September debut for Salish Cliffs

4 August 2011

One of only a few new golf courses to open in the US in 2011 will make its official debut next month.

Designed by Florida-based architect Gene Bates, Salish Cliff Golf Club, located between Seattle and Olympia in Washington state will open during September. The course is part of the Sqauxin Island Tribe’s Little Creek casino resort.

The 7,269 yard course offers dramatic views of the Kamilche Valley, along with major elevation changes, including at the par four twelfth hole, whose tee box sits on the property’s apex, some 650 feet above sea level.

All eighteen holes and the practice facility feature T1 creeping bentgrass turf. With the expected late summer opening, head superintendent Bob Pearsall and his staff aerated the Salish Cliffs greens in early July, instead of waiting for September, as do most local courses.

“The greens are already nearly fully recovered and we expect them to be in pristine condition through the remainder of the golf season,” said Pearsall, a native of Olympia who was hired last summer and played a major role in the course's grow-in.