Approach with care

The Lake Chelan Golf Course is the busiest of the three 18-hole public courses in the Chelan area, this venerable municipal track measures up admirably – not because of its length, but because of its diversity of holes, its overall conditioning and its small, challenging greens.

Stretching a mere 6,430 yards from the back tees, this relatively short layout that unwinds on a cliff overlooking the lake features two distinctly different nines. The front is fairly flat, while the back offers much more in the way of elevation changes and sidehill lies.

The things both nines have in common, however, are the greens – most of which are elevated and difficult to hold. Generous fairways let golfers bomb away off the tee, but because of those mesa-like putting surfaces only most accurate of approach shots get rewarded.

Factor in the surrounding terrain, which runs steeply downhill toward the nearby lake, making putts brutally difficult to read, and it becomes nearly impossible to overstate how severely the short games of even low-handicap and scratch golfers will be tested.

Eighteen-hole greens fees range from $33 in the early spring and late fall to $37 with riding carts costing an additional $26 for 18 holes. Special junior, senior and twilight rates are available, and tee times can be made 30 days in advance.