There is something of a black hole in the golf architectural history of the entire Pacific Northwest, in that the "Golden Age" of architecture, in large part, bypassed the entire region.
There is little disputing that some of the oldest courses in this area have considerable charm. Tacoma GCC, Fircrest CC, Rainier GCC, Waverly CC, Portland GC, etc, but they are far too short and hemmed in to adapt to the skills of the upper echelon modern day professional or high-level amateur.
On top of that, much of Egan and Macan's orginial work has been obliterated, and it is likely also true that it can't match up with the quality of what was being done at the same time in other parts of the country anyway...
Then came the "Black Hole", which ironically probably includes the heyday of RTJ, as he has essentially zero influence up here. That is a pretty broad period during which other architects (Flynn, Ross, Raynor,whatever, let alone RTJ, Dick Wilson, etc.) have nothing in their pedigree here in the Northwest.
Nothing of significance was created up here for a big chunk of time.
With the exception of Sahalee, and take that for what you will, one has to get all the way to the early 90's before things started to change, with some of the upscale publics and the Pumpkin Ridges, The Reserve, TPC Snoqualmie coming online.
I think Aldarra Farms is, with the exception of a couple of holes, very high level work.
Therefore, there is a very soft middle in terms of golf course architecture, and it will take quite a while before that changes.
There are also profound problems dealing with government processes up here, which sounds cliched, but is hard to describe to outsiders. It's not so much the environmental concerns and interest groups, as it is that so many of our civic officials are married to the idea of "the process", and everything has to be analyzed beyond the point of reason. This makes any rational permitting processes almost impossible. It is a miracle anything ever gets built up here, whether it's a highway, a viaduct, a greenbelt or a golf course.
I, for one, am perfectly happy with where the Gates' and the Gates Foundation seems to be directing much of their income. There is no need for Bill Gates to build a private enclave up here for high end golf. As was mentioned before, he has enough golf-related irons in the fire to satisfy his needs...
Peter