CONGRATULATIONS ARE IN order for Director of Golf Vito DeSantis and all of his employees at Port Ludlow Golf Club.
The course’s Tide and Timber nines were grouped together and included in the Washington state edition of the top-10 courses you can play in “America’s Best Courses You Can Play” by Golfweek Magazine.
The course was slotted ninth in the listing.
Chambers Bay, in University Place, earned top honors in our state and was ranked No. 19 nationally.
That course will hold the U.S. Amateur in August and the 2015 U.S. Open.
Palouse Ridge, Washington State University’s course in Pullman, was second.
At some point I’ll venture back to Pullman for a football game, a visit of the old alma mater and play Palouse Ridge.
The course was under construction when I was last in Pullman as a college senior in 2005.
Bremerton’s Olympic Course at Gold Mountain Golf Course was third, Semiahmoo in Blaine fourth and Trophy Lake Golf and Casting in Port Orchard rounded out the top five.
The Olympic Course will showcase the University of Washington-hosted NCAA West Regionals in May, and the U.S. Junior Amateur in 2011.
The Home Course in DuPont was sixth, followed by Suncadia’s Prospector Course in Roslyn in seventh, Indian Canyon in Spokane at eight, Ludlow at nine and Loomis Trail in Blaine at No. 10.
High school golf on tap
The opening practice for high school spring sports, including boys and girls golf, is Monday, March 1.
Some metro leagues offer fall golf but Port Angeles, Port Townsend, Sequim and Chimacum, the schools fielding golf teams here on the North Olympic Peninsula, play the traditional spring schedule.
Interested athletes have some time to schedule a sports physical, fill out paperwork and pay the required fees to play what I consider to be the best of all the spring sports offered.
Physicals need to be less than 24 months old and valid through the end of this school year.
I can’t stress the last point enough. An expired physical cost Mill Creek’s undefeated Archbishop Murphy football team a shot at the Class 2A state playoffs in 2007.
I don’t want to see anything similar happen to any of our high school athletes here.
Reasons to play
There are some great reasons to play high school golf.
You have the chance to play the sometimes expensive sport for virtually nothing thanks to the generosity of our area courses; you get to interact and play with students from many different schools; and this may be most important consideration for a high school student: you get excused from school early and often.
I was a swing player, moving from junior varsity to varsity and often left class hours before school let out to play in matches.
My advanced English teacher even lamented my choice of sports when I was a junior with a reproachful “Not Golf! You’ll be gone all the time.”
Educational purists like her shouldn’t worry because the game helped me prioritize my time, and I always got better grades during the quarter I was swinging my sticks.
I plan on writing the boys and girls golf preview as a column once the season is in “full swing” in mid-March.
St. Paddy’s tourney
SkyRidge Golf Course in Sequim has a fun and filling St. Paddy’s Tournament on Saturday, May 13.
The four-person shotgun scramble will tee it up at 9:30 a.m.
Cost for the event is $160 per foursome with an optional honey pot.
There will be lots of prizes and a traditional Irish stew served for lunch.
A big break skills challenge will follow tournament play.
Players are encouraged to wear their best kilt and knicker outfit as there will be a prize for the best dressed hooligan.
For more information, call SkyRidge at 360-683-3673.
Arctic Open results
Port Townsend Golf Club hosted its 27th annual Arctic Open tournament last weekend with relatively balmy weather on both days.
Saturday night’s rain softened the course up a bit but the course always dries out quickly and scores were low.
Port Angeles High School golf coach Mark Mitrovich teamed with Gary Thorne for the low gross of the field with a 130, while Pat Moor and Scott Maxwell earned low net honors with a 117.
Chimacum High School golf coach Mitch Black paired with Buddy O’Meara for first division gross honors after a 140, and Terry Khile and Port Townsend High School golf coach and Port Townsend Golf Club assistant pro Gabriel Tonan were two shots back with a 142.
The low scores put up by those coaches speak to the quality of instruction a high school player will receive during the golf season.
Full results for the tournament can be found on today’s Page B2.
A tip of the cap from Port Townsend Golf Club for tournament sponsors Marine View Beverages and Penny Saver for making the event a huge success.
________
Michael Carman is the golf columnist for the Peninsula Daily News. His column appears on Wednesdays. He can be reached at 360-417-3527 or pdngolf@gmail.com.
