BREMERTON
Gold Mountain Golf Club, 7263 W Belfair Valley Rd, Bremerton, WA 98312
- An hour west of the Seattle airport
- Located on the Olympic Peninsula 25 miles west of Seattle, this 36-hole city-owned complex sports a medal-winning 1996 design from John Harbottle III. Host to the 2006 U.S. Public Links Championship, where Anthony Kim reached the final, and to the 2011 U.S. Junior Amateur, won by Jordan Spieth, Gold Mountain’s Olympic stretches 7,104 yards. The layout features a flattish, forested front nine, followed by a hilly journey on the back, highlighted by the 357-yard par-four 15th, which plays to a peninsular green at lake’s edge. Sandy terrain underfoot, deep, sod-wall bunkers, and wavy native fescue grasses complete a stirring scene. (https://linksmagazine.com/americas-top-10-munis/?)
BREWSTER
Gamble Sands, 200 Sands Trail Rd, Brewster, WA 98812
- David McLay Kidd is working on a second course:https://linksmagazine.com/qa-golf-course-architect-david-mclay-kidd
- Four hours south of Kelowna
- The Sands Course is a true links course set in the high desert of Washington with sandy soil, traditional fine fescue grasses, firm playing surfaces, wide fairways, and massive greens.
- While water does not come into play, it certainly comes into view many times at this stunning golf destination in eastern Washington, where the wide-open David McLay Kidd layout sits on land high above, but well removed from, the Columbia River.
- QuickSands is a 14-hole par-3 short course
- Inside Gamble Sands: What Wild West golf looks like up close by Sean Zak, Golf.com, 11/16/22
- "Gamble Sands is superb!! I've not played the new 18 yet but the original is playable with a putter only. A true "running" course. They are pricey but a great place. Since the first 18 was built they have added a stunning par 3 course, a second 18, a large lodge of rooms to stay and a rather large putting green/course. The food has been good from the start." - Robert Ahlschwede
UNIVERSITY PLACE
Chambers Bay Golf Course, 6320 Grandview Dr W, University Place, WA 98467
- 40 minutes southwest of the Seattle airport
- Home to the 2010 U.S. Amateur, the 2015 U.S. Open, and the 2022 U.S. Women’s Amateur, this Pierce County layout near Tacoma unfolds atop an old gravel mine at the southeast tip of Puget Sound, 45 minutes south of Seattle. Stretching nearly 7,700 yards, this walking-only, Robert Trent Jones II design now boasts smooth poa annua greens that replaced the old bumpy fescue surfaces in 2019. What hasn’t changed is the superb routing and variety of holes over firm and fast terrain where links-style tactics are often the prudent play. The closing four holes that feature train tracks, views of the Sound, and the Olympic Mountains and on 18, vast concrete sorting bins, are as fascinating as any in golf. (https://linksmagazine.com/americas-top-10-munis/)
- Can golf year-round
WALLA WALLA
Wine Valley Golf Club, 176 Wine Valley Road, Walla Walla, WA 99362
- Recommended by caddie I met in New York in January 2026
- Looks nice but close to nothing
