1 minute read
Save Some Green
1 • Trophy Lake Golf & Casting
PORT ORCHARD
For those sometime golfers who might be apt to say, “I’d rather be fishing,” the answer at one Olympic Peninsula golf course is, “Boy, have we got a deal for you.”
The name of the course is a dead giveaway — Trophy Lake Golf & Casting. The Port Orchard, Wash., property is unique in the Northwest for its great golf and real-life flyfishing in ponds stocked with rainbow trout.
At Trophy, designed by 1977 U.S. Amateur champion John Fought, the clubhouse sits like an old-style fishing lodge. And while golf is the main game here, fishing is no novelty add-on. Ponds by holes 6 and 18 are thick with rainbows, and instruction is available in the art of casting a fly rod. Visit trophylakegolf.com/casting/ for all the details.
Head golf pro Riley McKean is happy to talk about the golf experience at Trophy Lake, where the trees are profuse around generous greens and fairways. Houses and even other holes are rarely visible from any given golf hole. That being said, there’s no lack of challenge.
The pace of life, and therefore the pace of play, is friendlier here than at busier public golf courses in the area. “The vibe is different here,” McKean says.
No. 7 and No. 18 are good candidates for signature-hole status. The seventh, a dogleg-left par 5, features one of the bigger bunkers in the state. “It’s always a good hole if you’re struggling through the first six holes,” says McKean. The home hole, a long par 5, is a worthy finishing hole. And not to worry — anglers at the adjacent pond are in no danger from your errant golf shots.
At full price, Trophy Lake will never rank among the lowest-cost courses. But budget-minded players can get a half-price $47 weekday rate by purchasing a Trophy Lake Club Pass. And the Oki Card, with discounts at all courses in the Oki system, remains a solid option.
One final note: McKean says most visitors to Trophy Lake either fish or play golf, but if so inclined, you really can do both in the same day. That’s Trophy Lake in all its glory.
YARDAGE (PAR) 5,342 - 7,206 yards (Par 72)
RATES Dynamic pricing, see website*
TEL (360) 874-8337
* Check website for current rates
2 • Indian Summer Golf & CC
OLYMPIA
Indian Summer Golf & Country Club is making its semi-private business model work without, for the most part, any formal marketing.
When General Manager Kevin Myers rides out on the course periodically for a check-in on play, and encounters players he’s never seen and who he knows aren’t members of the club, he asks them what they think of the course. He’s been gratified by what he hears from the public golfers welcomed onto Indian Summer since late 2022.
“Can’t believe we’ve never been here” and “We’ll be back” are common answers. “Word of mouth is the best way of promoting anything,” Myers says. “There’s still a piece of business out there that doesn’t know we’re open to them.”
The private-public model has not compromised any of the stiff golf challenge for which Indian Summer is known.
“It’s difficult” says Myers. “Every tee shot has its demands. That’s probably the number one thing. Course condition-wise, it very much has that private-club feel. Fairways are tightly mowed, the rough is very well-defined.”
Course designer Peter Thompson used 71 bunkers to frame the challenge on every hole, and players do well to know their capabilities and limitations when choosing clubs and which tees to play.
“If you hit it to 150 yards, that’s the widest part of the fairway,” Myers says. “If you want to take on a hole a little more, well, then things start to narrow.”
Myers says he gets less resistance these days when he suggests some players launch their tee balls from forward tees.
“More and more people are finding the enjoyment in the game the way it was meant to be played,” he says. “They’re not going all the way to the tips. They’re realizing it’s pretty fun to hit driver/7-iron instead of driver/3-wood/wedge.”
Myers says the value at Indian Summer is in the course-conditioning and overall golf experience, adding “We’re pretty darn proud of what we do around here.” The green fees are a little higher than at most clubs in the area, but there are ways to save, including discounts offered by the popular Oki Card.
YARDAGE (PAR) 5,162 - 7,272 yards (Par 72)
RATES $60 - $95*
TEL (360) 923-1075
* Check website for current rates
3 • Jackson Park Golf Course
SEATTLE
Here in northeast Seattle, the neighborhood golf course uses tools that bring technology to bear on the modern game of golf. At the same time, it takes full advantage of a quieter setting than its more urban brethren.
It’s known as the driest course in the city. It’s not the longest, it’s not the shortest.
Take all these ingredients and shake them up. And there, at 1000 N.E. 135th St., you have Jackson Park Golf Course. “You’re going to find a very fair course, but a challenging one as well,” says Tony Wilkins, the general manager here since 2019.
Jackson Park, opened in 1930, is one of three fulllength 18-hole golf courses in the city operated by Premier Golf Centers. Jackson also boasts a nine-hole executive course on the property.
Jackson is better integrated in its residential surroundings, in Wilkins’ view, than Jefferson Park Golf Course in Beacon Hill or West Seattle Golf Course. “Because we’re kind of settled back amongst a neighborhood,” he says, “we hide a little differently. We’re a little bit more ‘escaped’ here.”
As for the golf itself, Jackson “doesn’t beat our players up” with its length, according to Wilkins.
“Total yardage is not where Jackson Park gets challenging,” he says. “It’s in the layout, and our greens are just phenomenal.”
The par 4 No. 14 is a favorite hole here, with its elevated tee box looking out to a well-protected green.
On the front, the 523-yard 5th is “just a very friendly par 5.”
Affordability is a trademark of the city and its ‘dynamic pricing’ model. Top green fee on a weekend is $47.50, with steep discounts on weekdays.
Technology comes into play at Jackson with the equipping of every golf cart with Tagmarshal GPS which, along with a robust volunteer marshal program, significantly improves the pace of play, Wilkins says.
Another way tech talks around here are the ever-popular Toptracer systems installed in all 50 bays of the double-decker range.
Says Wilkins, “The addition of Toptracer technology on the range is definitely another value added to what was already a phenomenal practice facility.”
YARDAGE (PAR) 3,397 - 6,085 yards (Par 72)
RATES $16 - $47.50 (9 holes)*
TEL (206) 363-4747
WEB PremierGC.com/sites/courses/
* Check website for current rates
4 • Interbay Golf Center
SEATTLE
So, what’s lacking in the golf experience at Interbay Golf Center? Not a thing unless all you’re looking for is a full-length 18-hole course.
It’s more fun at Interbay to enumerate all you do find here. When you’re done doing that, you won’t much notice, or mind, what you don’t find. Comfortable, high-tech practice range? Yes, and with a view. Expansive practice areas for chipping, pitching and putting? The short game is the scoring game, you know.
Nine impeccably groomed golf holes? See for yourself. Top-quality greens? As good as any in the city. Onsite café? It’s been said the Warbird fried chicken sandwich will knock your socks off.
Affordability in all of the above? Check, check and check …
“The beauty of Interbay is no matter what you’re looking for, you can find it here,” says General Manager Josh Scothorne.
It might be easy to think of Interbay as the little sibling among the four Seattle courses, run for the city by Premier Golf Centers LLC. But the breadth of facilities and services here puts the lie to that idea.
“We’re very much a part of the family,” says Scothorne — Interbay holding its own alongside the full-length 18s at Jefferson Park, Jackson Park and West Seattle.
The Interbay practice range has two tiers, each with 40 stalls. The whole bottom level is heated and every stall has Toptracer.
The on-course experience starts with a 290-yard par 4. Thereafter, they’re all par-3s, ranging from the shortest at 100 yards (No. 3) to the 175-yard No. 6. Did we mention the short game is the scoring game?
The pricing for the short-course round is $21.50 for a weekend nine, with ample discounts on weekdays for juniors, seniors and super-seniors. Says Scothorne, “We offer something for everybody here.”
YARDAGE (PAR) 1,366 yards (Par 28)
RATES $12.50 - $21.50 (9 holes)*
TEL (206) 285-2200
WEB PremierGC.com/sites/courses
* Check website for current rates
