Monday, Aug. 03, 2009

My little grand Coulee golf tour

By Eric Degerman, sportstricities.com

To quote Jim Rome, I spent last week "in the basement."

The first two days, I volunteered for the National Park Service at the Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area above Grand Coulee Dam. Then, my "boss" cut me loose, so I explored some of the golfing in the Coulee Corridor.

I'll retrace my steps again at some point, only I hope it's a few degrees cooler next time around.

Day 1 took me to Sun Lakes Resort and its Vic Meyers Golf Course near Coulee City.

It's a 9-hole track that's distracted me each time I've driven past while taking Highway 17 on my way for wine touring in British Columbia. A shop employee told me the course was constructed in 1947, and it is believed to be the only course in Washington that's within a state park.

The first thing that struck me about Vic Meyers was the greens fee. It was midweek and I wanted to play 18, so it was $16. I almost felt guilty.

And because I was a single getting out on what loomed to be the hottest day of the year, I managed to tour this shrub-steppe layout twice in less than 3 hours.

That's not to say I was in a big hurry to get back on the road. The first four holes provide a nice test and feature the basalt cliffs — spectacular Dry Falls is less than a 5-minute drive north — as a constant theme.

At times, I found the course reminiscent of Lake Las Vegas, and there's a definite Scottish feel. It's also scruffy. One sign, I believe it was in the golf shop, read "If it's not green, it's rough." Indeed, the first three fairways at Sun Lakes seemed as narrow as the first at Gullane No. 1, not much wider than a footpath. That said, a shot in the fairway is rewarded with good turf, and the greens putted remarkably well. I was told credit for the course's condition belongs to superintendent Stephen Johanson.

Select too much club for your approach into Nos. 1 and 3, and your ProV1 will be shredded by the basalt.

While teeing off at the par-4 No. 2, make a point to listen to the report of your driver as the sound echoes off the rock wall behind you.

Miss the green to the left on the 220-yard, par-3 No. 4, and you might see a snake before you find the ball. (I should have paid closer attention to the scorecard because a free drop into the fairway is available).

The short par-4 No. 5 takes you onto the outskirts of the campground, and the final three holes offer camera-worthy vistas of Sun Lakes itself.

If you play from the blue tees, you will have covered the nine holes in 3,093 yards. The white tees span 2,867 yards, while the red "ladies" tees play 2,617 yards. No doubt it was a sterner test before the era of two-piece balls and graphite, and it will never play shorter than it did last week with the hot weather, firm fairways and barely a breath of wind. Course rating from the championship tees is 70.9 and 70.4 from the reds.

Jim Ping, President of Sun Lakes Park Resort, Inc., posted an open letter on his Web site that declared the course and his resort will remain open even if the Washington State Parks & Recreation Commission chooses to close the park because of state budget restrictions. Ping said his lease runs through 2043.

Day 2: Banks Lake Golf Club was established in 1985 just a mile south of Electric City. What began as nine holes, now is 18.

The course is at the north end of the 27-mile long reservoir filled by water pumped from nearby Grand Coulee Dam. Frank A. Banks oversaw the construction of Franklin D. Roosevelt's dam, now the fifth-largest hydroelectric producer in the world but still the biggest in North America. Grand Coulee Dam was critical to the Manhattan Project and aluminum supplies during World War II.

At this time of year, most folks in the region are on the water — Lake Roosevelt or Banks Lake — which might explain why I again had the course to myself. Again, it took me less than 3 hours to walk it, and I paid $23 to do so.

The time and money were key, but the course was entertaining from the standpoint that nearly every hole is a birdie hole. I think I hit every club in my bag at least once, and the fairways are just wide enough to make the driver a nearly constant temptation.

The litany of blind tee shots is annoying for a first-timer, and I got fortunate MOST of the time. However, finding the middle of the fairway doesn't guarantee a satisfactory lie as the turf sometimes is a blend of grass, hardpan, dandelions and dehydrated divots. The greens are smooth and sizable, but bit a bit shaggy.

From the white markers, Banks Lake Golf Club is par 73 and plays 6,359 yards with a course rating of 70.4 and slope of 119. It's 5,498, 70.3 and 116 from the whites.

With the cost of gas rising, neither course would necessarily go down as a destination. But for those golfers who want to get a better understanding of the Ice Age Floods Trail or want to tour the awesome Grand Coulee Dam, either of these Grant County courses would round out a fun day.