87
YAKIMA COUNTRY CLUB
PAR 3 165 YARDS
Yakima, WA
509.452.2266
www.yakimacountryclub.org
Standing on the 17th green at Yakima Country Club presents golfers with a great view
of the surrounding landscape on the horizon: Mount Adams, Mount Rainier, the entire
front nine below in the valley, and Union Gap beyond.
This is a beautiful par 3 and part of a very difficult finish, where golfers face daunting
golf shots on the par-4 16th, the par-3 17th, and the par-5 18th. Many Yakima
tournaments are decided in the last three holes. Hole 17 acts as the swing hole,
where leaders fall back with bad shots and followers catch up in glory.
Four different tee boxes give a variety of distances and angles to the green, which
has two tiers and a narrow front and a pear-shaped back, offering many challenging
pin placements. While the front tier can be attacked more easily, short shots roll
down a steep-faced grass hill and long shots go into a bunker that forces a downhill
trap shot.
If all that weren't enough, the trap that sits in front of the back-left side of the green
catches many golf balls seemingly going at the pin, only to fall short. The view from
hole 17 of the Yakima Valley and Union Gap is as informative as it is inspirational, for
as wise members know and never forget, "all putts go to the Gap."
17
Photograph by Ronald Warninger
