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A Time to Reflect at Gold Mountain

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It’s been a year of big changes!

As we move deeper into fall, I want to take a second and reflect on the season and what we’ve accomplished so far at Gold Mountain.

Both golf courses saw some upgrades this year, so let’s start with the Olympic Course.

We were able to purchase new bunker sand in the spring and re-fill all the bunkers throughout the course.

As we did this we were also able to re-build the bunker faces on some of the green side bunkers that get a lot of use.

The Cascade Course received a face lift of sorts this summer, as we changed the mowing patterns throughout the course.

These changes were different on every hole and ranged from a smaller fairway or landing area on some holes to more collection areas and bigger aprons on others.

This new look was intended to change the appearance but also make the golf course play a little faster.

The other significant change on the Cascade course is the addition of a new tee on the 5th hole that will turn the par 4 into a par 5.

We were able to add roughly 100 additional yards to the hole with the additional tee that should be open sometime this month.

The last addition of note on the Cascade Course is the new bathroom located on the 5th tee that was opened in the spring.

Food and beverage saw some very exciting changes this year, the biggest being a complete menu change that we rolled out in July.

This new menu offers a large variety of exciting items like stone fired pizza, street tacos, and hand dipped mini corn dogs to name a few.

Another big addition on the F&B side this year is our new outdoor wedding venue.

This new venue offers a dramatic outdoor space that can seat up to 300, and offers that outdoor Northwest feel.

Pretty cool stuff as I sit down and reflect all that we accomplished, and I can’t tell you how proud of the team I am.

Please make it a point to come out and see all these changes if you haven’t already, and I will see you out here!

All the best,
Daryl Matheny
General Manager, Gold Mountain Golf Club

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Fall? What Fall?

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It still feels like summer on the Kitsap Peninsula.

Supermarkets are starting to stock their shelves with anything and everything pumpkin, and football season takes a hold of Sunday afternoon.

People may be gearing up for fall, but Gold Mountain is still in summer condition. This means firm and fast greens, well defined rough, and beautiful warm afternoons filled with great putts for birdie and amazing par saves!

Our aerification schedule does not take effect until October 4th and 5th and we still have the Dave Williams Best Ball tournament on our slate.

Our greens always recover quickly from the fall aerification, and our fall events showcase this fact:

The winter tour starts in November with the first date being 11/12/16. And our men’s club stays active with the Captain’s Cup (a Ryder Cup-style tournament played November through February).

Check the PNGA website for more details on the Winter Tour including the Entry Fee for both events.

We have always been a golf club that plays extremely dry in the winter and this year will be no different.

Winter rates make playing more affordable and the sunny weather usually stays around until the end of October.

If you have a desire to continue the fun that has been our fantastic Northwest summer, continue to visit Gold Mountain Golf Club in the next few months.

We will make a year-round golfer out of even the most stringent fair weather fan!

Lastly, I’d like to take a moment to thank all of you for the tremendous support this year. It has been an amazing experience for me personally and for all of the staff at Gold Mountain to serve you.

Happy fall!
John Sitton
Golf Operations Manager, Gold Mountain Golf Club

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We’ve Reached a Milestone at Gold Mountain

It’s been all sun all the time at Gold Mountain over the past month, and we certainly can’t complain.

Both the Olympic and Cascade Courses are in fantastic shape, and the level of play we are experiencing is proof that Gold Mountain is the place to play.

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Weddings in the Woods at Gold Mountain

But on to business! Our two projects this summer were the Wedding in the Woods venue and the new tees on Cascade #5.

And speaking of Wedding in the Woods…

We’re thrilled to announce that the Wedding in the Woods venue has hosted its first wedding!

It’s a milestone we’ve been looking forward to for a long time, and now we’ve seen all of the hard work we’ve executed come to fruition.

Not only that, Weddings in the Woods are being booked fast, so if you’re in the hunt for a beautiful, comprehensive, secluded venue on the Olympic Peninsula, be sure to give us a look!

For more golf-related matters, the new tees on Cascade #5 were seeded recently and are growing in nicely if we do say so ourselves.  Stay tuned for them to be used for events starting in mid-September.

Our next major maintenance project will be aerating greens tees and fairways starting in September if the weather cooperates.

If August has been any indication, it’ll be smooth sailing indeed.

To forest nuptials and smooth greens!

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Summer Means That There’s Something for Everyone at Gold Mountain

The Summer weather has finally arrived and we are in full swing here at Gold Mountain.

From the Junior Camps that are nearing their conclusion to the Couples Leagues that continue to play on Friday’s, the Northwest’s best golf facility is running on all cylinders providing premium experiences for all of our guests.

The month of August will see a significant jump in tournament play and traveling groups who have pre-booked their rounds in advance.

Make sure to schedule your tee time in advance to guarantee a spot because space is becoming more and more limited.

One time of day that is great for enjoying all this sunshine is our twilight hours. Every day at 3pm we lower our rates and allow for unlimited play at the same time!

Evening rounds are great for those looking to avoid the heat and find a golf course that is void of the mid-morning influx of golfers.

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It feels like your own personal country club.

You can always get a quick round of golf in during the afternoon, whether it be at 3pm or later (it is still light out until 8:30pm) and the course will feel as if it is your own personal country club with all of the open space!

For those married golfers, Gold Mountain will be hosting the Couples Tour on Sunday, September 4th for a 1pm shotgun start.

The format is a Shamble and this new event has sparked some really intense interest. Please call the golf shop to sign up at (360) 415-5432, and experience the both the golf course and the restaurant which has some great new options as well as a brand new menu!

It is a little early yet, but we want to remind all of you competitive golfers out there that the Dave Williams Best Ball is back again this year.

September 24th and 25th is the date of the annual Best Ball Tournament that always brings in some of the best amateur golfers in the area to Gold Mountain.

We have both a gross and net division, so both you and your golfing buddy have plenty of opportunities to win some dough. Look for the signup flyer in the month of August.

As always, we truly appreciate all of you who visit us during these perfect northwest summers. You are the reason why the staff of Gold Mountain enjoys our profession the way we do!

Keep swinging those clubs. We will see you soon!

John Sitton
Golf Operations Manager
Gold Mountain Golf Club

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New and Exciting Happenings at Gold Mountain

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Weddings in the Woods: coming to a Gold Mountain near you.

We’ve mentioned these in prior installments, but they’re so nice that we’ll talk about them twice. Gold Mountain has two new and exciting additions!

Our first is the outdoor wedding venue that we built off the first fairway of the Cascade Golf Course.

This venue can handle wedding parties of up to 300 and offers a beautiful woodsy setting. The location allows easy access for our wedding parties, but has the feel of being far away from it all. With towering firs, hemlocks and cedars along with the songs from many different types of birds this venue offers a truly natural setting for that special day.

The other addition is the new teeing area on the 5th hole of the Cascade Golf Course that will turn the par 4 into a par 5.

We have looked at several different holes on the Cascade Course over the years trying to get the par back to 72 and the 5th hole made the most sense.

We were able to add another 100 yards to the existing length, thus changing the par on the hole from 4 to 5.

The green on the 5th hole has long been considered one of the toughest on property, so by lengthening the hole and turning it into a par 5 it will only add to the holes already tough reputation.

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Zen and the Art of Golf Course Maintenance

After careful, unbiased scientific analysis, and after the culmination of rigorous exploratory research, I have reached a final score on the conditions of both the Cascade Course and the Olympic Course. Cascade receives a score of 10/10, and the Olympic receives an acceptable score of 10/10.

Did I mention I was unbiased?

All joking aside, both of our golf courses are in excellent condition thanks to the efforts of my incredible maintenance team. It’s not exhilarating, it’s not glamorous, but it’s absolutely necessary. Without their hard work and dedication, we wouldn’t have a course to play on, much less two.

The warm weather in April gave us an opportunity to work the kinks out of our irrigation systems and to oversee some of the areas we lost last year due to water restrictions that were instituted.

We’re finishing up adding new sand to the bunkers on the Olympic Course and they look and play excellent. While we hope you don’t end up having to deal with the sand first hand, a well-maintained and aesthetically pleasing sand trap is always a course must-have.

To paraphrase the old philosophical saying: “you can’t appreciate light without the dark, and you can’t appreciate the greens without the sand traps.”

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The altar takes shape at the Cascade Course’s forest wedding site.

Speaking of green, the new outdoor forest wedding venue on the Cascade Course is almost completed.  We only need to lay the crushed rock and compact it and finish the entry gate.

Once we finish this project we will start building the new tees on number 5 Cascade. The end of June is our goal, but as we all know, great art takes time! The new tee will probably open by the end of July as we are seeding it and it will take a while to establish a good stand of turf.

Upcoming events we are working towards are the Bremerton City Am on June 5 and 6 on both courses, as well as the U.S. Senior Open Sectional Qualifier on the Olympic Course June 21st.

In the mean time, head on out to the course (either one!) for a round as we welcome summer to the Northwest. See you there!

Ed Faulk
Superintendent, Gold Mountain Golf Club

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Warm Days, Snack Bars, and New Leagues

Spring has officially sprung in the Northwest, and especially here at Gold Mountain!

We’ve seen a major boost in play from our new Annual Membership Package that includes access to both of our Championship Courses and generous discounts with our partners at the Columbia Hospitality Golf Clubs.

These memberships are offered year round, so even if your golf clubs have not been dusted off yet, you still have the opportunity for exceptional value at multiple venues in your local area.

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Hole 15 of the Olympic Course at Gold Mountain

The Cascade and Olympic Courses are in ideal playing conditions despite the typical Kitsap winter, and we have a new addition for the Olympic Course: the Olympic Snack Den is up and ready for business, located beneath the Restaurant facing the golf course.

No more running all the way up to the Restaurant midway through your round just to get a beverage or food at the turn. We now have your amenities ready before you ever get to the 10th tee!

Beginning next month our Couples League returns for another year of social, non-competitive outings that are perfect for partners who are just beginning to play, or who are looking to meet new friends who share the love of the game.

The first Couples League tee times will begin on Friday, May 27th at 1pm on the Cascade Golf Course.  For those who are looking for a more competitive angle, we are working on dates for Couples to play in teams against Couples from our other member facilities.  Inquire with the golf shop for more details.

If you find yourself in Bremerton this season, swing by Gold Mountain to say hello, grab a meal, and most importantly, feel some sunshine on your face while swinging the clubs.

Happy golfing,
John Sitton
Golf Operations Manager, Gold Mountain Golf Club

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Spring Means New Projects at Gold Mountain

The sun is shining, the pollen is flying and we have 350 golfers out on the course today so it must be spring. And if it’s spring at Gold Mountain, that means one thing: new projects!

The dry weather could not have come at a better time; everyone needs to feel a little sunshine after the long and wet winter we’ve all endured this year, and the grounds crew is chomping at the bit to get out there make the courses at Gold Mountain even more feature-rich than last year.

The first order of business is always taking care of the greens. We completed greens aerification on both courses last week on schedule even though the weather was, shall we say, less than ideal.

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Greens aerification: good for the course, and good for our lungs!

A little-known fact about golf courses is that not only do we aerify them, they purify our air as well. Golf courses in the United States alone filtered an estimated 13 million tons of dust from the atmosphere (source). To breathe cleaner air, we’ll be cutting the greens next week so that they’ll be all good to go for the start of the season. I’ve called in all our seasonal team members to start next week so we are ready to roll into the season.

Our next project is to build a new tee area for Cascade #5.  We have wanted to return the Cascade Course back to a Par 72 for some time. With the addition of the new tee’s on #5 we will convert it to a par 5 from a par 4, making it the same Par 72 as The Masters’ course at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia.

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The start of a beautiful forest wedding grotto. It may not look like much now, but stay tuned.

Spring is the start of wedding season, and I would be remiss if I didn’t give an update from the weddings team as well. We’re currently building a massive outdoor wedding venue and have cleared an area on the left side of Cascade #1 big enough to seat 200 guests. The next step is to build an altar for ceremonies, then spread fine crushed rock over the entire area. Trista tells me she has two potential weddings already interested for next year, so book well in advance!

My role has changed a bit since last year as I am now the Superintendent at McCormick Woods as well as Gold Mountain. I’m very lucky to have Paul DeVinney in charge at McCormick Woods as he provides me with insight into the course at McCormick Woods as well as running the crew on a daily basis.

Learning a golf course is a lot like learning about a new person you’ve just met; each has their own quirks, characteristics, and temperaments that require time to learn. When you do learn them though, you’re all the better for it.

This season will be an interesting one both for me with my new role and with all the exciting new features coming down the pipeline. Change is a good thing though, right?

Happy spring and happy golfing,
Ed Faulk
Superintendent, Gold Mountain Golf Club

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New Golf Season, New Golf Equipment

The sun is out and so are the golfers!

Time to start thinking about new golf equipment. This promises to be an exciting year for golfers and new equipment.

At Gold Mountain we are fortunate enough to have a wide selection of demo clubs. You are more than welcome to take them on the range or test drive them on the course. We have expert club fitters who would love to spend time with you on the range making sure that the clubs you purchase are made especially for you and will work with your game and skill level.

We will also throw in a free golf lesson. If you purchase the clubs from us there will be no charge for these extra services.

But if you would like to come out and demo what 2016 has in store for you in new equipment, drop into our demo day on April 2nd and spend the day talking to Manufacturer’s Reps and Demo all that’s new. How about the New Callaway XR16 that was designed with the help of Boeing! Or the New Ping G line that promises to be the best Ping product to date. But if you come out make sure to bring your appetite. We will also have our famous BBQ going along with our favorite Silver City Beer.

Also new merchandise in our Golf Shop are the new 2016 shoe lines, Footjoy, Nike, Adidas, Skechers. How about a new golf bag from Ping, Sun Mountain or Ogio. And of course, the new golf balls from Titleist, Callaway and the new B series from Bridgestone.

So hope to see you out here on April 2nd so we can show off our new merchandise. Make sure to enter the drawing for FREE Merchandise at the demo day also.

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Get Excited About Golf

I recently gave lessons to two brothers. The elder was 17 and the younger 12 years old. I have been helping people better understand the golf swing for over 30 years, but it had been a while since I had met two people as excited about golf as these two.

Gold Mountain's PGA Professional, Mark Knowles

Gold Mountain’s PGA Professional, Mark Knowles

Our lesson time was fairly ordinary. By fairly ordinary I mean that they would seem to understand our discussions, the drills and the techniques and would show modest improvement in the hour we worked together. However, magic would happen at some point during the week, because when I saw them the following Tuesday night they had it! Heck, they not only had it…they owned it.

Learning to play golf takes time. All skill sports require time, focus and passion to learn to develop a repeating motion. With golf, the motion is complex and the margin for error is minimal. These two boys left their lesson on Tuesday, and they spent every waking hour for the next seven days walking, talking, practicing, and watching golf. It was summer vacation and what else are you going to do as a kid besides hit golf balls into your neighbor’s house and watch the Golf Channel non-stop?

There are a few things that come to mind as I reflect on the magic of learning golf. First of all, it helps to have your summers off! But more importantly, keep golf fun. No matter your age, learn through the eyes of a child. Have every day be a new day. Enjoy the opportunity to play golf! Celebrate your successes and forget the miss-hits! Swing the club in balance and go see your favorite PGA Professional for a little direction.

Making the turn,
Mark

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