Washington State Golf Course Reports

[Manbearpig13]

Just played White Horse today, and the course was in amazing shape! Obviously the course was very wet, so there wasn't a ton of roll, but by western Washington standards, it was great for this time of year.

 

What really impressed me were the greens. They ran extremely true, as I can't remember seeing a putt hop or bounce from anyone in the group. Again, they were damp, but still in good enough shape to have some of their normal difficulty and break to them. I have always been a fan of White Horse, especially as a winter time option, and what I saw today only strengthened my belief. Never the easiest course to get to (unless you live in Kingston), but well worth the trip for quality winter golf in my opinion.

 

tbhuskie8, ditto about Home Course btw. Played it last Friday and it was like they just stopped mowing the greens. Like you said, no evidence of punching, which I found strange. Hopefully just a one time miscue by the staff, and not a sign of things to come in regards to maintenance . I have always been a big fan of the course and would hate to see it take a turn for the worse.

[R4haehl]

11/27/16 - Played the Home Course this morning and previous reviews are still accurate. Greens super slow, and long.... and everything was wet, as expected this time of year. It was still a very enjoyable round despite slow greens and one of the better draining courses in the NW.

[67VIP]

Played The Home Course today and greens were cut, top dressed, and rolling quicker...they will perform as much maintenance as possible, without tearing up the course in the process. For those of you that have it on your play rotation; if you have a heavier putter option, it will allow you to putt with your normal stroke and would be ideal...or add some lead tape to your regular gamer. I have played over 100 rounds there this year and once I switched over to my Fat Lady Swings mallet in late fall, I was back to putting normally. I'll switch back to my 8802 in the spring...maybe.

[dave willie]

I played Oakbrook (RMG-operated) last week and it was awesome. The greens were unbelievably fast for early December, and it was after they had done the knife-cut areation thing a day or two earlier. The entire course is in good shape and quite firm for this time of year, probably as firm as almost any course around here. I played Oakbrook quite a bit before it went public, and the course is still in private course shape. The RMG team takes course maintenance seriously, and apply a lot of the latest trends in their work. Taking out a lot of the trees is an example of the projects they've done, It has a different feel on some holes without the trees, but the greens are benefitting from better sunlight and air circulation. I played on a Monday when the normal rate would be $35 but only paid $24 with the senior discount. It's a tough test of golf and very reasonably priced.

[tbhuskie8]

Anyone play Chambers recently? Heading there on Saturday again. Been about a year since the last visit

[kmar1085]

Played The Classic in Spanaway on Monday 1/30 in a balmy 43 degrees. Course was in great shape, greens were rolling great and the ball was actually bouncing in the fairways. Seems that taking out all the trees has really helped dry the course out.

[dave willie]

Played The Classic in Spanaway on Monday 1/30 in a balmy 43 degrees. Course was in great shape, greens were rolling great and the ball was actually bouncing in the fairways. Seems that taking out all the trees has really helped dry the course out.

I talked to Mike Moore (Ryan's dad) when I was at Oakbrook in December. He said that the drainage and maintenance at the Classic is as good or better than Oakbrook. It sounds like he wasn't joking. I'll have to get down there soon.

[SuperPapaBear]

Played The Classic in Spanaway on Monday 1/30 in a balmy 43 degrees. Course was in great shape, greens were rolling great and the ball was actually bouncing in the fairways. Seems that taking out all the trees has really helped dry the course out.

I talked to Mike Moore (Ryan's dad) when I was at Oakbrook in December. He said that the drainage and maintenance at the Classic is as good or better than Oakbrook. It sounds like he wasn't joking. I'll have to get down there soon.

 

I didn't play The classic before they started the tree removal, but it has done nothing but improve. It's an awesome track!

[CMCSGolf]

Played The Classic in Spanaway on Monday 1/30 in a balmy 43 degrees. Course was in great shape, greens were rolling great and the ball was actually bouncing in the fairways. Seems that taking out all the trees has really helped dry the course out.

I talked to Mike Moore (Ryan's dad) when I was at Oakbrook in December. He said that the drainage and maintenance at the Classic is as good or better than Oakbrook. It sounds like he wasn't joking. I'll have to get down there soon.

 

I didn't play The classic before they started the tree removal, but it has done nothing but improve. It's an awesome track!

 

I played the Classic a couple weeks back and it is really good. It was only mildly wet, greens were great for January, and the design was open and fun. Interestingly, they let play out when the ground was still frozen. I had ice all over my shoes the first 3 holes...

[BCirceo07]

I played Willows last weekend. They did a ton of tree removal which has helped dry it out with all this rain. The greens ran very well, but none of the bunkers were playable (expected) and they had a couple tee boxes still covered. Still one of my favorite options under $50 in the area.

[JDogg206]

Anyone play Chambers recently? Heading there on Saturday again. Been about a year since the last visit

 

Don't know about you, but when I played last week I felt like it's lost some of its sparkle since the US open. Granted it's been stupid wet this winter, but I expected a little bit better maintenance and turf.

[tbhuskie8]

Anyone play Chambers recently? Heading there on Saturday again. Been about a year since the last visit

 

Don't know about you, but when I played last week I felt like it's lost some of its sparkle since the US open. Granted it's been stupid wet this winter, but I expected a little bit better maintenance and turf.

 

Yeah... I've played it dozens of times but can only recall a few where I went, "Wow! This course looks great!". It could be such a special place...

[dave willie]

Has anyone played High Cedars recently? I'm supposed to play in the WSGA 2-man scramble there on March 3rd, and I'm just wondering whether it's a mud hole or not.

 

Thanks..

[dave willie]

Played The Classic in Spanaway on Monday 1/30 in a balmy 43 degrees. Course was in great shape, greens were rolling great and the ball was actually bouncing in the fairways. Seems that taking out all the trees has really helped dry the course out.

I talked to Mike Moore (Ryan's dad) when I was at Oakbrook in December. He said that the drainage and maintenance at the Classic is as good or better than Oakbrook. It sounds like he wasn't joking. I'll have to get down there soon.

 

I didn't play The classic before they started the tree removal, but it has done nothing but improve. It's an awesome track!green

 

I played the Classic a couple weeks back and it is really good. It was only mildly wet, greens were great for January, and the design was open and fun. Interestingly, they let play out when the ground was still frozen. I had ice all over my shoes the first 3 holes...

I played the Classic on Friday 2/17 and was impressed. It was firm almost everywhere. The only parts that were muddy were sections of the fairway that don't generally come into play, like right at the base of the hill short of #10 green, and a couple other places. The greens were smooth and relatively fast, although they had some patches of that flat, dark green fungus in some places. I hope that doesn't cause any long term issues. The removal of trees hasn't made the course a lot easier - it's still easy to hit plenty of trees. The main difference is that when you hit into the trees now, you can more easily find your ball and have a shot out of the trees. It still plays tough if you tend to spray it around.

[dave willie]

I played the Home Course on Saturday 2/25. The good things were firm fairways and nicely groomed bunkers. The greens were relatively smooth, but the grass was clumpy and really slow. The course has such big greens that if you left yourself a long first putt it was really hard to two putt. I was about 50% 2-putts from over 30 feet (the rest 3 jacks), not a very good average for someone who is most often a sub-30 putter.

[edryer3]

How is Washington National golf course? Never played it but I might be heading to the Auburn area in a few weeks.

[Mnalette]

Anyone been out to Chambers Bay recently? Any reports would be appreciated as we are headed to the area in a couple weeks.

[67VIP]

Anyone been out to Chambers Bay recently? Any reports would be appreciated as we are headed to the area in a couple weeks.

I played it on March 10th and it was in fairly good condition.

[Mnalette]

Thanks for the update. Came in at the right time as we will be there this week.

 

Anyone have any condition updates on Gold Mountain (both courses) and Salish Cliffs. We plan on playing those as well.

 

Will post a few updates if possible with pictures!!

[SuperPapaBear]

Thanks for the update. Came in at the right time as we will be there this week.

 

Anyone have any condition updates on Gold Mountain (both courses) and Salish Cliffs. We plan on playing those as well.

 

Will post a few updates if possible with pictures!!

 

I played the Olympic last Saturday and thought it was in fantastic shape. 17th pretty damp, but given the amount of rain we've had it's understandable.

[Mnalette]

Thanks for the update. We are headed there tomorrow. Played The Home Course today. Great layout and variety of holes. Course plays long! Greens need a good mow. Liked the front nine more than the back nine.

[67VIP]

Thanks for the update. We are headed there tomorrow. Played The Home Course today. Great layout and variety of holes. Course plays long! Greens need a good mow. Liked the front nine more than the back nine.

Glad you liked it, I'm a member there and logged 150+ rounds over the 18 months. They're doing a lot of prep/maintenance now for a pretty heavy tournament season. Unfortunately we have been delayed by this ridiculous rain we are still dealing with.

[tbhuskie8]

Thanks for the update. Came in at the right time as we will be there this week.

 

Anyone have any condition updates on Gold Mountain (both courses) and Salish Cliffs. We plan on playing those as well.

 

Will post a few updates if possible with pictures!!

 

I played the Olympic last Saturday and thought it was in fantastic shape. 17th pretty damp, but given the amount of rain we've had it's understandable.

 

Played 36 at Olympic yesterday. The greens are in fantastic shape for this time of year! The fairway and rough though is very marsh-like. I lost several balls in the middle of the fairway... After the winds picked up yesterday is definitely sped up the greens. Really excited to see the Olympic in prime condition again!

[glk23]

Played North Shore for the first time last weekend. The course was playing fairly dry and the greens were rolling nice. Best part was only paid $14, not bad for 18 on the weekend.

[leejohnkieh]

Played Home Course yesterday and I was very impressed with the condition the course was in. Dry(er) fairways (I actually got roll/bounce from my tee shots) and the greens were rolling slow but true. My choice as it's a favorite of mine to play.

 

I also played Gold Mountain (Cascade Course) on Sunday and their course is in very good condition as well. Greens are rolling pretty fast and fairways are nice and consistent. If Cascade was this good then Olympic must be in even better shape.

 

Riverbend was still pretty muddy and soggy in lots of places. Greens are still super bumpy but what can you expect from a heavily trafficked public course.

[CMCSGolf]

Druids Glen is a disaster. The fairways are soggy and wet (as expected), but the real killer is the greens. There are about 7 temp greens in play and of those holes the greens pretty much have no grass. If they look this bad in April, I don't see how they would recover for the summer. I can't imagine playing here for the rest of the year.

 

The odd thing is the remaining 10-11 greens are really good. They are in great shape and not too wet.

[leejohnkieh]

Druids Glen is a disaster. The fairways are soggy and wet (as expected), but the real killer is the greens. There are about 7 temp greens in play and of those holes the greens pretty much have no grass. If they look this bad in April, I don't see how they would recover for the summer. I can't imagine playing here for the rest of the year.

 

The odd thing is the remaining 10-11 greens are really good. They are in great shape and not too wet.

Ya when that course is in good shape like it was several years ago it was a great track. Now it's no more than a mud pit

[67VIP]

Went to Tumble Creek yesterday for the WSGA casual day...absolutely atrocious. Course was covered in desease & mold tee to green, what a major let down. Last year it was immaculate and a lot of fun to play...but if the course was in that poor of condition for this year, fair notice should have been given. You cant have people paying top dollar & driving long distances to play a name/ranked course in that condition.

[CVideto]

Anyone been out to Chambers Bay recently? Any reports would be appreciated as we are headed to the area in a couple weeks.

I played it on March 10th and it was in fairly good condition.

 

Wow! Great photos. Looks pretty good for March after a lot of rain. I miss playing Chamber's might have to get out there soon.

[leejohnkieh]

Just played Chambers Bay yesterday (6:30am tee time).

 

Course conditions are overall pretty great. Fairways are nicely cut and get lots of run.

 

Only caveat is the consistency of the speed of their greens (not an uncommon opinion).

 

I'll be playing here again this coming Sunday for the Puget Sound Amateur.