We’re kicking off the first of what we hope will be a series of Seasonal Values specials by teaming with nearly a dozen of the area’s best value-oriented tracks to give Cascade Golfer readers the change to put down the wallet, pick up the sticks ...]]> Everyone wants to play as much as possible — it’s just that pesky little thing called a “budget” that gets in the way. But how much would you play this summer if money were no object?

We’re kicking off the first of what we hope will be a series of Seasonal Values specials by teaming with nearly a dozen of the area’s best value-oriented tracks to give Cascade Golfer readers the change to put down the wallet, pick up the sticks and do what you love best — play some fantastic golf!

In order to spread the wealth among as many of our readers as possible, we’ve broken the 11 free twosomes into three separate packages, representing almost every corner of the Puget Sound region:

• 1: Day Trip Delights (Sudden Valley, Bellingham, Kahler Glen)
• 2: Sno-Co Sleepers (Battle Creek, Snohomish, Cedarcrest, PLUS a tune-up twosome to Wayne!)
• 3: Southern Stars (Alderbrook, North Shore, Riverside, Tumwater)

ENTER TO WIN TODAY!

We’ll publish the winners in ...]]> We’re celebrating our readers in 2010 with the first-ever Cascade Golfer Readers’ Choice Awards! You’ve heard all of our favorites — now we want to hear from you. From your favorite courses, to the best par-3s, top clubhouses, favorite homegrown pros and more, let us know YOUR Northwest favorites and you’ll be entered to win a free round of golf!

We’ll publish the winners in our annual year-end edition of Cascade Golfer this December, so be sure and lock your votes in before Oct. 1! Answer as many questions as you like — but the more you answer, the better the chance of seeing your favorites in Cascade Golfer this year!

A verifiable name and e-mail address are required to be eligible to win, and to see your answers printed in Cascade Golfer.

by Mike Allende

The traditional image of a country club is well known. Gated community, swanky and certainly unattainable for anyone not on the wealthy side of the ledger. It’s the world of business tycoons, pro athletes and movie stars.

Of course, that was before the United States economy tanked.

Today, country club membership is something ...]]>

Meridian Valley Country Club

The down economy has created a bull market for golfers considering country club membership, with initiation fees and dues at record lows.

by Mike Allende

The traditional image of a country club is well known. Gated community, swanky and certainly unattainable for anyone not on the wealthy side of the ledger. It’s the world of business tycoons, pro athletes and movie stars.

Of course, that was before the United States economy tanked.

Today, country club membership is something that many “average Joe” locals can conceivably attain. Yes, you still have to pass through the same old screening process, but financially, country clubs are no longer just the domain of those in the highest tax bracket.

Instead, many clubs are now offering special promotions and incentives as a way of hanging on to established members and attracting new members in an economic climate where many people are putting off recreation in order to simply afford necessities.

So, think you could never be a member of country club? Think again.

“We’ve done membership promotions before with great success,” said Craig McCrone, General Manager of Kent’s Meridian Valley Country Club. “This time we realized the direction the economy was headed and decided we need to do something to get people’s attention and say, ‘Wow, Meridian Valley is really a great value!’ We still screen, it’s still the same process of getting your name circulated, getting board approval. We’re not lowering our standards. We’re just making it more appealing, financially.”

Country club general managers said they recognized the direction that the economy was headed early on and acted quickly to counter it. But, it’s an uphill battle when so many people are struggling to make a home payment and afford groceries.

“I don’t think anybody was truly ready for how hard it would hit,” said Doug Kauffman, Director of Golf at The Members Club at Aldarra in Fall City. “Any high-ticket item is going to get hit and country clubs aren’t immune to it.”

Many local country clubs have offered reduced rates on membership and other incentives to join, in order to combat dwindling numbers. While every club has lost membership, the promotions have worked to keep clubs afloat.

Meridian Valley came up with one of the most striking deals, offering $500 membership from Oct. 1 of last year through the end of April. The cost through the end of the year is now $2,400 plus half-price on dues, but that’s still quite a deal given the usual $6,000 fee to join. It’s paid off, as Meridian Valley has sold 26 memberships since the $500 promotion began. Out of 400 spots, the club has 365 dues-paying members, a solid percentage given the climate.

“Some people think that by lowering initiation fees, maybe that demeans the club,” McCrone said. “But it’s more about having a full and healthy membership. That’s as important to me as trying to force initiation fees to be high in a climate where people can’t afford it. There’s a lot of different ways to look at it but our biggest selling point is our membership so it’s important to keep that at a healthy level.”

That’s a theme cited by every general manager. Like everyone else, country clubs have been forced to cut their budgets, trimming everything from staff to advertising. So, along with great dea ls, having a happy membership group is the best advertising a club can have, and the best chance to find new members. Some clubs try to reward member loyalty, including Woodinville’s Bear Creek Country Club.

“We had a very strong referral program in the spring,” said Bear Creek General Manager Peter Christian. “It provided a 25-percent-off discount for 24 months for members who referred a new member. The incoming member received one year of discounted dues and a discount on initiation fees. It worked out well for everyone.”

That specific deal only ran through June, but it’s representative of deals that are still to be had — though they’re going fast. In fact, while the general managers say that no one is out of the woods yet, there are indications that business will pick up soon, if it hasn’t already.

Aldarra offered a dues-only membership good for a year, and that helped in the toughest times, but the club ended that program shortly after. The program was designed for several reasons — to reach potential members who can afford but aren’t sure it’s the right fit; to remain competitive with other clubs in drawing new members; and to make sure the club retained a healthy level of total members-paying dues in the short-term to ensure long-term success.

Theresa Raleigh, Sales Director of Federal Way’s Twin Lakes Golf and Country Club, said just getting people to realize that now is a great time to join a country club is one of the biggest challenges.

“The No. 1 struggle we have is letting people know that we’re accessible and that we want people to join,” Raleigh said. “In the past year we developed a really strong email database of potential members and that’s made a huge difference in our ability to sell people on our club.”

Raleigh said Twin Lakes was hit particularly hard by the recession but has recently started to see membership climb, thanks to a couple of promotions. The club is offering a “Friends of Twin Lakes” membership, which is $40 a month and offers modified social benefits (such as access to the pool, tennis and some opportunities to pay to golf). An Executive Membership is also offered, in which you pay just monthly dues and do not have proprietary membership.

“It’s a preview to see how you feel about being a member,” Raleigh said. “Hopefully after a year of membership, we’ve done enough to show you that the difference between playing a public course and a private one – from the amenities to the service to the quality of the course – makes joining the club the only choice to make.”

McCrone said much of his club’s effort has focused on appealing to families. He said paying daily fees on a public course, including range balls, carts and finding tee times, adds up to the point that it makes more sense to just join a club where everything is included and the experience is a step above.

“We don’t have tee times, with a couple of exceptions,” he said. “You just come out and play when you want. With families, mom and dad can come out with the kids and play five holes, or nine holes, or just practice whenever. We really try to make everyone feel welcome.”

Of course, most of the clubs take on the same tactic. Everyone knows that deals are out there, and it’s just a matter of keeping up, which only adds to the fact that now is a great time to invest in a membership.

“Our members pay close attention to what’s out there and they absolutely inform me whenever [there is] something new,” Raleigh said. “So I’m well aware of what we’re competing with.”

“You definitely want to be competitive,” Aldarra’s Kauffman added. “If you’re keeping your initiation fees at what they’ve always been and everyone else is lowering theirs, that’s a losing battle. People who are looking to join now, they’re shopping around and looking for maximum value for their dollar. If you can afford it, now is a very good time to get in.”

Mike Allende is a freelancer writer for Cascade Golfer, Dawgs Digest and other leading Northwest publications.

by Craig Smith

So, here I am, stuck in the mud with a famous ...]]>

Western Washington’s wet spring weather has pushed a planned soft opening this fall back to Spring 2011, giving golfers an extra few months to straighten their drives before tackling Salish Cliffs’ narrow fairways.

Just as the economy begins to recover, the Squaxin Island tribe prepares to open a stunning new Gene Bates-designed course among steep bluffs and towering pines in Shelton

by Craig Smith

So, here I am, stuck in the mud with a famous golf course designer.

Gene Bates is showing me the cleared land on a hillside that will become the second hole of Salish Cliffs Golf Club. The wheels on his SUV are spinning in glop from an overnight drenching, the latest chapter of an all-too-soggy spring.

Do we call AAA? Hardly. Bates gets on his cell phone and within minutes I hear a rumble on the hillside. A bulldozer muscles its way down the hill, the operator smiles at Bates, and then begins pushing dirt around. Presto! We escape on what amounts to an immediately rebuilt construction road.

We visit the other holes under construction without incident, which might qualify as a mild surprise because this is a course being carved out of thick woods in one of the wettest springs on record.

As we visit one crafted hole under construction after another, I am watching the golf equivalent of an unborn baby. The more we drive and see, the more my thoughts shift from, Where are we going to get stuck next? to, This is going to be a contender for a berth on top-10 lists of Washington courses.

The par-72, public Salish Cliffs is expected to open next spring. It will have a lot going for it: length (7,300 yards from back tees but a modest 6,000 from whites), no homes (and no plans for any), a verdant setting and big greens.

Sixteen of the holes will be set apart, lending to a “what’s next?” sense of adventure plus tranquility. The flipside, though, is that this is going to be primarily a cart course because of the long jaunts from some tees to next greens.

The course is a remarkable 600 feet from its low point to the high point atop a towering bluff, but the gains are gradual. Bates describes it as “almost like steps on a staircase.”

The course will have a monster green shared by holes No. 9 and No. 18, a double-ended driving range and a short-game practice area. Fairways and greens will be bent grass, and Bates said there are chemicals now on the market that resist the intrusion of poa grass onto greens.

The bunkers are going to be creatively shaped and filled with gorgeous white sand.

“When I see big ovals or circles or whatever, I just think of it as an oval or circle golf course,” Bates said.

“I like to put some character into the bunker styles. They speak to you.”

Like all top designers, Bates has each caliber of golfer in mind.

“The guy playing from the championship tees is going to have to work the ball,” he said. “The guy playing blue tees will have to do it a little bit.”

Life won’t be so complicated for golfers using the white tees. Those folks will find the landing areas generous, as will men and women who play the forward tees.

As Bates has said, “It’s not going to be the type of golf course that’s narrow and has a lot of penal aspects to it.” In other words, he wants people saying, “That was fun and I can do better,” rather than, “That course was too tough for me.”

The harsh spring has pushed a planned soft opening this fall into next spring. When the course has its official opening, however, it will be a big deal — course debuts have become rare events, not only in these parts but also across the nation.

The only opening in the Puget Sound area this year was the kid-friendly “Little Si” course that Mount Si Golf Course built next to its driving range. The opening of Salish Cliffs will draw national attention.

Native American tribes are becoming a new force in Northwest golf, and this course fits the pattern. Salish Cliffs is the project of the Squaxin Island Tribe and will be an amenity of the Little Creek Casino Resort, just a half-mile from the course The tribe owns land elsewhere but understandably wanted the course near the hotel rooms, restaurants and gaming.

The Squaxin Island Tribe is the latest Western Washington tribe to make Northwest golf headlines. The Jamestown S’Kallam Tribe that operates the 7 Cedars Casino bought Dungeness Golf Course outside Sequim in 2007. This year, the Suquamish Tribe that operates the Clearwater Casino Resort took over White Horse Golf Club outside Kingston.

Ground was broken for Salish Cliffs back in 2006, but everything was put on hold months later because of other tribal projects, including a major expansion at the casino-resort that now has about 190 guest rooms.

Work on the course resumed last year.

Ray Peters, executive director of the Squaxin Island Tribe, said the tribe started exploring the addition of a golf course about seven years ago. He said the appeal of a quality golf course is that “it can make the resort a true destination.”

In doing their homework, Squaxin tribal leaders visited several tribal-owned courses in other states, but one of the courses that made the biggest impression on them wasn’t that far away — Circling Raven in Worley, Idaho, southeast of Spokane.

The course is owned by the Coeur d’Alene tribe and its various awards include “best Native American course” and inclusion on Golf magazine’s list of “100 Courses You Can Play.”

The Circling Raven architect was Bates. So, it wasn’t a big surprise when the Squaxin folks selected Bates to be their architect. Implicit in the contract was the unstated challenge, “Let’s see if you do for us what you did for them.”

Bates doesn’t like to compare Salish Cliffs with dry-climate Circling Raven, but has conceded that one similarity is well-separated holes.

This will be the second Northwest course for Florida-based Bates, and he and the Squaxin leadership sound sincere when they talk about how they like working with each other.

“He’s about creating a relationship and really delivering,” said Peters.

Bates said he likes the tribal officials with whom he works and their willingness to spend to make sure things are done properly.

“We’ve had the financial resources to do it right, take advantages of the opportunities on site,” he said. Bates said the golf course will cost about $9 million and the project cost will be about $10 million, including the clubhouse.

Bates worked with Jack Nicklaus in the 1980s before splitting off on his own. He has partnered on several courses (though not this one) with Fred Couples. Bates’ portfolio includes Bayonet and Blackhorse Golf Courses in Monterey, Calif., and Soldier Hollow Golf Course in Midway, Utah. Soldier Hollow will host the 2012 USGA Amateur Public Links championship.

Salish Cliffs is about 90 minutes from Seattle and will be a cinch to find because of its proximity to the casino-resort at the intersection of Highways 101 and 108, about five miles south of Shelton.

The course is within an hour of quality courses in Bremerton (Gold Mountain, McCormick Woods and Trophy Lake) and is even closer to quality Pierce County offerings of Chambers Bay and The Home Course, and the two courses at The Golf Club at Hawks Prairie outside Lacey. It doesn’t take much imagination to start putting together multi-day golf itineraries that spend at least one night at the Little Creek Casino Resort.

Peters said greens fees haven’t been determined, but noted, “This is going to be a high-end course with reasonable greens fees.” Resort guests traditionally receive reduced greens fees and “stay-and-play” packages are standard in the industry.

While riding around with Bates, I remarked that Salish Cliffs is a total change from the last course I wrote about — treeless Wine Valley Golf Club outside Walla Walla.

I told Bates, “The architect and co-owner over there said were so many natural holes on the property that the challenge was deciding which ones to build and which ones to reject. It was sort of like, ‘The holes are speaking to me.’ I hardly think that is your situation here.”

“You took the words out of my mouth,” he said with a smile, adding, “My reflection was that the bigger the challenge, the more spectacular the results can be.”

Bates said he and the crew got a pleasant surprise when they started moving dirt, because there was an absence of rock.

As we were concluding our tour, Bates surprised and amused me.

“I like to think of a golf course as a human body,” he said. “The skeleton is equivalent to the routing. You have to have solid routing to be able to build solid framework for a good golf course. The internal plumbing is your circulatory system. That’s the irrigation system for a golf course. The digestive system — that’s the drainage system on a golf course. The muscle is the earthmoving and the general top-building of the golf course, the dirt and all that stuff. The facial features and the rear end and the legs and the beautification of it are the shaping process. And then, basically the grass and the sand and everything else is the makeup.”

The results aren’t in, but at this point it looks like Bates’ latest “body” may just be his most beautiful yet.

Craig Smith is a freelance writer in the Seattle area. Smith worked for more than two decades covering sports for the Seattle Times, and earned the Northwest Golf Media Association’s prestigious Distinguished Service Award in 2009.

It’s about this time of year that we start to feel the road calling to us, teasing us with visions of trails unhiked, vistas unseen and — indeed — golf holes unplayed. Even if it’s just a long weekend, taking 3-4 days at the end of the summer to put your daily responsibilities in the rear-view mirror, sleep in a bed you don’t have to ...]]> You don’t have to be a VIP to get some TLC at these four Northwest resorts

It’s about this time of year that we start to feel the road calling to us, teasing us with visions of trails unhiked, vistas unseen and — indeed — golf holes unplayed. Even if it’s just a long weekend, taking 3-4 days at the end of the summer to put your daily responsibilities in the rear-view mirror, sleep in a bed you don’t have to make, eat a gourmet meal or two and knock a 3-iron around some incredible golf courses is the kind of experience that reminds you just how good the world can be — if we can only find time to enjoy it. And if you’re taking a few buddies along with you? All the better.

Of course, in addition to “time,” experiencing the world takes money. Here in the Northwest, however, we’re privileged to enjoy some of the finest golf resort experiences in the country — from Western Washington’s most luxuriously affordable weekend golf getaway, a secluded mountain retreat and a lakeside paradise, to an outdoor-lover’s dream destination — these four trips won’t eat up your entire summer’s vacation budget and, most importantly, require no more than a half day’s drive to enjoy. So call your buddies, load up the trunk and hit the road — the rains are coming in a few months’ time, but the memory of these four trips will keep your fire burning all winter long.

Semiahmoo Resort | Blaine, Wash. | 800-231-4425 | semiahmoo.com

Semiahmoo Resort | Blaine

Semiahmoo Resort, 25 minutes north of Blaine, hits just the spot. It’s well known that Semiahmoo and its two semi-public courses, Loomis Trail and Semiahmoo Golf and Country Club, have been on the top-100 lists for many, many years, and rightly so. The 18-hole Palmer layout on the Semiahmoo course has been ranked as high as No. 3 in Washington state by Golf Digest. With bunkers, rolling terrain and a tee block for any game, this track can test the world’s best (as evidenced by hosting the 2010 U.S. Senior Open qualifier this July) and also bring a fair golf experience to the mid-handicapper.

Eighteen holes on Loomis Trail, meanwhile, is a true Northwest golf outing, with scenery that will blow you away and water on every hole via a lake and canal system. It’s not an easy track and management is key. But, what golf test isn’t?

The lodging and cuisine at the resort has also been well covered internationally and receives as much acclaim as the courses themselves, while the spa and Jeff Coston Academy are both great ways to accentuate a special overnight or extended golf excursion.

But, what recently has been perking up the eyes of the Puget Sound and Vancouver golfers are the values that the folks at Semiahmoo have been putting out there. The $60 lunch and golf combo, which includes your round of golf and a tasty lunch at either course’s restaurant on Mondays and Tuesdays (see website for details and length of promotion) is bringing up more than its fair share of Seattle linksters. And, you can tack on a world-class hotel experience for as little as $129 on certain days. Marry the two together and you are getting a special getaway for bargain prices.

Want to take in an extra day or two in Bellingham, and stay-and-play in the progressive, collegiate and ever-growing town by the sea? Then book an evening at Bellingham’s premier boutique hideaway, Hotel Bellwether (hotelbellwether.com). Quaintly perched on the shore of Bellingham Bay in a quiet cove, where soothing marine features are serene and classy, Hotel Bellwether offers a wide array of lodging services and caters to golfers. With stay-and-play packages tied in with Lake Padden, Shuksan and the outstanding Sudden Valley and North Bellingham golf courses, you can create your own trip. It’s a Half Moon Bay feel, with a Northwest twist — and the food and wine selections are some the finest in the county. — DS

Suncadia Resort | Roslyn, Wash. | 866-904-6301 | suncadiaresort.com

Prospector at Suncadia | Hole 10

Prospector itself, mere minutes from I-90 and barely an hour from Seattle, is an equally refreshing experience. Opened in 2004, the Arnold Palmer design cuts through the trees with grace and beauty, offering numerous risk/reward opportunities, challenging greens and firm, fast fairways. Landing areas are mostly forgiving, though uneven terrain, well-placed white-sand bunkers and frequent mountain streams and lakes require a skilled hand to negotiate. One of the finest three-hole stretches in the state is that from Prospector’s eighth hole — a tight, undulating, 509-yard (from the blues) par-5 named the best eighth hole in the state in Cascade Golfer’s 2009 Dream 18 — to the 10th, a par-4 played from an elevated tee that drops more than 100 feet to a narrow, bunker-protected fairway below. With panoramic views of a tree-lined valley and the looming Cascade Mountain peaks, you can be forgiven for lingering a minute before heading down to hit your second.

While Prospector can be done as a day trip, the opening this fall of a second 18-hole championship course, Rope Rider, practically demands the Puget Sound golfer make at least a weekend out of the experience, with an overnight at the upscale Suncadia Resort thrown in. Stay-and-plays start as low as $299 this fall, including a night’s stay in the luxurious lodge-style Suncadia Inn, plus a round of golf for two at Prospector.

Another option — particularly for a group of guys out for a fun weekend, or for families vacationing together — is to rent an RV and drive up to the nearby Sun Country Golf & RV in Cle Elum (509-674-2226, golfsuncountry.com).

Just $108 a night gets you a place to park your RV — including wireless internet connections, power, cable TV hookups and access to shower and bathroom facilities — and a round of golf for two on Sun Country’s 18-hole, 5,700-yard course. The tree-lined, beautifully maintained track (with daily rates peaking at just $36 on weekends) is a perfect companion to Suncadia’s famed fairways, giving golfers a similar mountain-golf experience in a shorter, yet still challenging settting. — BB

Coeur d’Alene Resort | Coeur d’Alene, Idaho | 800-688-5253 | cdaresort.com

Coeur d’Alene Resort | No. 14

Running Y Ranch | Klamath Falls, Ore. | 800-851-6013 | runningyranch.com

Running Y Resort | Klamath Falls, Ore.

After using the trainer to fine tune their stroke, golfers switch to the identically weighted mallet to head out on the course.

What is this thing? How does it work? And perhaps the strongest and clearest thought of all, What on earth is that mirror for?

Lee can tell just from looking at me what I’m thinking. ...]]>

After using the trainer to fine tune their stroke, golfers switch to the identically weighted mallet to head out on the course.

What is this thing? How does it work? And perhaps the strongest and clearest thought of all, What on earth is that mirror for?

Lee can tell just from looking at me what I’m thinking. He smiles.

“What do you think? Pretty neat, eh?” says Lee, a local engineer and Kirkland resident.

I’ve never seen anything quite like it.

What “it” is, is a putter that just may be the most significant development in flatstick design since the last time a Seattle native with a knack for engineering emerged from his garage with a putter described as “ugly” and “unconventional” – but which made a beautiful little “ping” when it struck a ball.

It’s a USGA-conforming putter (we’ll get to that in a minute), a high-tech trainer using levels and mirrors, an alignment aid, a distance gauge – it even incorporates adjustable weights and interchangeable attachments, and can be custom-fit for each golfer.
And yet, it’s incredibly simple to use.

Golfers start with the trainer – that’s the one with the mirror. In a pro shop (or at home), golfers find a comfortable putting stance, then have the uniquely made shaft bent such that the level atop the training mirror is perfectly centered. It takes two minutes and the end result is a putter that is perfectly level and custom-fit, without the golfer having had to change a thing about their natural address position.

It’s the kind of custom-fitting that’s been done for years with irons and drivers, but for whatever reason, has yet to take hold in the flatstick market – until now.

Once on the green, the training mirror allow golfers to locate the proper line while keeping their head above the ball, then maintain that line throughout the stroke, while the level lets you know if you’re changing your hand position. After thorough practice with the trainer, you simply remove the mirror, attach the USGA-conforming mallet head, and you’re ready to play. Both heads are weighted identically for consistency of feel, while the mallet includes alignment and distance aids, as well as an orange indicator line that is only visible when your head is not directly above the ball, or your stroke is uneven.

In addition, seven removable weights in the head allow golfers to adjust the overall weight of the club for their preference from 370-440 grams, or to move weight between the toe and heel to match their comfort level.

“Just like with any club in your bag, the most important thing when putting is muscle memory, and being able to develop a consistent stroke that is repeatable and effective,” Lee says. “When people try the trainer, they can’t get enough of it – it’s so fun, they just want to keep practicing for hours. Then, when they transition to the mallet, they’re able to easily see and maintain the proper line all the way through the swing.”

The Prodigy is available directly from the manufacturer at prodigyputter.com (or by calling 206-219-5636), and is currently for sale in several pro shops in the Seattle area. Lee says that golfers who have begun using it have reported an average of up to five strokes saved per round. The Prodigy comes in two versions: The Prodigy Advanced Training System includes the trainer and mallet as two individually shafted putters, making it easy to swap between the two during practice. The Prodigy 2-in-1 is a streamlined, single-putter version, including one shaft, grip and the two interchangeable attachments (mirror and mallet).

As we’re nearing the end of the interview, a curious golfer wanders over and asks Lee if he can give it a try. Lee beams, and launches into a full demonstration, like a proud papa showing off his own young prodigy.

“That happens all the time,” he chuckles after the golfer leaves – but not before taking down Lee’s contact information and web address. “I guarantee you if I were to just stand here and putt for 30 minutes, I’d have a whole crowd around asking questions.”
The quickest route to success in the golf manufacturing world is to get your club in the hands of a few well-known pros. Karsten Solheim spent months following the PGA Tour on its West Coast swing, leaving his PING Ansers by the practice green and waiting – hoping – for pros’ curiosity to get the better of them.

In today’s manufacturer-driven (and hyper-secure) Tour world, Lee doesn’t have that luxury. What he does have, though, is a revolutionary idea, a dynamic product and a firm belief in its ability to change the world – if necessary, one blown-away golfer at a time.

Some come by boat, cruising down the Hood Canal to moor in nearby Union, where locals and visitors alike enjoy a combination of small-town charm and modern-day sophistication that is quintessentially Northwest.

Others come by car, making the short drive west from the I-5 corridor (about a half hour from Olympia, one hour from Tacoma, two hours from Seattle) to play and rest among the thick firs and beneath ...]]> People have been coming to Alderbrook Golf and Yacht Club for decades.

Some come by boat, cruising down the Hood Canal to moor in nearby Union, where locals and visitors alike enjoy a combination of small-town charm and modern-day sophistication that is quintessentially Northwest.

Others come by car, making the short drive west from the I-5 corridor (about a half hour from Olympia, one hour from Tacoma, two hours from Seattle) to play and rest among the thick firs and beneath the snow-capped peaks of the Olympic range.

So, if so many people have been coming out to Alderbrook for so many years, how is it that the community — including a championship golf course, a full-service resort and spa, plus numerous other amenities — remains largely off the radar of most Western Washington golfers? The answer is simple — because many come, but few ever want to leave.

Many of those who trod Alderbrook’s tree-lined fairways on a regular basis are residents of Alderbrook Properties, a collection of 750 home sites surrounding the course, and just up the hill from the nearby Alderbrook Resort and Spa. Prices start as low as $378,000 for the two-bedroom Holly (pictured above, right), which, like each of six different home styles, includes an open floor plan, hardwood flooring, relaxing fireplaces, large windows, granite counters, jetted tubs and other comfortable and luxurious amenities. Homes range in size from 1,600-3,000 square feet, and can be customized to meet the specific needs of any homebuyer.

The addition of Alderbrook Properties, formed in 2005 to acquire and develop the lots surrounding the golf course, has taken a popular vacation spot — the newly refurbished Alderbrook Resort & Spa has long been one of the region’s top destination resorts — and turned it into a full-service residential resort community.

While many residents live full-time at Alderbrook, others use their homes as a secluded getaway from the hustle of the Puget Sound region, whether just for a weekend, or for a longer vacation. Located such an easy drive from the region’s major cities, yet completely isolated by thick woodlands and the cool, calming waters of the Hood Canal, Alderbrook provides a unique opportunity to get away — both physically and psychologically — without having to put more than a single tank of gas in the car.

Of course, what matters to us is the golf. Purchasing a home at Alderbrook includes a lifetime membership to the Alderbrook Golf Club, including unlimited access to one of the Puget Sound region’s least-publicized championship tracks.

It’s our advice that — whether just walking into the pro shop after a short walk from home, or after driving over from Seattle — you should be sure to leave time to hit the range before stepping on to the first tee.

Not only will you want to shake out the stiffness, you’ll want to make sure you’re taking everything you brought with you to the par-5 first, which at just 468 yards from the back tees offers a rare opportunity for a leadoff eagle. Knock your drive to the healthy side of 250 and you’re looking at no more than a 3-iron into a wide-open green, with just one small bunker short right to catch anything astray.

It’s good preparation for the next 17 holes, which feature few hazards of the wet or sandy variety, but lots of those big, thick pines that give Alderbrook’s golf course and home sites alike that secluded, woodlands feel.

The money hole, for certain, is the par-5 eighth. If the 468-yard first is more reward than risk, No. 8 is its opposite. The 536-yard, double-dogleg eighth threatens to take back any advantage you might have gained on the scorecard at No. 1, plus a stroke or two. Trees lining the narrow fairway make trying to cut the corners a risky proposition. That said, the hole’s length prevents you from being able to club down too much on your first two shots, at the risk of a long third shot to a tight green. Take your par and be happy only two holes longer than 400 yards remain.

Alderbrook’s trees are it’s defining feature, blocking out almost all except the fairways and greens ahead, the canal below, and the Olympic Mountains above. It’s a peaceful experience, made all the more relaxing by the relative brevity of the course itself, which plays to just 6,326 yards from the tips and just 2,981 on the back.

For those who like to dip their toe in the water before plunging into ownership, Alderbrook is open to the public seven days a week at rates as low as $25 per player, with residents and guests at the nearby Alderbrook Resort & Spa having priority rights for tee times.

You’ll hit a lot of drives this season, to be sure — a drive to Alderbrook, however, might be the most memorable. For more information, contact Alderbrook Properties at 888-612-6970 or visit alderbrookproperties.com.