Love ‘em or hate ‘em, these are TEN par-5s you’ll never forget
Intro by Brian Beaky, CG Editor
When it comes to Washington’s most par-fect par-5, it seems like just about everyone has an opinion.
As often happens at CG headquarters, a planning meeting veered off course in January when somehow it came up that Salish Cliffs’ 18th hole — a fun, risk-reward par-5 with a drive out of a chute and a approach shot over water — might be the best par-5 in the state.
“What about Trophy’s 18th?” someone said.
“Or 17 at Washington National?” someone else added, setting off minutes of debate from all corners of the room.
“Please, guys, stop, this is ridiculous,” someone finally interjected, seemingly ending the digression … until adding, “Desert Canyon’s sixth hole is 690 yards! You can’t beat that.”
An hour later, we had all but forgotten what we planned to meet about. We also had an idea for our next feature.
For most golfers, par-5s offer some of the best looks at birdie, a chance to go 2-for-3 on your way to the green and still end up with a look at the cup. They’re also often the best risk/reward holes, giving you that butterflies-in-the-stomach moment where you have to take account of your ability, your score, your lie — and of course, your tendency to second-guess yourself — and make that round-making (or breaking) call…to go, or not to go?
We realized quickly that we shouldn’t limit ourselves to the opinions of those within our walls — no matter how loudly and insistently those opinions were stated.
So, we called a few friends throughout the local sports and entertainment scene to see who had an opinion. Kasey Keller did. So did Golden Tate. So did Justin Smoak, Paige Mackenzie and Ryan Moore. Matt Thurmond, the Huskies’ head golf coach, was so excited, he tried to submit two holes as his favorite.
It turns out when word gets around that someone is making a list of the state’s best par-5s, just about everyone wants to put in their two cents.
We narrowed the list to 10, with the only request that it be a hole on a daily-fee course — after all, what fun is it to read about an amazing hole you can’t play (or, in the case of Tate’s submission, at least one you can walk)? The 10 par-5s submitted by our CG Dream Team are beautiful, and brutal. And we can’t wait to play every one we can this year.