One Course Grows Into Two -- Eagle's Talon, Coyote Creek Sure-Fire Draws

REDMOND - This unprecedented year of quality golf-course openings in the Puget Sound region has concluded with the amoeba-like splitting of the 18-hole course at Willows Run into a pair of 18-hole layouts.

Eagle's Talon and Coyote Creek, both named after wildlife found on the courses, opened Friday. They are links-style courses in the Sammamish Valley and represent a welcome gain in the number of holes within 15 miles of downtown Seattle.

Eagle's Talon incorporates seven holes of the previous course, while Coyote Creek has nine. Architect Ted Locke of British Columbia designed 20 new holes on what was once rich farmland.

Eagle's Talon and Coyote Creek aren't the most spectacular courses to open this year, but probably will be the busiest. The previous Willows Run 18 was doing about 70,000 rounds a year.

The two Willows Run courses can't come close to matching the number of unforgettable holes of the dazzling but private Tournament Players Course at Snoqualmie Ridge. They don't have the drop-dead views of downtown Seattle and the Olympics or the majestic clubhouse of the Coal Creek Course at The Golf Club at Newcastle.

Bordering Willows Road and its office buildings, they don't have the total tranquility of Trophy Lake outside Port Orchard or Vicwood in Lacey.

What they are is good courses in a choice location. And by dividing, they erase the biggest complaint about the previous 18 - that three sets of holes, 1-10, 2-11 and 9-18, were too similar. In the new layout, each new course gets one of these "twins."

"We have a lot more variety now," said W. Travis Cox, director of golf.

Basically, the Eagle's Talon holes circle the perimeter of the property and the Coyote Creek holes are inside.

Eagle's Talon is the superior course. It is longer - 6,915 yards from the back tees, 6,315 from the whites - than Coyote Creek, where the distances are 6,375 and 5,831. It has a higher course rating 72.4 from back tees (what a scratch golfer would shoot) and 69.8 from whites. Coyote Creek's ratings are 69.5 and 67.3.

The slope (difficulty) rating from the back tees at Eagle's Talon is 122 and 117 from the whites (113 is average). The numbers for Coyote Creek are 118 and 114.

Eagle's Talon has what will become the most famous hole on the property - the island-green par-3 No. 17. It has no holes that strike you as ordinary the way that No. 9, a dull par-3, does on Coyote Creek.

Eagle's Talon also is completely up and running, while No. 17 on Coyote Creek is a temporary par-3 using a previous green for 4-6 weeks while new grass matures.

However, Coyote Creek has one thing Eagle's Talon lacks - dogleg holes. It also has tempting risk-reward holes such as the 305-yard, par-4 No. 7, where the long hitter is tempted to go for broke even if watery penalty strokes await failure.

The Willows Run complex might expand again before the year ends if the weather allows completion of the par-3 course on the south end of the property.

A putting course also is being built.

The goal is a full-service complex that can handle the needs of all golfers, from beginners to scratch players.

Willows Run is owned by Brian Patton, who also owns the much-praised Druids Glen course outside Kent.

Greens fees on both new courses are $39 Monday-Thursday and $49 on weekends.

There are various sunrise and twilight bargain rates. A nine-hole early-bird routing combining holes from both courses is planned to begin in a few weeks. ------------------------------- Western Washington public golf complexes with at least 27 holes

Adult weekend 18-hole rate. Avalon, Burlington, 27 holes $39 . Gold Mountain, Bremerton, 36 holes $26 (Cascade), $36 (Olympic). Lakelake Village, Allyn, 27 holes $28 . Lipoma Firs, Puyallup, 27 holes $24 . Meriwood-Vicwood, Lacey, 36 holes $38 (Vicwood), $49

(Meriwood, with

mandatory cart).

Newaukum, Chehalis, 27 holes $22 . Port Ludlow, 27 holes $55 . Willows Run, Redmond, 36 holes $49 .