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COLUMBIA POINT
Golf Club
PAR 5 596 YARDS
Richland, WA
509.946.0710
www.playcolumbiapoint.com
When the city of Richland wanted to build an upscale public course, it hired Jim
Engh, an architect whose work is now known worldwide, to design it. Columbia Point
Golf Club was completed in 1997, and since then a generation of players has enjoyed
its four water features, massive greens, sparkling white sand bunkers, beautifully
sculpted fairways, and even its ninth hole.
Now here is a risk/reward hole, with the emphasis on "risk." The long par 5—596
yards from the tips—is played downwind, but even so the second shot is risky
whether you mean for it to be or not. From an elevated tee box, the drive should be
slightly to the right side of the fairway to open up the remainder of the hole. There
are trees left and out-of-bounds. Even after a large tee shot, the second demands a
200-yard carry past water to the right-front of the green and out-of-bounds to the left.
A smarter play is aiming short of the water, but beware: The landing area slopes
toward the water and anything hit with a hint of fade can be fatal. Columbia Point is
part of a wonderful golf experience in the Tri-Cities area of southeast Washington,
near the Columbia River and rolling hillsides of the growing wine industry. Within 50
miles there are 150 wineries—and almost that many golf holes.
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Photograph courtesy of Columbia Point Golf Club
