Target destination

CHELAN – Back in the mid-1960s, a group of forward-thinking local business people decided to build an 18-hole golf course to serve this central Washington community of about 3,500 that sits serenely on the shores of scenic Lake Chelan.

They wanted both a course they could call their own, and a course that might eventually help make the area, which had already established itself as a wonderful weekend getaway spot for water enthusiasts, more of a destination stop for out-of-town golfers.

Today, Lake Chelan Golf Course, a challenging and wonderfully designed 18-hole championship layout that lazily unwinds on a massive bluff overlooking the 55 mile-long lake, stands as a striking testimonial to the group’s foresight.

And, according to head professional Jim Oscarson, to its collective disdain for putting.

“The story goes that two of the main guys – a golf pro by the name of Eddie Joseph and Hank Harvey – were really good chippers, but not very good putters,” Oscarson explained. “Which is why all of our greens are so elevated and so small.”

I had no reason to doubt Oscarson’s tale, but rather than take his word, I decided to take him up on his invitation to make the 3-hour drive from Spokane and see for myself.

And it was less than three holes into my tour of the 6,430-yard layout that I realized Oscarson’s sources were spot on with their character assessment of the course’s greens.

Green after green presented itself as a tiny, raised plateau that seemed to dare you to try and stick a ball on the putting surface with anything more than a wedge.

Not being a huge fan of such seemingly infinitesimal targets, I was initially a bit put off – and a bit intimidated – by the wee greens of Lake Chelan Golf Course. Even from the fairway, my first two approach shots struck me as impossible.

“I’d have a better chance of landing a Lear Jet on a coffee table,” I thought to myself.

But after missing the first two greens, I partially bladed a sand wedge on my approach to the third, then watched in wonder as my ball bounced once and bit, just to the right of the flagstick.

My earlier concerns, it seemed, were unwarranted.

Granted, the greens were as small and elevated as any I can remember playing. But they held shots nicely, and once you were on them, you never had to worry about a putt longer than 30 feet.

“Small, elevated greens are kind of our signature,” Oscarson said.

In a way, that’s too bad. The course has much more to offer, starting with a stunningly picturesque driving range that features an elevated grass tee area and a 180-degree panorama of the lake.

There are jaw-dropping views from nearly every tee box, and a creative diversity of holes that unfold naturally across rolling terrain that was once the site of fruit orchards operated by two local families, the Campbells and the Gauckrogers.

Course superintendent Don Hensley has done a marvelous job of keeping the course in big-league condition, and the greens, while miniscule, are heavily contoured and difficult to read.

Among the best holes are the 400-yard third, which doglegs slightly to the right and plays uphill to a tricky green. As the No. 1-handicap hole, it demands length off the tee and an accurate approach shot, and offers, perhaps, the greatest challenge on the course.

The 406-yard 10th is another gem, featuring incredible views of the lake and surrounding mountains. The 10th winds left over a canyon and down a wildly tilting fairway to a green that is tucked back into the side of a hill.

And Oscarson warns against reading too much, or too little, into the course’s modest length.

“People look at the scorecard, notice that the trees aren’t all that big and figure it’s pretty much an easy, wide-open course,” Oscarson said. “But we held the Pacific Northwest Seniors event here and at Desert Canyon a few years back, and only one player broke par over here.”

What makes the course even more impressive is the fact that it was built in the late 1960s for the unthinkably low cost of $285,000, which included the purchase of the land.

“The business people involved had formed a private club, but the building of the course was a community effort,” Oscarson explained. “They organized work parties, tore out the orchards and built it on a shoestring.

“Parents had their kids coming up and picking rocks out of the fairways right along with some of the community’s most prominent citizens.”

But in 1974, the original owners realized they could no longer make payments on the loan they had taken out to build the course, so they gifted it to the city of Chelan.

“It was kind of a handshake deal in which the city would get the golf course in lieu of the residents of Chelan getting affordable greens fees and membership rates,” Oscarson said.

With the city not having to pay property taxes on the course, and a golf boom in the making, Lake Chelan Golf Course suddenly became a viable – and profitable – golf venue.

Oscarson, a Chelan native who started working in the pro shop as a youngster in the late 1980s, said he still remembers hot summer days when 10 or fewer people would play the course in the afternoon.

“But now there are some days in June when you can’t get a tee time until 4 in the afternoon,” he added. “Times have definitely changed. The course has become a huge asset for the city. It’s helped fund our streets program and parks department. And it’s been an economic boom for the resorts in the area.”

In 1991, the city replaced all of the sprinkler heads on the course’s irrigation system, and in 1995 it started a tee renovation program.

“When the course was originally built, the owners had no idea how popular golf would become,” Oscarson said. “So all of the tees boxes were very, very small – like the size of a couple of pool tables. And as we got more and more play, they started taking a lot of abuse.”

So the community once again organized work parties – drawing, some 25 years later, many of the same people who were so instrumental in getting the course built in the first place – and enlarged the tee boxes on nearly every hole.

Today, Lake Chelan Golf Course seems to have carved out a comfortable niche among the growing number of courses in the central Washington area. Located almost mid-way between Seattle and Spokane, it hosts about 32,000 rounds a year, drawing from the ranks of the locals, the summer tourists and the day-trip golfers looking for an interesting, but affordable, challenge.

The public course has around 600 members who pay annual fees of just $350 per person, or $600 per family.

“It’s one of the best deals in the state,” Oscarson said.

Daily greens fees during the peak season that runs from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day is $34 for 18 holes and $19 for nine. Twilight rates start at 2 p.m. and drop the fees to $26 and $17. Carts runs $26 for 18 holes and $14 for nine.

The course is located just one mile north of downtown Chelan. Golfers traveling from Spokane can take Highway 2 west to Orondo, then head north on Highway 97 to Chelan.

For more information and details on lodging, call (509) 682-8026 or (800) 246-5361.