7
Palouse Ridge • Pullman
Chalk another one up to the East-West dynamic. Just as with Chambers vs. Gamble, and Gold Mountain vs. Wine Valley, Palouse Ridge found itself battling in the rankings this year with a course that is much more accessible for a majority of CG readers. Indeed, Palouse Ridge scored an average of 5.7 points on the ballots on which it appeared, to just under 5.3 points per ballot for The Home Course. But, the latter course was included by 11 more readers than Palouse Ridge — a small number, to be sure, but more than enough to account for the 23-point difference in the final rankings.
We made our first trip to Palouse Ridge in 2015, and came back blown away by the incredible views, and inspired design (another John Harbottle creation, his second of three tracks on this list). Whether you play it as a whirlwind day trip (like we did), on a fall football weekend, or as part of an Eastern Washington golf getaway, just play it. If you do, we’re confident it will be on your ballot in 2021.