Washington State Golf Course Reports

[dave willie]

Has anyone played Druids Glenn recently? Last time I played there it was in pretty awful shape and I really like that track otherwise.

I played at Druids on 9/19. There were a couple of greens that were in poor condition, particularly #12 (par 3). I think they are trying to revive them, but they have a way to go. Cooler weather and some rainfall will probably help the whole course to green up and get a little softer. On the positive side of things, they seem to be rolling the greens, so even in less than great condition, they are rolling true and they are decently fast. It's a fun, challenging layout. When conditions improve it will be even more fun.

[BUCKEYERBALL88]

Is the 606 yard par 5 at Washington National an ode to Pine Valley's hell's half acre?

[betterthanjake]

Is the 606 yard par 5 at Washington National an ode to Pine Valley's hell's half acre?

 

What do you mean?

[duffer987]

Is the 606 yard par 5 at Washington National an ode to Pine Valley's hell's half acre?

 

What do you mean?

 

Seeing it's a long par 5 with a big bit of sand in the middle of it, yes?

In the end it's just long par 5 though.

[BUCKEYERBALL88]

Is the 606 yard par 5 at Washington National an ode to Pine Valley's hell's half acre?

 

What do you mean?

 

Hell’s half acre is the famous great hazard at Pine Valley. When I played WN I was pretty sure the architects thinking was a par 5 in the style of that hole. As an golf architect fan I want to confirm

[betterthanjake]

Is the 606 yard par 5 at Washington National an ode to Pine Valley's hell's half acre?

 

What do you mean?

 

Hell's half acre is the famous great hazard at Pine Valley. When I played WN I was pretty sure the architects thinking was a par 5 in the style of that hole. As an golf architect fan I want to confirm

 

I would say 14 could be similar to Hell's Half Acre. Number 5 is a very easy and insignificant par 5.

[jamie]

Is the 606 yard par 5 at Washington National an ode to Pine Valley's hell's half acre?

 

What do you mean?

 

Hell's half acre is the famous great hazard at Pine Valley. When I played WN I was pretty sure the architects thinking was a par 5 in the style of that hole. As an golf architect fan I want to confirm

 

I would say 14 could be similar to Hell's Half Acre. Number 5 is a very easy and insignificant par 5.

Who's talking about hole 5? Also, I don't think it's that easy...hitting an approach to an elevated green with the green running away?! Dang you must be a heckuva player.

[betterthanjake]

Is the 606 yard par 5 at Washington National an ode to Pine Valley's hell's half acre?

 

What do you mean?

 

Hell's half acre is the famous great hazard at Pine Valley. When I played WN I was pretty sure the architects thinking was a par 5 in the style of that hole. As an golf architect fan I want to confirm

 

I would say 14 could be similar to Hell's Half Acre. Number 5 is a very easy and insignificant par 5.

Who's talking about hole 5? Also, I don't think it's that easy...hitting an approach to an elevated green with the green running away?! Dang you must be a heckuva player.

 

Sorry, I misread "606 yard par 5" as "606 yard hole 5". My bad.

[tbhuskie8]

Looks like Chambers hasn’t updated their blog about green transition in a few months. Anyone been out there recently and have an update on the greens and overall course condition? I have a free round out there and will probably try to use it before the weather goes bonkers.

[FourUnder]

Looks like Chambers hasn’t updated their blog about green transition in a few months. Anyone been out there recently and have an update on the greens and overall course condition? I have a free round out there and will probably try to use it before the weather goes bonkers.

 

I played Chambers Bay this week and it was my fifth trip to the course, third since the Open. #7's green (the uphill dog leg right with the mound) was not in use as they ripped it out and they put in brand new poa sod. They made a temp green tucked in behind the right bunkers to it's about 280 from the sand tee box. There was a marshal there and he said they were using a "2 putt max" local rule. Funny thing was, the temp green on #7 was better than half the normal greens. Not a surprise to me or anyone here, but about half the greens were awful. If they ripped out all the greens and laid new poa the course would be incredible.

 

I like CB and have taken criticism for how high I rank it. I love the piece of land, the views are great, I absolutely love some of the tee shots (#5, 9, 10, 12, 14, 15), the par 3s are all strong, and have enjoyed every round I've played there. However, the green conditions do wear on you and almost make it impossible to have a really good round there unless you get lucky with the green bounces. Short putts on at least 7-8 of the greens were super difficult. You pretty much have to make peace with not having control of your score around the greens.

 

Also, we played in 5 hours and 40 minutes. This is brutal. I have no interest in rushing through a round at a course as nice as CB. I get that it is a long walk, no one is using carts, it's scenic, and I am fine with 4:45 or even 5hrs. Waiting 3-4 minutes on every shot is awful. We were waiting with another group on one hole and a marshal was there explaining that 4:45 was a normal time at CB, not seeming to understand we had 6 holes left and were already pushing 4 hours.

 

I still really like CB, and with 18 good greens the course would be amazing, but I likely won't be back for a few years.

[bradski]

Looks like Chambers hasn’t updated their blog about green transition in a few months. Anyone been out there recently and have an update on the greens and overall course condition? I have a free round out there and will probably try to use it before the weather goes bonkers.

 

I played Chambers Bay this week and it was my fifth trip to the course, third since the Open. #7's green (the uphill dog leg right with the mound) was not in use as they ripped it out and they put in brand new poa sod. They made a temp green tucked in behind the right bunkers to it's about 280 from the sand tee box. There was a marshal there and he said they were using a "2 putt max" local rule. Funny thing was, the temp green on #7 was better than half the normal greens. Not a surprise to me or anyone here, but about half the greens were awful. If they ripped out all the greens and laid new poa the course would be incredible.

 

I like CB and have taken criticism for how high I rank it. I love the piece of land, the views are great, I absolutely love some of the tee shots (#5, 9, 10, 12, 14, 15), the par 3s are all strong, and have enjoyed every round I've played there. However, the green conditions do wear on you and almost make it impossible to have a really good round there unless you get lucky with the green bounces. Short putts on at least 7-8 of the greens were super difficult. You pretty much have to make peace with not having control of your score around the greens.

 

Also, we played in 5 hours and 40 minutes. This is brutal. I have no interest in rushing through a round at a course as nice as CB. I get that it is a long walk, no one is using carts, it's scenic, and I am fine with 4:45 or even 5hrs. Waiting 3-4 minutes on every shot is awful. We were waiting with another group on one hole and a marshal was there explaining that 4:45 was a normal time at CB, not seeming to understand we had 6 holes left and were already pushing 4 hours.

 

I still really like CB, and with 18 good greens the course would be amazing, but I likely won't be back for a few years.

 

To me Chambers bay was the most expensive course with terrible greens i have played. Could be soo much better. It's been a few years but the Home course was much better to me for that reason.

[glk23]

I live :30 from CB and have only played it once mostly due to the greens. I can play for a fraction of the cost of out of towners and there is no way I'm paying $100-175 to play a course with such awful greens. I can't believe they continue to charge tourists $225-350 to play a course with such horrible greens. More importantly, why are people continuing to pay so much for so little?

 

In about 9 months I will be in Cabo paying $160 to play the #38th ranked course in the world; included is a cart, practice range, food/drink before round and 4 "comfort" stations throughout the course. I am sure the greens will be as immaculate as the were the first time 2 years ago.

[duffer987]

I think CB is a fantastic routing, one of my favorites around, but yes the greens can negatively impact the experience.

But as someone who enjoys winter Bandon, I can see past less than ideal greens, and take it for what it is. That's why I'll play the course once a year on one of my trips North.

 

Diamante does look awesome, but it's a pretty disingenuous comparison IMHO. You can slippery slope greenfee comparisons wherever you want to take it, but I'm pretty sure you cannot just walk up to Diamante and play, being part of a larger resort package? Maybe I am mistaken.

[R4haehl]

Sunday 10/22/2017 - Played at the Home Course. It was in great shape overall, wet in a few places but that's to be expected after a day of heavy rain. The greens however were quite shaggy. The combo of long and wet greens, you really had to hit putts hard to get them to go anywhere. With that said, I still think HC will be one of the best courses for our fall/winter play due to how well it drains.

 

I will be playing there again Saturday 10/28 and I am hoping that they can cut the greens down by then!

[Matt J]

I was at CB for the first time a couple weeks ago and didn't think the greens were that bad. Perhaps I was lucky.

 

There's moss growing in spots, but well away from any pin position. I felt with the true links nature of the layout that some inconsistency in the surface far from the hole acceptable.

 

I thought most putts within 15 to 25 feet rolled true and saw several fall in that range from our threesome. We had excellent reads from our caddie, AJ.

 

Letting the greens keep you away would be a mistake in my opinion.

 

Edited to add:. It was a cool morning and we were probably the 5th or 6th group out. I'm sure they get bumpier with more traffic later in the day.

[dave willie]

I played the Home Course yesterday, teeing off at 9:09am. The front 9 greens seemed like they had more sand and fertilizer than the back 9, but it was probably that the greens were getting dried out as we played. The sand and fertilizer will help perk up the greens in the near future. I thought overall the course was in great condition for the end of October. There wasn't any mud at all even though we've had some recent heavy rain. A great day to play golf; by the back nine I was playing in short sleeves. Got to enjoy it before the cold sets in for the duration of the year.

[duffer987]

That's good to hear :-)

I am out there Sat morning at 7:30, so happy to hear it's dry.

[R4haehl]

10/28 @ The Home Course - Absolutely gorgeous day to play golf. Again the course is in fantastic shape and will continue to be one of the best fall/winter courses we have, in terms of how well it drains. The greens were still on the longer side but very playable. I managed to drain about a 30-40 foot putt on #5 that I didnt think had a chance to go in. Also had a few 5-10 footers fall, but had they not hit the cup the would have continued to roll based off how hard you had to hit them!

[Bull33]

We played Salish Cliffs yesterday, my first time. The course is in really good shape. The greens were somewhat soft with the rain last week but rolled very well even if I couldn't start a putt on line to save my life yesterday. I could see that there are more than a few players that need to learn to fix their ball marks. I fixed more than my share but there are much busier tracks around here that don't show the same number of impacts.

 

It is golf cart only and they have a great gps system in them. They had certain holes that were cart path only and the cart does a great job of showing you when you are off track. This definitely helps keep the course conditions in good shape.

 

The fairways and bunkers were really nice. The grounds crew was out hand raking bunkers and adding a bit of sand where needed. They were spray fertilizing and it looked like the greens were aerated around 3 weeks ago. They do a good job maintaining the course.

 

One we finished our round we were offered a replay for 20. 36 holes on October 30th on a sunny 62 degree day. It doesn't get much better. The course is worth the trip especially if you want to escape the crowds.

[duffer987]

10/28 @ The Home Course - Absolutely gorgeous day to play golf. Again the course is in fantastic shape and will continue to be one of the best fall/winter courses we have, in terms of how well it drains. The greens were still on the longer side but very playable. I managed to drain about a 30-40 foot putt on #5 that I didnt think had a chance to go in. Also had a few 5-10 footers fall, but had they not hit the cup the would have continued to roll based off how hard you had to hit them!

 

I was out there the same day. Not played it before, really enjoyed the layout, excellent variety in the holes, although we really didn't see much of 14-17 due to some seriously thick fog.

I have to say though, I thought the greens were poor. I know CB gets a lot of grief, but I've never seen CBs in worse shape than The Home Course. Were they just coming back from aeration? They were longish - which is fair enough I guess - but the bad bit were are the clumps

[R4haehl]

10/28 @ The Home Course - Absolutely gorgeous day to play golf. Again the course is in fantastic shape and will continue to be one of the best fall/winter courses we have, in terms of how well it drains. The greens were still on the longer side but very playable. I managed to drain about a 30-40 foot putt on #5 that I didnt think had a chance to go in. Also had a few 5-10 footers fall, but had they not hit the cup the would have continued to roll based off how hard you had to hit them!

 

I was out there the same day. Not played it before, really enjoyed the layout, excellent variety in the holes, although we really didn't see much of 14-17 due to some seriously thick fog.

I have to say though, I thought the greens were poor. I know CB gets a lot of grief, but I've never seen CBs in worse shape than The Home Course. Were they just coming back from aeration? They were longish - which is fair enough I guess - but the bad bit were are the clumps

 

-You must have been a group or two ahead/behind us because that fog was wild last weekend! I got a very cool picture of the fog coming thru the trees on hole 5 that I posted on my instagram @r4haehl (shameless plug).... Good to hear you enjoyed the course. It is definitely one of my favorites on the west side of the state.

-I believe they did aerate at the beginning of October, and the week prior had some heavy rain so my guess is they are still recovering a bit and is why they are a bit shaggy.... in the prime playing months, the HC greens are great.

-Personally I avoided Chambers this year due to the transitioning greens and likely will until it improves. Especially with what CB charges. With that said, both CB and HC are great fall/winter courses because of how well they drain.

[duffer987]

10/28 @ The Home Course - Absolutely gorgeous day to play golf. Again the course is in fantastic shape and will continue to be one of the best fall/winter courses we have, in terms of how well it drains. The greens were still on the longer side but very playable. I managed to drain about a 30-40 foot putt on #5 that I didnt think had a chance to go in. Also had a few 5-10 footers fall, but had they not hit the cup the would have continued to roll based off how hard you had to hit them!

 

I was out there the same day. Not played it before, really enjoyed the layout, excellent variety in the holes, although we really didn't see much of 14-17 due to some seriously thick fog.

I have to say though, I thought the greens were poor. I know CB gets a lot of grief, but I've never seen CBs in worse shape than The Home Course. Were they just coming back from aeration? They were longish - which is fair enough I guess - but the bad bit were are the clumps

 

-You must have been a group or two ahead/behind us because that fog was wild last weekend! I got a very cool picture of the fog coming thru the trees on hole 5 that I posted on my instagram @r4haehl (shameless plug).... Good to hear you enjoyed the course. It is definitely one of my favorites on the west side of the state.

-I believe they did aerate at the beginning of October, and the week prior had some heavy rain so my guess is they are still recovering a bit and is why they are a bit shaggy.... in the prime playing months, the HC greens are great.

-Personally I avoided Chambers this year due to the transitioning greens and likely will until it improves. Especially with what CB charges. With that said, both CB and HC are great fall/winter courses because of how well they drain.

 

Ya HC isn't the best for me location wise, as I'm flying into Seatac to drive up to Canada, otherwise I would have gotten to it much sooner.

But those first 13 holes really are nicely routed over a good piece of land - not just cause of the fog - but I thought once we crossed the road to the last 5 holes, they weren't quite up to the same standard as the preceding set.

 

I will make an effort to get out to it more in season next year though :)

[R4haehl]

Going to play Chambers on Sunday 12/10 - any recent playing reviews?

 

I figure it should be one of the drier courses in the area currently which is enough of a reason to play there despite transitioning greens, etc... I believe they said there are alternate greens on 7, 10 and 13 for the poa transition.

[tbhuskie8]

Played Chambers the day after Thanksgiving. Weather was perfect and the course was very dry even after a monsoon that came through a few days prior.

 

The greens were same old, same old... Bumpy with bare patches and Poa smattered about.

 

The greens with large patches of Poa were decent. I have a feeling, and some will likely disagree, that once the Poa is totally transitioned then that course will be worth the money. From a shot making perspective, there’s no course that I have more fun at in Western Washington. Gimme some good greens out there and I’ll be all over that course!

 

Funny enough... I actually thought the alternate greens were some of the best on the course! 10 has divots around the green but 7 and 13 rolled nicely.

[R4haehl]

Played Chambers the day after Thanksgiving. Weather was perfect and the course was very dry even after a monsoon that came through a few days prior.

 

The greens were same old, same old... Bumpy with bare patches and Poa smattered about.

 

The greens with large patches of Poa were decent. I have a feeling, and some will likely disagree, that once the Poa is totally transitioned then that course will be worth the money. From a shot making perspective, there’s no course that I have more fun at in Western Washington. Gimme some good greens out there and I’ll be all over that course!

 

Funny enough... I actually thought the alternate greens were some of the best on the course! 10 has divots around the green but 7 and 13 rolled nicely.

 

Good to know and I appreciate the review and heads up of what to expect with the greens. I am looking forward to it as I have always had fun out there, and the weather is supposed to be great. Cant complain when I am golfing in December with blue skies!

[R4haehl]

Epic December day for golf @ Chambers. Blue skies, sunshine and no wind.

 

Started with about a 2 hour frost delay and then they started sending groups off 1 and 10. The course was in great shape overall and we had an absolute blast with zero complaints. The greens I thought were all in very good condition for the most part, the temp greens (7, 10, 13) weren't too hindering from both a layout and putting perspective. I don't think I could blame the greens today as much as I could blame my putting lol - I am excited for the fully transitioned greens.

 

Hope other WRXers got out there this weekend!!

[RainShadow]

Looks like Chambers hasn’t updated their blog about green transition in a few months. Anyone been out there recently and have an update on the greens and overall course condition? I have a free round out there and will probably try to use it before the weather goes bonkers.

 

I played Chambers Bay this week and it was my fifth trip to the course, third since the Open. #7's green (the uphill dog leg right with the mound) was not in use as they ripped it out and they put in brand new poa sod. They made a temp green tucked in behind the right bunkers to it's about 280 from the sand tee box. There was a marshal there and he said they were using a "2 putt max" local rule. Funny thing was, the temp green on #7 was better than half the normal greens. Not a surprise to me or anyone here, but about half the greens were awful. If they ripped out all the greens and laid new poa the course would be incredible.

 

I like CB and have taken criticism for how high I rank it. I love the piece of land, the views are great, I absolutely love some of the tee shots (#5, 9, 10, 12, 14, 15), the par 3s are all strong, and have enjoyed every round I've played there. However, the green conditions do wear on you and almost make it impossible to have a really good round there unless you get lucky with the green bounces. Short putts on at least 7-8 of the greens were super difficult. You pretty much have to make peace with not having control of your score around the greens.

 

Also, we played in 5 hours and 40 minutes. This is brutal. I have no interest in rushing through a round at a course as nice as CB. I get that it is a long walk, no one is using carts, it's scenic, and I am fine with 4:45 or even 5hrs. Waiting 3-4 minutes on every shot is awful. We were waiting with another group on one hole and a marshal was there explaining that 4:45 was a normal time at CB, not seeming to understand we had 6 holes left and were already pushing 4 hours.

 

I still really like CB, and with 18 good greens the course would be amazing, but I likely won't be back for a few years.

 

To me Chambers bay was the most expensive course with terrible greens i have played. Could be soo much better. It's been a few years but the Home course was much better to me for that reason.

That's terrible. I've been moved away from the Seattle area for nearly 4 years and it sounds like the greens are the same crap as when I lived there. What a joke. What could have been.

[CMCSGolf]

I played China Creek at Newcastle this past weekend and conditions were good, all things considered. The course was not too soggy and the greens were reasonable. They were definitely on the slow side, but rolled well for December. This was my first trip to Newcastle and it was nice, but I'm not sure it's worth the in season rates. I think they are cashing in on proximity to Seattle and nice views, but the golf doesn't quite live up to the price tag. All in all, it was a good winter round.

[edryer3]

Anyone take advantage of boxgroove.com clubs in the Seattle area? Curious which one to play? Coming up in March and not sure Chambers greens all 18 of them will be ready for play. Don’t want to pay for playing on temp greens. Thanks

[oregongolf]

Anyone take advantage of boxgroove.com clubs in the Seattle area? Curious which one to play? Coming up in March and not sure Chambers greens all 18 of them will be ready for play. Don’t want to pay for playing on temp greens. Thanks

 

Where are you trying to play?