I agree gamble sands is the best course in the state. There are other technically "better courses" but when it comes to the fun factor I will take gamble sands over any course you can put up. The 300+ drives, the forgiveness of the course, the beauty of the views and all while just chilling in a golf cart. It's become a Lil spendy in recent times but I'll guarantee you'll have way more fun than walking chambers or bandon and won't feel bad about what you paid to play versus what you'll pay at those 2.
There are a lot of great public courses not on your list. Salish is a class course. So is Olympic. In fact I have no complaints about any of the courses but there are a ton of courses that you didn't mention that are just in my little little area. Most people don't realize how good the golf is in Western Washington, and a lot of it can be done on a reasonable budget. I could easily have a week of golf, with cart and come in under 500 bucks. I'll give you six courses just in the King/Pierce/Thurston County that are fantastic and reasonably priced. 1. Chambers Bay. Host of the 2015 US Open and the only true PGA Course in the area. Several are close but none matches this place. A real links style course and probably the best bang for the buck you will get from a true PGA course. You can't come out here and not play it. And it is among the cheapest top tier courses to play. It isn't cheap but at around 150 bucks it is a bargain compared to other hosts of the US Open. 2. The Home Course. Just down the road from Chambers this course is a great course and a nice hybrid of a a links and standard style course. Playing from the dynamite tees makes this almost impossible. Great course at under 50 bucks a round. 3. West Seattle Golf Course: Great course for the money. A ton of elevation and a challenge for most golfers and a real fun track to play. I've only played it once but am trying to get some buddies together to go up and play it more often. 4. Salish Cliffs. You described this course to a tee. I love this course. Damned hard. Would be a PGA course if it wasn't way out in the middle of nowhere. 5. Eagle's Pride. Probably the most underrated golf course in the PNW. A military course but open to the public. This is flat out fantastic and, again, within 20 minutes of The Home Course and Chambers Bay. These three are the most fun a golfer can have, in the PNW and all of it under 250 bucks for greens fees. Nice elevation to the holes, trees and challenges everywhere. I mean if you haven't played it, you need to. The only negative is that, as a military course, the options for setting up tee times is limited but getting on is easy and you don't need to go onto a military post to play. PLAY THIS COURSE. 6. Gold Mountain: Again, great track, great course. Easily worth the cost to play. A ton of fun for sure.
@@melanielawler3344 The post has two courses. Both are pretty good. Whispering Firs, which is on the McChord side, is the easier of the two but seems to have had some green issues over the last couple of years. It is also harder to get onto since it is on post directly. The other is Eagle's Pride which is a bear of a course. I just got off of it literally 20 minutes before writing this. From the white tees it is close to 6400 yards and that is all up and downhill. The greens are in great shape and are very tricky. It is long, tight and punishes bad shots-hard. I love it but man it is a hard course.
