Wine Valley Golf Club

[kaschreiber]

Heading to WV for our annual spring buddies trip in mid-May with a stop at Apple Tree on our way over from Snoqualmie. Have yet to play it and of all courses in WA I haven't played, it's #1 on my list of places I want to get out. I have yet to hear a negative word about the place. We're playing 18 at Apple Tree on our way over with an airbnb < 10 minutes from Wine Valley. 36 on Sat, 18 on Sun. Handicaps in the group range from 3 - ~20 and we'll let everyone pick their own tees with a 4 round Ryder Cup-esque game through the weekend. A couple questions:

1. Anything we should know prior going in? 
2. Typically play tees at my home course that are ~6500 which is just a hair shy of their merlot tees (blue / black combos). Blue tees are at a 6350. I'll be on vacation, leaning blue tees, but with how firm and fast I hear it plays is it going to be driver wedge all round? 
3. We'll likely hang out at our airbnb when not on the course, but anything in Walla Walla worth checking out if we venture out?  

[Seamus_MacDuff]

Wine Valley is fantastic. Assuming no wind, it does play a somewhat shorter due to the firm and fast turf.  The course is great, though the bunkers can be a bit rough. 
 

Walla Walla is a pretty vibrant downtown, especially for the size of the city. Public House 124 is a good place for cocktails. Wine tasting rooms scattered all over downtown, though the well known wineries book up well in advance. 

[Wardonation]

greta track it is Dan's best... The windier the better... Go Lakeridge 🏋️‍♂️

[pgww]

One of my favorite courses, you will have a blast.  Barring rain, it plays firm and fast.  Bunkers/waste areas can get a little rough as noted.  If you have particularly poor timing, odor from farmers spraying the adjacent alfalfa fields can be a thing.  

 

If you are into Washington state history, the Whitman Mission National Historic Site is a few minutes from the course and worth a visit.  Beautiful grounds for a stroll if nothing else.

 

Everyone talks about wine, but there is a fabulous hole in the wall brewery just south of the course (barely into Oregon).  Dragon's Gate Brewery is a small operation only open on Fridays and Saturdays.  Their Belgian and Farmhouse style ales are amongst the best you will ever taste.  

[spud3]

WV is my favorite course in the PNW that doesn’t have “Bandon” in the name.

 

Wind is a thing there.

 

In Walla Walla, check out the Yelp reviews for the best taco food cart.  You won’t be disappointed

[BirdieRoll]

You're in for a treat. Wine Valley is so good. Firm and fast conditions with great green complexes.

 

Playing it multiple days will make it even more enjoyable because you'll get to putt to different pins each day.

 

If the wind isn't howling, the course plays shorter than its stated yardage so I suspect you'll like the Merlot combo tees the best.

 

The one question I do have: did the architect, Dan Hixson, move a lot of dirt to make the course or very little? I ask because the course feels like all the holes were already there.

 

There are some breweries in the area and the main drag downtown has plenty of wine tasting rooms, restaurants, etc. If you're grilling steaks at the rental one night, then I'd hit up Butcher Butcher for the beef.

[kaschreiber]

Got back from our trip last week - 18 at Apple Tree then 54 at Wine Valley. 

 

This is going to be an unpopular opinion, but I found Wine Valley to be fairly underwhelming. I tend to hype things up but the big ticket courses always exceed my expectations - Gamble, Bandon, Pronghorn, etc. but I walked away from Wine Valley wondering what all the fuss was about. The holes seemed to run together for me and didn't seem to really have a ton of variety to me. I can usually walk off a course and tell you what the 13th hole does, but had to stop and think through each hole in my head to recall. There didn't really seem to be anything super definitive. We played the black tees, so it was plenty long, but felt like a lot of layups off the tee or a tee shot that needed to thread a needle (which is fair risk / reward) and then really penal greens and surrounds. If you hit the wrong side of the fairway, you were met with a near impossible approach, but playing to the other side of the fairway just seemed super penal. I also don't love when a course has 4 yards of rough, then knee high grass, even if the fairways are a bit wider than average. 

 

I was hoping for something more linksy where the ground game was more playable, but aside from a few approaches the slopes seemed subtle enough to not use to get close to the hole but large enough to make putting a hell of a challenge. I'd still put it as a top 5 public course in the state (I'd struggle to name two other courses other than Chambers / Gamble ahead of it - it's been quite a while since I've played Palouse) but don't know that I find it that much better than Salish, Gold Mountain, Loomis. It feels like it's not in the same tier as Chambers / Gamble and then course 3-10 could be any number of 12-15 courses throughout the state depending on your preference.

 

Would I play it again driving through Walla Walla? Probably. Is it something that I'd plan a trip out to again to play like I would Gamble? No. 

[ThermalDan]

Our annual tourney is returning to Wine Valley this year.  Couldn’t be more excited for 4 rounds over 3 days.  Actually playing an extra round the day before.

 

While Chambers has the views and the USGA pedigree and Gamble has views and “I shot my best round ever!”, Wine Valley has good to great golf holes from start to finish.  Literally, the 1st and 18th are in the running for best openers and closers!  Plus tons of fun stuff throughout.  
 

Smaller greens than Gamble, but much better internal movement.  Less side/backboards than Chambers, but more decision making.

 

If they put in a hotel and rotated wineries through there!

[ThermalDan]

On 5/31/2023 at 11:56 AM, kaschreiber said:

Got back from our trip last week - 18 at Apple Tree then 54 at Wine Valley. 

 

This is going to be an unpopular opinion, but I found Wine Valley to be fairly underwhelming. I tend to hype things up but the big ticket courses always exceed my expectations - Gamble, Bandon, Pronghorn, etc. but I walked away from Wine Valley wondering what all the fuss was about. The holes seemed to run together for me and didn't seem to really have a ton of variety to me. I can usually walk off a course and tell you what the 13th hole does, but had to stop and think through each hole in my head to recall. There didn't really seem to be anything super definitive. We played the black tees, so it was plenty long, but felt like a lot of layups off the tee or a tee shot that needed to thread a needle (which is fair risk / reward) and then really penal greens and surrounds. If you hit the wrong side of the fairway, you were met with a near impossible approach, but playing to the other side of the fairway just seemed super penal. I also don't love when a course has 4 yards of rough, then knee high grass, even if the fairways are a bit wider than average. 

 

I was hoping for something more linksy where the ground game was more playable, but aside from a few approaches the slopes seemed subtle enough to not use to get close to the hole but large enough to make putting a hell of a challenge. I'd still put it as a top 5 public course in the state (I'd struggle to name two other courses other than Chambers / Gamble ahead of it - it's been quite a while since I've played Palouse) but don't know that I find it that much better than Salish, Gold Mountain, Loomis. It feels like it's not in the same tier as Chambers / Gamble and then course 3-10 could be any number of 12-15 courses throughout the state depending on your preference.

 

Would I play it again driving through Walla Walla? Probably. Is it something that I'd plan a trip out to again to play like I would Gamble? No. 

For WA rankings:

1-3 (CB, Gamble, Wine) are pretty close, depending on what you look for in a course.

4-6 (Palouse, Gold Mtn, Salish) similar.

7-??? a ton of options

 

But the gap between 3 and 4 is huge and the gap between 6 and 7 is bigger!

 

including the privates muddies the waters considerably

[kaschreiber]

On 7/7/2023 at 11:10 PM, ThermalDan said:

For WA rankings:

1-3 (CB, Gamble, Wine) are pretty close, depending on what you look for in a course.

4-6 (Palouse, Gold Mtn, Salish) similar.

7-??? a ton of options

 

But the gap between 3 and 4 is huge and the gap between 6 and 7 is bigger!

 

including the privates muddies the waters considerably

The each their own - I just consider the gap between 2 (Chambers / Gamble depending on what you like) to 3 (WV) to be a lot larger than that between WV and a lot of the other top tier courses in the state. Give me 10 rounds between Chambers / Gamble / WV and I maybe play 1 at WV, if at all. 

[oregongolf]

You should play it again. Preferably a different time of the year or better yet, go play there in an event. It’s really quite good. 

 

WV is my favorite course in the entire NW not in Bandon and it’s not really even close. 
 

I get the whole different strokes for different folks thing, but to fully understand and appreciate the place, you really need 10+ rounds. 
 

 

[Pnwpingi210]

I agree with the sentiment in wine valley being a great, playable track.

 

I would rate it as chambers, wine valley, gamble.

 

ill be in the minority that I think gamble is highly overrated.  Sure the turf is great and the course funnels all your shots to the hole.  But for the cost of a round the overall experience is sub par, especially compared to being able to find deals at chambers and wine valley getting you 36 holes for the cost of one round at gamble.

 

 

Edited December 1, 2023 by Pnwpingi210

[kaschreiber]

On 11/30/2023 at 7:16 PM, Pnwpingi210 said:

I agree with the sentiment in wine valley being a great, playable track.

 

I would rate it as chambers, wine valley, gamble.

 

ill be in the minority that I think gamble is highly overrated.  Sure the turf is great and the course funnels all your shots to the hole.  But for the cost of a round the overall experience is sub par, especially compared to being able to find deals at chambers and wine valley getting you 36 holes for the cost of one round at gamble.

 

 

 

I think my biggest knock on the experience at Gamble is similar to that of Chambers - the golf imo is fantastic (I get it's not going to be everyone's favorite), but for two places wanting to be the best courses in WA, the stuff that surrounds them is lacking. The upper Chambers range is awful. The range at Gamble isn't a lot better. I know with a bunch of resort guests and hacks it's going to get torn up, but expand both, let us hit off grass, and give us something other than Pinnacles for $200 / round. Gamble charges an arm and a leg for a beer (I think last time we were there it was $7 for a Bodhi or a 6 pack for $35?) and I've never seen a drink cart - just the drink shack on 10. Chambers it's hit or miss when the drink stand after 3 will be open, the shuttle running you to 4 tee, pace of play - etc. Go to somewhere like Bandon - which I know is the gold standard - but it seems like all of the other little details have been thought out and dialed and our premier courses don't really seem to have the want to do so. 

Edited December 4, 2023 by kaschreiber

[Pnwpingi210]

2 minutes ago, kaschreiber said:

 

I think my biggest knock on the experience at Gamble is similar to that of Chambers - the golf imo is fantastic (I get it's not going to be everyone's favorite), but for two places wanting to be the best courses in WA, the stuff that surrounds them is lacking. The upper Chambers range is awful. The range at Gamble isn't a lot better. I know with a bunch of resort guests and hacks it's going to get torn up, but expand both, let us hit off grass, and give us something other than Pinnacles for $200 / round. Gamble charges an arm and a leg for a beer (I think last time we were there it was $7 for a Bodhi or a 6 pack for $35?) and I've never seen a drink cart - just the drink shack on 10. Chambers it's hit or miss when the drink stand after 3 will be open, the shuttle running you to 4 tee, pace of play - etc. Go to somewhere like Bandon - which I know is the gold standard - but it seems like all of the other little details have been thought out and dialed and our premier courses don't really seem to have the want to do so. 

Agree with all of that.   You can play chambers for 125-150 you watch during peak season so I’m ok with it having a bit less amenities.

 

Gamble is almost always close to double that in cost, in the middle of nowhere, gouges for food and drink, and has sub par Customer services levels.

 

Go to pga west and book a round for 250.  You feel like and are treated like a member of a country club course.