Paul R:
Sahalee is a good course, but when you factor in all the trees and the "effective" narrow manner by which it plays I personally believe it becomes a bit predictable.Think of it like a one-lane highway. There's very little room for turning or effective imagination because the course says simply -- play me this way or no way.
Any course, not just Sahalee, that allows tree growth to become the DOMINANT aspect of its demands and strategic make-up, in my mind, just fails to excite the senses and will always be a full notch below those that don't follow this design aspect. In New Jersey, where I live, there are more than few of these types of courses -- Ridgewood, Alpine, etc. Trees do not enhance shotmaking skills -- they reduce it to a sameness that fails to broaden the challenge.
In addition, at least from I could see from TV, when tree-lined courses ALSO ADD rough you get hit both ways.
Washington State has a number of wonderful courses and I'm happy to see the Tour get to the NW but other options are possible, and, as I said previously, given the limited number of players you can use other facilities that might not be an option with a regular full-sized field.