APPLE TREE RESORT + PROSPECTOR AT SUNCADIA
Location: Central Washington
Distance between courses: 74.5 miles
Total trip time (including golf): 14 hours
Turn towards the morning sun rising over the Cascade Mountains around 6:30 and by 9 a.m. you’ve passed through 80 miles of stunning mountain scenery, then another 40 of gently rolling hills and pristine Central Washington farmland — it’s barely breakfast time, and you’ve already experienced more climates, and seen more of America the Beautiful, than 90 percent of our country’s golfers will see in a year.
Launch your first tee shot high into the sky at Apple Tree around 9:30 and prepare to enjoy one of our state’s most enjoyable tracks — always kept in perfect shape, never over-crowded, and offering big hitters and target golfers alike the chance to do what they do best. Certainly the anticipation will build throughout the round to the iconic island-green 17th, but don’t let down when you pluck your ball from the hole — the 18th, with plenty of trouble and a massive, apple-red bunker on a huge upslope below the green, is one of the tougher finishing holes in the state.
Grab lunch in the clubhouse afterward, then turn back the way you came along I-90 to Prospector at Suncadia. By the time you get there, you’re halfway home — but your day is only half done. Standing on Prospector’s 10th tee, staring out across miles and miles of mountain and valley views, breathe in the cool, crisp air while reflecting on the fact that, just a few hours before, you were baking in the sun of an active Central Washington apple orchard.
For maximum effect, make the trip on one of those occasional rainy summer days, when you wonder if people in Palm Springs or Arizona have to deal with 55 degrees and rain in mid-July. As you clear Snoqualmie Pass and feel the perpetual Central Washington sun on your face, you’ll know just how lucky we really are.