[Richard Choi]

You know what is worse than being forced to ride a cart?

Being forced to ride a cart that refuses to go where you want it to go and keeps backing into a bunker and water hazard while telling you to get back to “authorized area”. Boy, that was not fun. But that discussion is for later…

This is a photo tour of Salish Cliffs, a Gene Bates design in Shelton Washington (about 75 min from Seattle) that opened late last year (one of the VERY FEW). It is part of an Indian Casino resort and follows the same model as Circling Raven, which is an acclaimed Gene Bates course in Idaho.

The course is cart only (and VERY STRICTLY ENFORCED as I found out…) and it is probably a correct call as the course has a ton of elevation changes and there are several long rides between the holes (worse than Sagebrush or Kapalua). It would have been nice to have at least tried to walk, but oh well.

Here are some stats (par 72):
Championship – 7269 yards – 75.4/137
Tournament – 6766 yards – 72.6/132
Players – 6312 yards – 70.5/126
Masters – 5948 yards – (M)68.2/121 (L)74.0/132
Forward – 5313 yards – 70.5/125

Overhead map:


A cool totem pole greeting you.


Looking back to the hotel.


Clubhouse


Driving range


A really cool touch that more courses should adopt: a 50 yard practice hole near the first hole.


Liked the tee markers

[Richard Choi]

1st Hole
Par 5 – 532, 514, 490, 473, 433 – Hdcp 3

They say the first hole of a golf course should be a gentle handshake that gives you a good idea of things to come.

The first hole at Salish Cliffs is more a punch to the kisser right off the bat, but it does give you a good idea of things to come (elevated tee box down to a low fairway up to a raised green).

Flyover
http://www.youtube.com/embed/HirC6yZ2f2c



To say that the first drive is challenging, is probably an underestimation. Not only is there a gigantic tree where most hackers will end up (not only interfering with your drive but also affect your second shot), any drive that does not find the fairway is an automatic reload (a theme that is repeated on almost every hole).

If your drive does find the middle of the fairway, you are left with a blind uphill shot to the green.


One thing I really like about Salish Cliffs is its bunkers. They are shallow, but has the look of deep bunkers due to mounding shapes and frilly edges. This results in even lie for must shots that end up in bunker and lessens the difficult of escaping one. Any course not planning on hosting a tour event should copy this bunker style liberally.


Unless you are a long hitter, you will have a blind approach to the green if you lay up. Pretty tough for an opening hole, but at least the entrance to the green is wide open and you can run up your shot (if the grass wasn’t so grabby – fairway runs really slow).


Another common trait at Salish Cliffs is its large greens. They have enough internal contours to force you to hit great approaches for birdies and the green surrounding have both shaven and unshaven areas to make it interesting.

[Richard Choi]

2nd Hole
Par 4 – 305, 276, 250, 245, 219 – Hdcp 15

Flyover
http://www.youtube.com/embed/I570uNnCnfE

One of my favorite holes at Salish Cliffs. This driveable par 4 is both sexy and intelligent with a right mix of risk reward to entice the players.


There is more room to the left of the green than it looks from the tee.


There are many tiers to the green that makes the short approach interesting.


A look from above with the hotel in the background.

[Richard Choi]

3rd Hole
Par 3 – 291, 233, 211, 188, 184 – Hdcp 13

Flyover
http://www.youtube.com/embed/vSPEbtTY2eA

Did I mention that Salish Cliffs kicks your ass right off the bat?

Even with the healthy drop in elevation, this is a pretty healthy par 3. There are no bailout areas (except short).


The green is very large with several spines that run through it.

[Matthew Essig]

291 yards from the back tee on #3!!!!!!   

[Joe Stansell]

I'm anxiously awaiting your assessment of where this course ranks in the State of Washington. Because for now, at its current green fee, I can't see any reason to continue driving past Chambers Bay on my way to play it.

[Richard Choi]

Joe, I have to build some suspense...

[Mark Saltzman]

Holy cart paths.

One of the worst opening tee shots I've seen (at least in pictures). 

Frilly bunkers work in some (though few) places.  They don't work here.  Too much shaping for such a natural setting.

Sometimes less is more.

Nice to have you posting again, Rich.  You were missed.

[Garland Bayley]

So how much was the green fee again?

[Richard Choi]

$85 peak, cart included.

[Brent Carlson]

Joe: it's a tough sell to put Salish up against Chambers Bay, as we know how special CB is, but hang on - Salish does get better as the round progresses.

Mark: cart paths - the autobahn has nothing on the cart paths at Salish.  They are like a small freeway.

Nice depiction of the course Rich - can't wait to see the rest. 

[Joe Stansell]

Well, Brent, you've added to the intrigue.  But even setting aside the comparison to Chambers Bay, I haven't played Gold Mountain in awhile either, so its going to have to be a pretty positive report to make me want to skip that one, too.

[Will MacEwen]

Rich,

Thanks for getting this started.

This reminds me of many courses in the interior of BC - penal, and the countours of the hole reduce the effective width.

Mark is correct about the opening tee shot.  I would hate to jog up to that tee box with no range time beforehand.

[Mark Saltzman]

They should have tilted the cart path from right-to-left, then we could have called this a redan.

[Phil McDade]

Richard:

Great start so far.

Hate the opening tee shot.

Really like the blind second at #1, and I've never though blind shots early in the round are all that penal or unfair.

Hate the cart paths.

Really like the "use" of (presumably) an active rail line in the opening holes.

Hate a back tee of 291 for a par 3, even if significantly downhill. But 218, if that's the white (most folks) tee, seems OK. But it does look squeezed.

Really like the 50-yard pitching warm-up hole.

Looking forward to the rest.

[Kalen Braley]

So far i'm less than impressed....I'm hoping it gets much better than this!!

[Sean Leary]

KB,

Do you like Circling Raven?  Its pretty good I thought. Better than I expected.

[Brian Hilko]

I like the 291 yardage just because it is a wake up call to a few golfers that they should move up one set of tees.

[Richard Choi]

Really like the blind second at #1, and I've never though blind shots early in the round are all that penal or unfair.

I don't mind the blind second either (especially on a par 5). What I do question is the fact that you cannot see the green unless you are within 60 or 70 yards of so which means average players will probably have a blind third.

[Emil Weber]

Nice tour, thanks!

Personally, I don't dislike the first tee shot as much as others, as it hides nothing, but how far is it to carry the tree ?

The cart paths sure look ugly, but besides the look, they seem to act as a hazard on the 3rd hole?! If the hole plays 200+ yards, most players are unlikely to hit an acurate shot, and the safer side seems to be on the right hand side.. that is right where the cart path is located (20ft from the green?), meaning that a large number of shots would land on the cart path with balls bouncing wherever they like... a shame, the course otherwise looks quite interesting.

[Kalen Braley]

KB,

Do you like Circling Raven?  Its pretty good I thought. Better than I expected.

Sean,

Circling Raven is decent...I have it squarely as a Doak 5 on my list, which is nothing special but better than most.

So far, from what I'm seeing in pictures, it looks less than CR...but its only 3 holes, we got a long way to go!

P.S.  That first hole looks absolutely awful from the tee box.

[Garland Bayley]

...
The cart paths sure look ugly, but besides the look, they seem to act as a hazard on the 3rd hole?! If the hole plays 200+ yards, most players are unlikely to hit an acurate shot, and the safer side seems to be on the right hand side.. that is right where the cart path is located (20ft from the green?), meaning that a large number of shots would land on the cart path with balls bouncing wherever they like... a shame, the course otherwise looks quite interesting.

I beg to differ. Richard has already stated the safe play is short. I think one must take an 8 iron and try to land it on the path. Given the orientation of the tees, if you land on the path, you bounce onto the green in good shape. If you don't land on the path, you are in a safe position short of the green. How thoughtful of Mr. Bates to provide such innovative strategy!

[Richard Choi]

4th Hole
Par 4 – 420, 401, 363, 332, 326 – Hdcp 9

Flyover
http://www.youtube.com/embed/spVV12bHa5k

After the pretty wild opening, the course settles down as the player is greeted with the first level drive. The ideal drive is towards the lone tree in the background just left of the bunker which will leave you with a short approach.


You can’t help but to relax and enjoy the vista as you contemplate the approach. Anything right is dead (seriously, you won’t find it). The correct miss is the left and short in the closely shaven area. The fade shape of the fairway matches the shot you want.


You can see the collection area just short of the hole left. Most indifferent approaches will end there.


One of the better greens on the course with pretty interesting surrounds that gives you some options on how you want to play it.

[Richard Choi]

5th Hole
Par 4 – 405, 378, 358, 333, 292 – Hdcp 11

Flyover
http://www.youtube.com/embed/2gUmoksSlWc

The first uphill and dogleg left hole is a pretty one from the tee. The hole has a very common feature for Salish Cliffs; a short bunker that you must carry for the best result flanked by a bunker on the other side that you must keep short of. The landing area between the bunkers are pretty narrow. Brent and I both decided to just lay up short of the bunker left as we didn’t see the point of trying to carry it.

Another common feature for Salish Cliffs is the mounding between the fairway and the cart path (you can see on the right). Now, Salish is not a wide course by any means. You have fairways that are about 40 to 50 yards wide flanked by small mounds and rough about 10 yards wide and anything beyond that is an automatic lost ball (trees with thick underbrush). The mounds make it even narrower by rejecting balls to the cart path and trees.

The result is a course that has effective width that is narrower than Sahalee. Sahalee fairways may be narrow, but the area under the trees are clear and quite playable. No such option exists at Salish and their fairways not much wider than it is at Sahalee. If you are a lover of width, you won’t find much to love here.



Leaving the ball  short of the left bunker leaves you with this approach (~140 yards), which to me, is an ideal angle to attack the green.


If you challenge the bunkers and are successful, a simple pitch awaits you.


A pretty typical greenside bunker at Salish. They look tougher than they play.

[Richard Choi]

6th Hole
Par 3 – 168, 157, 130, 125, 108 – Hdcp 17

Flyover
http://youtu.be/kqx7RxftZYc

A little palette cleanser of a hole to keep you going after pretty tough openers. To me, it is just a shorter version of the first par 3.


Even though it is short, there are enough movement on the green to provide pretty devilish pin placements.

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