Post Game

CG readers love Bremerton’s Gold Mountain Olympic Course for a simple reason it just getter better with age

BY BOB SHERWIN • CG STAFF WRITER

Folks at Gold Mountain Golf Club have it figured out.

They have had a business plan, for decades now, that has made the 36-hole complex among the most popular and populated courses in the state.

The two 18-hole courses, Cascade and Olympic, that meander through the vast forested watershed on the Kitsap Peninsula have been consistently ranked among the top public golf courses in the state. Cascade Golfer readers annually vote Gold Mountain among the top four, alongside Chambers Bay, Gamble Sands and Wine Valley.

The reason might be because of the club’s “four percent formula.”

Gold Mountain is owned by the City of Bremerton and operates under what’s called ‘enterprise funding.’ That means that the city council oversees the club but does not provide any taxpayer money for its operation.

“We rely on our own business dollars to pay our way,” said Daryl Matheny, Gold Mountain’s general manager.

And golf courses are not a one-and-done business. Courses depend on regulars, as well as newcomers, for multiple repeat rounds. They must want to come back. Matheny understands that the repeat golfer must believe he’s/she’s getting a fair deal on green fees and that the grounds are maintained well. In that regard, Gold Mountain annually puts aside four percent of its operating revenue for capital improvements.

“It’s a business model that has worked over the years,” Matheny said. “And it’s still working.”

The club has been able to purchase more modern equipment, enhance and improve various greens and tee complexes and rework sever- al bunkers, more recently on Nos. 4, 5 and 7 on the Olympic course.

Matheny said it was a difficult stretch in 2020 when revenues dried up for six weeks when the state mandated golf course closures during the pandemic. “We didn’t know what the heck was going on,” he said.

But what followed was a resurgence, as cabin-fever shut-ins surged back to the fairways and greens for what was considered safe exercise. “We’ve had a ton of new golfers,” Matheny added. “Since we reopened, we’ve tried to increase our budget, not just to maintain the course but make it better.”

Matheny said that was the silver lining to the pandemic restrictions. Full tee sheets and revenue increases. Consequently, it also brought in more maintenance cash under the four-percent formula.

Among the targets for its capital improvement fund is a remastering of the 52-year-old Cascade course. Cascade has not had a wholesale revision since it opened in 1971. The course, designed by Ken Dyson (also Madrona in Gig Harbor and Lake Spanaway in Tacoma), was among the best in the state until transcended by so many new ones, including sister layout Olympic in September 1996. The game has changed in a half century and Cascade needs to be brought along.

“When it was opened in 1971, it was just open and go,” Matheny said. “We’ve never done anything much to it. There are some bunkers out of play that we can remove, add and create more expanded tee areas. Create a different look.”

Olympic was designed by the late noted Northwest architect John Harbottle. He did scores of projects before his untimely death in 2012 at age 53. Among his state efforts were the creation of Palouse Ridge in Pullman and revisions to Broadmoor, Fircrest, Inglewood, Overlake and White Horse GC.

Olympic is considered the better of the two courses, although Matheny said Cascade “has such character to it. There are some who prefer Cascade over Olympic.”

Matheny said the two-course system has its advantages “as we can host events while the other course remains open to the public (generally Cascade).” Olympic hosted the 81st U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship in 2006, the U.S. Junior Amateur in 2011 and the NCAA Men’s Regional Championship in 2008 and in 2015. Olympic also holds the annual Husky Invitational each fall and just last month held the West Coast Conference Women’s Championship.

Asked about what holes, on each course, are the most memorable to the regulars, Matheny said No. 8 (par 4, 413 yards) on Cascade “comes up a lot.” He said the par 5, 550-yard (back tees) 18th also has its admirers (just 445 yards from the Tourney tees).

For the Olympic layout, Matheny offers a few choices, such as No. 7 (par 4, 462 yards) and the longish par 3, 251-yard 12th hole. The course finishes with two intriguing beauties, No. 16 (par 3, 188 yards) that is all carry over water to a green tough to hold, and No. 18 (par 4, 305 yards) that sets up as a birdie hole if your drive threads an OB needle.

Asked which holes, on each course, generally yields the most holes-in-one, he said No. 3 on Cascade (180 yards, No. 17 handicap hole) and No. 5 on Olympic (159 yards, also the No. 17 handicap).

Gold Mountain Golf Club, Olympic Course • Bremerton