Sahalee Country Club, Washington

The par three 17th at Sahalee Country Club in Sammamish, Washington.

I recently traveled to Seattle, Washington for my first author’s conference. The seminar was run by Writing Day Workshops, who did a terrific job showcasing hundreds of writers and giving us the opportunity to pitch our stories to several literary agents and publishers. The authors embodied all experience levels, from beginning writers to best sellers. It was a terrific event and I recommend a conference to anyone driven to write for a living.

I flew into Emerald City on Friday morning and picked up a rental car in the parking lot of SeaTac airport. I budgeted a few hours in the morning to do some sightseeing. Being a massive fan of the quirky ‘90s mystery television show Twin Peaks, I had to make it out east to Snoqualmie Falls and Twede’s Café. A member at Sahalee Country Club generously offered to take me out that Friday afternoon. For years, I have been aware of Sahalee’s reputation as a giant in the pacific northwest golf scene. The Ted Robinson design has hosted a litany of events: in 1998, Vijay Singh won the PGA Championship at Sahalee; Bernhard Langer took home the 2010 U.S. Senior Open here; and six years later, Brooke Henderson emerged victorious the KPMG Women’s PGA champion at the club. Sahalee will host next year’s KPMG, too. It had been on my list for quite some time, and I was very excited to check it out.

Golf Digest ranks Sahalee’s championship routing—consisting of the South and North nines, in that order—as 171st in the United States. For years, the 1969 design was featured in its top 100. I read many reviews before stepping on the grounds referring to Sahalee’s trees as “invasive” and “overbearing”. I found these characterizations to be dramatic.

Driving into the property, you are greeted by the gargantuan Douglas firs that define Sahalee Country Club. Before the ’98 PGA, Colin Montgomerie said: “From above, I’m sure it looks like you can only walk down the fairways single file.” In my opinion, the trees give a unique look to the property not seen anywhere else. Oftentimes golf courses cannot be distinguished by a single picture; Sahalee is not one of these courses. Many old school clubs are going the route of chopping down trees to restore the property. To chop down the lumber at Sahalee would be to remove it of its character.

I’ll be honest: I do not understand why Sahalee continues to tumble in national golf course rankings. I believe it to be in part the product of shiny new courses popping up every which way in the United States. I may be a sucker for the lush green complex and tall, tall trees, but Sahalee is more than that. Obviously, you need to keep your drives straight here. The beautiful pines are memorable and penal. The fairways are compact, and the greens have a bit of waviness to them. The bunkers had just renovated in the months preceding my visit.

The club has a great collection of par threes; my favorites were holes nine and 17. The ninth is a mid-range par three with a bunker and water hazard left and the clubhouse to the right. Word to the wise: the green slopes more forward than you can imagine! I hit a beautiful second shot from the trap on the right and nailed the uphill six-footer for my greatest par save of the day. My favorite stretch of holes at Sahalee is the 14ththrough the 17th (five through eight on North). This quartet features back-to-back-to-back interesting, medium length par fours, followed by the signature par three. The 17th is a gorgeous, downhill 215-yard hole with water short and right, pine trees behind, and penal bunkers to the left and behind the green. It’s the hole at Sahalee you’re most likely to stand on a tee box and utter to yourself: “Wow.”

The member who sponsored my visit, Aly, was an exceptional host and an even better guy. There’s taking someone out to your club because you feel obligated and then there’s Aly, who showed off his course and knew the ins and outs of its historical relevance. It was clear to me the man loved Sahalee Country Club. I told him a bit about my writing journey and the blog I had just started. In response, he showed me all the best spots to snap a photograph. The proof is in the pudding: Aly, the photographer of this post’s headline image, purchased a copy of my children’s book Kate is Late in the parking lot after our round. He texted me that evening to let me know he read it to his two young sons.

If you have not been able to tell by my writing yet, I loved the back (North) nine. 10, 11, 14, 15, 16, and 17 are all great holes. My biggest qualm—if you could call it that—with Sahalee is the subjective lack of character on the front nine. The South was relatively flat and benign compared to the North. The back is full of variety and elevation changes not found on the opening nine. Two and eight might be the only true “great” holes on the South. Speaking of, the eighth is a monster of a par four, a dogleg right that spans 444 yards and has long bunkers left and huge pine trees right. Aly warned me beforehand of the danger and informed me bogey was a more than worthy score on the hole.

The Washington golf scene has some of the best variety in the country. In my limited experience, there are three distinct types of golf to be played in the Evergreen State: first, the faux links found at Chambers Bay and Gamble Sands; second, tracks of notable elevation changes and sweeping vistas like Aldarra and Gold Mountain; and lastly, the cedar lined, old school country clubs like Sahalee and Seattle. Sahalee is a visually mesmerizing golf course that demands precision and, though smack dab in the middle of a neighborhood, feels secluded. It is also incredibly walkable. Bottom line, I would place Sahalee somewhere firmly between 10th and 20th on a list of the best courses I’ve ever played. I could see how the inexperienced, casual golfer might dislike Sahalee, but I found it to be a fair test to one’s accuracy. Historically speaking, there’s no greater place to tee it up in Washington. It’s a wonderful stroll in the woods.