Short Game

Local pros Hurt and Feenstra qualify for PGA Championship at Southern Hills

Hurt

Feenstra

Austin Hurt was comfortable with his 54-hole position at the PGA Professional Championship in April.

The former Washington State University Cougar and, since 2014, the Head Golf Professional at Wing Point Golf & Country Club on Bainbridge Island, had opened with a superb eight-birdie 66 on the Tom Fazio-designed Foothills Course at Omni Barton Creek Resort in Austin, Tex. He followed it with a fine two-under 68 on Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw’s Cliffside Course to make the cut easily, and then shot an up-and-down 73 on Foothills to complete three rounds in five-under 207.

Tied for 12th heading into the final round, it looked like a solid even-par 71 would be more than good enough for him to finish among the top 20 professionals that qualified for the PGA Championship at Southern Hills in Tulsa. Okla. And, after a birdie at the 388-yard 6th, his place in the second major championship of the season looked even more assured.

The breeze began to pick up, however, and suddenly Hurt started leaking oil. As the wind piled on, Hurt’s wheels started falling off. A nasty double-bogey at the

443-yard 7th was followed by three straight bogeys — plus-5 in four holes — and, after missing the green at the long par 4 11th, he looked at dropping another stroke to par. A fabulous chip and putt went some way to easing the pain though, and a birdie at the 275-yard 12th gave Hurt a little room to breathe again.

It was hardly smooth-sailing from there to the house — he bogeyed the 14th and needed a 17-foot putt at the penultimate hole to save his par — but, with a closing par 5 on the uphill 525-yard home hole, the 33-year-old finished with a hard-fought 75 and a four-round total of one-under 282 that put him in a tie for 11th.

Hurt says that over the next few days he received something like 350 congratulatory texts and 100 emails from family, friends, Wing Point members and people he’d not seen or spoken with in a long time.

“I was completely overwhelmed,” he adds. “And I couldn’t be more excited to have Kyle (brother) at Southern Hills with me on the bag as he was in Texas.”

Hurt vaguely remembers watching Tiger Woods win the PGA Championship there in 2007, but really he has no experience on the Perry Maxwell-designed course in Tulsa, Okla.

“It’ll be long and tough, of course,” he says. “But I can’t wait to get there and play against the world’s best.”

Hurt will be joined in the field for the 104th PGA Championship by Broadmoor Golf Club’s Tim Feenstra, who made a superb birdie on the 72nd hole at Barton Creek to finish in a tie for 18th and then made it through the four-for-three play-off (four players tied on 283 with only three spots remaining) to qualify for his first PGA Championship in eight attempts.

The 39-year-old, a 2006 graduate of Western Washington University in Bellingham, says he has a few contacts at Southern Hills who he’ll be tapping for knowledge. “My goal is to play the weekend,” he says, “and earn low club professional honors. I expect to soak up every second of this opportunity to play on a major stage.”

Cascade Golfer wishes Hurt and Feenstra the best of luck at Southern Hills and knows that, if they play to their potential, both stand a very good chance of making it to the weekend. We’ll be watching and sending good vibes.

Washington & Woolsey WIN!

Husky men battle the best in Pac-12 and pull out a win for the ages taking the team and individual titles at Aldarra CC as host team — first title since 2010

Washington & Woolsey WIN!

Images courtesy of UW Athletics/Go Huskies Magazine

Washington & Woolsey WIN!

Images courtesy of UW Athletics/Go Huskies Magazine

PAC 12 Champions

Images courtesy of UW Athletics/Go Huskies Magazine

Woolsey joins other Pac-12 champs like Morikawa, Rahm, Woods and Mickelson.

Images courtesy of UW Athletics/Go Huskies Magazine

FALL CITY, Wash. — As Washington’s Noah Woolsey dueled down the back nine with Stanford’s Barclay Brown at the Pac-12 Championship on April 27, the weight of the individual title as well as the team title grew heavier with each hole.

Brown made four birdies in a row, on Aldarra Country Club’s holes 12 through 15, while Woolsey double bogeyed the short par 4 17th. His lead had shrunk to just one stroke heading to the 438-yard par 4 18th, one of the toughest finishing holes in the state. But Woolsey, the Husky senior from Pleasanton, Calif., hit a dynamic approach shot to within 10 feet of the hole on 18. It was a golden shot that solidified both titles.

Woolsey, who shot a 3-under 68 for a three-round total of 276, parred the hole, as did Brown, to win by one. He finished two ahead of Oregon’s Yuki Moriyama. The 8th-ranked Huskies took the team title by three shots over 17th-ranked Stanford while 4th-ranked Arizona State finished third, eight strokes behind.

It marked the third title (first outright) for Woolsey this season to go with five seconds, two thirds and two fourth places. The other Huskies who can now call themselves Pac-12 champions were: Chaun Tai-Lin (T10, 2-over 286), Petr Hruby (T22, 5-over 289), Bo Peng (T22, 5-over 289), Taehoon Song (T24, 6-over 290) and R.J. Manke (T28, 8-over 292).

This is the seventh team title for the Huskies, the first since 2010.

“We made the shots we needed to make,” Huskies sixth-year coach Alan Murray said.

For Woolsey, winning the conference crown is no small feat. Some of the more prominent past winners are: Cal’s Collin Morikawa (2019, two-time major champion and former world No. 2), ASU’s Jon Rahm (2016, former world No. 1), Stanford’s Tiger Woods (1996, 15-time major champion, etc.) and ASU’s Phil Mickelson (1990, six-time major champion).

Woolsey also joins four Huskies who have won the individual title since 1958. They include Clint Names (1961), O.D. Vincent (1988), Erik Olson (2005) and Darren Wallace (2009).

Woolsey, enjoying a three-shot lead after Brown bogeyed 16, drove behind a tree on 17. His line-drive approach to the green rolled off the back. It took him four shots, two chips and two putts, for a six and suddenly turned it into a dramatic final hole. Even the team title was not assured. “It happened so quickly,” Woolsey said. Woolsey’s drive on 18 sailed into the right rough, in a gully below the fairway, just inches from much thicker grass.

“I’m pretty comfortable off that tee. I played it like 200 times over the past five years,” Woolsey said. Aldarra has been the Huskies home course during his time at Montlake.

Murray saw no tension in Woolsey after the drive. “He came walking down the fairway, big smile on his face. He was enjoying it,” he said. “He made a super second shot. Really spectacular second shot. It was not an easy shot by any means. He deserves that. He really deserves that.”

“I had 168 yards and tried to play it at 150, in the middle of the green,” Woolsey said. “I hit a nine-iron. Pushed it a little. It came out perfect.”

Brown, whose approach came up well short, 45 feet from the hole, missed his birdie putt by three feet. Woolsey rimmed the hole on his first putt then made a two-footer for the championship, as his teammates rushed the green to leap on the Husky pacesetter.

The Huskies led all three days of the tournament, by four over ASU on the two 18-hole rounds Monday. On Tuesday, three Huskies, Woolsey, Peng and Lin, each birdied both 17 and 18 to lift the Huskies to a sevenstroke lead entering Wednesday’s final 18 holes.

Woolsey, who has already qualified for the Canadian Tour this summer, trailed Brown by one shot entering Wednesday’s finale. On the par 4 eighth hole, Brown lost his drive — and the lead — into the left rough. He couldn’t find his ball within the required three minutes so he had to re-tee and would make a bogey. Woolsey made a 10-foot par on the hole to take the lead he would not relinquish.

At the NCAA Regionals, Manke qualified for the NCAA Championship in Scottsdale, Ariz. Visit GoHuskies.com for updates and results.

Exciting changes for renamed and upgraded Kahler Mountain Club in Leavenworth

Kahler Mountain Club

You must look hard for it and word your search engine entry effectively to find relevant stories, but Kahler Glen Golf and Ski Resort was sold last December for an undisclosed sum to 45-year-old businessman and Kahler homeowner Scott Peyree, who has spent his first few months as the new proprietor embarking on a fairly major revitalization project.

Visit the property’s web site and you won’t see much change yet, however. In fact, the site’s wording, images, general presentation and, indeed, the URL — kahlerglen. com — are the same. There’s only one difference, but it’s a big one. The resort, whose first nine holes opened in the mid-1980s, and which grew steadily over the next decade or so, now goes by a different name. The Kahler Glen Golf and Ski Resort has become the Kahler Mountain Club.

Karen Bauder, the club’s general manager, says the previous owners — an LLC made up of about 50 investors — just felt the time was right to let it go and that new blood was needed.

“Most of the owners were in their late 70s or 80s and had just lost the motivation and energy needed to run a successful resort like Kahler,” she says, adding that Seattle-based Peyree, founder of insurance rates marketplace quotefinder.com — bought by LendingTree in October 2018 for $300 million, is putting a lot of money into the venture.

The wheels had been set in motion a few months prior to December’s sale when Peyree announced he would be covering all the operational expenses of the Kahler Glen Athletic Club, which had shut down during the pandemic to get it fully functioning once again.

In an email to lakewenathceeinfo.com that was subsequently published on its web site on July 11, Peyree explained that he and his family had pretty much lived full-time at Kahler during the COVID shutdown and that he had fallen in love with the place, which, he said, had an “outstanding amount of potential to be even better.’’

He went on to outline his future plans, which amount to a complete remodel/upgrade of the facilities… “including a larger and better equipped gym, additional space for workout classes, better facilities for spa services, golf simulators, and more staffing and services, etc.”

Peyree said he wanted the club to not only be a place for working out and swimming, but also a “place of community where the neighbors will be able to spend time together.’’

As for the golf course, Randy Pelton’s original layout will remain unchanged for now, but the bunkers are currently being renovated with pure white sand replacing the older, greyer sand.

“It looks fabulous,” says Bauder. “A lot of the homeowners and visitors we’re seeing are telling me how much they like it.”

As well as upgrades to the golf course and athletic club — now the Kahler Mountain Athletic Center — Peyree has big plans for the resort’s lodging component. Bauder says 40 new condominiums are planned with construction expected to start in 2024-25. “There will also be a new clubhouse and restaurant,” she adds.

As a long-time fan of Kahler Glen, Cascade Golfer is excited to see how the resort develops in the coming years.

U.S. Junior Amateur at Bandon Dunes may be USGA’s toughest youth test yet this July

The U.S. Junior Amateur Championship is tough enough as it is, annually contested over six grueling days — including six match-play rounds that determine the ultimate champion — but this year all 264 juniors will compete over the largely uncommon links terrain at unfamiliar Bandon Dunes courses in southwest Oregon.

The expansive Bandon golf complex will host the US- GA’s 74th U.S. Junior Amateur Championship July 25-30. The first two days of stroke play will be at Bandon Trails, a 6,887-yard, par 71 course that is closer to a meadows course that most of the players are familiar with, but still with plenty of linksy characteristics and always uncertain weather.

The top 64 players then advance to match play, six rounds over four days, at gorse-and-gorges Bandon Dunes, the 7,228-yard, par 72 layout on the edge of the Pacific that is consistently buffeted by strong winds.

“It’s the most comprehensive test in golf,” said Greg Sanflilippo, USGA Director, Junior Amateur & U.S. Senior Amateur. He was part of a mid-April media event to promote the Junior Am.

Just to get to Bandon is an achievement. There are more than 3,000 youngsters (18-under as of July 30, with a handicap not exceeding 4.4) who will attempt to qualify at 57 sites around the U.S., Canada and Mexico. From 3,000 will come just 264 to Bandon.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” said Nicholas Dunlap, the defending Junior Am champion. He won the event last year at The Country Club of North Carolina in Pinehurst, N.C. He is from Huntsville, Ala., and almost exclusively plays on lush grasses in the Southeast U.S.

“I’m really not used to putting from 20 yards off the green,” he said.

Dunlap, invited by the USGA to the media event, played a couple rounds and just walked the courses to familiarize himself with the terrain.

“I don’t know if this compares to anywhere else in America. Maybe Scotland,” he said. “But you still have to hit your golf shots.”

Dunlap has had to adjust his schedule this spring because of a nagging wrist injury. He not only hopes to be fully armed and ready by the Junior Am in July but also wants to be recovered for the biggest perk of his championship. His victory automatically qualified him for the U.S. Open at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., June 16-19. The 18-yearold will be teeing it up with the best golfers in the world.

This is the eighth USGA event to be held at the Bandon complex. There are eight more planned — until 2045 — that include the Walker Cup in 2029 and the Curtis Cup in 2038.

Westward Ho! Sheep Ranch’s 16th is westernmost hole on continental U.S.

CG writers Bob Sherwin and Jim Street on the 16th green at Sheep Ranch.

The 16th hole on Bandon Dunes Golf Resort’s Sheep Ranch course has a lot of ground to cover before becoming as famous as another par 3 16th on the Pacific coast — Alister Mackenzie and Marion Hollins’s incredible 222-yard cover-star at Cypress Point on the Monterey Peninsula. But the two-year-old gem in Oregon is gaining prestige in a hurry.

Just like its Californian counterpart, the Sheep Ranch version is probably the course’s most picture-worthy hole. And not only is it incredibly beautiful and a blast to play, but it also holds the distinction of being the westernmost hole in the continental United States — it’s about 300 miles west of Los Angeles believe it or not.

During a recent visit to the resort, our writer Jim Street received some advice from his Bandon caddie, Sam, who shared and incredible story of a recent guest holing out from the 102-yard tee…with a putter!

Allison Koehnke, from Salem, Ore., made her first ever hole-in-one when her ball struck that of her playing partner on the green and deflected into the hole.

Jim joined our longtime writer Bob Sherwin on a recent USGA media trip to Bandon and dug up this fact about the Sheep Ranch being the beacon point of the west coast. We are glad that they did — this is good water cooler scoop.

UW supporters host tourney Aug. 13 at Echo Falls

University of Washington Soccer Alumni will be hosting a benefit tournament called the DP Open Aug. 13 at Echo Falls Golf Club in Snohomish, Wash. The event memorializes past UW soccer star Daniel Phelps who lost his life to sudden cardiac arrest in his sleep in 2015. The successful event raises money by donating money to the Nick of Time Foundation to help them screen hearts at local schools, teach kids CPR and build awareness. For more information or to register for the event email adam@dpopen.com.

College-bound Fenton wins June’s Duke’s Seafood award

Brigitte Fenton

It doesn’t happen very often, but occasionally we come across a nomination for the Duke’s Seafood Junior Golfer Scholarship that is so convincing, it’s obvious there’s no need to continue searching.

Such was the impact that Coach Glen Walker’s endorsement of Auburn Mountainview High School senior Brigitte Fenton had this time. Coach Walker wrote in such glowing terms of the Trojan’s co-captain, and the team’s top player for the third straight year, that we’d only got a quarter of the way through his email recommending her before making the selection.

We’d publish the whole thing if there was sufficient space, but just the opening lines were all we needed to know. “Brigitte is an amazing young woman who sets goals and strives to achieve them through persistence and hard work,” Walker wrote. “Brigitte is energetic, responsive, and consistently performs to the highest possible standards and works to be the best she can be.”

Good start, but there was more, much more. “While in high school, and through her studies at Green River CC, Brigitte has maintained a 4.0 GPA,” Walked added. “She showed great leadership during the COVID shutdown organizing events, outings, and get-togethers so the team could get out, practice and play. She is so well-rounded, loyal, dependable, easy to get along with, has great integrity, and is always putting others before herself.”

Those character traits, along with her academic and golf records (Brigitte has a 2.0 index and usually keeps it in the mid-70s), certainly got our attention, but it was this bit in Coach Walker’s email that settled the deal – “During her time at AMHS, Brigitte always gave back to the community as a volunteer. She completed numerous hours of community service volunteering in Seattle’s First Tee program, and she gets real pleasure in helping others.”

Not surprisingly, John Moscrip of Duke’s Seafood who established the scholarship, was impressed. “Brigitte is exactly the sort of person we started the scholarship for,” he says.

This fall, Brigitte heads to Whitworth College in Spokane where she will play golf and study Health Science with an emphasis in Athletic Training.

If you wish to nominate a worthy young golfer or entity, please send you submission to stephens@ varsitycommunications.com and tonydear71@comcast.net — subject line Duke’s Scholarship Nominee.

Innovator Mike Simpson’s new company RV2Tee.golf delivers a new option for golf travel

RV2Tee.golf

RV2Tee.golf

The simplest ideas are always the best ideas, and Mike Simpson had an absolutely doozy a couple of years ago.

A successful entrepreneur based in Arlington who had owned and operated a number of businesses in his time, Simpson is both an avid golfer with a degree in Golf Management (he was the General Manager at Gleneagle Golf Course from 2011-13 and Golf Operations Manager at Swinomish in 2014) and a committed roamer who describes himself as a ‘full-time RVer’.

Simpson had his lightbulb moment during a golf trip when thinking how he might combine his two passions. A lot of golfers enjoy visiting distant golf courses but it often comes with considerable travel and lodging expenses. Some, who share Simpson’s fondness for RVing, can certainly drive to the courses they wish to play (which has only increased in interest as a result in the boom of golf), but how does it work if there’s no RV park within easy reach of the course?

What, thought Simpson, if those who preferred to travel by RV were permitted to park their vehicles at the course they intended to play? And what if there was some national network of courses, managed and by a single curator, that offered this?

Within short order, Simpson had signed up over 100 courses nationwide that were the first to offer the RV2Tee experience and this year he says the company is aggressively pushing for 1,000.

It’s really a win-win for everyone concerned. The golfer/RVer is able to park and stay right on property which saves him/her both money and time, and the course, which is under no obligation to provide anything but a parking space, gets a direct link to a profitable demographic that is encouraged and, more often than not, willing to support its hosts through purchases and positive feedback. It effectively turns a bare rectangle of concrete into a money-making opportunity the club wouldn’t otherwise have had.

RV2Tee certainly doesn’t stipulate a certain level of spending at host clubs, but the expectation that members purchase merchandise and eat in the club’s restaurant as well pay their green fees and then write glowing reviews or speak positively about the courses they visit is one of five etiquette guidelines RV2Tee hopes and expects its members will abide by.

THE OTHER FOUR ARE:

• Members will care for and respect the host property and will leave the facility in better shape than when they arrived.

• Host Partners may have various regulations or requirements for your stay. Please respect and honor those requirements.

• Overnight stays are limited to 24 hours unless other arrangements have been made with the host.

• You must have a self-contained, well-maintained RV. Hosts do not provide hookups or access to bathrooms unless otherwise specified.

The company’s web site (RV2Tee.golf) does actually say these guidelines will be ‘strictly enforced’ which seems a bit of an oxymoron, but Kevin Phillips, RV2Tee’s Chief Development Officer, says the golf/RV community is full of integrity and can be relied upon to responsibly hold up its part of the bargain. “I have not heard any complaints from our host partners about member etiquette,” he adds. “Since our target market is golf specific, and our marketing has emphasized that fact, I don’t anticipate any misunderstandings.”

Membership costs $99 per year and gives RVers the opportunity to ‘Stay and Play’ at courses in the RV2Tee network. And they have access to the company’s app which not only conveniently lists the network courses but is also constantly being updated and improved with features the golfing RVer will find useful.

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

The 2022 Northwest Golfers Playbook is back. Here’s to saving some green while playing on some of the best greens in the region. Two new courses are included in this year’s Playbook, closer to the South-enders, with Oakbrook Golf Club in Lakewood and The Classic Golf Club in Spanaway now in the fold.

With golf still going bonkers as the pandemic, we hope, continues to fade, the NWGPB offers a ton of savings at many of your local favorites. That includes some of the top courses in the state as well as your local favorites.

Salish Cliffs, White Horse and Apple Tree also have something for you. And, how about some of those hidden gems that don’t get talked about enough? At Port Ludlow, you can get two rounds with a cart any day of the week for just $109 — a $30 savings over the rack rate. Eagles Pride? Get a foursome for $100 and save $40. Avalon? Get 25 percent off your 18-hole green fee. All 10 of the Premier-managed municipal courses are in the book and you’ll save $5 at each. The Nile? Foster? Camaloch? All three have an offer for you.

We are coming off a two-year span with so many new players getting involved in the game. You can save on golf lessons at multiple locations including Puetz, GolfTec, Pacific Northwest Golfer Center and Snohomish Valley Golf Center (SVGC). And Puetz and SVGC have you covered on range balls, too. Deals on golf gear, apparel and more? Puetz Golf includes $10 in Puetz Bucks with the purchase of every Playbook in addition to their lesson, range and repair offers.

If you live on the north-end, we have several tracks for you to hit up including Camaloch and Gleneagle and even something for you in Whatcom County with North Bellingham, Sudden Valley and Homestead part of the Playbook.

For those looking to take it on vacation make sure you bring it if you’re headed to the Tri-Cities, Suncadia, Olympic Peninsula, Bellingham, Portland, Hood River, the Oregon Coast or Central Oregon. With more than 100 pages of golf deals, you simply need to use a coupon or two and you’re already in the black.

The book is sold online for $39.95. Though readers can use the code SAVEBIGONGOLF to shave $5 off that, making a good deal even better. Pick one up at NWGolfersPlaybook.com and don’t be afraid to tell someone at the course you appreciate them being in the Playbook when you make your next tee time. Get out and play more golf!

Pfeil-Johnson and Bethke-Abbott take first CG Cup at Chambers Bay, Gilje-Jones and Perot-Matson win at Washington National

John Pfeil and Eric Johnson, the final twosome off the Chambers Bay course on April 16, rose to first place in the net division of the 14th Annual Cascade Golfer Cup. Pfeil, an eight handicap, and Johnson, a 20, won the two-person, best-ball Stableford with 48 points, played in rainy, blustery conditions.

Stableford is a different style of play from straight medal play. Instead of golfers recording as low a score as possible, they try to accumulate as many points as possible. The point values can differ in varying Stableford formats, but generally a par is worth two points. A birdie is good for three points, an eagle four, a bogey one and double-bogey or worse zero.

You adjust the handicap for both players over 18 holes and hopefully finish with a ‘plus’ score – 36 points usually means you, or the team you’re part of, recorded a net par on each hole. In their case, the Pheil/Johnson team won handily, by four points over the runners-up.

In the gross division, Bob Bethke and Todd Abbott took the trophy. Bethke plays to a near-scratch handicap while Abbott is a two. They collected 38 points to win by two.

It’s the first time the Bethke-Abbott team participated in the 72-team competition. Pfeil and Johnson are veterans of the event. In fact, Pfeil, in a previous competition, notched a hole-in-one at Chambers’ 139-yard 15th hole (the one with the lone tree behind the green). Both Pheil and Johnson earned a golf package that will take them to Kaanapali Golf Resort/Royal Lahaina. This was the start of an eightevent competition that runs throughout the summer.

The Players Championship at Washington National results

On May 7 was the Cup’s second event — The Players Championship at Washington National. This was a two-person best ball on the popular home course for the UW. The net division winners were Alan Gilje and Lucas Jones. Gross division champs were Tanner Perot and Michael Matson.

The competition returns to Chambers Bay for the Cascade Cup finale on Oct. 1 with a two-person, bestball. Each of the tournaments are a separate event with its own prize pool, including stay and play packages. The season standings will be used to crown a champion in both gross and net divisions. Prizes are given to all teams finishing in the top 10 in the gross and net divisions at every event and for the season.

Join the fun by visiting CascadeGolfer.com and click the cup to see the remaining schedule.

Bottoms up! Flag Assist is an ace

New Pacific Northwest product for courses, destinations and marketers takes the bottom of cup and flagstick to next level

Flag Assist

Flag Assist

Countless technological advancements in the sport of golf surround us at every turn — and have for decades. Golf clubs, shafts, grips, balls, bags, handheld electronic tools, shoes and even golf attire are in a never-ending evolution of improvement.

All this has benefitted the golfer greatly. But as far as the flagstick and cup, there has not been a major overhaul of this equipment really to speak of. Frankly, there’s been no change to it in decades — until now.

An Oregon-based visionary, named Vernie Santos, has changed all that with the recent unveiling of a new product called Flag Assist, which launched during the pandemic, and has attracted dozens of rave reviews.

Mike O’Reilly, the Golf Operations Manager at Blackwolf Run and Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wisc., and the Badger State’s PGA Golf Professional of the Year in 2017, says employees and guests have been very pleased with how the product has performed on the golf course since the beginning of 2020. “It allowed players to finish the hole without touching the flagstick,” he adds. “And we found the product more versatile and better-made than other options in the market.”

Tom Brodeur, superintendent at TPC Boston was likewise impressed. “It helped our members enjoy the golf course at a difficult time for everyone,” he says, referring to the lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic. “It was nice that they were able to putt without the ball bouncing out of the hole.”

And, PGA Professional Mike Raschko of Willamette Valley Country Club in Canby, Ore., goes as far as to say the club’s members have been “really excited” about the product, adding that turf on the putting greens has held up much better since the club began using it. “Also, the majority of the members think it's very convenient not to have to bend over to retrieve their ball after holing out,” he says.

What are they talking about? What is this product that is saving greens turf and helping golfers feel better during their round? Flag Assist is described as a ‘Patented, adjustable receiver cup that allows players to retrieve the ball without touching either the flagpole or cup.’

A former plumbing contractor and currently the Vice President of Business Development for Portland-based Aerial Inspection Resources, Santos says Flag Assist receiver cups became a vital tool in assuring golfers could complete a round safely during the pandemic when the USGA advised against touching the pin in conjunction with state, county, and local government policies.

By positioning a Flag Assist Cup about two inches below the surface of the green, the ball stays in the hole every time and makes it easy for the golfer to retrieve the ball. Since the USGA guidelines have been lifted, however, and we have been able to touch the pin, golfers have discovered that by taking the pin out of the cup entirely they can retrieve their ball without having to bend over, which is a big deal for golfers of a certain vintage and those with suspect backs.

What’s more, says Santos, repeated removal of the ball from a cup with the pin in place can deform the surrounding turf, cause the cup to shift, and even ‘dome’ the earth surrounding the cup. “However, Flag Assist allows players to lift the ball clear simply by lifting the pin out of the hole,” he adds. “This means they won't need to use external tools that could damage the green.”

Flag Assist also helps keep the flag straight and centered in windy conditions and gives courses the opportunity to add branding and marketing. “The removable inserts at the top and bottom of the cups are customizable,” says Craig Pelzer a manager at Pelzer Golf, based in Clackamas, Ore., which sells, markets and distributes Flag Assist. Pelzer has supplied golf products (balls, gloves, tees, ball-markers, towels, cleats, bag tags, rangefinders, grips, club repair tools, training aids, umbrellas, ball mark repair tools, range supplies, etc.) wholesale to pro shops and other golfrelated businesses around the country since 1982. “The inserts are a great way to add custom messaging for events, tournaments, holidays, you name it.”

Frankly speaking, the marketability of branding the inside of the cup is one of the most innovative opportunities on the golf course as all players reach the cup.

Flag Assist was one of the most popular exhibits at the 2022 PGA Show in Orlando and the courses and marketers were crafting orders on the spot.

Flag Assist attaches easily to the flagstick with no need to remove the flag, can be positioned at any height, is made to last from high-quality materials and comes with a one-year free replacement part warranty.

To learn more visit flagassistgolf.com or pelzergolf. com and learn about the customizable opportunity available for your golf entity.

Corona Premier Shootout is two days of world-class two-person best ball and an action-packed weekend

Gamble Sands

Of course, we’re going back — crazy not to after the success of last year, right?

The inaugural two-day Corona Premier Shootout at Gamble Sands produced so many memorable moments we’re still talking about them in the office, and we suspect the 112 golfers that enjoyed the glorious summer weekend last year are still enjoying the memories too.

Thirty-six holes on the incredible David Mc- Lay-Kidd-designed Sands Course, a trip around the 14- hole Quicksands Course (and it was a ‘trip’), evening shenanigans on the Cascades Putting Course and lunch both days added up to the sort of event you remember for years and one that you should sign up for early this year to guarantee your place.

This year’s event takes place on the weekend of July 23-24. The format will be the same as 2021 — two-person best ball with gross and net divisions and extra prizes for KPs (4), long drive and straight drive. Following play on Saturday evening, we’ll head to the rollicking Cascades Putting Course for Happy Hour and, with a cold Corona in one hand and your putter in the other, watch the sun going down beyond the mighty Columbia River and Cascade Mountains.

There will be prizes for the top five teams daily in both divisions plus the top five overall in both divisions for the weekend. For those of you counting at home, that’s a total of 30 team prizes in addition to those for long and straight drives each day and several closest- to-the-pin prizes.

The fee will be $850-$950 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 be sure to book it asap as it will go fast.

Now go find a playing partner before you miss out on what promises to be the best golf weekend of the year. Go to CascadeGolfer.com to register

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

The Quicksands course is rollercoaster golf fun.

CORONA PREMIER SHOOTOUT AT GAMBLE SANDS

July 23-24, Gamble Sands Two-person best ball Saturday & SundayNet and gross divisionsPrize pool daily & total4 KP’s, Long Drive, Straight Drive daily

Saturday Corona Premier Happy Hour at Quicksands/Cascade Putting Course

NEW ATTRACTIVE TOURNAMENT FEES! YOUR $850-$950 TEAM FEE INCLUDES: Greens fees, cart, range & lunchSaturday & Sunday plus, Saturday afternoon/evening round at Quicksands.

Go to CascadeGolfer.com to register

Renton’s long-awaited Topgolf range taking shape and reportedly to open in 2022

Topgolf

Topgolf

Lalo Wiese, shown here, hits balls at a completed Topgolf in Overland Park, Kan.

It’s getting closer and closer and soon the Seattle area will be added to the list of towns that get to claim to be Topgolf worthy. We’ve been patient, too.

The long-awaited grand opening of the outdoor multi-decked Topgolf, located in Renton where retail and entertainment establishments are burgeoning, is just a few short months away. This article is not a formal record of the opening as the exact date is still not yet known. We have been working hard to get that information and as soon as it’s available we will share it with you.

However, we went down to the site in early May and spoke to some of the friendly construction workers and the feeling is the facility may be open by mid-summer. There’s been some reports in the local media that it may ever be open earlier. The progress is impressive and the towering range net stanchions can be seen for miles along I-405 and in the Renton Valley.

Topgolf has been top news everywhere they open, and the amazing experience caters to avid golfers and first-time golfers alike. In fact, many industry experts credit the Dallas-based Topgolf company for encouraging new golfers into the sport with its fun and easy on ramp to the sport.

Kirkland is home to an indoor Topgolf Lounge, which is growing in awareness and only stoking the fire of the new outdoor version to open. We will keep you posted here and on our Facebook page when the opening date is released.

Be a part of PGA Champions Tour history and volunteer at 2022 Boeing Classic at The Club at Snoqualmie Ridge this August

How many volunteer opportunities provide you the chance to keep score for a golf legend, drive a major champion to the airport, or walk 18 holes inside the ropes with the likes of Fred Couples, Bernhard Langer and Mark O’Meara?

Volunteer for the Boeing Classic and be a part of one of the most unique experiences in sports. You’ll play an integral role in staging the region’s premier golf tournament event, experience the camaraderie of working alongside a terrific team, and showcase the passion and generosity of this community.

This year’s event will take place once again at The Club at Snoqualmie Ridge Aug. 8-14 — beautifully nestled into the Cascades and a chip shot from Snoqualmie Falls.

The Boeing Classic has become a week that the Tour players look forward to each year and it would be impossible to sustain and improve upon such high expectations without the hard work and ‘can do’ attitude exhibited by their volunteer base.

This is a golden opportunity for you to fulfill a dream and make new friends at the same time. And spending a week at the world-famous Club at Snoqualmie Ridge is a bonus during the warmest month of the year here.

We’d love to hear from Cascade Golfer readers about your experiences at the Boeing Classic. Interested? Visit BoeingClassic.com today and click on the volunteer button and play your part in Seattle golf history.

Dates: Aug. 8-14, 2022

Location: The Club at Snoqualmie Ridge

Field: 78 Champions Tour professionals

Format: 54 holes of stroke play, no cut

Purse: $2.2 million

Par: 72 • 7,264 yards