This is my new 2022-2023 public golf course ranking, to be updated this year. Goal is to play all (approximately) 35 public golf courses within 30-45 minutes of Seattle over 2 years (maybe leaning eastside), and evaluate and describe them based on current play. I’ve played golf for over 40 years now on a wide variety of courses, so I feel I can describe them fairly well. Courses are ranked according to quality mainly and value (mostly weekday rates shown) secondarily, with a score between 1 and 100.
Newcastle Coal Creek (98/100). Played 7/6/22. $150. Coal Creek is one of the pinnacles of Seattle golf in many ways. Expensive for a reason. $150 is about the cheapest you can play it (evening, weekday). The views are truly spectacular, and the golf is not far behind. Like Druids Glen (below), Coal Creek is definitely a golfer’s golf course. There’s really only one hole I would describe as average (#12) a pretty lame uphill par 3. And there are multiple spectacular holes crossing tiny Coal Creek which is utilized quite well. Come prepared to play as #1 is a bear of a par 5. And #17 and 18 are perfect endings to just a constant barrage of great golf holes. You have to know how to play to score on this course. Every course has elevation on every shot and side, up and downhill lies. The greens need reads, the chips roll in directions, the greens are protected. And all of it is quite fair. We played the blues and that is a legit golf challenge with plenty of length. And, be sure to stay outside after for some drinks and food on the patio. Outstanding.
White Horse (95/100). Played 8/4/22. $50. White Horse is in Kingston, not too far from the Edmonds/Kingston ferry. White Horse is a golfer’s course, for sure. I think it is easily the hardest course on this list, with seemingly every green highly elevated and defended, no even lies in the fairways, and greens with subtle reads. It’s mostly forested with a few nice suburban megamansions around it. And gorgeous. Like Coal Creek and Druids, pretty much every single hole is fun to play and a legitimate golf challenge. One downside is that there is SO much uphill approach. Another downside is that if you mishit or miss the greens, there is a LOT of punishment. Forget about easy close to the green chips. I had zero of those. I also had 5 triples thanks to all the hills and just being unable to handle the slopy fairways and not paying enough attention to safer landing areas the first time I played the course, despite being a 10 handicap. You have to think and know how to play here. If you are a lower intermediate or beginning golfer, this is NOT the course for you.
Druids Glen (93/100). Played 5/16/22. $78. Druids Glen is a golf course for golfers. For a long time, their pricing was lower, and it was an AMAZING deal. Now, at $78, it’s priced right for the market I think, even if it is pretty far out (WAY down in Covington). This course has everything you could want as a golfer – good maintenance, well positioned and well maintained bunkers and ponds, excellent interesting greens, and best of all multiple very interesting challenging holes (#3, #6, #9, #10, #14, #16, #18 are all excellent). If you play the blues I’d put this course up as one of the more challenging excellent rounds of golf. From the whites it’s totally enjoyable. I played it right at the end of a very wet two weeks and the course had a LOT of pooling from bad drainage, but it hardly affected my round at all. What are the downsides? Um, fairways that are mowed too wide and so it is too forgiving? Um, #6 is kind of dumb as a hole, but not really? I think this is 18 straight holes of great golf, which is what you want. And it’s beautiful with a good clubhouse. Other than Newcastle, I’d say this is one of the main Seattle area courses you should bring your golfing friends to from out of town. Oh, and take a cart unless you are a great walker – lots of distance between holes.
Newcastle China Creek (91/100). Played 5/31/22. ~$100. This is the less expensive course at showy Newcastle and it is the one I play a LOT more often because it’s more in my budget. I have almost no complaints about this course from a golf perspective, and the views (Seattle and Lake Washington and the Olympics) are SPECTACULAR. I played the whites on this day, and the course is very manageable and very scorable from those tees. The blues are quite a bit harder. Are there any spectacular golf holes? No. Are there are a TON of really excellent golf holes on this course? Yes. #16 and #17 are superb looking and playing holes. The front nine is less dazzling, but still interesting from a golf point of view. DEFINITELY worth a visit, even if the cost is outside your normal budget. AND eat outside on the patio afterwards because you really cannot replicate the view from the clubhouse.
Washington National (83/100). Played 7/28/22. $94 with cart. Washington National is the home course for the University of Washington golf team. Located in Auburn, it’s a fairly short trip down 167 to the course, if yo don’t drive down at rush hour. I probably play this course the most of all the courses on this list, because I really like it from a golf perspective. It’s fairly wide open, and it does stay wet for most of the year, but for me the design is just really good and essentially all 18 holes are interesting golf. Good, true rolling, defended greens. Interesting fairways. Good variety in teeboxes to challenge any level. And some of the holes are really outstanding (#3, #6, #9, #12, #15, and #18 [every third hole] are particularly outstanding). #17 is a phenomenal par 5. One possible negative is the overall comparatively less interesting set of par 3s, but they have good variety there too. This is just a great golfers’ golf course.
Harbour Pointe (80/100). Played 5/10/23. $78. Harbour Pointe is located in Mukilteo, just off the road that goes down to the Mukilteo Ferry. I’m a fan of this course because it is plenty interesting. After the first two holes which are very basic par 4s, the course is overall pretty interesting. #4 is gimmicky, and there are a few other problems with squeezing the holes between all the houses. But on the back nine, this course really takes off #11 is a gorgeous signature hole going down toward the Sound, and #14-18 are a pretty excellent set of five finishing holes. #17 might be my favorite golf hole in Washington State, for no particular reason at all I just love the big bending uphill golf hole. The downside of Harbour Point is the Oki problem – they really never go over the top on maintenance, and this course really suffers from overuse and kind of marginal groundskeeping for the price. Probably others would put this course lower, but I really enjoy it.
Snoqualmie Falls Golf Course (78/100). Played 5/3/22. $42. Snoqualmie Falls is east on I-90, on the road between Fall City and the actual Snoqualmie Falls. I have a real soft spot for this course. The defining trait for this course is maintenance EFFORT. Unlike so many of the other courses on this list, the groundskeeping staff at Snoqualmie Falls seems intent on continually improving the course. They do the little things – the tee boxes are almost always very usable, the greens are immaculate, the course is picked up. Every time you play it there are small improvements here and there, and the course gets better. It’s short, I’ll admit, and there really are no hard holes, and your score can go VERY low here with all the short holes. But as far as value goes, versus course quality, this is easily the top course in Seattle. Operating on a very small budget, this course is doing everything right. The only other course that really matches it is Mount Si, and that course has a massive age and investment advantage I believe.
Foster Golf Links (74/100). Played 4/1/22. ~$40. I was really pleasantly surprised by Foster Golf Links. It turns out this is one of the oldest courses in Seattle. It’s been around about 100 years. First things first, this is a Par 69, 4800 yard course. So this is NOT a regulation course. All the Par 4s are wedges at the most into the greens except one. And it’s busy, kind of like Bellevue. But this is one of those older courses that you can tell has been cared for for a very long time, and someone who liked golf designed it, particularly the greens. About every hole is tightly lined with beautiful old skirted cedars and willows, so the course is not a challenge because of all the skirting. And two par 3s go OVER the Duwamish River. Train tracks, adjoining industrial uses. Fun!
Jackson Park (70/100). Played 9/28/23. $65. This is a very interesting public golf course. What makes it work is the layout. Plenty of interesting novel holes, and not really in a gimmicky way at all, which is the best part. From the blues, long par 3s and par 4s, though that might have been the heavy rain that I played in (and the course was soggy). It would be very interesting to play it late summer, when it’s dry. I felt challenged by the course, particularly the first time playing it. Solid.
Willows Run Eagle Talon (67/100). Played 7/26/22. $34. Playing Willows Run golf is DEFINITELY sleepy. All the holes are flat, the fairways and rough kind of just lull you to sleep if you are a PNW mountains and hills golfer. But what Eagle Talon brings better than most in the area is GREENS. Its sister course, Coyote, has the same trend, but it’s not close. Eagle Talon is far more like many of the California or Hawaii courses, with big slopy greens and challenging reads throughout. Do not expect any kind of a challenge from the fairways, though several of the par 4s are longer and I was hitting a few mid irons on those. If you can overcome the overall sleepiness of the layout and pay attention to the greens, this is a great golf experience for the short game. I played the whites, and from the blues its probably a bit more of a challenge on length.
Mt. Si (66/100). Played 5/4/22. $56. Mt. Si is located under the gorgeous actual Mt. Si in North Bend. And it really is a spectacular setting. It feels like a mountain hike, the whole time. And Mt. Si has been there forever, with super old growth cedars all along every hole, old interesting well maintained greens, and a nonupgraded clubhouse facility that feels 1950. The downside of this course is that it was definitely originally designed by someone who didn’t know golf trying to fit a golf course into a specific property shape, and you know it on practically every hole. It’s just very poorly designed given the gorgeous setting and terrain. But in spite of this, it is extremely pleasant. The first five holes are kind of a travesty of golf – totally uninteresting. But after that it really picks up. ESPECIALLY the par 5s, all of which are great bending challenging holes. #12 a left bending uphill climb through the trees is a pretty great hole. And so is #16. Pleasant, with ELK.
Auburn (64/100). Played 4/22/22. $42. Auburn is located on the hills east of Auburn. It’s another very old established public course, and for the front nine I was decidedly unimpressed. Wide open, super forgiving, flat fairways. Only the greens were interesting with lots of subtle turns. But then starting with #11, the course goes up on the hills and becomes a lot more interesting and fun, with I’d say 8 straight really good golf holes. The back nine is super forgiving as well. You will NOT lose a ball. And easy. But they did the holes the right way, running ALONG the ridge, not into it (#11 and #15, excepted), and the finishing three holes, though short, are really quite outstanding. #16 might be one of the best par 3s in Washington state.
Maplewood (62/100). Played 8/2/22. $41. Maplewood is Renton’s municipal golf course, located right off Maple Valley Road, not far from I-405. I have played this course quite a bit and I do like it. But when I played this course for this project, the course lacks any excellent holes, and the greens have just been there too long and are now overly sloped and mounded from years of buildup. The upside here is very limited. #14, an uphill par 3, is probably the best hole on the course, with an interesting green and a creek. #18 maybe as second best, a VERY short par 4. This course also features one of the worst holes in the state, #8, a ridiculous par 4 with a tree in the middle of the fairway and a silly half swing approach shot up the hill. Most of the back nine is REALLY squeezed into a small land area, so it’s extremely tight and lots of balls in other fairways. And there are several annoying holes on the front too as it goes up and down the hill. This course gets a TON of play, like Redmond Ridge, full of leagues and all kinds of players. But that’s not because it is excellent golf.
Redmond Ridge (61/100). Played 4/7/22. $58. Redmond Ridge is out on the far edge of Redmond, near Woodinville and Duvall. It’s one of the Oki managed courses, but its the one that struggles the most due to a bad water deal with the city, and increased costs associated with that. The teeboxes, fairways, and greens are often in terrible shape, in a variety of seasons, and I often come away disappointed. The course features one of the toughest par 5s in Washington State (#3) and also one of the worst holes in Washington State, a downhill double blind no full swing monstrosity of a par 4 (#13). Personally I think many of the munis in Seattle are better golf.
Willows Run Coyote Creek (60/100). Played 6/24/22. $71. I was jetlagging the whole round at Coyote Creek, so maybe that’s it, but man is Coyote Creek SLEEPY golf. The entire Willows Run complex lies in a very flat river valley. The holes DO turn, a bit, but there is almost no elevation. But more than that, the golf is VERY uneventful. Willows Run recently cut back a TON of trees and foliage all over the course, and I think the course is better for that. Located in Redmond, this course will always be popular, and the pricing has gone up quite a bit the past few years. Greens were in excellent super fast condition the day I played, but I felt like it was a sleepwalk from a golf perspective. The best hole? Maybe #18, a long par 5 with a pond in front of the green. Meh. Like Jefferson Park (below), its FINE.
Jefferson Park Golf Course (58/100). Played 3/28/22. $45. Jefferson Park is located right of I-5 just south of downtown Seattle, easily accessible, and a very good value. It’s definitely a municipal golf course, but the quality is not so much lower that it is unacceptable – it’s FINE. You can tell they have made a number of compromises over the years for budget and also for community acceptance. Holes that used to exist have been changed to limit the number of balls sailing into the adjoining neighborhoods, and the par has been reduced down to 69 as a result. It’s pretty uninteresting golf, with really only one hole on the back being an “interesting” golf holes (#14 a big bending par 4). But this is extremely playable, accessible, and usable, and not at all expensive.
Interbay (58/100). Played 5/1/23. $19. Interbay is the 9 hole short par 3 located just south of Ballard in Seattle. It’s a nice little facility, with mini golf, driving range, putting course, and the par 3 course. I’d say it’s easily the best par 3 course in the Seattle metro, Willows Run Heron Ridge notwithstanding. There isn’t a real difference between the two, golf wise. Interbay for me feels a bit more like real golf is all. And I just like the experience of playing down by the water in Seattle. But full disclosure there is not much to the golf, at all. Quick easy convenient play for anyone looking to hit off grass in Seattle.
Nile Shrine (57/100). Played 5/12/22. $31. Nile Shrine is a 5000 yard, par 67 course in Mountlake Terrace, about 25 minutes north of Seattle (no traffic). It’s a Shriner course, but open to the public. Ideally situated RIGHT off I-5 (you can see and hear I-5 for most of the back 9). It is another interesting course to play, and it IS very well maintained. But this is the kind of course where multiple great individual holes (#3, #8, #12 come to mind) and a VERY casual laid back golf experience don’t make up for the overall deficits for a real golfer. And what are those deficits? Length, for sure. I had multiple little chips as second shots on the par 4s. But more than that the design and layout is chaos. Holes crossing the entrance road. Bunkers in odd locations. Lots of defensive Top Golf netting. Holes that curve a little TOO much. Blind, crowned, very difficult to stop the ball (putt uphill when you can!) greens. For all that, this course is a super good hidden value with some very fun short holes, especially on the back nine when it gets hilly (take a cart for this, I think).
Blue Heron (55/100). Played 5/17/22. $41. Blue Heron reminds me a lot of my grandmother’s cabin. Everything is maintained, and you can tell there is a lot of pride in that maintenance, but it is obvious the course is resource challenged. I think this course has SO much potential for real golfers. It’s in a glorious location right on the Snoqualmie River, has a number of natural ponds and water features, and most of the holes are actually laid out well and interesting. And the course uses the water SO well, even if the blackberries are everywhere. But Blue Heron has one fundamental challenge – it’s too low and doesn’t drain. And, secondly, the investment is not there, even if the effort is. Given that it is located so close to Sammamish and Issaquah, the economic potential is obvious, though it is a very short regulation course. I say, work the drainage issue first and go from there, if that’s possible. I’ve never met so much mud and plugged balls and the whole course feels like a sponge, though we have had record rain. Blue Heron is extremely pleasant, and it oozes potential. Just too much mud, and not enough investment, EVERYWHERE.
Lake Wilderness (53/100). Played 5/2/23. $42. Lake Wilderness is out pretty far south and west of Route 18, and it’s kind of an odd duck. It’s a links style course on the back 9. Super short. Decently maintained, but clearly suffering from a lack of overall investment. But for me the killer at this course is all the gimmicks they use to defend the greens. Ponds, trees, elevation, narrowness. About half of the holes (the bad half) have gimmicky green defense. This stems, no doubt, from an effort by a golf knowledgable person to address the short distance problem. But for me it is all a bit too much. The layout just kills the golf experience if you know golf well. But otherwise, this is very playable and simple, and with a little bit of course knowledge, you can score super well because it is so short.
Bellevue (51/100). Played 3/16/23. $48. The two positives about Bellevue’s public golf course are location and condition. The location is super convenient on the eastside. And the condition of the course, for how much it is played, is pretty good. Greens and fairways overplayed but fine. The real issue with Bellevue is that you can get a better experience at several of the other courses at the bottom of this list. Busy basic golf? Play the Willows Run courses. Short no distance golf? Play Foster or Nile Shrine. Outside of Echo Falls, which designs and manages itself out of the bottom of this this, and Twin Rivers which actually could be far better than Bellevue, the golf experience at Bellevue is a tragedy. Slow, busy, boring, and totally nondescript.
Echo Falls (49/100). Played 9/8/22. $74. Echo Falls is located out past Woodinville on 522, kind of far out there. I did not enjoy playing this course from a pure golf perspective. Echo Falls is a lot like Nile Shrine, Foster Golf Links or Bellevue, but with a lot more pretension that it is more than it is. Tons of holes that are too short. A lot of super tight overly protected greens clearly designed to make up for the lack of length. And a course layout that might be the worst I have ever played. It’s interesting to play because each hole seems like it has potential to be a decent golf hole, but oh so many of them just don’t measure up. The best holes are two par threes, one on the back and one on the front that go over some heavy bushes quite a ways. And a few of the other par threes are also long and challenging. The par 4s and par 5s are pretty much a complete disaster golf wise – uninteresting with a lot of hard dog legs and very hard to read one direction greens which is NOT a positive. #17 and #18 are pretty, but neither is really a good golf hole. Skip this course unless you want to drink your way through a round, in which case there are lots of good options at this facility.
Willows Run – Heron Ridge (42/100). Played 3/29/22. $12. Heron Ridge is the very short nine hole par 3 course at Willows Run, which has two regulation 18 hole courses as well. I hadn’t played it before this round. Its a very basic, very short Par 3 course, with only 3 holes over 130 yards. The greens are well maintained. This course gets a lot of play in the summer as it is a great business outing for non-golfers. But as golf courses go, there is very little to get excited about here except the $12 price. But I think $12 is about the right price, so that tells you what kind of value I ascribe to it. Par 3 courses I think could be far better than Heron Ridge is, but $12.
Twin Rivers (31/100). Played 8/30/22. $39. If Blue Heron is your grandmother’s cabin, Twin Rivers is your scary uncle’s cabin. It also hasn’t been maintained, but not due to just poverty. It’s all just gone a bit bad over time. Now this is a bit harsh for a course with an underlying decent playable layout, I’ll admit, but I’m pretty confident this course is the worst regulation course in the Seattle metro, for both maintenance and golf reasons. First, the maintenance. This course just doesn’t have the maintenance chops, and it is lacking in most of the basics that make public golf acceptable to many snobbier golfers at most public courses. Weeds, dirt, spots and worse on greens, blackberry invasions, holes, patches. It is not good. From a golf perspective, if you ignore the greens entirely, the course layout is fine. And they do keep the greens in fairly bad shape, which is actually a compliment. But fine and bad shape pretty much sum it up. What I will say is this is a PERFECT course for sending your 11 year old out to learn or if you want to put back nine bud lights with your friends and hack around. Otherwise, avoid it.
Jackson Park Executive Course (21/100). Played 5/13/22. $7! This is the “short nine” at the northern City of Seattle course, Jackson Park. Located right off I-5, this is the baby brother of the main Jackson Park course. The absolutely amazing thing about this course is the price. The rest of it is fine, I guess. Um, it’s on a hill? Bring your little kids here to learn, or if you really want to test your 90-130 yard distances. Hitting off the mats on all nine holes. Many problems with course conditions, though it is playable and OK. This course makes Heron Ridge at Willows Run seem amazing.
Crossroads Par 3 Course (18/100). Played 5/13/22. $18. Located in the true heart of Bellevue, the Crossroads neighborhood, this is a tiny tiny short par 3 course set among the cedars. Almost all of the holes are under or right at 100 yards, so this is a wedge course. I had a very hard time playing it because the cedars come into play on every tee shot for me because I hit the ball high. I hit several cedars on tee shots down the middle of the fairway. And the price seems insanely high compared to Heron Ridge and Jackson Park. But still, $18 is highly affordable. As with Jackson Park, bring your kids here to learn. It’s actually kind of nice as a walk in the park, but not much else.
Still to Play (9):
City (1): West Seattle
Eastside (0): NONE.
Islands / Peninsula (6): Meadowmeer, Village Greens, McCormack Woods, Trophy Lake, Gold Mountain I, Gold Mountain II.
North (1): Lynnwood
South (1): Riverbend
Other Well Known and Excellent Recommended Washington Courses Out of the Geographic Scope of this Project: Chambers Bay (Tacoma), The Home Course (almost Olympia), Legion (Everett), Salish Cliffs (Shelton), Gamble Sands (Brewster), Apple Tree (Yakima), Desert Canyon (Lake Entiat).
