22 minute read
Cascade Golfer Short Game
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SHORT GAME • 1
“He finished like a Panther”
Washington golfers mourn the loss of legendary high school coach Joey Mutcheson
The western Washington golf scene lost one of its most respected members in October when Snohomish High School boys’ team golf coach, Joey Mutcheson, passed away peacefully following a seven-year battle with cancer.
Mutcheson coached the Panthers for 31 years and was a physical education teacher at Dutch Hill Elementary, the SHS Freshman Campus, and Glacier Peak High School in Snohomish. He also coached basketball and soccer at various times and levels, making friends and admirers wherever he went.
Among them was South Whidbey HS golf coach, Steve Jones, who says Snohomish golfers had a 15th, 16th and 17th club in their bag.
“They had Joey's faith, wisdom, and inspiration,” he adds. “At a prestigious local golf tournament, I watched my top golfer hit his opening tee shot out of bounds. As I was thinking about what to say to ease his mind, Joey calmly walked up to him and said, ‘Shake it off, you can't win or lose a tournament on the first shot.’ Joey's positivity was instinctive and genuine.”
Everett HS’s Darrell Olson was always impressed by Mutcheson’s ability to connect with his players.
“Joey touched hundreds of kids and families,” says Olson. “He taught his players how to play the game – not just teeing it up and chasing the ball, but how to play competitively and get around a golf course. He supported anything to do with golf as long as kids were involved. And he was a mentor to a number of young coaches over the years. The WESCO golf community has lost a treasured colleague and friend.”
David Smith, the golf coach at Oak Harbor HS, also remembers Mutcheson for his mentorship and the fine example he set for younger coaches in the WESCO.
“He was always cheerful and helpful, and his leadership and attitude were something all coaches should strive for. He will be missed.”
Smith’s predecessor at Oak Harbor, John Matzen, who coached the Wildcats for 25 years, was particularly close with Mutcheson and says that while he loved golf, he loved people more, and that he used golf as a “tool to influence the lives of the young people entrusted to his care.”
“When I walked and talked with Joey,” Matzen continues, “I always learned something about coaching, teaching and living the right way.”
Then there’s Rick Blankenburg, assistant professional at Bellingham Golf and Country Club and coach of the Meridian HS boys’ team in Whatcom County, who says he benefited enormously from observing Mutcheson during their time coaching the PGA Junior League’s Bellingham/Skagit All Stars.
Their sons Daniel (Blankenburg) and Palmer (Mutcheson) played for the team helping it progress to the national championship in 2018 and 2019.
“I learned quickly that Joey was amazing with the kids, and I needed to take advantage of that,” says Blankenburg. “So, I asked him to be my assistant coach and he was everything to me and the team. He saw that the tournament was about more than winning or losing. It was about the relationships we made and the experiences we all got to share together.”
What lingers longest in Blankenburg’s memory, though, is Mutcheson’s relationship with his family.
“I saw how much he loved his wife and two kids (Palmer and daughter Cozette),” he says. “I know from coaching my own sons how difficult it can be to be a father and a coach to your kids. But Joey was so good at it.”
Mutcheson was clearly one of those coaches who goes above and beyond. There’d be sleepless nights spent worrying about the well-being of his players. He’d check in with their teachers to make sure their grades were where they should be. It was important to him that the team knew what it meant to represent their school and the community. And on game day, he’d prepare his players for competition and keep them battling to the end with his familiar phrase “Finish like a Panther.”
And they loved him for it. One of Coach Mutcheson’s former players, who graduated from Snohomish 10 years ago, showed up at the family house a few days after he passed.
“He just wanted to hang out for a few hours,” says Jill Mutcheson, Joey’s wife of 22 years. “He couldn’t stand the thought of Joey being gone.”
Though it came as a shock even for close friends when finding out about Joey’s illness, it’s really no surprise how little he made of it.
“He was so tough,” says Jill. “He only conceded to cancer earlier this year when he started riding a cart for the first time. By then, it had affected so much of his body there was simply no more hope. But we know he fought as best he could for years. And he finished like a Panther.”
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SHORT GAME • 2
PAROT FOR THE COURSE:
Duo wins 15th Annual Cascade Golfer Cup with string of top-5s and strong team
It’s teamwork that mattered in the 15th Annual Cascade Golfer Cup, and the results reflect that in 2024.
The five-event schedule, which featured various scoring formats, requires the twosomes to lean on each other, consistent ham-and-egg-ers. The names that kept repeating in the summer-long competition were Parot-Parot, Hanke-Agnew and Hiatt-McCallum.
The Parot-Parot team worked the best together among the hundreds of competitors, winning two of the five events: the June 1 two-player best ball at Salish Cliffs and the Aug. 10 two-player scramble at White Horse. The Parot duo also finished third at the April 27 two-person best ball scramble at Chambers Bay, third at the June 29 two-person stroke play aggregate at The Home Course, and fifth at the Sept. 7 two-person best ball at Oakbrook.
Parot-Parot was the only team to finish among the top five in all five summer events. They were rewarded for their efforts with prize packages that will take them to Bandon Dunes, Salish Cliffs, Suncadia, Gamble Sands and Palm Springs. That’s enough to keep them sharp and ready for next year’s Cascade Cup competition.
The Hanke-Agnew team took the opening event at Chambers, finished second at Salish and fourth at The Home Course. They won the big prize, a Hawaiian stay-and-play package, along with a couple Suncadia packages and a Whidbey Island golf package.
The Hiatt-McCallum team was third at Salish, fifth at The Home Course and sixth at the White Horse competition. The team also finished the year first in the season net scoring, edging out Parot-Parot, which won the season’s gross score competition.
earned the opportunities to play all over the Northwest, with trip packages to Bandon Dunes, Central Oregon, High Cedars and Whidbey. Each tournament, limited to 64 amateur two-player teams, was considered a separate event. More than $40,000 in prizes were awarded to the participants, including more than 160 team prizes and 50-plus individual prizes. Prizes were given away to all teams finishing in the top 10 in the gross or net divisions at every event and in the season.
The team of Agnew-Stupey won one of the other major prizes, a Mexico stay-and-play package, for the team’s second-place finish at the White Horse event.
CG Cup
Review of the five-match summer Cascade Cup tournament schedule, top three spots:
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April 27, Season Opener Chambers Bay
Two-person best ball Stableford
1. Hanke - Agnew 42
2. Armstrong - Sendao 38
3. Parot - Parot 37
Prize: Hawaii stay-and-play package
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June 1, Cascade Golfer Challenge Salish Cliffs GC
Two-person best ball
1. Parot - Parot 70
2. Hanke - Agnew 72
3. Hiatt - McCallum 72
Prize: Bandon Dunes Thirty-Six
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June 29, Michelob ULTRA The Home Course GC
Two-person stroke play aggregate Stableford
1. Carey - Diaconou 69
2. B. Agnew - Nick Miller 67
3. Parot - Parot 66
Prize: Central Oregon Fifty-Four
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Aug. 10, Puetz Golf Shootout White Horse GC
Two-person scramble
1. Parot - Parot 67
2. Agnew - Stupey 70
3. Winderl - Murray 70
Prize: Mexico stay-and-play package
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Sept. 7, The Fall Classic Oakbrook GC
Two-person best ball
1. Goss - Stupfel 62
2. Alexander - Teegarden 65
3. Shersty - Armstrong 65
Prize: PXG drivers
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The 16th Annual Cascade Cup is already being planned. Take the winter to sharpen your game and visit CascadeGolfer.com for any updates.
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SHORT GAME • 3
Monson Family Ranch nurtures diverse connections to the land and customers
BY BOB SHERWIN • CG STAFF WRITER
It always has been a matter of connections for Monson Family Ranch, the ever-evolving eastern Washington farm/fruit/wine/spirits producer. The third and fourth generations of the Monson family run the business now while honoring their direct connection to patriarch M.L. ‘Monsy’ Monson, who began the business nearly 100 years ago.
There's a deep connection to the land as well, as the Ranch’s sourcing and properties for its cattle, its fruit trees and its highly regarded grapes come from the fertile Columbia Valley soils.
The Ranch also connects to the wide range of consumers from the Depression Era to the ‘new age,’ with a variety of products from beef to apple and cherry products to world-class grapes that yield renowned wines and, more recently, are distilled into quality vodka, gin, whiskey and brandy.
“We’re probably one of the most diverse agricultural families in the state. We pretty much do everything,’’ said Taylor Monson Jackson, one of several fourth-generation family members who are powering Monson Family Ranch success.
The business has come a long way since the 1930s when Monsy established his cattle ranch in the Yakima Valley. That humble beginning was expanded in the early 1970s to bigger cattle operations in Sunnyvale, spearheaded by Monsy’s son Arvil and his wife Suzanne. The company established a conglomerate, with other local area ranches, to supply Washington beef to consumers around the state and region.
Arvil and his three children — Molly, Valerie and Bill (currently president of Goose Ridge Vineyard) — planted the first apple orchard in 1979. Apple and cherry production soon became an integral part of the business.
“My grandfather (Arvil) and my dad (Bill) always said you have to be diverse in farming to be successful,’’ added Taylor Monson Jackson, part of the company’s sales and marketing team.
Then in 1998, another pathway opened, albeit inadvertently. The family purchased Goose Ridge, a 2,200acre rolling plot of land in the Goose Gap AVA. It was serendipitously located between Red Mountain and Horse Heaven Hills, two wine-grape plots that have become the highest-caliber wine-growing areas in the world. Some of the finest wines in the nation come from those soils.
“It (wine-making) happened accidentally. Our plan was to put it all into apples,’’ Taylor said. “(Then) we were approached to plant wine grapes. My dad (Bill) does not say a lot. He listens and if it makes sense for the family, he’ll do it.’’
He did it. Goose Ridge Vineyard in Richland celebrates its 25th anniversary in the wine business.
Among the vineyard’s premium wine choices are G3 (representing three Monson generations), Revelations and Among the Giants. The winery has tasting rooms throughout the state, in Woodinville, Leavenworth, Prosser, Walla Walla and Richland.
Still, the Goose Ridge folks believed there might be more opportunities for those precious cabernet grapes. That led to another more recent venture into the distillery business, producing their own vodka, whiskeys, bourbons and gin.
Bill Monson’s long-time friend Brian Morton, who had a solid reputation as a master distiller, was brought in to run Goose Ridge Distillery. The initial line of spirits was introduced in 2022, all made at a distillery in downtown Prosser, in an old armory. A tasting room behind the building was added in November.
“He (Morton) was born and raised in Washington,’’ Taylor said. “He has built distilleries all over the world. He was the perfect partner for us. He can pretty much create anything and have it be an amazing, finished product.
“The big thing with Brian is he wants everything to be a complete farm to bottle experience. He’s really big on sourcing locally.’’
Morton created a gin, Feather and Folly, that Taylor called ‘‘an American gin for the new age drinkers.’’ Morton’s vodka creation, Vido Vodka, has been on a sentimental journey. The vodka, honored as the premium vodka of the Seattle Kraken and served at Climate Pledge, was named after Arvil Monson, who died in 2014. His nickname was Vido. His profile is on the label.
“Arvil was a visionary. He was a big dreamer. Bill was the doer,’’ Taylor Monson Jackson added. “The third generation made things happen in this area. What better way to honor our grandfather than to name a spirit after him.’’
The next (fourth) generation of Monson Family Ranch members is up and running the business, spread around with various responsibilities from the cattle ranches to the vineyards to the support staff. They are in tune with the next generation of consumers, while still remembering and connecting with their past.
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SHORT GAME • 4
D2 and beyond: DeLille Cellars always seeking to build the brand and experience
BY BOB SHERWIN • CG STAFF WRITER
For more than 30 years, DeLille Cellars has been perfecting the complexity, acidity and quality of their wines as well as any of the more than 1,100 wineries in the wine-infused state of Washington. What the Woodinville-based winery also needed was more visibility.
Folks needed to know that DeLille, which began making wine in 1992, has won awards throughout the industry and now is the second biggest producer in the state. The winery has proudly put its hand-crafted products out there at tasting events, conventions, country clubs, dinner parties, as well as continuing to extend marketing connections with retailers/consumers.
But the most significant step toward building its brand was in December 2019 when DeLille moved its headquarters and production facilities from Eastern Washington to the Old Redhook Brewery in Woodinville. The winery established unique three-story tasting rooms and, in June 2021, opened The Restaurant at DeLille Cellars next door at the former Forecaster's Public House.
“At the core of our philosophy is ‘always seeking,’ ‘’ said Britney Watson, DeLille’s marketing manager. “Whether that is always seeking better grapes for the next vintage or always seeking better opportunities to put wines on display in front of customers. That was relevant to the acquisition of the Red Hook Brewery, and we are opening a second location at University Village in Seattle next summer.”
Indeed, DeLille’s connection with consumers will extend to Seattle next summer when the winery opens a retail/restaurant spot in the middle of the city’s most fashionable outdoor mall.
The location will feature a café, tasting rooms and retail space.
“It will help us further that mission, trying to reach different customers,” Watson said. “People can pop in for a visit, a quick glass of wine or a nice dinner. We bring the experience to them. We try to create different opportunities for people to try different wines.
“At our core is the idea of making sure we are the top wine producer in Washington state,” she added.
DeLille’s Seattle move will connect the entire state, end to end. All their grapes are gathered at various locations in the Columbia Valley, Yakima Valley and Red Mountain AVA. They are then trucked over in the cool of the night to Woodinville for production. DeLille is regarded as a top American producer of Bordeaux-style blends. Bordeaux, in southwest France, is roughly the same latitude as eastern Washington, meaning the same style/quality grape. Bordeaux primarily produces red wines, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and blends.
Inspired by Bordeaux, DeLille developed its most popular, premium and celebrated red wine, D2, which is the name of the grand route du vin highway that runs through the historic chateau region from Bordeaux into the Médoc, France’s most famous wine region.
D2 is a blend sourced from various high-quality Columbia Valley vineyards including Harrison Hill, Red Willow, Ciel du Cheval, Klipsun, Boushey, DuBrul, Upchurch and Grand Ciel. It’s an all-state and all-American selection.
Robert Parker, who operates an internationally renowned wine reviewing site/magazine — the Robert Parker Wine Advocate — has called DeLille Cellars “the Lafite-Rothschild of Washington State,” and the reviewer once wrote that the 2021 D2 was “built to thrill.” DeLille was one of the first five wineries in Washington to receive Robert Parker’s 5-star excellence rating.
D2 and a popular middle tier red such as Metier can be found all over, including many golf courses and country clubs. “I think there is a lot to overlap between golf lovers and wine lovers,” Watson added.
While DeLille’s growth focus has been Washington and the Northwest, the winery continues to be ‘always seeking,’ sending wine to 42 of the 50 states.
“In recent years, we’ve been looking at the national scale and seeing what opportunities are out there to continue to share our story,” Watson added. “We think our wine is fantastic and we’re trying to get our wine into the hands of more consumers.”
“In recent years, we’ve been looking at the national scale and seeing what opportunities are out there to continue to share our story,” Watson added. “We think our wine is fantastic and we’re trying to get our wine into the hands of more consumers.”
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SHORT GAME • 5
With 120 offers, Northwest Golfers Playbook pays you back after a couple of redemptions — be in the black all summer
The 2025 Northwest Golfers Playbook is here and, like its predecessors, is packed full of offers that will either help you save some green while playing on some of the best greens in the region or avoid rainy days while playing in an indoor, climate-controlled environment.
With golf still as busy as ever, the NWGPB offers golf savings at a ton of spots, including some of the top courses in the state as well as your local favorites.
When you think of Washington’s best courses, Gamble Sands and Wine Valley certainly come to mind. Well, with the Playbook, you’ll save a few coins at both. But they’re not the only great tracks where you’ll enjoy significant savings. Inside, you’ll also find Salish Cliffs, White Horse, Suncadia, The Home Course and Apple Tree along with plenty of other gems.
We are in a period when so many new players are getting involved in the game and would probably benefit from some instruction. If that’s you, you can save on golf lessons at multiple locations including Puetz Golf, GolfTec, Pacific Northwest Golfer Centers and Snohomish Valley Golf Center (SVGC). Puetz and SVGC have you covered on range balls, too, and also offer deals on golf equipment, apparel and loads of other items that will make the game more enjoyable.
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 north of Seattle, we have several tracks for you to hit up including Avalon, Camaloch and Gleneagle, and even some great options for you in Whatcom County with North Bellingham, Loomis Trail, Lake Padden and others.
For south-end folks, the deals are likewise plentiful, with several offers from great courses in and around Tacoma, DuPont and Puyallup. So you’ll get great rates at Oakbrook, The Home Course, Eagle’s Pride, Meadow Park, The Classic, High Cedars and plenty more.
Those looking for similarly discounted rates while on vacation should bring their Playbook if headed to Walla Walla, Suncadia, the Olympic Peninsula, Bellingham, Portland, Hood River, the Oregon Coast or Central Oregon. There are over 120 pages of deals, and you’ll just need to use a coupon or two to be in the black.
The book is sold online for $44.95. 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! Cheers!
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SHORT GAME • 6
Moscrip's gracious philanthropy makes a difference Looking back at the 2024 Duke’s Scholarship winners
In the eight years since John Moscrip first awarded the Duke’s Seafood Junior Golf Scholarship, 33 individuals and three high school golf teams have been chosen as winners. Moscrip is the company’s co-owner/chief operating officer and a Seattle golfer of some repute having once tied Tiger Woods in a competitive tournament round at the 1991 Junior America’s Cup. He’s also a big supporter of youth golf in the region and he smiles every time another selection process begins, impressed again by the talents, determination and initiative of the candidates.
From the most recent recipient — Puyallup’s Hannah Thill — all the way back to Hayden Hunskor, who was awarded the very first scholarship, every winner has demonstrated the qualities Moscrip hopes to see. “This young man epitomizes the characteristics — well-rounded, great sportsmanship, hard-working, and driven — we feel are essential to success,” he said of Hunskor in April 2016.
Four more very deserving junior golfers won the prize in 2024. In April, there were two clear winners — Kylie Nguyen, then a senior at Fife High School (now at Chapman University in California), and Brianna Nguyen, a junior at Interlake. Both played in the First Tee event on the Champions Tour at Pebble Beach — Kylie playing with Gary Hallberg and Brianna with Fred Couples. Both had resumes full of academic and sporting accomplishments but what really stood out was the part each played in staging the Nguyen Junior Amateur tournament, alongside the Puyallup Tribe of Indians, at North Shore GC. The event, which has now been played five times, raises money for the First Tee of Greater Seattle and the Duc Foundation, which benefits numerous youth organizations in and around the city.
“What Kylie and Brianna are doing is very impressive,” Moscrip said, adding “I’m very excited to have them be a part of the scholarship’s great history.”
The prize in May this year went to Auburn Mountainview freshman Esther Yu, who discovered how much she loved golf during Covid, becoming consumed by the game shortly after taking her first swings. In 2020, she qualified for the WJGA State Championship at age 11, and she was playing off a handicap of 1.3 at Meridian Valley at the time of her scholarship win — she now plays off 0.8.
Steve Calhoun, Esther’s high school golf coach, told us how committed she was to improving her golf and helping her team, adding that she practices every day, rain or shine. Not surprisingly, she had already broken several golf records while also starting for the school’s water polo team. Mountainview Athletic Director Chris Carr weighed in too, saying how hard Esther worked on her game.
“She’s with her teammates in the afternoons then goes to the range for two hours,” he said. “She’s a very accomplished student who prioritizes high school golf while also playing WJGA tournaments most weekends.”
Her golfing achievements helped, of course but, in choosing Esther for the award, Moscrip was particularly taken by her 4.0 GPA and efforts to mentor younger players at Meridian Valley.
Hannah Thill, a junior at Rogers High School in Puyallup, was the summer issue’s winner chosen from the group of nominations for her run on the Rams’ golf team but also her 4.0 GPA (you certainly don’t have to be a 4.0 student to win the Duke’s Seafood Junior Golf Scholarship, but it doesn’t hurt), her playing of three musical instruments, and her work as a ski instructor and on the outside services team at Lake Spanaway GC. General Manager Nicholas Pike said Hannah set the standard for the team and that her positive attitude was infectious.
“She motivates her fellow team members to do their best,” Pike added. “She’s a joy to work with and very deserving of the scholarship.”
Hannah’s coach at Rogers, David Johnston, spoke of her humility and the example she set to the younger players on the team, adding that “no one outworks her.”
Hannah, Esther, Kylie, and Brianna were exactly the sort of young golfers John Moscrip had in mind when conceiving the Duke’s Seafood Junior Golf Scholarship.
“They all personify what I’m looking for when selecting the winner,” he says. “Besides their many talents and abilities, each of them has a strong work ethic and is active in their schools and communities.”
If you know a hard-working junior golfer, eager to improve their game and benefit those around them, send in your nomination for one of next year’s awards. Contact Tony Dear at tonydear71@comcast.net or Dick Stephens at stephens@varsitycommunications.com.
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Cascade Golfer and Duke’s Seafood congratulate this year’s winners
ACCEPTING NOMINATIONS
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.”
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