Northwest Washington Golf is picturesque, abundant, dependable, playable and most importantly just two hours from Seattle
By Tony Dear • CG Editor
It was probably a throwaway line, an insincere remark said jokingly but quickly took hold — you know how these things work. Whatever it was, 20-odd years ago, Bellingham and Whatcom County golf somehow got labelled the ‘Monterey Peninsula of the North’.
And yes, it sounded every bit as silly then as it does now.
Whatcom County and its county seat don’t need to liken themselves to anything, or anywhere, else. The 2,503 square miles (397 of them water) of the country’s most northwesterly county are some of the most beautiful in the world, (yes, world). And the City of Subdued Excitement is a cool college town with a chill vibe, excellent restaurants, and bars, and more than its share of good golf courses. There may not be any U.S. Open/PGA Tour events on the schedule for this area of Washington, but there definitely are half a dozen or so courses worth escaping Seattle for.
LOOMIS TRAIL
Lummi Nation-lifted Loomis Trail is always a test
And Loomis Trail, 19 miles north of Bellingham and just four miles south of the border, may well be the pick of them. This Graham Cooke design that opened in 1993 was part of the Semiahmoo Resort along with the Arnold Palmer-designed Semiahmoo Golf and Country Club (now a private club but accessible to resort guests), until being purchased by the Lummi Nation in late 2018. Since then it has benefitted from numerous upgrades.
There have been no changes to the design itself though General Manager Josh Williams is quick to comment on the sterling work Superintendent Victor Mereno (together with his predecessor, and former boss, Bill Dierdorff) has done in maintaining the course.
“There has been a major focus on agronomy since the Tribe took over, with several drainage and irrigation projects,” says Williams, nearing his fifth year in charge. “And our greens are in excellent condition, as good as I’ve ever seen them.”
Improvements to the bar and grill, cart fleet, and retail side also have significantly enhanced the visitor experience. Additionally, golfers who’ve not yet encountered the former NCAA Division II National Championship venue and home to qualifiers for the U.S. Senior Open, U.S. Amateur and 2023 U.S. Open should know it can be a serious challenge with water and hazards on 17 holes. If that doesn’t sound like your most refreshing cup of tea, you should also know there’s a set of tees for everyone with distances ranging from 4,317 yards to 7,131.
The course is closely linked with the Lummi-owned Silver Reef Casino, 13 miles to the south, which offers stay and play packages, a sports book, and numerous events including a qualifier for the Notah Begay III Junior National Championship, hosted at Loomis Trail.
Walking Loomis on a summer Saturday for just $75 (ride for $90) is a terrific value and one you should take advantage of. Go to golfloomis.com for more information.
SUDDEN VALLEY
Sudden Valley’s championship layout is lakeside golf at its finest
Ten years after opening in 1971, this beautiful Ted Robinson design eight miles east of Bellingham on the shores of Lake Whatcom hosted the Washington Open, giving it genuine championship status.
Though usually associated with courses that are a stern challenge — local player and Sahalee legend Rick Acton’s three-round total of 214 was the second highest winning score in the first 22 years after the tournament transitioned from a 72-hole to a 54-hole event. And while not necessarily the walk-in-the-park breather you might be looking for on a pleasurable weekend away, Sudden Valley is really a fun course with a lot of very attractive holes, particularly the fifth and sixth, which finish and start (respectively) down by the lake.
Those two holes are truly a test of skill and set a tone for the front nine, which is a little longer than the back. The front nine is generally considered the easier of the two. The firs and cedars on the back nine will show little mercy to wild tee shots and can threaten to blot your scorecard, but there’s also two or three decent birdie opportunities. Sudden Valley’s condition has sparkled in recent years thanks to the efforts of former superintendent Jacob Close and his replacement Greg Wadden, and we highly recommend you add it to your itinerary. Put suddenvalleygolfcourse.com on your list of sites to peruse.
LAKE PADDEN
Lake Padden Golf Course is a magnificent muni
There are numerous recreational opportunities to be had at Bellingham’s 745-acre Lake Padden Park, and before taking on the Roy Goss/Glen Proctor-designed course who’s front nine opened in 1971, a year before the back, may we suggest a gentle stroll around the 2.5-mile lakeside loop. That will get the blood pumping before you head out onto one of the state’s most heavily wooded and beautiful courses.
It’s common practice for courses these days to remove trees — a trend we understand as they can harm turf and block views. We may be Pacific Northwesterners who love trees, but we also love healthy turf on our golf courses. Situated within a second-generation old-growth forest, Lake Padden Golf Course has a lot of sturdy specimens, but they’ve always been here and have remarkably little impact on the turf — take a bow superintendent Mike Votipka. The course wouldn’t be nearly as popular as it is if the trees were poorly managed and the resulting fairway corridors chokingly narrow.
They’re best avoided certainly, but the trees at Lake Padden are plenty far enough apart and a huge asset to what is one of the top five city-owned courses in Washington. And if you arrive in time for a Friday afternoon game, stick around in the evening for a live concert on the patio. Check out lakepaddengolf.com and read about their links and lake life.
N. BELLINGHAM
North Bellingham is Whatcom County’s North Star
North Bellingham opened in 1995 on a 200-acre, claw-shaped property (only half of which is used for the course) six miles north of downtown. Once a cow ranch, the land on which the course sits is unlike that of the stereotypical western Washington golf course cut through a deep forest. Rather, North Bellingham is strangely exposed to the prevailing southwesterly wind with views north to British Columbia’s North Shore and Coast Ranges and east toward magnificent Mt. Baker.
Head professional Nathan Vickers says the course has no major plans this year, though a new fleet of carts is on order and the practice range is due for some upgrades.
Demand for tee-times in the post-COVID world has meant that green fee specials are a rarity now, though, Vickers says, anyone spending $150 or more in the fully stocked pro shop does get a free round of golf in the afternoon.
The course always has one of the busiest tournament calendars in the region, and its packed 2023 schedule includes a Washington State Golf Association Amateur Championship qualifier in June and the Pacific Northwest Golf Association Junior Boys and Girls Championship in August. This is a western Washington golfer favorite course for sure. See northbellinghamgolf.com for more details.
SHUKSAN
Pretty as a picture, Shuksan shines
Designed by the course’s owner, Rick Dvorak, the original owner of Loomis Trail (Dvorak sold Loomis to a Japanese company that, in turn, sold it to Semiahmoo in 2000), Shuksan is wedged into a gorgeous, partly wooded, undulating 250-acre parcel between Axton and High Noon Roads, 10 miles northeast of Bellingham’s handsome City Hall.
It begins with an abrupt drop from the 1st tee — an invigorating opening shot. Then it follows a mostly clockwise path for the opening nine holes, the highlights being the sharp rise to the wide but extremely shallow par-5 4th green and the drivable par-4 5th, where the green sits in a bowl out of sight from the tee and where Mt. Baker forms an awesome backdrop.
Tenmile Creek affects play on a handful of holes and pops up later in the round, too. The anti-clockwise back nine was altered slightly five years ago when the heavily-wooded par-3 11th, 100 feet or so above the 10th green, was replaced by another par 3 at a lower elevation — a redesign that also meant changes to the tee shot at the 12th.
The most memorable hole on the back, perhaps the whole course, must be the 307-yard 15th, another drivable par 4 whose large, flat green sits well above the fairway. Go for glory or risk disaster — that’s fun golf. Visit shuksangolf.com for a deeper look.
WHIDBEY
You’re on island time at Whidbey Golf Club
Okay, we’ve moved out of Whatcom County and into Island County, but we wanted to include Whidbey as it rarely gets the attention it deserves. And though we went to press a few days before the club published the full details, we do know it is actively seeking new members in 2023. We also know newcomers will be offered unlimited golf and range balls “plus all the other benefits that come with golf club membership” for $259 a month.
General Manager Erik Dahlen calls it an ‘aggressive membership drive.’ That might not interest most Seattle golfers who probably aren’t looking to be members of a club 90-plus miles north of the Space Needle. Frankly though, we can’t think of anything much more pleasant than taking the Mukilteo-Clinton ferry on a Saturday morning and driving up to the course that opened in 1961 on beautiful, mostly flat ground a couple of miles west of Oak Harbor.
Born the Whidbey Golf & Country Club, the Board voted to drop the ‘Country’ part in 2013 to lose the club’s exclusivity tag. The new Whidbey Golf Club offered various new membership tiers as well as opening for public play. The move certainly attracted interest, but Whidbey GC remains something of a secret.
Let us be the ones to reveal how pleasant the golf here is. Go to whidbeygolf.com and see for yourself.
Other Great Options In Skagit and Whatcom Counties
Other courses within a two-hour drive north of Seattle that we always enjoy are:
Homstead Golf Club
Homestead in Lynden whose closing hole possesses an island green that makes the approach shot — be it your second or third — one of the most exciting in the state. homesteadgolfclub.com
Avalon Golf Links
Avalon’s 27 holes cover roughly 150 acres of the bucolic Skagit Valley. Avalon has been making a name for itself since it opened. avalonlinks.com
Swinomish Golf Links
And don’t forget Swinomish Golf Links, which is part of the Swinomish Casino and Lodge and enjoys views over both Fidalgo and Similk Bays. It’s gaining more and more attention — rightfully so. And a postgame meal and cocktail overlooking the water and surroundings at Swinomish Casino is purely breathtaking. swinomishcasinoandlodge.com