By Tony Dear
In recent years, I admit to being guilty of rejecting one of society’s oldest and wisest ethics in judging a book by its cover. Worse, this judgment has been based on only fleeting glimpses.
Actually, it’s not a book. It’s a golf course – Similk Beach GC or, what is now, Swinomish Golf Links.
Driving down Highway 20 en route to the ferry terminal at Anacortes, I’d glance left and spot what appeared to be one of the most boring golf courses imaginable. Dead flat, with holes that looked dead straight, and without many trees or hazards that I could see, it looked about as intriguing as a rebroadcast of a city council meeting. The shot values seemed similar to those you’d find at a driving range.
You can only tell so much from a two-second peek at 50mph though.
Jim Turner who built the first nine holes in 1927 (the second nine was added nearly 30 years later) was no Alister Mackenzie or Tom Fazio. He had no training in golf course design, and didn’t go to Britain to study the great links courses like so many golf course architects do. Consequently, his was not the most compelling design in the history of golf.
But then, Turner wasn’t building a course to host a major championship. And he didn’t have a budget like that which Clifford Roberts and Bobby Jones had access to at Augusta National (Mackenzie) or Steve Wynn had at Shadow Creek (Fazio).
No, Turner was a fisherman who harvested oysters in Similk Bay before tragically losing his life on an oyster barge at the age of 32. And he built the course not for an elite membership of politicians and industrialists or high-rolling gamblers, but for the community.
As for the design, I’m guessing Turner had at least some idea of what made a golf hole interesting because he used what elevation changes there were to good use. The 1st would be wholly forgettable were it not for the sharp rise in the ground 50 yards short of the green; same at the 3rd where the incline up to the plateau putting surface is even more acute.
The only unremarkable hole is the 8th, a 300-yarder that is flat and straight and which could definitely use a pitch over a creek, a second bunker to go along with the small round pit short of the green, or even a slight kink in the fairway. My favorite hole is the uphill par 3 11th, a 147-yard pitch between two ridges.
As the name suggests, Swinomish Golf Links is now the property of the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community which purchased roughly 250 acres – land which included the golf course – from the Morgan-Turner family in September of last year. The family had owned the land since the early 1900s but, until Governor Isaac Stevens signed the Treaty of Point Elliott in January 1855, it had belonged to the Swinomish.
Local news outlets reported that Tribal Chairman Brian Cladoosby, who last October was elected to serve as the 21st President of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), became emotional as the deal was made saying he couldn’t describe the feeling in my heart knowing we have secured the original boundary of our reservation for future generations’. “I get choked up just thinking about how many generations of Swinomish people have waited for this day,” he added.
Although Cladoosby says the Tribe’s main objective was to restore the reservation’s old boundaries, he adds that he is excited to add the golf course to the Swinomish Casino and Lodge’s list of amenities. “It’s an exciting addition as we continue to establish our property as a true Pacific Northwest destination,” he says.
There are no great plans yet for a major renovation, although Cladoosby and lodge General Manager Dallas Widmark have hired Anacortes, WA native Matt Atterbury, the former superintendent at the Suncadia Resort in Roslyn, to improve the course’s conditioning.
“When we set out to find our Superintendent, we ideally wanted someone who was well versed and educated in the fields of agronomy and horticulture, possessed experience at a high quality course, was familiar with the growing conditions of the area, was familiar with the course, and as local as possible to maintain familiarity with our members and our local daily player base,” says Widmark. “Matt fit the bill with his formal education, his tenure at Suncadia, and the fact he grew up in Anacortes where his family still resides, and grew up playing the old Similk Bay Golf Course.”
Atterbury is gradually capping the course with sand to help it drain better, and will make other minor cosmetic improvements in the months ahead. “Matt will lead the effort to make these improvements without disrupting play or making any radical changes,” says Cladoosby. “As they are implemented, and as time passes, our long term plans will become apparent.”
Stay/Play packages at Swinomish Casino and Lodge include gaming coupons and credit.
Swinomish joins an established, not to say impressive, collection of casino courses in the Pacific Northwest – half a dozen highly-rated 18-hole venues (and one nine-hole executive track) headed by two superb Gene Bates-designed courses – Circling Raven in Worley, ID., and Salish Cliffs in Shelton, WA., 25 minutes north of Olympia.
Photo courtesy of Circling Raven
Circling Raven, part of the Coeur d’Alene Resort Hotel and owned by the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, opened in 2003 on 620 acres and continues to feature in national rankings. Golfweek rates Circling Raven the 99th best Resort course in the US, the 24th best casino course in the US, and the third best course in Idaho (though frankly, I’m not convinced about the two above it).
As it has been ever since going up a whole $5 in 2007, the peak summer green fee is still $95 – remarkable value for a course so highly acclaimed, and $175 and $55 less than the courses immediately above and below it on Golfweek’s list of Best Resort Courses. Stay and play packages, meanwhile, start at $199.
One golfer who hopes to make time for a round at Circling Raven this year is Scotland’s Jimmy Gunn, a native of Dornoch and member of Royal Dornoch GC who played in the friendly Ryder Cup-style match between the two clubs in 2005. Gunn has been sponsored by the Tribe for the past few seasons, and last December finished tied for sixth at the Web.com qschool thus qualifying for the first 12 events of the 2014 season at least. “I can’t wait to get back to Circling Raven,” says Gunn who sadly missed two cuts and had a withdrawal in his first three tournaments of the year. “I’ve only been back twice since ’05. As far as the course goes, it’s definitely in my top-ten. It’s always in great shape, and has some amazing views. Plus you’re always made to feel very welcome.”
Director of Golf Tom Davidson won PGA Merchandiser of the Year for 2013 – the fourth time the club has won the award in the past six years – and on March 13th the Tribe donated almost $1.3m to 52 educational programs throughout the region – the 5% of gaming profits the Tribe donates every year (the first checks in 1994 totaled $6,000. Over $21m has been distributed since then).
Award-winning merchandising and sizeable Tribal donations won’t help you carry the creek at the intriguing par 4 10th hole, or hit it 300 yards down the gorgeous par 5 12th necessarily. But it won’t hurt you to know it.
Photo courtesy Salish Cliffs Golf Club
Likewise, the knowledge that Salish Cliffs is the only course in the world to be certified Salmon-Safe (Salmon-Safe is an independent nonprofit founded by the Pacific Rivers Council more than ten years ago, and now based in Portland, OR. ) won’t enable you to golf your ball any better, but it’s comforting to know you are not playing one of the state’s top-rated courses, and putting on the seriously smooth greens, at the expense of the fish in nearby Skookum Creek which empties out into the Little Skookum Inlet and eventually Puget Sound. Jeff Dickinson, a fish biologist and assistant director of natural resources for the Squaxin Island tribe which owns the course, recently told Subaru’s ‘drive’ magazine (yeah right, who knew Subaru produced a magazine with golf-related articles?) that Salish Cliffs decided to pursue Salmon-Safe certification, which monitors water and pesticide use on the course, even before it opened. And the course’s superintendent, Bob Pearsall, says it was important to the Tribe to protect watersheds and enhance the fish and wildlife habitat. “We also wanted to demonstrate to others that we could develop this kind of project while still adhering to the standards we expect of everyone else,” says Pearsall.
To achieve the necessary standards Pearsall had to implement an Integrated Pest Management Plan and wildlife plan, continually monitor water quality, effectively manage stormwater, protect wetland and native vegetation and use the water resources available to him efficiently and responsibly. “It started with the course design,” he says. “Salish Cliffs was designed with stormwater management in mind.”
Now that Salish Cliffs has been open two and a half years, it’s easy to forget the painfully long and arduous period Gene Bates, Pearsall, and the Tribe withstood before finally opening the course in September 2011.
“Yes, the process did drag on a long time,” Bates says now. “We broke ground in June 2006, but the faltering economy made it a very stop/start job.” Bates didn’t give up hope though. “I never really thought it wouldn’t get built,” he remembers. “The Tribal elders kept telling me to be patient and that it would happen eventually. I clung to their words, and I knew they had the resources to complete the course. It made total sense to stop when we did. But that’s in the past, and the course turned out great.”
Like Circling Raven, Salish Cliffs is also rated No. 3 in its state by Golfweek (at least this time the two courses above it – Chambers Bay and Wine Valley – are legit), but it places higher in the ‘Resort’ and ‘Casino’ categories – 55th and 9th respectively. The club has expanded its youth and beginner programs (two Get Golf Ready series, Salish Cliffs Coaching Club, Squaxin Island Clinic, Short Game School, and Express Playing Lessons), and for $100 you can become a member of the Men’s or Ladies Clubs which give you a GHIN index, entry into Salish Cliff tournaments, priority entries for PNW PGA Chapter and Section Pro-Member events, an engraved bag tag and shaft labels (first time members only, if desired), a discounted golf rate when participating in certain SCGC sanctioned events, and a Rules book. A midweek stay/play package in April costs $219 including golf for two, one night’s accommodation, cart and range balls, and a voucher book good for discounts at the golf shop and hotel – the Little Creek Casino Resort.
Photo courtesy Whitehorse Golf Club
The Cynthia Dye-McGarey-designed White Horse GC in Indianloa has been a casino course since February 2010 when the Suquamish Tribe’s business arm, Port Madison Enterprises (PME), acquired the 396-acre development that had felt the full force of the economic downturn. One hundred and fifty-nine empty lots were included in the purchase. The Suquamish own the Clearwater Casino Resort six miles east of Poulsbo on the Kitsap Peninsula, and ten miles south of the golf course.
In much the same way as the Swinomish’s reservation grew in September 2013 so the Suquamish’s reservation expanded 283 acres in February when US Department of the Interior Indian Affairs Assistant Secretary Kevin Washburn approved the Tribe’s request to enlarge the boundary of the Port Madison Indian Reservation to include White Horse GC.
The course, though ranked among the country’s best new layouts when it opened in 2007, was considered too difficult by many visitors, and the decision was taken in 2012 to soften its sharpest edges. Tacoma’s John Harbottle removed 62 bunkers and 200 trees in a $700,000 renovation that enhanced the course’s reputation, enabling it record double-digit increases in rounds played.
White Horse’s 22,000sqft post and beam clubhouse has been open for just over a year, filling the void the course had endured since it opened. “It was the missing link,” Director of Golf Operations, Bruce Christy, said.
In a short time, the clubhouse, designed by DH Briant Associates of Bainbridge Island and built by Korsmo Construction of Tacoma, has become a favorite venue on the Kitsap Peninsula for meetings, celebrations, weddings etc., and the Cedar Ridge Grill has established a solid reputation under the guidance of Executive Chef Thomas Kollasch.
On the Olympic Peninsula, five miles northwest of Sequim and 14 miles east of Port Angeles, is the Cedars at Dungeness, owned since 2007 by the Jamestown S’Klallam which became federally recognized in 1981, and which also owns the 7 Cedars Casino. The 6,456-yard golf course originally opened in 1969 and was designed by the very underrated Jack Reimer who was also responsible for Twin Lakes in Federal Way, Fairwood in Renton, Oakbrook in Lakewood, the Cascade Course at Gold Mountain, Lake Wilderness in Maple Valley, and Lake Spanaway which he finished following AV Macan’s death in 1964.
Weekend rounds at the Cedars in April cost $40.
In Oregon, the pick of the casino courses is definitely Ocean Dunes in Florence which the Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians (owners of the Three Rivers Casino) purchased to add to the hotel/casino’s list of amenities in March of 2012. Built on sand, Ocean Rivers opened as a nine-holer in 1961, but was purchased 31 years later by course designer Bill Robinson who built nine more holes, transforming the course into a very popular attraction. Four months after the Tribes took control of the course, they hired Robinson to make improvements which basically meant making it more playable for a greater number of people. Underbrush was cleared, trees taken out, and fairways widened.
The regular 18-hole rate at Ocean Dunes is $48, and several packages are also available. For $163 before May, two golfers get 18 holes, accommodations, shuttle to the course, and slot machine credits.
Elsewhere in Oregon, Wildhorse Resort & Casino’s 18-hole John Steidel-designed course is always popular. Owned by the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the course opened in 1997 and stretches to 7,112 yards. Weekend packages here start at $160 for a standard Courtyard room and go up to $270 in a Tower Vista Suite.
Chinook Winds, a few miles north of Lincoln City, is a pleasant executive course that the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, which owns the Chinook Winds Casino Resort, purchased along with the adjoining health club in April 2005 from Lakeside LLC.
If you like to mix a little golf with a lot of gambling, or vice versa, the odds are good you’ll find somewhere to play in the Pacific Northwest.
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