Every year at Thanksgiving dinner, families gather around the table and take turns sharing what they’re thankful for this year. It’s no different around the offices of Cascade Golfer, where we often take time at the end of the year to note the many things that we’re thankful for from the year that’s about to conclude. Here’s our list:
1. For the combined vision of John Ladenburg, Robert Trent Jones, Jr., and Mike Davis. They looked at a gravel pit and saw a U.S. Open-level championship golf course, and thanks to them, Western Washington is just six months away from being talked about by every golfer, golf writer and golf fan in the world.
2. For a long, beautiful summer, that allowed us to play more golf in 2014 than we have in any year since we started this magazine. It wasn’t all birdies and high-fives, but our worst day on the golf course was better than our best day just about anywhere else.
3. For David McLay Kidd and the Gebbers family, who gave Washington its newest gem in August at Gamble Sands, in Brewster. If you didn’t make it to Gamble Sands this year, you must in 2015. It’s that fun.
4. For all of the hard-working golf pros, GMs, superintendents and other staff who keep our courses looking beautiful. They’re often up by 4:30 so that we can make our 5:30 a.m. summer morning tee times, and stay late into the night for that 6 p.m. twilight golfer, just to do it all again the next day. Without them, it’s just a bunch of grass and weeds. With them, it’s a golf course. The next time the greenskeeper stops mowing long enough for you to putt, be sure to say thanks — he works himself hard, for average pay, so the rest of us can have fun.
5. For you, our readers. You are the lifeblood not only of our magazine, but of the entire golf community in Washington state. As the number of golfers across America continues to decline, you are the ones keeping our wonderful courses — and all of those aforementioned employees — in business. Keep those sticks warm this winter, and meet us on the first tee next spring. It’s going to be another great year.
