Why does Golf Digest overlook Wine Valley?

[Richard Choi]

Sorry, I forgot to compare Wine Valley against Sagebrush in the midst of my diatribe...

Wine Valley and Sagebrush are very comparable. They share the same DNA with wide fairways with rollicking greens. The scale at Wine Valley is a bit grander, but the elevation changes at Sagebrush are more exciting.

However, in a very close call, I have to give the nod to Wine Valley for its walkability. This is definitely something that hanging around here has influenced me the most.

[Joe Stansell]

I head over there every year and will try and set up a GCA weekend there in the spring.

I'm in, schedule permitting. I'll accept any excuse to play Wine Valley.

I've thought long and hard about this and I've come to the conclusion that it is highly unlikely that Wine Valley lacks the requisite 10 rater evaluations since its opening. Wine Valley is slightly less than a 4-hour drive from Seattle. That's closer than Palouse Ridge, which opened the same year and is ranked. Salish Cliffs, which opened this year, already has enough ratings to be ranked and it is not a convenient drive either.

No, Wine Valley is not ranked because Wine Valley is not liked -- by Golf Digest raters that is. I think John Kavanaugh has it right when he says that Wine Valley is suffering the same fate as Rustic Canyon, Lawsonia, Barona Creek, Wild Horse, and Beverly. And Rich Choi offers a good explanation -- Pacific Northwest raters for Golf Digest favor tree-lined fairways, fields of green, mountain vistas, and burly tee shots. Which means for me, at least, that Golf Digest's recommendation of the "best of … anything" shall forever be taken with a grain of salt.

[Tony Dear]

I could not agree more with what Joe is saying/asking. I'm not a GD/GW/GM etc rater so not terribly familiar with the system, but surely only the most subjective and out of date rating criteria could possibly insert a course like Canterwood into Washington's top ten while omitting Wine Valley which, as the readers of Cascade Golfer know, is actually far superior to one or two other courses on GD's list.
I'm fortunate I got to play it with Dan Hixson who designed it. He explained his decisions which made the course even more memorable than what it would have been had I played it by myself. Hixson is a talented, sensible, humble designer who undertsands how to build courses that appeal to a wide range of players while satisfying the need to be environmentally-conscious. He just wants to build the most fun golf course the site will allow, and at WV he, Kye Goalby and the rest of the team, did a superb job creating holes that possess just the right mix of challenge and entertainment.
I believe the course has not been in tip-top condition of late but, that aside, WV is definitely worthy of whatever effort it takes to get there. It is totally bizarre that it isn't included in the top ten simply because it's hard to get to. This is the 21st century; I think our cars and planes are able to get us to Walla Walla without too much difficulty.

[Sean Leary]

I have been wrong before and will be wrong again . Can any of the GD raters  determine whether it has enough votes and just didn't make it.

Assuming it simply didn't crack the top 10, I am very surprised because all of the feedback I have gotten from locals here has been fantastic.  I can't say the same about CB, which to me clearly stands out in WA as the best course..

[Andy Troeger]

I would be surprised if Wine Valley has 25/45 ballots to be considered for the national lists, but I think the odds are that it has 10 ballots for the state list and just didn't make it.  Which means it may or may not move up if national type raters decide they want to go see it down the road. As mentioned, it reminds me a bit in photos of other courses that are more highly thought of by other pubs/people than by Digest.

[Mac Plumart]

If you are using these lists to figure out which courses to play, you should just find one that is most agreeable to your opinion and go from there.

Richard, EXACTLY!!!!!!!

All the ripping of clothes and gnashing of teeth doesn't need to occur, if you simply embrace the advice you gave above.

[Jesse Jones]

One of the reasons why WV has enough GW votes is that there have been a number of recent rater events in the region.