22 minute read
Cascade Golfer Short Game
SHORT GAME • 1
Two-person best ball Cascade Golfer Summer Classic coming to Chambers Bay Aug. 16
After a couple decades of high-spirited, high-value golf competitions played on the Northwest’s finest courses, Cascade Golfer magazine will be putting it all together into one big event — the first Cascade Golfer Summer Classic at Chambers Bay — on Aug. 16. Chambers Bay, the Northwest’s No. 1 public course and host of the 115th U.S. Open in 2015, has been an integral part of our summer competitions.
The event perpetuates 16 years of our annual Cascade Golfer Cup, in which many of the region’s best amateur golfers have walked away with trips to legendary golf courses and locales such as Pinehurst, Myrtle Beach, Bandon Dunes, Maui and Central Oregon.
This summer, the winners of both the net and gross competitions will receive stay-and-play Villa del Palmar/TPC Danzante Bay golf packages. It includes four nights at one of the planet’s finest all-inclusive resorts on the Sea of Cortez. Danzante Bay will be among more than 20 prizes awarded. Players also can enter competitions for closest-to-the-pin, long drive and straight drive contests.
The event will be a two-person best ball. Each player plays his/her own ball throughout the 18 holes. The team score for each hole is determined by the lower score of the two players. Teamwork is critical.
The field will be limited to just 50 two-person teams with an entry fee of $600 that includes Chambers Bay green fees, lunch, and prizes to the top 10 teams in both
net and gross competitions. Some of the other prizes include trips and green fees to courses in Las Vegas and the Northwest. Pair up, secure your handicap and register by visiting CascadeGolfer.com.
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SHORT GAME • 2
Gold Mountain Cascade Course gets a facelift
Work began on the renewal of Gold Mountain’s Cascade Course in the spring. Designed by Ken Tyson and opened in 1971, the popular layout had become choked with trees over the years and was showing its age with vintage bunkers and an irrigation system that was ready for a refresh.
Canadian architect Jeff Mingay, who has worked on numerous courses in and around Seattle, was chosen for the job after coming highly recommended from multiple clubs.
“Mike Goldsberry at Wing Point G&CC invited me out to meet Jeff and see the work he’d done there,” says Mark Knowles of Columbia Hospitality, which manages Gold Mountain. “Mike had nothing but good things to say. Jeff is very hands-on, and I felt strongly he was the ideal choice.”
Trees were the initial target. Knowles says hundreds have already come down and hundreds more will be lost in the fall when Mingay returns. Most of the work, which could take five years, will be completed between October and April each year when the course is relatively quiet. It will operate as usual this summer, the plan being for at least nine holes to always remain open.
Despite the fact Mingay has been going to Gold Mountain for several years, he has been surprised at what the tree-removal has revealed.
“There is so much cool land you wouldn’t necessarily have been aware of,” he says. “Old aerial images show that, in its earliest days, the landscape was very different to what you see now. There were only a few stands of trees, and the views must have been amazing. Our job is to peel it all back and let the Cascade Course shine once again.”
Tree-lovers shouldn’t be alarmed, though. The loss of many specimens will allow the turf to thrive, improving the health of the playing surfaces, and Knowles insists the course will retain its Pacific Northwest feel.
“We’re not going all the way back to the original,” he says. “Some trees are definitely staying.”
Once the tree work is complete, the bunkers will be revamped and, eventually, the irrigation system replaced. For Knowles, who first played the course in the late 1970s, the project is very exciting.
“I grew up playing here,” he says. “I’ve always loved Cascade and think it will one day be every bit as good as the Olympic Course.”
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SHORT GAME • 3
Summer half-off special on Playbook delivers an immediate ROI — 120 offers await
Summer is here and we’re finally getting those epic PNW sunny days. The 2025 Northwest Golfers Playbook will help keep things warm and your wallet thicker — golf is not cheap, but we got ya with this passport of savings.
Several of Washington’s top 15 courses are included in the 2025 edition (Gamble Sands, Wine Valley, Suncadia, Apple Tree, White Horse, The Home Course and Port Ludlow) as well as many of your local favorites — more than we can list here.
Golf’s popularity — indoors and out — continues to soar. Several new indoor facilities jumped into the book last year, and more again in 2025. Backspins in Sedro Wooley, Iron Eagle in Monroe and Pinseeker in Bremerton all have something to incentivize you to give them each a go.
You will find 2-for-1s, 4-for-3s, percentage discounts, free carts, lessons, range balls, twosome and foursome offers, simulator time specials, food and beverage perks and more. Plus of course, Puetz Golf, where you get $10 off, along with several other invites from their four locations.
With more than 120 pages of golf deals, you simply need to use a few coupons and be “in the black.”
Purchase a book online for $44.95 — use the code Savetwenty to save another $20 off. Whether you’re staying close to home or hitting the road, keep this beauty in your golf bag and reap the rewards all year.
Pick one up at NWGolfersPlaybook.com or perhaps buy one as a gift — it never stops giving.
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SHORT GAME • 4
Clearing the way: Oakbrook and The Classic thrive after bold tree removal and revitalization
In 2017, timber fallers began taking down hundreds of trees at The Classic and Oakbrook golf courses in Pierce County. Reviews among golf patrons were mixed.
Before that, in 2012, Oakbrook had launched a new membership structure to draw public golfers to the then-fully private course in Lakewood. Reviews among patrons, particularly the old-guard Oakbrook members, were mixed.
After all that change, Oakbrook and The Classic have emerged better than ever.
And nobody misses the trees.
Oakbrook Golf Club
Lakewood, Wash. • oakbrookgolfclub.com
“What we’ve done since we came here is continue to improve Oakbrook and make it better, and we’ve done the same thing with The Classic,” says Mike Moore, general manager of Oakbrook as well as owner/GM of OGC Moore, LLC, which operates both courses.
“It’s always been our goal to continue to make them the best they can be. And we’re still working, and we’re not done yet.”
Mike Moore is also father to Ryan Moore, owner of OGC Moore, LLC, and professional golfer on hiatus for 2025.
Ryan, 42, is an amateur golf legend, one of only five golfers in history to win both the NCAA individual championship and the U.S. Amateur in the same year (2004). As a pro, he’s won five PGA Tour titles and earned more than $34 million in 20 seasons.
Mike Moore was happy to offer a dad’s update on his son, who is choosing not to play professionally this golf season. Ryan is living in Las Vegas in a new house with his wife Nichole and three children, trying to let his body heal up fully from nagging injuries from “a million golf swings” in his career, his father says.
“He’s trim and strong, he runs, he’s doing well physically and he’s feeling good,” he said. “But he just doesn’t want to put his body under the duress of the golf swing, at least yet.
“I think in the future he may get hungry to play again, I don’t know, we’ll see. I mean, if he never played again, he’s had a great career.”
Only 356 trees were removed from Oakbrook, but it meant the world to the greens.
“They (had) allowed the fir trees and evergreens to overgrow the golf course and suck all the water out from the greens,” Moore says. “Yeah, one tall fir drinks 900 gallons of water a day. And they surrounded several green complexes and tee complexes.”
Today, Oakbrook is one of the best winter courses in the region, Moore says, and the reviews now, and for a long time, are positive. New sightlines have emerged, and the greens are firm and fast, ranking with the best in Washington, Moore says.
Oakbrook’s membership was down to 123 members when Moore and Co. bought it in 2012, and only a little more than 90 were active players. The average age for members was around 68.
The old guard’s membership plans were kept in placeand their privileges kept intact. New blood joined the rolls. Tee sheets swelled with the encouragement of public play.
Now, the membership stands at 350. Oakbrook booked around 52,000 rounds in 2024.
Moore tells the story of one longtime member, a man who had voiced his feelings on the changes at his course.
“He told me, ‘My God, I don’t know that the golf course has ever been this good. I mean, this is amazing.’”
The logging project was far more extensive at The Classic in Spanaway — some 1,700 trees were removed, and the course breathed easier for it. In 2024, The Classic booked about 48,000 rounds.
The Classic Golf Course
Spanaway, Wash. • theclassicgc.com
Greens at The Classic were already special, Moore says, when his company bought the course in 2005. Some of the best amateur players in the region who played regularly there attested to that, Moore says.
The greens today are “rolling like warp speed,” Moore says. “They’re so healthy right now and so good.”
Storyteller Moore remembers a multiple club champion who, after the trees came down, went around The Classic in 66.
“He said, ‘You’ve made it too easy. We’re just going to eat this place up.’”
The guy was around a plus-2 (handicap) at the time, Moore says. After years of playing the “new” course, he’s about a 2 handicap on the other side.
“It’s not gotten easier,” Moore says. “It’s gotten tougher because it opened up and the wind now whistles through the corridors more.”
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SHORT GAME • 5
Camaloch cool: Camano course delivers chill and challenge
Camaloch Golf Course has an island vibe to it. Not ones with palm trees, umbrella drinks, and beatdown heat, but much better. It’s just cool, both figuratively and literally.
“It’s amazing here because in the summertime it’s about 10 degrees cooler than inland,” said Beth Erickson, marketing director for the course. “That makes it really nice.”
Camaloch is located in the middle of the north end of Camano Island. The best way to reach the course is to take State Route 532 from Stanwood over the Camano Gateway Bridge then south on NE Camano Road to the property.
Once you get there, you’ll fit nicely into the natural calm. It’s more relaxed than the mainland courses. You can get away from civilization and be among the rolling fairways and towering firs. All the while, you’ll be challenged by a quality layout.
The course opened with nine holes in 1972. The second nine opened in 1991, designed by noted Northwest architect Bill Overdorf, who designed The Classic Golf Club, Homestead, Highland and Hawk’s Prairie, among others.
Camaloch has always had the reputation of not only being a bit cooler in the summer but, because it’s part of the rain shadow, dryer as well.
“We’re getting that summer roll out there now. We’re enjoying that. We’re pretty dry,” Erickson added. “A lot of people comment on how great our greens are. They’re really quick.”
As for the 6,237-yard course, Erickson said, “people say the back nine is more challenging, more fun.” Yet the fun really begins just before that, as she added, “No. 9, coming back to the clubhouse, is our most iconic hole.” The ninth is a par 3, 179-yard beauty that requires a precise tee shot over water, with a false front and bunkers in front and back. You’ll also have the added pressure from the clubhouse gallery on the porch a few yards away.
Then the back nine begins with one of course’s most interesting holes, the drivable par-4 10th. The 296-yarder begins with a drive over water, but it needs to be accurate to avoid trees, bunkers and rough.
“We have a wide range of people who play the course, ones who love island life,” Erickson said. “We have a lot of people who retired here. On the weekend, we have quite a few younger guys. And a lot of younger high school players play in the afternoons.”
Erickson added that players coming from the mainland, coming up north from Seattle or driving south from Mt. Vernon, Bellingham and even Canada, all appreciate the island vibe.
“I think people like it at Camaloch,” she said. “They say, ‘you’re on an island, that’s cool.”’ Camaloch is one of several courses in the north Puget Sound waters that offer an “island vibe.” Whidbey Golf Club is quite popular in the summer while the San Juan Islands, with three nine-hole courses, provide rounds of opportunities. Lopez Island Golf Club is a 5,302-yard, nine-hole public/private course that plays 18 holes. San Juan Island Tennis Club is semi-private and has a nine-hole layout that functions as 18 holes. The 50-year-old Orcas Island Golf Course is nine holes that plays 6,004 yards for 18 holes with alternate tee boxes.
Whidbey Golf Club: The ‘everyday’ course that’s anything but ordinary
David Phay has played plenty of golf courses and has worked at a handful over the years, and he says it’s hard for him to place too many above his own Whidbey Golf Club.
“It’s just a perfect everyday golf course,” said Phay, who has served in various roles at Whidbey for the past 18 years … head professional, director of golf and general manager.
What does that mean, “everyday?” For him, it’s all about the fun factor.
“There are courses that are well-manicured and really good, but not always fun to play every day. This one is,” he said. “It’s a great shot-makers golf course. You can figure your way around it a little bit but there’s also opportunities to go for it. You don’t have to play it the same way every time.
“It’s not long, per se, (6,464 yards), but it’s got its challenges. There are a lot of water features, almost every hole on the front nine. You can get pin placements that make it a little tough. That’s the way this golf course was built. You don’t have to hit 320 off the tee to have a good time playing it.”
The first course on the island was Holmes Harbor, which opened in 1939. At 4,279 yards, the par-64 course didn’t quite meet the challenges of other longer layouts. In 1948, the Gallery Golf Course opened but it was primarily for the benefit of military families stationed at the Naval Air Station at Whidbey.
A group of avid players around Oak Harbor, at the north end of Whidbey, wanted their own course and put together an $80,000 winning bid to buy the old Loerland dairy farm in the fall of 1960.
Nine holes, designed by the members, were laid out among the pastures and fir trees. Greens were seeded in the fall of 1961 and the fairways in the spring of 1962. The private course used the old barn as its first clubhouse, and it would eventually be surrounded by a housing development. It opened that summer.
Seventeen years later, in the spring of 1979, the second nine was opened. It’s now the opening nine. Then in the early 2000s, the membership voted to allow public play on the course, mostly after noon. It is now a sustained and healthy ‘hybrid’ course, meshing private and public play.
Most of the players live on the island but Phay said a lot of players come from the mainland, taking the Mukilteo ferry, to reap the advantages of island golf.
“We want people to come here and relax, have a good time,” Phay said. “We don’t get too hot here because we’re surrounded by so much water. That’s one of the great things in the summer. In Seattle it could be 95, but it’ll be 77 here. We also don’t get as much rain as Seattle. We’re in the same rain shadow as Sequim.”
As for the challenge of the Whidbey Golf Club, let Phay serve as an example. He has become one of the top golfers in the Pacific Northwest playing most of his rounds at Whidbey. He qualified this year for the prestigious PGA Professional Tournament in Port St. Lucie, Fla. It’s what can happen when you play this fantastic ‘everyday’ course.
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SHORT GAME • 6
Northwest Golf Skills Fest rocks year one at Meadow Park
It was real and surely resonated — an all-new event with the player and camraderie in mind.
Nearly 90 players took their swing at Northwest Golf Skills Fest June 28 at Meadow Park, with music, fun, games, brews and plenty of prizes to go around.
The event featured a loop around the Williams Nine where contestants played a 16-contest Skills Challenge, testing their ability in putting, ball striking, chipping, bunker play and hitting fairways. The 18-hole Michelob ULTRA Putting Championship was waiting for them when they finished, with the layout being on Meadow Park’s diabolical practice green, reminiscent of Bandon Dunes’ Punchbowl.
Prizes were plentiful with over 55 handed out. This included winners at each contest in both the Championship and Hacker Divisions, as well as Overall Champion, Flatstick Master, Wedge Wizard and Ball Striker Extraordinaire.
The big winner was Beau Grantham, who, powered by a hole-in-one, was the overall winner for the championship division, taking home a fantastic stay-and-play package to Villa del Palmar and TPC Danzante Bay in Mexico.
Grantham also won the Ball Striker award as well as won four different skills challenge. Other winners included: Andrew Ernsdorff, champion of the Hacker Division,
and Carson Johnson, winner of the Junior Division. Rob Snyder was the Overall Putting Champion while Greyson Taylor won the Junior Putting Champion.
The event was given rave reviews by the contestants, with most mentioning how fun and exciting it was and what a great change of pace it was from a normal round of golf. It was a one-of-a-kind event and something to put on your schedule in 2026.
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SHORT GAME • 7
Century mark: Local pro plays 100 holes in a day for charity
On May 13, Kyle Guthrie achieved what a number of other hearty, charity-minded golfers have achieved in recent years by playing 100 holes in a single day. The only difference between Guthrie and the others, though, is that most of his fellow ironmen didn’t make 22 birdies and an eagle over the course of the day.
A PGA Associate Golf Instructor at Pacific Northwest Golf Centers since 2021 and the Head Coach at the First Tee of Greater Seattle for almost 10 years, Guthrie says he probably took around 310 shots in all “give or take.”
That’s not very many even if the venue is an executive course — the Williams Nine at Meadow Park in Tacoma, where the Pacific Northwest section of the PGA conducts a fund-raising event every year.
Guthrie set out at 6 a.m. and completed the marathon about 12 hours later, feeling good but a little sore, he says. “I did have a cart so that certainly helped save the legs,” he adds. The weather was also accommodating, partly cloudy in the low 60s — perfect for a 100-hole hike.
Guthrie was raising money for Camp Leo, a Federal Way-based organization founded in 1990. Its mission is to “enrich the lives of children affected by Type 1 Diabetes through programs that inspire, empower, educate, and promote community,” with a vision that every person with Type 1 Diabetes is “empowered to live life to their fullest potential.”
Guthrie, whose younger sister has diabetes, set up a GoFundMe page at gofundme.com/f/kyles-100-hole-marathon-for-children-with-type1-diabetes and, at the time of this reporting, had raised $2,100.
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SHORT GAME • 8
Coyote Ridge rising: Colville Tribes breathe new life into former Banks Lake GC
In June 2024, the Confederated Colville Tribes purchased Banks Lake Golf Course, five miles southwest of the Grand Coulee Dam, and renamed it Coyote Ridge GC. The 40-year-old course designed by Keith Hellstrom (who created six other courses in Washington, Idaho and Montana) wasn’t actually the main target for the Confederation. However, it just happened to be part of a 187-acre parcel on which it plans to add housing, a gas station, and perhaps a cultural center and indoor kids entertainment facility in the coming years.
It isn’t as if the new owners felt they were stuck with a golf course, though. Far from it, in fact. Many of the Tribes’ members have been playing there for decades and consider it a special place. And they are investing a significant amount of money into making it better. Besides the name change, a number of other changes have already happened and there’s plenty more to come.
“The remodeled clubhouse with a new restaurant and bar should be finished by the end of August,” says Matthew Pleasants, Centralized Services Director for the Colville Tribes. “The new driving range will be done by July, and 30 new Yamaha carts and 18 Finn bikes arrived at the end of June.”
As for the course itself, numerous refinements have been made, and the upgrades are still coming.
“We replaced the water pump to increase the capacity of our water reserves,” says Pleasants. “The turf was looking unhealthy last year and the extra water has revived it.”
Thatch is being removed from the greens, which have been punched and aerated and are being enlarged and reshaped. The bunkers will be renewed at some point, and some tree removal has occurred.
“We’ve taken out 28 invasive trees,” says Pleasants. “We will add some blue spruce. The most important part of it all has been rehabbing the turf, which is beginning to respond and looking really good.”
The improvements are being made by local tribal and non-tribal contractors, and new equipment the Tribes purchased in July 2024 (John Deere) and May of this year (Toro) is making a huge difference.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the work has received a lot of encouraging feedback. Pleasants says he and head pro Cody Wells have received nothing but positive comments.
“And a lot of people have been saying they are looking forward to returning and seeing the ongoing improvements.”
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SHORT GAME • 9
Driven and dedicated — Roosevelt’s Roberge wins Duke’s Junior Golf Scholarship
Colby Roberge, a junior-to-be at Roosevelt High School in Seattle and this issue’s winner of the Duke’s Seafood Junior Golf Scholarship, knows exactly what she’s going to do with the award.
“It’ll go toward my first private lessons with Greg Kogura at Rainier Golf & Country Club,” she says.
Now 16, Colby has been playing at Rainier since she was seven, advancing through the club’s junior program which Kogura oversees.
“Over the years, I’ve gotten to know Colby and have been very impressed with her perseverance and dedication to improving her game,” Kogura says.
“Now that she’s moving on from the program, I’m happy that I’ll still have her help recruiting and mentoring the remaining junior golfers.”
A 3.7 GPA student who also plays club volleyball, Colby volunteered at last year’s KPMG Women’s PGA Championship played at Sahalee CC, where she worked as a standard bearer and got to meet a number of the players’ coaches as well as the players themselves. Her favorite was Mexico’s Gaby Lopez, a three-time Tour winner who finished T14 at the event.
“I’m a big fan of hers,” says Colby. “She obviously takes her game seriously but also has a lot of fun. She was friendly and kind to everyone.”
Colby also has a lot of respect for the Golf Channel’s Paige Mackenzie, a UW Hall of Famer whom she also met at Sahalee.
“Paige spoke about the many professional opportuni ties in golf for females which was very inspiring,” she says.
It’s too early to tell if a career in golf is in Colby’s fu ture. For now, she’s just looking forward to the fall season at Roosevelt where Head Coach Max Rose is very pleased to have her on his team.
“She puts in a lot of work and it’s exciting to see the results,” Rose says. “Colby was our Rookie of the Year as a freshman and a great addition to the team with a flair for leadership and fun sense of humor.”
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