Cascade Golfer Online

Puget Sound Pros Off to Fast Start

Heather Flyte — Tue, 15 May 2012 21:11:26 +0000

With wins on the PGA, Nationwide and Champions Tours already this season, it’s been a sunny start to 2012 for the Home Team

By Brian Beaky

How do you do it, Boom-Boom? Fifty-three years young, Fred Couples has already pocketed over $500,000 in 2012 with a Champions Tour win and a tie for 12th at The Masters — and is just three months away from his return home for August's Boeing Classic at TPC Snoqualmie Ridge.

With the Players Championship behind us, and the U.S. Open just a few weeks away, the professional golf season is nearing its halfway point — which makes it a good time to check in on how our local pros are faring so far this year (in descending order of 2012 earnings):

KYLE STANLEY
Stanley’s tragedy-to-triumph story (CG, April 2012) in February was one of the most compelling of the entire PGA Tour season, earning the Bellarmine Prep alum his first Tour win and a million-dollar paycheck. That win, combined with four other top-25s, have the 24-year-old 11th in the FedEx Cup standings through the Players.

FRED COUPLES
Freddy makes it look so easy — another Champions Tour win (at March’s Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic), another outstanding weekend at The Masters (tied for 12th, his third-straight top-15 effort at Augusta and the 16th of his career) and another cool half-million in the bank before Memorial Day. In other words, just another typically outstanding spring for the Northwest’s favorite son.

RYAN MOORE
Puyallup native was in the hunt on Sunday at May’s Wells Fargo Championship, finishing with his second-straight top-10, and his third in four weeks — just one fewer than the 29-year-old had all of last year. Strong start ranks him 50th in the current FedEx Cup standings, with June’s Travelers Championship — where he finished a heartbreaking second last year — right around the corner.

ANDRES GONZALES
Quick, which two Northwest golfers have appeared on the front page of ESPN.com in the last 12 months? Couples and … Andres Gonzales, who earned the attention of columnist Rick Reilly last June for his unique personality. The 29-year-old Olympia native is earning attention this year for his play on the golf course, including a win at April’s PGA Nationwide Tour Soboba Golf Classic in California. With nearly $200,000 in earnings, he’s second in the Nationwide Tour standings, and a strong bet to earn a return to the PGA Tour for the 2013 season.

RICHARD H. LEE
No golfer has a better Q School tale than former Washington Husky Richard H. Lee, who played the last five holes at Q School five-under-par — including an eagle and a 40-foot birdie putt — to squeak into the top-25 and earn his PGA Tour card by a mere one stroke. Has played in 11 events already in 2012, tying for 15th at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am in February and making two additional cuts to tally $140,000 in earnings.

TROY KELLY
Thirty-four year-old Tacoma native and former Husky placed 11th on the Nationwide Tour last year to earn his full Tour card for 2012. Like Lee, has played 11 times in 2012, making five cuts and earning just over $68,000 on the year.

ALEX PRUGH
After struggling out of the gate in his first return to the Nationwide Tour since 2009, the 28-year-old UW grad bounced back with a tie for 14th at the South Georgia Classic in April, his second top-15 of the year. A couple more finishes like that will put him right in range to climb into the coveted top-25, each of whom earn Tour cards for the following year.

PAIGE MACKENZIE
Former Husky and Yakima native has made four cuts on the LPGA Tour in 2012, adding just over $16,000 to her more than half million in career Tour earnings.

KIRK TRIPLETT
Moses Lake native Kirk Triplett made the most of his first season of Champions Tour eligibility, placing eighth at the Encompass Insurance Pro-Am in Tampa just two weeks after his 50th birthday. Has since played in one additional Champions Tour event, with a best finish in 2012 of fourth at the Nationwide Tour’s Colombia Championship in February.

MICHAEL PUTNAM
Made seven straight cuts on the PGA Tour last year and had earned over $400,000 by mid-July, before a broken wrist forced him to shut down completely for eight month. After more than half a year watching golf on TV from his home in University Place, has eased back in this spring, tying for ninth at Nationwide Tour’s PGA Stonebrae Championship and appearing in two PGA Tour events. Has two more chances this spring to pocket enough money to take advantage of an injury exemption and retain his PGA Tour card for 2012, starting with this week’s Byron Nelson Championship.

JEFF GOVE
Forty-year-old Seattle native has played in eight Nationwide Tour events in 2012, making three cuts.

Mizuno JPX 800 HD Irons

Heather Flyte — Tue, 15 May 2012 16:00:52 +0000

Puetz Golf Price: $699.95-$899.95

Mizuno irons have long had a reputation across the municipal golf courses of America as a player’s iron. If you showed up on the first tee and saw that one of the guys you were paired with was playing Mizunos, it was a good bet that he was headed for the blue tees.

Last year, however, Mizuno took their Tour-quality reputation into the game-improvement world with the JPX 800, a club designed specifically to help mid- and high-handicappers by increasing distance and forgiveness from tight lies. The HD — high-distance — line takes that model to the next level, replacing the 4- and 5-irons with easy-to-hit JPX FLI-HI hybrids while further enhancing the line’s high-MOI qualities with a lower center of gravity and perimeter weighting.

Despite the many advantages, though — including Mizuno’s Hot Metal and MAX COR technology in the face for explosive distance — the line retains the classic chrome styling and superior feel that have made Mizunos so popular with top players for decades … meaning you can now look like a scratch golfer, even while you’re still learning to play like one.

Like their players’ iron counterparts — the forged JPX-800 Pros — the JPX-800 HDs earned a coveted gold medal on the 2012 Golf Digest Hot List, making them an in-demand item at golf shops this spring. Prices vary by shaft choice, so compare them online at puetzgolf.com or check them out in person and a Puetz Golf location near you!

Washington National

Heather Flyte — Tue, 15 May 2012 16:00:51 +0000

Washington National
Auburn
(253) 333-5000
washingtonnationalgolf.com

If you’re a Cougar, you’re probably not going to like the décor at Auburn’s Washington National Golf Club (though you will like our June issue, highlighting a round of golf with Washington’s top new winemaker — NFL and WSU legend Drew Bledsoe).

From purple-and-gold tee boxes, to the names of famous Huskies emblazoned on the side of every cart, Washington National pays homage to the University just 30 minutes north, whose golf teams call the course home for several tournaments each year.

In the decade-plus since opening in 2000, though, the course’s appeal has proved to span all collegiate loyalties, with a layout that’s right in the CG wheelhouse, featuring four of our favorite kinds of holes — a reachable par-4 (the “almost no risk, all reward” 7th), a reachable par-5 (the much more treacherous 17th), an epic par-5 (the 576-yard, double-trouble 14th, with its criss-crossing waste areas), and an elevated tee box where you can watch your drive sail forever (the scenic 12th).

And that’s not all — there are also excellent par-3s, playable waste areas, beautiful bunkers, pristine greens, flowers, waterfalls … all the little touches that can take a course from merely “good” to “great,” a quality reflected in its No. 3 seeding in our 2012 Muckleshoot Casino Match Play Madness.

This Saturday, the course that has featured the top amateur golfers in the country at NCAA and USGA championships will welcome128 of the most eager amateur golfers in the region, as players step to the tee for the Cascade Golfer Challenge, the second event of the 2012 Cascade Golfer Cup.

On the line? A weeklong trip to Bandon Dunes — recently named the No. 1 golf resort in the nation, ahead of even Pebble Beach, by Golf Digest — for the winners, plus additional stay-and-plays, foursomes of golf, golf products and more for the top-15 net and top-five gross teams in the field. And, of course, those valuable points towards the season-long Cascade Golfer Cup title and the overall grand prize — the 2013 Summer Golf Package, including 20 twosomes at some of the top courses in the state.

While the field for this week’s event is full, you can check out the Cup page and register for the next event, June 16 at McCormick Woods, today. And what better way to tune up for the tourney than with a practice round at one of the region’s top tracks? Check our Washington National’s everyday rates and book your tee time today — whether the headcovers on your clubs are purple and gold, or crimson and gray.

The Saucer Pass

Heather Flyte — Tue, 15 May 2012 16:00:26 +0000

Given how much we’ve usually overcome to get there, there’s hardly anything more frustrating than blowing that simple little 20-yard chip shot from the fairway, just short of the green.

Just when you’re thinking you have a good shot to get up-and-down for par, or at worst a two-putt bogey, you blade the ball across the green — or chunk it a whole six feet — adding a completely unnecessary stroke to an otherwise well-played hole.

Some golfers are so afraid of these shots, they prefer to just putt the ball, with a putter, hybrid, or even sometimes a driver.

Kikkor Golf founder James Lepp, though, has a different suggestion — the saucer pass. A B.C. native and the 2005 NCAA men’s golf champion for UW, Lepp grew up playing golf all summer and — like the rest of his countrymen — ice hockey all winter.

It turns out, the skills needed for the two are not mutually exclusive — in fact, the same stroke needed to fire a puck into the 5-hole can help you nestle that golf ball right next to the pin, every time. In this week’s Cascade Golfer Tip of the Week, Lepp shows off how to use the saucer pass to avoid ever again having a good hole ruined by blowing a simple chip.

Want more? Check below for tips from past weeks!

Taming The Stallion

Brian Beaky — Thu, 10 May 2012 22:16:26 +0000

John Harbottle’s recently completed redesign has made White Horse a fun ride for golfers of all skill levels.

By Brian Beaky

The 15th hole at White Horse. (Photo by Rob Perry / robperry.com)

White Horse Golf Club in Kingston hosted the media Monday for a grand “re-opening” event of sorts, unveiling its recently completed redesign at the hands of noted architect John Harbottle.

Harbottle — whose prior credits include Gold Mountain’s Olympic Course and Palouse Ridge (two of the top-eight seeds in our 2012 Muckleshoot Casino Match Play Madness bracket) — was tasked with “softening” White Horse’s highly contoured fairways and greens to make the course more enjoyable for the average golfer.

“For the first three years we were open, our course record was 71,” says general manager Bruce Christy, addressing White Horse’s reputation as one of the toughest courses in the state. “But the average golfer — the 15, 20 handicap, the guys that pay the bills — would play the course once and say, ‘That was a beautiful golf course, but it’s just too hard.’ And they wouldn’t come back.”

After purchasing the course in 2010, the Suquamish tribe — which owns the nearby Clearwater Casino Resort — retained the services of Harbottle to make White Horse more player-friendly, while still retaining the fundamental essence of Cynthia Dye McGarey’s original design.

Harbottle set to work in March of last year, bringing in over 400,000 square feet of sod from Moses Lake to to fill 63 of the course’s 138 bunkers — including a stunning 12, mostly pot bunkers, on the par-5 third hole alone.

In addition, Harbottle removed more than 200 trees, flattened the undulations in key landing areas on the fairways and eased approaches into the greens.

“On most holes, we removed the bunkers on one side of a fairway or green, so that the average player doesn’t have to go right down the middle every time,” Harbottle says.

Sixty-three bunkers — including this one just short of the par-3 sixth green — have been removed, increasing shotmaking options for average players while still retaining plenty of challenge for low handicappers. (Photo by Rob Perry / robperry.com)

Perhaps most significantly, Harbottle and superintendent Erik Linsenmeyer also set to work softening White Horse’s notoriously hard greens, which were so densely compacted that golfers could hear the “thud” of their balls landing on the green from up to 200 yards away, before watching them bounce off the back into deep rough.

After four consecutive seasons of punching and sanding, however, and vigilant maintenance at Linsenmeyer’s direction, the greens are now much more receptive to approach shots. As Christy says with a chuckle, “We actually sell ball markers in the pro shop now.”

While the course is certainly more fun for the average golfer (as this writer can personally attest, having thoroughly enjoyed hitting 18 fewer shots than I did when I played the same course in 2010, prior to the redesign), it’s 70.8 rating and 132 slope from the blue tees are nothing to sneeze at, while its remaining 75 bunkers are still nearly double the total at several Puget Sound courses.

With White Horse’s new look comes a new website, clearwatercasino.com/golf, and plans for a new clubhouse to open in 2013. Rates start as low as $35 on weekdays (even less at twilight times), and memberships are available starting at under $100 a month.

“If an article came out tomorrow that said we were, say, the 40th most difficult course in the state, I think we’d be doing a little dance,” Christy says. “We don’t want to be known for being a tough course. We want players to enjoy the golf course and enjoy their round, because that’s going to make them want to come back.”

WANT TO PLAY WHITE HORSE WITH A LITTLE SOMETHING ON THE LINE? SIGN UP FOR THE PUETZ GOLF SHOOTOUT AUG. 18 — THE FIFTH OF SEVEN EVENTS IN THIS YEAR’S CASCADE GOLFER CUP!

Hitting From Uneven Lies

Heather Flyte — Tue, 08 May 2012 19:28:33 +0000

As Northwest golfers, we often find ourselves in situations that other golfers around the country don’t have the chance to experience — playing in cold, wet conditions, hitting into a stiff wind, or having to navigate narrow fairways to typically small greens.

Another trademark characteristic of a Northwest course is the uneven lie. This isn’t Phoenix or Orlando — we’re a region of hills and valleys tucked in between two mountain ranges, and our golf courses are similarly bumpy, with rolling fairways contoured to match the land on which they were built.

Hitting from uneven lies— an upslope or downslope, or a ball above or below your feet — requires some specific skills. In some cases you need to take more club, in others less, sometimes opening your stance, and other times closing it down. Practicing the particulars of these different shots can save you several strokes in a typical Northwest result, resulting in more birdies, and fewer times watching your seemingly good swing tail off disappointingly into the greenside bunker.

In this week’s Cascade Golfer Tip of the Week, The Walrus himself — PGA Tour pro and Masters champion Craig Stadler — climbs a hillside to show you the keys to playing a perfect sidehill shot.

Want more? Check below for tips from past weeks!

Callaway RAZR X HL Hybrid/Iron Set

Heather Flyte — Tue, 08 May 2012 19:11:49 +0000

Every golfer has a “distance of death” — the distance that is either in between clubs, or requires you to hit a club in which you have zero confidence.

Last year, that distance for me was 185-195 yards.

Too short for my 3-hybrid, but too long for my 5-iron, it was a perfect fit for my 4-iron — assuming my 4-iron could carry 190 in a straight line, as opposed to slicing wildly into the trees, or chunking about 50 yards down the fairway. Usually I’d pull the 3-hybrid and try to slightly underhit it, almost always ending in a bad result.

My 3-hybrid was so easy to hit, though, that this year I decided to try to fix that gap with a 4-hybrid.

The difference is unbelievable.

After dreading those 190-yard approaches last year, I now covet them, taking out my 4-hybrid and smacking the ball easily onto the green (OK, most of the time). It’s so easy to hit, it makes me wonder — why doesn’t everyone mid-handicapper play hybrid long irons?

Without question, this year’s hottest new hybrid is Callaway’s RAZR X HL, which gets the ball up into the air quickly from variable lies, and is among the most forgiving on the market due to Callaway’s patented VFT (variable face thickness) technology and high-bounce sole.

Puetz Golf clubfitters can help find the perfect match for you — so don’t waste another summer dreading those long-iron approaches. Check them out today!

Jackson Park Golf Course

Heather Flyte — Tue, 08 May 2012 19:07:31 +0000

Jackson Park Golf Course
Seattle
206-363-4747
http://premiergc.com/jackson-park.php

Between Puetz Golf’s Seattle range and the Columbia Super Range in Everett, there aren’t very many places for North-end golfers to work out the kinks between rounds.

Fortunately, that’s about to change.

Later this year, construction will begin on a new range at Seattle’s Jackson Park, to be located between the course’s 10th and 18th holes. To accommodate the range, the 10th hole will be shifted east and the 11th hole changed from a par-4 to a par-3. Another hole yet-to-be-determined will be extended to restore the course’s to a par-72 at a later date.

Players who hit Jackson Park, one of the region’s most popular courses for its central location, low rates and high quality and variety, will already notice preparations underway, including flagged out areas on the 10th and 11th fairways indicating the new path for No. 10.

They’ll also have the chance to take advantage of rates as low as $24 for weekday early birds — which with its location just a few miles north of downtown, make it a terrific before-work option for a golfer who can get away with coming in around 10 on a weekday. Playing in the early morning (or taking advantage of those long Northwest evenings with a twilight round for just $26) also helps avoid the rush of weekend golfers who can slow down play at peak times.

The course is a fun mix of risk-reward holes — like the downhill par-5 first — and lengthy challenges, none greater than the sloping, bending par-5 12th, or the 443-yard, par-4 15th.

When you reach the 18th tee, look left and imagine a brand-new, lighted range, full of Seattle golfers whacking away late into the evening. For those of us itching to fix that slice, Jackson’s enhancements receive an enthusiastic thumbs-up.

CLICK HERE TO BOOK A TEE TIME!

Win In The Cards For Moore?

Brian Beaky — Sun, 06 May 2012 17:15:27 +0000

Puyallup native Ryan Moore is just one stroke back entering Sunday's final round of the PGA Tour Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow.

Ryan Moore seeks second PGA Tour win; UW alum Richard H. Lee tied for 12th

by Brian Beaky

Ryan Moore made big headlines locally this spring with the debut of the Ryan Moore Golf (RMG) Group, the union between McCormick Woods, Oakbrook Golf and Country Club and his family’s own Classic Golf Club, giving members significantly discounted rates at one or all three courses.

He’s 18 holes away from making even bigger headlines nationwide.

The 29-year-old Moore fired a bogey-free 68 on Saturday at the Wells Fargo Championship at Charlotte, N.C.’s Quail Hollow, and enters Sunday’s final round -13 for the tournament, just one stroke back of leader Webb Simpson. Moore even has Home Team company in his quest to win his second-career PGA Tour title — UW alum Richard H. Lee, in his first year on Tour, sits tied for 12th overall at -8.

Moore’s third round was his first without a bogey in over a year, but it wasn’t without drama. The Puyallup native was assessed a one-stroke penalty after his ball appeared to move slightly as he attempted a 10-inch par putt on the 11th hole. A new rule in place this year does not penalize players if their ball is moved by “an outside agency” like wind, or a fly landing on the ball. Moore said he assumed at the time that the rule applied to his situation, however, PGA Tour officials ruled that no obvious outside agency was present, thus Moore was subject to the one-stroke penalty for the ball moving after he set down the club.

“Today I got a penalty stroke for absolutely no reason,” Moore said. “I went to address my little tap-in and set into it and set my putter down behind it. Took my stroke back and the ball just settled a little bit. I certainly did not make the ball move, and I thought that was the whole point of the rule change.”

Rather than let the penalty throw off his momentum, however, Moore finished strong and will enter Sunday’s round (12-3 p.m. on CBS) in the mix for his first win since 2009, and the third by a Home Teamer in 2012, adding to Kyle Stanley’s dramatic win on the PGA Tour in January, and Andres Gonzales’ first-career Nationwide Tour win last month.

“I’m right there in the mix and I’ve proven I can shoot some good scores out here,” Moore said. “Just need a couple more this weekend.”

Mount Si Golf Course

Heather Flyte — Tue, 01 May 2012 22:49:50 +0000

Mount Si Golf Course
Snoqualmie
425-391-4926 • mtsigolf.com

Mount Si has a frequent presence in the pages of Cascade Golfer, and why not? It seems like no matter what angle we take on a story, the “little course that could” in the Cascade foothills is a perfect fit.

“Most Scenic Courses?” You won’t get more beauty for your buck than Mount Si’s sixth hole, backdropped by the rising hulk of Mount Si itself.

“Best Value?” Greens fees never top $50, and truthfully can almost always be found much lower than that by signing up for the course’s newsletter, featuring web specials and other discounts (today’s specials, for example, include early bird and twilight rates as low as $20, and can be applied to an entire foursome).

“Best Course for Kids?” Mount Si’s Little Si Links is one of the true junior courses in the region, while the Snoqualmie Valley Golf Academy, run largely at Mount Si, is one of the Northwest’s top camp and tournament programs for young players.

You get the picture. While the course isn’t particularly long, at just 6,261 yards from the blues, nor are its rating and slope (69.2/117) particularly daunting, it always seems to play tougher than it should. I inevitably walk away having left plenty of strokes on the course, usually the result of either being too macho with the driver, or mis-hitting irons to Mount Si’s small, quick greens (or, in the case of the 581-yard, double-dogleg 12th hole, all of the above).

When you go, make sure it’s a sunny day – not because the course doesn’t hold water well, but because you’ll want to make sure you’re there when the mountains are out, the eagles are soaring overhead, and the cups are filled with birdies.

CLICK HERE TO BOOK A TEE TIME!