Southwest Washington Tour When You Think About the Terrific Golf in the Pacific Northwest, Southwest Washington Is a Big Part of It
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SepTeMber 2013 SouThWeST WaShIngTon Where you can play golf More than just golf to do in Southwest Washington in the SW Washington area SW Washington is a vast area There are plenty of options off the with a lot of golf courses, including golf course when visiting SW Wash- Green Mountain (right). Take a look ington, including windsurfing on the where to tee it up when you are in Columbia River. For more, please see the area. See Page 3 for the map. inside this section. Freeway golf: I-5 is loaded In Southwest Washington, there is no shortage of golf along Inter- state-5 as you drive between Olympia and Vancouver, in fact one course you can see from the freeway is Tri Moun- tain in Ridgefield (right), which has views of three different mountains. Another popular choice for freeway golfers is the Home Course (far right) in DuPont, which helped host the 2010 US Amateur. For more, see Page 2 of this section of Inside Golf. Southwest Washington Tour When you think about the terrific golf in the Pacific Northwest, Southwest Washington is a big part of it. The area is loaded with golf and offers a wide variety of courses to choose from. The Southwest Washington region stretches from Olympia west to the Pacific Ocean and south to the city of Vancouver. With some of the Pacific Northwest’s top public courses located in Southwest Washington, golf has proven to be a popular attraction. From places like Tumwater (left) to Elk Ridge Golf Course (below) at Carson Hot Springs in White Salmon, finding good golf is never a problem. Many courses are right off Interstate-5 as you take the drive from Seattle to Portland or vice versa, making it possible to quickly jump back on the freeway after your round. See inside for a tour of Southwest Washington. InsideGolfNewspaper.com • Page 2 • • SouThWeST WaShIngTon • • Inside Golf - September Issue 2013 • InSIDe ThIS I-5 and golf: a good mix eDITIon If you find yourself planning a trip up or down Interstate-5, you might also want to plan on packing your golf clubs in the back of your car. Things to do and see From Olympia on south to Vancouver, • There are plenty of other things to there are plenty of choices when it comes to see and do than golf when traveling in playing golf right off I-5. The courses all sit SW Washington, like a wolf visit and within minutes of the freeway and if you have rafting. Page 4. the time, they are all worth the trip. Starting from the north, PNGA’s Home Course sits just minutes off the freeway in Take the tour the town of DuPont. One exit and a couple of • There is a wide variety of courses turns puts you in the parking lot of one of the to try from Olympia to Vancouver, more popular courses in the Northwest. The including Tri Mountain in Ridgefield Home Course was a host for the 2010 U.S. (pictured below). Page 4. Amateur and is frequently used for PNGA tournaments. Eagle’s Pride Golf Course at Fort Lewis, Kevin Coombs: green which is visible from the freeway, features 27 holes and continues to be a popular course Mountain pro goes low with military as well as non-military golfers. at uSga Senior open The Lacey-Olympia area has a couple of courses less than five minutes off the freeway during opening round in the Golf Club at Hawk’s Prairie. You can’t Green Mountain Golf Course go wrong with the Links Course or the Wood- head professional (Vancouver) Kevin lands Course. Both are extremely challenging Coombs found himself on the lea- and the conditioning is good. derboard at the 2013 U.S. Senior A couple of miles to the south lies Tumwa- Open during the first round at Omaha ter Valley, a course you can see just south of Country Club in Nebraska. the old Olympia Brewery. A couple of quick Coombs had his round to 3-under- turns off the freeway gets you there. This par at one point and was tied for the popular course has hosted some of the top lead. He finished with two bogeys amateur events in the Pacific Northwest and and shot a 69. “I didn’t know I had you can virtually see the course as you head that kind of game,” said Coombs, north or south on I-5. who got into the tournament as the “We’re lucky because we’re in such a first alternate from the Willamette great location,” said Russ Olsen of Tumwa- Valley qualifying site near Portland. ter Valley Golf Course. “Sitting right off the But in the second round, Coombs freeway, people don’t have to go searching shot an 8-over 78 to miss the cut by for us up and down side roads. Once you get two shots. “Hey, it was a lot of fun off the freeway, there we are.” while it lasted,” said Coombs, 50. In Chehalis, Riverside Golf Course is so close to the freeway, you could probably reach it with a driver. It’s difficult to see from the freeway but is less than three minutes from Lewis River Golf Course in Woodland, Wash. is like a pristine walk through the park; the off-ramp. There is golf and the chance for Riverside Golf Course in Chehalis is only a couple of minutes off of Interstate-5. golfers with RV’s to stay a few nights. In the Kelso area, it takes a little work to A little further south in Woodland, Lewis the course can see the namesake mountains get to Three Rivers and Mint Valley, but both River is about a 10-minute drive off the free- – Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Adams and Mt. Hood – are good public tracks and a short drive off way, but with it’s park-like setting, and top hence the name, Tri Mountain. As you drive Interstate-5. Three Rivers was a course that quality golf, it’s worth the extra time to get to along the I-5 freeway, you can see almost the was built after the flooding from the eruption the course and tee it up. entire Tri Mountain course. One unique fea- of Mount St. Helens. All kinds of material The course that gets the most exposure ture at the course is the lake driving range–not was left over from the floods and much of the from being near Interstate-5 is Tri Mountain much roll on the balls but it’s fun to see them material was left to build a golf course. in Ridgefield, just north of Vancouver. From splash. bob Marlatt Publisher Steve Turcotte Editor-Advertising Kathy Marlatt Operations Manager Mailing address P.O.Box 1890 Port Townsend, WA 98368 phone (360) 379-4080 e-mail address [email protected] Website Insidegolfnewspaper.com InsideGolfNewspaper.com • Inside Golf - September Issue 2013 • • SouThWeST WaShIngTon Map • • Page 3 • 11 Ocean Shores 12 13 18 101 1 14 Aberdeen Lacey 3 2 12 15 8 West 16 olympia 17 Cosmopolis Elma 6 5 Port Tumwater 7 8 4 9 10 101 Tokland Raymond 19 Centralia 23 24 Chehalis 21 25 20 101 Long Beach 4 Ilwaco WWaaSShhIIngngTTonon 22 28 4 Longview 27 Astoria Kelso 26 29 Woodland 30 31 32 Battle Ground 3738 White oregonoregon 33 Washougal Salmon 40 34 Camas 39 42 41 43 44 35 36 14 Vancouver Carson 14 golF CourSeS In SouThWeST WaShIngTon 1. The home Course 11. Lake Cushman 22. Skyline golf Course 34. Club green Meadows 18 holes, 7,437 yards 9 holes,2,592 9 holes, 2,255 yards 18 holes, 6,486 yards DuPont, Public Hoodort, public Cathlamet, Public Vancouver, Private 2. Eagle’s pride golf Course 12. Lake limerick golf Club 23. Centralia golf Course 35. Royal oaks Country Club 27 holes,3,455;3,410;3,282 yds 9 holes, 2,898 yards 9 holes, 2,826 yards 18 holes, 6,900 yards Fort Lewis, Public Shelton, Public Centralia, Public Vancouver, Private 3. Golf Club at hawk’s prairie 13. Bayshore golf Club 24. Riverside golf Club 36. Camas Meadows • Woodlands Course 9 holes, 2,946 yards 18 holes, 6,155 yards 18 holes, 6,518 yards 18 holes, 7,170 yards Shelton, Public Chehalis, Public Camas, Public Lacey, Public 14. Salish Cliffs 25. Newaukum Valley 37. Pinecrest golf Club • The links 18 holes, 7,269 yards 27 holes, 3,268;3,223;2,945 9 holes, 1,206 yards 18 holes, 6,887 yards Shelton, Public Chehalis, Public Vancouver, Public Lacey, Public 15. Oaksridge golf Course 26. Longview Country Club 38. Orchard hills Country Club 4. Tahoma Valley gC 18 holes, 5,643 yards 18 holes, 6,220 yards 18 holes, 5,896 yards 18 holes, 6,007 yards Elma, Public Longview, Private Washougal, Private Yelm, Public 16. Grays harbor CC 27. Mint Valley golf Course 39. Green Mountain 5. Capitol City golf Club 9 holes, 2,915 yards 18 holes, 6,304 yards 18 holes, 6,400 yards 18 holes, 6,536 yards Central Park, Private Longview, Public Vancouver, Public Olympia, Public 17. Highland golf Course 28. Golfgreen golf Center 40. Fairway Village golf Course 6. Indian Summer CC 18 holes, 6,112 yards 9 holes, 1,175 yards 9 holes, 2,500 yards 18 holes, 7,216 yards Cosmopolis, Public Longview, Public Vancouver, Public Olympia, Private 18. Ocean Shores golf Course 29. Three rivers golf Course 41. Skamania lodge 7. Delphi golf Course 18 holes, 6,252 yards 18 holes, 6,836 yards 18 holes, 5,776 yards 9 holes, 1,937 yards Ocean Shores, Public Kelso, Public Stevenson, Public Olympia, Public 19.