The Course
Tumwater Valley Golf Club
Tumwater, Washington 98501
4611 Tumwater Valley Dr. SE
Guest Services – Chris Hansen
(360) 943-9500
First Impressions:
I arrived early (7:00 AM) on this brisk (48 degrees) dark and foggy late October morning. At about 7:10 AM I noticed 2 other golfers arriving early and they stopped to chat. Turns out it was Andre & Gary who were scheduled to play with me today. Another golfer (JR) joined us to make it a 4some. After some getting started chatting, I could tell right away this was going to be a fun group. I met with Chris Hansen in the pro shop and he got me all set up with everything I needed to make this a good day.
About the course:
Tumwater Valley Golf Club by scotth67. The City of Tumwater owns and operates a championship caliber golf course, located in the beautiful Tumwater Valley. Built in 1970, Tumwater Valley Golf Course offers generous landing areas, smooth greens, few bunkers, and views of the Deschutes River and Mount Rainier. The 10-acre driving range features a grass teeing ground.
I learned a few interesting and very unusual things about this course. First and most unusual is that it is a 20-hole golf course. What is that about you must be thinking. It is very cool because you still only play 18 holes and here is how it works…
Hole #8 is par 3 but when you arrive at the T-box you will find there are 2 par 3 holes here and you chose which one to play. For the white tee’s One is short (131 yards) and the other is long (183 yards). Same for Hole #11 where short is 134 yards and long is 160 yards. When I started up my GPS app at hole #1 it had me choose the long or short course and so Andre explained this and we chose to play the short option. An interesting thing is that Arnold Palmer played here in 1973 and scored 71. It made some news (see picture attached.) I noticed a few other interesting things along the way such as a bridge railing that is damaged due to a tree that was felled by a beaver (see picture attached) and so I named it “beaver bridge.” I also noticed there are lots of mole hills around but none of them got in the way of our play. I really like the layout of this course and it is one that is very suitable to my level of play. For a flyover view you can check out this You Tube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NC1Qcx-lBw4
My Golf Partners:
Andre
Gary
JR
First and foremost, I must say all three of these guys are very good golfers. We did not keep actual score for all (except me) but we tracked all birdies and pars.
Andre is a retired fire fighter; Gary is retired but working 3 days a week at this golf course and JR is still working and playing golf as often as opportunities allow. These guys kicked my butt.
Gary won the birdie/par contest with one birdie and 13 pars. Yep, this guy is that good.
Andre got 6 pars
JR got 6 pars
Tony got 3 pars (I am blaming the early morning chill & fog for my first 5 holes).
About Our Game:
This was an early morning start (7:30 AM) on a chilly (48 degrees) late October morning. First thing I notice is one of my golf partners (JR) is wearing shorts. Another guy (Andre) is well dressed for the weather and walking the course when the rest of us are driving the cart. Gary appeared to be more like me as far as dress and readiness for the day.
The first 5 holes were brutal for me with the cool temperature and hitting into the sun that was low on the horizon. I hit a T-shot that we all saw go down the middle but then somehow none of us could find the ball. Lost someplace in the shiny reflecting wet grass. Finally on hole #6 the weather was warmer and the sun higher up in the sky. I got a par, Gary got a birdie, and Andre and JR both made par. These guys were well warmed up by then and went on to kick butt from there.
Hole #8 par-3 all made par except me. I made bogie.
Hole #11 par-3 I made par and they all made bogie. Go figure?
Hole #12 Gary made par and went on to par every hole after that for a total of 13 pars.
Hole #13 par-4 all made par except me again.
JR made 3 pars in a row on 6-7-8
Andra made 3 pars in a row on 12-13-14
JR and Andra finished with 6 pars each for the day. I finished with just 3 and was happy with that.
My favorite hole:
Hole #15 (par 3)
They tell me this is the easiest hole on the course and best opportunity to make a birdie. It does look very straight forward and no major hazards to worry about. However, only Gary made par on this hole and the rest of us made bogie. How did Gary miss birdie on this one?
A little more about this course:
Even though a pro golfer (Arnold Palmer) played here, this is a great course for the average amateur. It tops the list so far of one of the most unique golf courses I played with its design of 20 holes. It has its challenges like hole #5 (a tight fairway on a par 5). I hit my T-shot right down the middle on this one. The pro shop has every thing you need and more and the staff is super helpful and friendly. This course is about 125 miles from my home in Portland OR but I will be looking forward to coming back here next spring and play it again in some better early morning weather. Hopefully Gary will still be working there and JR and Andre can be available so I can play with them again. I can most definitely learn a thing or two from these guys.
