The Current
40 • June 2013
Sports
DREAM 9
If I could only play nine holes of golf in the greater Valley ...
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The first hole I would play? No. 1 at Trailhead Golf Course. Chalk it up to nostalgia. When I was just old enough to golf (it was called Valley View Golf Course then), there was something about the simultaneous pressure and swagger of teeing off from a teebox where it felt like the whole community was watching you. Most of the time, I’d slice it into Liberty Lake Road and hope I didn’t hit a car. Best memory: My buddy Travis Smith, probably all of 10 years old, rocketed one over the heads of the college-age kids playing in the group in front of us when we thought it was easily safe to hit. By the look on their faces, I thought Travis was a goner. But then they looked at us and likely realized that a punk kid just blasted the drive of his life 30 yards over their heads. They were impressed.
By Josh Johnson
Current staff column
Course is No. 9. After a series of par 3s, a good drive here can roll right into the trap guarding the green. It’s nice to get the driver back out for a finish.
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Now here is a hole that is just about everyone’s nemesis. At more than 600 yards at its longest and uphill for the last 150, No. 16 at MeadowWood Golf Course makes the list out of sheer respect. I’ve yet to tame it.
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Next up is No. 16 at Liberty Lake Golf Course. A short downhill par 3 always plays with my mind with club selection, so I took to just throwing it up as high as I could onto the left bank and watching it roll down the hill toward the hole like I was playing a game of Plinko. You’d be surprised how often that worked.
No. 3 at MeadowWood Golf Course is the first of several nemesis holes on this list. Just when you think you have the driver on track, it’s really not that smart to hit a driver. Nevertheless, I always give in to the temptation and roll into rough, water or trap (or the fourth fairway).
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Hole No. 8 at Liberty Lake Golf Course was always one of my favorites based upon the placement of the trap and the beautiful tree that protects it. The redesign a couple years back lengthened the hole and made it even better.
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My other favorite at Trailhead Golf
Out of sadness that Painted Hills Golf Course is no longer operating, I am going to throw a heart of Spokane Valley hole in the mix, even though it’s mini golf. No. 9 at Bumpers is a two-level green. Hit it in the hole and it feeds down into another playing surface where the true finish awaits. And it’s not one of those mini golf courses that swallows your golf ball and doesn’t give it back. I like that.
Surprisingly, my biggest golfing nemesis would have to be No. 15 at Liberty Lake Golf Course. I’ve spent more time on this hole than any other in my life — looking for my ball in the thick patch of trees on the right. It’s like a magnet over there.
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For someone who was raised at Liberty Lake, there is no better finishing hole possible than No. 18 at MeadowWood Golf Course (pictured at left). A beautiful view and a downhill fairway that tempts you to go for it. Not particularly challenging, but overall my favorite hole.
Josh Johnson is editor and publisher of The Current. He covets golf tips as well as the lowdown on other great golf holes in the area. Write to him at josh@valleycurrent. com.