You are here:

I first stopped by Suncadia two years ago. Not much was finished and, though the golf courses looked inviting, I found it hard to envision what this highly anticipated four-season resort would offer. So, as I made the 90-minute drive from Seattle, I anticipated writing a golf-resort story. To my surprise, I discovered much, much more than a golf resort. Suncadia offers the traveler a panoply of leisure including spa treatments, fly fishing, rafting and mountain biking. And, if you’re curious, the golf is exceptional, as well.

The 254-suite Suncadia Lodge yawns above the Cle Elum River with the grand presence of America’s great national park structures. (The 18-room Inn offers visitors a more intimate experience.) While checking in, the lobby bustles with families slipping off to bike along more than 50 miles of trails or heading out to the Swim and Fitness Center, where two large tubes snake downward from dual waterslides for a waterpark swoosh. An indoor pool offers basketball hoops and balls of all kinds. Outside, the constant alpine breeze cloaks the sun’s heat on this particular 77-degree day. However, I came up the mountain to golf.

Suncadia offers the public Prospector course and Tom Doak’s pinnacle of natural golf design, the private Tumble Creek. If you get a chance to play Tumble Creek, drop everything—job interviews, important birthdays, etc.—and go play. Purists will find 18 meandering holes, of which just one required significant shaping because, according to Prospector’s head golf pro Brady Hatfield, “the fairway ran into an embankment that basically went straight up.”
Every hole is memorable on this 6,928-yard trek, but the 170-yard par-3 11th, a terrestrial island of sorts, and the 480-yard par-4 18th, a brutal climb into prevailing winds, are two of the best examples of their species anywhere. Forget that “good walk spoiled” aphorism; playing Tumble Creek is a grand walk in the mountains worth celebrating.

After knocking balls around Tumble Creek, I expected to be disappointed by Prospector, the first of two planned public tracks at Suncadia. I was not. First, Hatfield and his crew maintain the course like its exclusive brethren, impressive considering 20,000 players tee off each season. The 7,112-yard Palmer course design offers a few dazzling holes, like the 411-yard par-4 10th, an elevated tee that invites your drive to light like a mountain bluebird toward the alpine peaks. No duffer will come away disappointed from what Hatfield calls “a very fair, alpine resort golf course.”

For years I drove this stretch from the summit to Ellensburg wondering why there wasn’t a Salish Lodge–quality property on this side of the Cascades. What I didn’t realize was that most of the private land was tied up with logging concerns. As the timber economy shifted and the logging companies began to sell, the opportunity to build the 6,400-acre resort took shape. With its new Glade Spring Spa, golf courses and recreational bonanza, Suncadia is in mighty fine shape to become a premier destination.