Golf Courses -- Fairways To Heaven -- Puget Sound Once Was Lacking In Quality Courses, But Not Anymore

So you think the 175-yard shot over water to a heavily bunkered green is a gamble?

Try spending more than $75 million as the developers of five new courses have done, and then hope people will pay as much as $125 a round to play them.

As far as golf goes, Puget Sound never has known a spring of such burgeoning growth, an exciting segue to the next century with the opening of five high-end courses, four of which are open to the public, and the fifth, Jack Nicklaus' Snoqualmie Ridge, the anticipated home of PGA tour events.

For an area that has traditionally lacked enough good courses, there is the possibility there will be too many.

Vicwood Links, the sister course to Meriwood in Lacey, opened earlier this month. Scott Oki's 36-hole masterpiece on the bald hill above Newcastle opens with 18 holes May 8, Snoqualmie Ridge is set to open to its members June 1, Orrin Vincent's Trophy Lake and Casting Club in Port Orchard debuts May 29, and the second 18 holes at Willows Run in Redmond are due to open in late July.

The most expensive and stunning is the 36-hole layout at Newcastle, the dream of former Microsoft executive Oki. At his expense and with the creative genius of Bob Cupp, who designed Pumpkin Ridge in Oregon, Oki has turned a landfill and coal mines into a course with massive views and expectations.

Greens fees are $125, which includes an hour on the range before the round starts.

At Snoqualmie Ridge, a Tournament Players course, membership fees are $42,500 for residents and $52,500 for non-residents. Guests of members pay $75 a round. Given the topography and the beauty of the ridge above Snoqualmie Falls, Weyerhaeuser's deep pockets and Nicklaus' reputation, some believe Snoqualmie Ridge will replace Sahalee as the No. 1 course in the state.

Trophy Lake, the newest in a line of theme courses built by Vincent, a former Seattle University golfer, will charge $58 during the week and $70 on weekends, prices that include cart rental.

Willows Run, the popular track built in the Sammamish Valley north of downtown Redmond, will become a 36-hole complex by dividing the existing 18 holes and adding new holes. One 18 will be tougher and longer than the other, but both will have the same price: $50 during the week, $60 on weekends.

The cheapest is also the farthest: Vicwood Links in Lacey, 2.2 miles off I-5 at exit 111. Because Vicwood is walkable and doesn't require a cart, greens fees are $32 during the week and $38 on the weekend. It is an easier course.

An update on the five new courses:

Trophy Lake

PORT ORCHARD - Spilling over high, rolling timberland with views of both the Olympics and Mount Rainier, Trophy Lake is a reminder of neighboring Gold Mountain, one more in a growing list of fine golf courses surrounding Bremerton.

But Trophy Lake Golf and Casting, due to open May 29, is different. It is a kind of public country club, from its rustic lodge-style clubhouse to its fleet of golf carts and fairway-side ponds stocked with fish.

Trophy Lake is another in the growing list of resort courses built with a theme by OB Sports, of which the O is Orrin Vincent, a former Seattle U. golfer whose son, O.D., is the golf coach at Washington.

There is The Gallery (Southwest art) in Tucson, Langdon Farms in Portland, the Reserve Vineyards in nearby Aloha, Ore., and soon-to-be-built Washington National in Auburn, whose theme is the University of Washington and which will be the future home of the Huskies.

Like the others in the Vincent portfolio, Trophy Lake is not the centerpiece of a housing development. It boasts great practice facilities. The idea is to give a country-club experience without country-club dues.

Designed by John Fought, Trophy Lake looks more difficult than it is, meandering through wetlands but seldom crossing them. The fairway landing areas are large, trees surround the property but seldom come into play, and white-sand bunkers provide the biggest hazard.

The course is built on imported sand, and like Gold Mountain, should provide good wet-weather play.

The deal here is corporate outings. The course can be rented for a shotgun start in July for $6,000. Daily rates - which include carts, although you can walk if you want - are $58 during the week and $70 on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Trophy Lake

Opening date - May 29.

Length - 7,206/6,162/5,342.

Cost of project - $10.6 million.

Architect - John Fought.

Driving range - Yes.

Shoe policy - Spikeless mandatory.

Cost - $58/$70 (includes cart).

Walking - Yes.

Phone - 360-874-8337.

Vicwood Links

LACEY - Vicwood Links is the second 18 holes in a 36-hole development that is among the best in the Northwest. Vicwood is the sensible sister of nearby and notorious Meriwood.

Located north of Lacey and west of I-5, on the edge of the Meridian Campus Complex, Meriwood is a tough track. A harder McCormick Woods, winding through dense woods and wetlands and getting to diabolic greens is just half the battle.

So when it came time to add 18 across the road, the idea was to make it more playable and walkable (a cart is necessary at Meriwood because there are such long distances between greens and tees). Architect Peter Thompson, who designed Indian Summer, has done that.

Vicwood Links - named for developer Vicwood Chong, a lumber tycoon from Hong Kong - is a graceful, Northwest-style links course. It has lots of mounds, very few trees, an occasional sprig of scotch broom and views of Puget Sound.

There is water on 14 of the 18 holes, but it comes into play on just five of them. There are two water carries, but they both come on short - from the white tees - par 3s.

Meriwood was named among the top 75 "affordable" courses in the country, meaning greens fees are less than $50. It has hosted qualifying tournaments for the Nike tour. But it isn't for everybody.

"We've had a course that you can't walk and is too tough for seniors and women," said Ron Coleman, who manages the complex. "We didn't need another one."

Vicwood is a throwback course. It invites one to play well. Built on that good, porous earth near Olympia, it will drain well in the winter. It is more about customers than architects and their egos.

And it can be walked, realistically as well as legally. Tees are actually near greens.

Because it is a fair drive to Lacey, the exciting proposal by the new complex is a 36-hole deal that includes practice balls; a round at Vicwood without cart; lunch and a round at Meriwood with the mandatory cart. The total tariff is $73 Monday through Thursdays and $87 on weekends. For $99, one could ride both courses, but why?

Vicwood Links

Opened - April 1.

Length - 6,887/6,338/5,202.

Project cost - $6.5 million.

Architect - Peter Thompson.

Driving range - Yes.

Shoe policy - Spikeless preferred.

Walking - Yes.

Greens fees - $32/$38 ($43/$49 including cart for Meriwood).

Phone - 1-800-55-TEEIT.

PGA Tournament Players Course at Snoqualmie Ridge

This private club designed by Jack Nicklaus will open June 1.

It will attract national attention for three reasons - 1) Nicklaus; 2) The affiliation with the PGA Tour; 3) Its postcard-perfect beauty, which will diminish but won't disappear as homes are built along the fairways.

Nicklaus, who has seemed genuinely involved and excited about Snoqualmie Ridge, has said:

"I have two philosophies in golf. One, play golf in a pretty place. And two, as an architect, if I can design great golf shots, all the better."

The course also seems destined to be the site of a PGA Senior Tour or possibly a regular Tour stop. That's because the PGA Tour is obligated to place a non-Nike Tour event here for five years as part of its licensing contract with the course.

The Tournament Players Course at Snoqualmie Ridge will become the fourth TPC course licensed by the PGA Tour. The Tour owns 14 other courses called Tournament Players Clubs. Members at Snoqualmie Ridge will have reciprocal privileges at both TPC courses and clubs.

The course, which has taken three years to build, is the centerpiece of a huge Weyerhaeuser real-estate development overlooking the town of Snoqualmie. Some holes have a view of Snoqualmie Falls, which is about 1 1/2 miles away.

The most talked-about hole is sure to be the 14th, which is a classic risk-reward par-4 over a ravine. The hole is 400 yards from back tees, 316 from whites.

Snoqualmie Ridge is set to open June 1. Nicklaus, who has an artificial hip, will play it July 1 and explain his design shot by shot.

Snoqualmie Ridge hired greens superintendent Tom Wolfe away from Sahalee after the successful PGA Championship. The director of golf is Lindsey Taft, who comes from Heritage Highlands in Marana, Ariz. Mark Granberg, popular pro at Jackson Park, will join the staff.

Although there was early talk of the course being available for limited public play until all memberships were sold, the word now is that the layout will be strictly private. It's expensive, too - the initiation fee for a non-resident membership is $52,500.

A chance to play Snoqualmie Ridge will be among the most coveted golf invitations in the Northwest.

TPC at Snoqualmie Ridge

Opening date - June 1.

Length - 7,295 yards championship tees, 6,075 white tees, 5396 front tees.

Par - 72.

Cost of project - Unannounced (estimates are in $20 million range).

Architect - Jack Nicklaus.

Driving range - Yes.

Shoe policy - Softspikes preferred.

Walking policy - Motorized carts only (5.8 miles of cart path).

Cost - Initiation fee for family living at Snoqualmie Ridge development $42,500; for non-residents, $52,500. Plan is to have 100 non-resident members, 350 resident members. Monthly dues $300 whether in or out of community. Corporate memberships at $62,500 also available.

Phone - 1-800-982-2290 or 425-306-5055.

The Golf Club at Newcastle Coal Creek Course

No course in the state can claim better views.

This is the course on the hill south of Newport Hills that can be seen from some Seattle neighborhoods. From the course of the 44,000-square foot clubhouse, there is a commanding view of Seattle, the Olympics and Cascades. The clubhouse can be used for golf or non-golf events and even has a cigar lounge.

The course is the dream of Oki, who took up golf in 1990 and quickly became addicted. Next year, Coal Creek's sister course, China Creek, will open to complete what is billed as "Washington state's most spectacular 36-hole golf complex."

Oki's other golf courses are the Plateau Country Club near Issaquah, Indian Summer Country Club in Olympia and the public Echo Falls Country Club outside Woodinville.

Coal Creek opens May 8 and will get maximum exposure July 26-27 as the site of the Fred Couples Invitational. Couples had a hand in the design with noted architect Bob Cupp.

The much-delayed Coal Creek course (clearing began in 1995) will cost $125 to play until Oct. 15, when greens fees go down to $95. The summer twilight rate is $75 and will drop to $55 after Oct. 15.

Coal Creek

Opening - May 8 for public play.

Length - 7,024 championship tees, 6,011 whites, 5,153 forward.

Ratings and slope ratings - Championship 73.7 rating (what an expert would shoot), 133 slope (difficulty) rating (113 is average); whites, 68.5, 122; forward, 69.4, 119.

Project cost - Unannounced (believed to be at least $40 million total for two courses.)

Course architect - Bob Cupp (Fred Couples design consultant).

Driving range - Yes (will open in July). Will include teaching facility.

Putting course - 18-hole putting course expected to open in July.

Shoe policy - No metal spikes allowed (course will change spikes for $10 fee).

Walking - Permitted, however no pull carts allowed. Caddies available.

Green fees - Through Oct. 15, $125 (includes cart and 1-hour range time). Twilight rate (after 4 p.m.) $75.

Phone - For information, call 425-455-0606; reservation line becomes operational May 1 and will be 425-793-GOLF (4653).

Memberships - Although it is primarily a public course, frequent-player plans are available.

Willows Run

Like an amoeba, the 305-acre Sammamish Valley complex in Redmond is reproducing. Sometime this year, it will have gone from an 18-hole course to a pair of 18-hole courses plus a nine-hole, par-3 layout and a separate putting course.

Pro Evan Davis said the goal is to have courses that match players' abilities - beginner, mid-handicap and low-handicap.

The project will increase variety and should erase existing criticism that some holes, such as 1 and 10 or 9 and 18, at Willows Run are too much alike.

The toughest course will be Eagle's Talon, which will combine 11 holes of the existing course with seven new ones. From championship tees, it will play about 6,800 yards and some of the fairways will be narrow. It will feature an island green on the par-4, 17th hole.

The other 18-hole course will be called Coyote Creek and will combine seven existing holes with 11 new ones. Its maximum length will be 6,300 yards.

The course names come from Willows Run wildlife. The designer is Ted Locke of British Columbia, who specializes in links course design.

Greens fees on the two 18-hole courses will be the same - $60 on summer weekends.

Davis said 18 holes always will be open this spring and summer until all 36 are ready for play.

Weeks after the 18-hole courses open (tentatively late July to August), the nine-hole, par-27 course is due to open the southern end of the property. That's about the time an artificial-surface putting course will open, too.

Willows Run

Project - Using additional property, building two courses that both incorporate holes from the existing 18-hole layout. Also, adding a par-3 course and a putting course.

Opening date for 18-hole courses - Tentatively, late July to August.

Length - Eagle's Talon, 6,800 est., 6,200 est., 5,600 est. Coyote Creek, 6,300 est., 5,500 est., 5,000 est.

Par - 72 on both courses.

Project cost - $9 million (doesn't include land acquisition).

Architect - Ted Locke, British Columbia.

Driving range - Yes.

Shoe policy - Softspikes preferred.

Walking - Permitted.

Green fees - If open in August, $60 (Fri-Sun) and $50 (Mon-Thurs); twilight rate available. Pricing on both courses will be the same.

Phone - 425-883-1200; or on the Web: www.willowsrun.com.