Golf in Washington

Washington is the Pacific Northwest's defining state, a land of dramatic contrasts between the rain-soaked western slopes of the Cascade Range and the sun-drenched high desert plateau to the east. The Cascades divide Washington into two entirely different landscapes: the wet, forested coastal region with the Puget Sound's extraordinary network of waterways and the dry, agricultural eastern plateau where the Columbia River system has been harnessed for irrigation and hydroelectric power.

Golf in Washington reflects this geographic duality. Western Washington's courses play through the Pacific Northwest's characteristic Douglas fir and western red cedar forests, with frequent views of the Olympic Mountains, Mount Rainier, Mount Baker, or the Puget Sound waters. The region's mild, moist climate produces lush turf year-round, and the landscape's elevation changes create natural contours that give many courses their distinctive character. The Puget Sound metropolitan area supports an extraordinary concentration of quality golf, from the nationally celebrated public facilities at Chambers Bay in University Place and Salish Cliffs in Shelton to the world-class private clubs at Sahalee Country Club in Sammamish, where three major championships have been contested, and the historic Seattle Golf Club in Shoreline.

Eastern Washington's golf is defined by the high desert's abundant sunshine and the Columbia Basin's irrigated agricultural landscape. Spokane, the Inland Empire's metropolitan center, has developed a distinguished golf tradition anchored by Indian Canyon Golf Course (a 1930s WPA project consistently ranked among the Pacific Northwest's finest public courses) and the prestigious Manito Golf and Country Club. The Tri-Cities metropolitan area and the Yakima and Walla Walla valleys add wine country golf destinations to the eastern Washington portfolio, where sunny skies and the agricultural landscape create a completely different Pacific Northwest golf experience from the Sound's fog-draped fairways.

Washington's golf culture spans from the San Juan Islands archipelago (where Orcas Island Golf Course and Bald Eagle Golf Club on Point Roberts serve remote island communities) to the Columbia River Gorge's dramatic canyon settings, from the Olympic Peninsula's nationally recognized Salish Cliffs to the Cascade Mountain resort courses at Leavenworth and Snoqualmie. The 2015 US Open at Chambers Bay brought national attention to the Pacific Northwest and introduced the country to the fescue fairways and Puget Sound bluff-top setting that define one of the region's most celebrated modern designs. That championship established Washington's position in the national golf conversation alongside the already celebrated Sahalee, and the state's combination of outstanding public access at multiple price points and world-class private facilities continues to attract golfers from across the country who come to experience the Pacific Northwest's extraordinary natural landscape through the medium of golf.