just now embarking on the ’scoping’ phase of the Environmental Impact Statement under the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) — a process that could take 18 months to complete.

“The EIS will be submitted to, and utilized by, both Washington State Parks as the landowner, and the City of Westport as the local government who will be issuing many of the necessary permits,” says David Dicks, CEO at Seattle’s Tatoosh Law and Policy Group and Westport Golf Inc.’s Environmental Counsel.

“We’re also pursuing Federal Clean Water Act permits from the Army Corps of Engineers and the State Department of Ecology. That permit is needed because the construction of the course will impact federal and

With all the likely environmental, economic and recreational benefits, to say nothing of the civic pride a world-class golf course could generate in a town whose economic heyday was back in the 1970s, the terms ‘slam-dunk’ and ‘no-brainer’ come quickly to mind.

state-protected wetlands. It’s likely that the process will be concluded within the same 18-month timeline.”

While obviously involved in the process, Day prefers to let Dicks comment on such matters, but he is setting his sights conservatively on a late 2024 ground-breaking, or possibly early 2025.

“We have the necessary funding as David’s reputation has enabled me to build a very strong investment group,” he says. “So, when we finally get the all-clear, it shouldn’t be long before we’re playing links golf at this incredible place.”

Having seen the site and McLay-Kidd’s initial routing plan, Cascade Golfer’s fingers are well and truly crossed in the hope Westport Golf Links opens sooner rather than later.

MANAGEMENT AND KEY CONSULTANTS

Ryann J. Day

President and Chief Executive Officer

David McLay-Kidd

Golf Course Design Consultant

Mark Merkelbach

Professional Wetland Scientist & Project Manager

David D. Dicks

Environmental Counsel

Grays Harbor, Wash.

Photo by Capture Share Repeat

Camaloch Golf Course on Camano Island

credits Pacific Northwest golf designer Bill Overdorf as its primary architect, at least for the second nine holes opened in 1991. However, those who had the initial vision and motivation and who did — and continue to do — much of the physical work on the course was Everyman.

Back in 1967, the Camaloch Association set up this Camano Island development, 60 miles north of Seattle, with the sale of 466 lots. As the years passed, the members wanted to develop a nine-hole golf course on a nearby underdeveloped parcel. They did it themselves, moving rocks, clearing brush, trees and stumps, and grading the terrain. It opened in 1972 with no architect credited with the design, and it was met with praise and appreciation for its fair test and consistent greens.

But it wasn’t enough. Membership authorized Overdorf, who also designed other Northwest courses such as Aspen Lakes GC in Sisters, Ore., Homestead GC in Lynden, Wash., and The Classic GC in Spanaway, Wash., to put together an adjacent second nine. But again, it was the locals, the average Joe golfers, who volunteered to do much of the grunt work and get Overdorf’s plan built. Essentially,

it’s the peoples’ course, with, by and for them.

The Camaloch’s Board of Trustees oversees the continuing improvements to the course, with the membership still vitally engaged and supportive. Over the years, the board has improved the original design to conform both nines, and it has improved the driving range, practice facility and drainage system.

However, unlike so many other courses west of the Cascades, drainage is not much of a concern at Camaloch. The island course is in the ‘Sun Belt’ and receives about half the rainfall as the rest of the Puget Sound region. This winter, the course’s sanding program will help keep the layout even drier.

Even with such excellent playing conditions, the most compelling aspect of the course is its green fees. You can get around during the week for as low as $28. Add another $5 or so for the weekend rate and that’s a bargain everyone can appreciate.

YARDAGE (PAR) 5,194-6,171 yards

RATES $30-$37 weekdays; $35-$45 weekends*

TEL (360) 387-3084

WEB camalochgolf.com

* Check website for current rates

Camaloch Golf Course • Camano Island

Foster Golf Links

TUKWILA

The contribution of the historic Foster Golf Links to golfers in this region might well be underappreciated. The Tukwila course, two years shy of 100 years old, likely has been the optimum training ground for more than three generations of Puget Sound area public golfers.

Opened in 1925, Foster was the second public course built in the region after Jefferson Park (1915 — the private Seattle Golf Club, opened in 1900, is considered the region’s oldest course). Foster opened with nine holes at first but, within two years of opening, all 18 holes were established. It was popular then and, 98 years later, popular now, as nearly 50,000 rounds were played last year.

The reason why it has remained a staple of public play is because it’s flat and affordable and, at just 4,804 yards, it isn’t long or difficult (other than clearing the river for a pair of par 3s it’s quite straightforward). It’s an easy drive too, situated just south of the city core along the Duwamish River. Basically, it’s just plain fun — a youngster can cut his/her wedge on the modest layout — and everyone can usually get around in well under four hours.

The parcel of land on which the course is situated goes back to a time before Washington was declared a state in 1889. It goes back before Seattle was declared a city in 1869. Even before the Civil War, when Joseph Foster homesteaded the property in 1853. A maple tree, planted by Foster in 1873, still towers over the course.

Englishman George Eddy, an inventor, entrepreneur, and golf professional, convinced Foster to sell his land to build the course in the early 1920s at a time when other courses were springing up, such as Rainier, Inglewood, Fircrest, Glen Acres and Broadmoor. Governor Louis F. Hart hit the first drive.

Joe Aliment, once a caddy for Eddy, purchased the property and his family held it until 1978 when the City of Tukwila took it over. In 2004, the city put more than $5 million into course improvements, building a new clubhouse and restaurant, Billy Baroo’s. The restaurant, with street tacos among its featured items, attracts plenty of non-golfers for lunch.

Besides the par 3s over the Duwamish, the course’s most memorable, and challenging, hole is the 420-yard 6th hole, where the river guards the entire left side.

Foster has been a fundamental part of the region’s golfing history. It’s a layout that wonderfully accommodates the father taking his son/daughter out for their first round, just as his father and his father before that did.

“It’s worth the drive — best value in the NW” The Seattle Times

YARDAGE (PAR) 4,529-4,804 yards

RATES $36.50-$42*

TEL (206) 242-4221

WEB fostergolflinks.com

* Check website for current rates

Summer Junior Golf Camps

Begin in July

Golf Course is in excellent shape as High Cedars Golf Club will hold the Boeing Classic qualifying in August

Ladies Golf Lessons & Wine Tasting openings available

High Cedars Golf Club

One of the best practice facilities in Western WA. Over 40 stalls with 20 covered Over 400 yards long Grass tee area

Real range golf balls - not limited flight! Putting greens

Chipping green and a practice bunker

Golf Lessons

High Cedars Golf Academy

Team Griffin ( Sara and Chris, PGA Professionals ) Scot Solomonson, PGA Professional, and Director of Instruction

Chris Ming, Golf Professional

HIGH CEDARS GOLF CLUB

14604 149th St. Ct. E. • Orting, WA 98360

(360) 893-3171 • highcedars.com

Foster Golf Links • Tukwila

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Much has changed in the 46-year history of Snohomish Golf Course as it continually strives to stay the same. The course was built in 1967 on a former 200-acre dairy farm in the rural backcountry by Gordy Richards and his son Dave.

Dave operated the place for decades, until he passed away in 2019. Today, Dave’s son Steve Richards and his son Ben run the operation, maintaining the principle that the course must continue to be a fair test yet adapt and be able to accommodate players of all skill levels.

John Brandvold has witnessed the Richards’ legacy for decades. He worked the range as a teenager and the pro shop while in college and has been the head golf professional since 1995. “You got to keep up with the times,” he says.

Most recently, the Richards recognized that areas on the back-nine were too soggy, with inconsistent growing patterns. So, they authorized clearing out some trees and brush on holes 11, 12 and 13 to provide better airflow and sun exposure.

“A lot of it was about the sun in the wintertime,” Brandvold says. “The grass can grow better in the winter and will be in better shape by spring.”

He adds that, despite our rainy winters “the cli-

mate does allow us to play golf.” But the thousands of Douglas firs planted around the course can cause problems as the roots tangle up and damage drain lines. Over the years, Brandvold says, there has been the constant search-and-fix program to eliminate marshy areas.

Another change the course has made recently is adding a fourth (forward) tee to accommodate the aging, or shorter-driving, golfer. The new tees are copper, to go along with silver, gold and black.

“We’ve always been pretty long, from the black tees (6,813 yards),” Brandvold says, “but I heard we’re the longest course for women west of the Mississippi.”

However, Snohomish is quite forgiving for the beginning golfer as there isn’t much sand or water which allows a range of golfers to enjoy the course, says Brandvold.

What also brings them out, even the non-golfers, is the meatloaf at the snack bar. Keeping it consistent.

YARDAGE (PAR) 5,691-6,813 yards

RATES $38-$45*

TEL (360) 568-2676 ext. 1

WEB snohomishgolfcourse.com

* Check website for current rates

We play all over the state but if we had to call somewhere our home course, it might be Snohomish. The course is a great test of golf and is a true Northwest golf experience. It has a true mom and pop feel to it and makes you hit every club in the bag. The green fees are affordable, but how does the price of FREE sound to you?. Enter to win today at CascadeGolfer.com.

Why Port Ludlow GC is the ladies’ choice — and second to none

BY TONY DEAR • CG EDITOR

In last August’s issue, we ran our ‘Top 10 Public Courses in Washington’ feature that has appeared biennially since 2013 (COVID messed up the dates a bit, but we’re back on track).

As well as identifying the state’s best overall, we counted the votes for best course by region and by price, the best courses chosen by people who work in the golf industry, and the most popular courses among our female readers.

And, just as it had in 2019, Port Ludlow won the ‘Ladies Top Pick’ category by a significant margin.

I can’t remember the number of times I stopped counting the votes for a moment to remark upon another win for Port Ludlow. The simple truth of the matter is that female golfers from all over the Evergreen State love Port Ludlow. And the women that frequent the beautiful layout want to tell the world how they feel about it — in this case through Cascade Golfer.

Bonnie Vahcic has been playing golf since the 1950s but moved to a house on the first hole at Port Ludlow in 1998 and quickly fell for it. “It’s just beautiful with views of Mt. Baker and Puget Sound,” she says lovingly. “If you’re lucky to play on a summer evening you can watch the cruise ships heading up to Alaska. And it’s so peaceful, too. We’re removed from the big cities, Seattle and Tacoma, but close enough to not feel totally isolated.”

Lucinda Thompson has also been at Port Ludlow since 1998 and, like Vahcic, is often overcome with a sense of peace. “By the time you reach the 11th hole, you realize there is a profound silence here,” she says. “And the 13th hole, as the sun streams down through the trees onto the green, is called ‘Cathedral’ for a reason.”

Port Ludlow opened in 1975 and was designed by Robert Muir Graves, who returned in 1990 to add a third nine on more rugged ground to the west of the original 18. That third course — named Trail — closed in 2009, sadly, but the two original nines — Tide and Timber — remained and benefitted from a thorough renovation completed in 2016 and overseen by Superintendent Dick Schmidt who had been part of the course’s original construction crew in 1971.

The course’s head professional Jim Mancill, took over from Tyler Sweet just over a year ago and, like Sweet, is planning on offering several clinics for women. “Today was supposed to be the kick-off for our ‘Knock the Rust Off’ Clinics covering putting and shortgame,” he says. “As the spring brings us some better weather, hopefully, I’ll be expanding on the number of clinics.”

“Jim’s been a great addition to Port Ludlow, and it was such a shame to miss out on the putting clinic,” says Ann Nugent who has played here since 2004 and averages three rounds a week. “I never get bored of the course,” she adds. “The two sides have their own feel and personalities. Tide feels a bit more open with views across the Sound and to Mt Baker. And you can see the Olympic Mountains from Timber, which, as the name suggests, has lots of trees to get lost in. I feel like I notice something new every time I play, which keeps me excited to come back.”

Nugent thinks part of the reason Port Ludlow is so popular with women, besides a thriving tight-knit group of 35 or so regulars, is that it has something for everyone. Thompson nods in agreement.

“The course was a lot longer for women when I first arrived, and so more difficult,” she says. “Over the years though, shorter tees were added to several holes, making the course very user-friendly for women.

This year, another set of tees has been added, giving higher-handicappers a more fun experience, and an executive-type course for lower handicaps.”

Last summer, Port Ludlow hosted a three-day tournament for 113 players from the Washington State Women’s Public Links Association, a significant event by any measure. The feedback the club received afterward was altogether positive. “We had rave reviews,” says Vahcic. “Many of our visitors said how welcome they’d been made and how much they’d like to return to Port Ludlow in the future.”

The beautiful Olympic Peninsula course is popular with just about everyone who plays it. But, for the women of Port Ludlow, it clearly is something extra special.

Enter to Win a Northwest Golfers Playbook and two tickets to the Boeing Classic

Save money all year long and then hit up the only professional tourney in town. Sounds good to us! With $4,500 in savings, the Playbook should keep your wallet full. Now go watch Fred Couples and others at Snoqualmie Ridge in August, on us! Enter to win today at CascadeGolfer.com.

Ann Nugent

Lucinda Thompson (left) and Bonnie Vahcic