Seattle-based Premier Golf — which manages municipal courses throughout the Puget Sound region, including Jackson Park, Jefferson Park, West Seattle, Legion Memorial, Bellevue Golf Course, Lake Spanaway and many others — was the first to break its news this spring, announcing on the final day of March that it had added two more courses to its impressive portfolio, including Cedarcrest in Marysville and the Crossroads Par-3 Course in Bellevue.
Cedarcrest, built in 1927 and redesigned by John Steidel (Apple Tree, Canyon Lakes, Eaglemont, Highlander, Legion Memorial, Lynnwood GC), is one of the region’s oldest and most well-known courses. Tall trees guard the fairways of the 6,000-yard, par-70 trackm while more than 50 new bunkers installed as part of the redesign in 2010 protect classically small Northwest greens.
Crossroads, meanwhile, is a popular par-3 track in Bellevue, typically thronged on summer afternoons and weekends by families, beginners and more experienced golfers looking to bang out nine holes in an hour while working on their short game. The course also joined Premier brethren Fort Steilacoom in adding a FootGolf course in 2015, combining Seattle’s love of golf and soccer into a fun family sport.
For local golfers, the change should be a good one. As the list of terrific munis above will attest, Premier has a strong reputation in local course management, providing Seattle-area golfers with quality tracks at reasonable rates. They’re also not afraid to put money back into their properties, as the recent driving range construction at Jackson, Jefferson and Bellevue will attest. In addition, Premier Golf card holders — particularly those in the Everett area — will now have another option for a discounted round, to go along with Everett properties Legion Memorial and Walter Hall.
While Premier Golf was busy adding courses, meanwhile, Oki was reducing its number by one — sort of. The Bellevue-based company, which manages some of the region’s most acclaimed courses, including Washington National, The Golf Club at Newcastle, Harbour Pointe and Hawks Prairie, announced in April that it had sold The Golf Club at Echo Falls to an outside investor, who then immediately hired Oki to manage the course’s day-to-day operations.
The Snohomish course, located just off of Highway 522 between Woodinville and Monroe, was the first course ever purchased by former Microsoft executive Scott Oki, in 1994, who has since expanded his ownership to 11 Seattle-area tracks, including nine public and two private. As part of the agreement, Echo Falls will continue to be a part of the popular Oki Golf Players Card, which provides discounted rounds to all nine Oki public courses.
While Echo will be the first course that Oki has managed without owning, it will almost certainly not be the last.
“We are very excited about launching our golf course management services and the opportunity this new endeavor offers Oki Golf for future growth,” says David Hein, Oki’s vice president of sales and business development.
