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YAKIMA COUNTRY CLUB
PAR 4 363 YARDS
Yakima, WA
509.452.2266
www.yakimacountryclub.org
Yakima Country Club is a desert oasis with more water than you can imagine for a
valley east of the Cascade Mountains that averages seven inches of rainfall a year.
When playing the eighth hole, there might be more water than you want and need.
Designed originally in the 1920s by the great A.V. Macan, Yakima is a step back in
time with its tree-lined fairways, small greens, stunning views of Mount Adams and
Mount Rainier, and gracious clubhouse. Not surprisingly, Yakima rewards precise golf
shots and, in some cases, demands them.
The eighth hole is a mid-range par 4 and a classic risk/reward. Water looms in front
of the tee shot as golfers decide how to play the subtle dogleg. Those who choose
to carry the drive over the water must contend with a very small landing area, not to
mention the water. Players who are wise and lay up between 100 and 150 yards have
the task of hitting a long iron between the water and a fairway sand trap, an area that
is perhaps 15 yards wide. Another option is to lay back around 175 yards where there
is no trouble, but that means hitting a longer shot to the green.
It takes golfers a lifetime to learn how to read Yakima Country Club's greens on their
own, and this terraced green at the eighth has slopes in every direction—left to right,
right to left, uphill and downhill—illustrating why two-putting is difficult on Yakima's
unnerving undulations.
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Photograph by Ronald Warninger
