Highlander Golf Club

I was visiting from our of state and booked a round with my nephews. We had a twosome in front of us that took forever to play their next shot and would not offer us (a foursome) the chance to play through. We called the clubhouse asking for the Marshall to address the slow play but nothing happened. The course is under construction to make room for houses. There are better courses in the area for the same price that you can play. I had played Highlander a couple times when it first opened and it seemed to be a nicer course.

The Highlander was a personal favorite while we lived in Washington State. Worth the drive from Spokane. Picturesque and challenging. My wife and I made it a special 'day off' destination several times.

First of all, our green fee was $60 for a Saturday. That was ok until we arrived at the course. First of all, there was a gun range or people shooting guns across the street on the front side. Very distracting. Second, the back nine has been chopped up to build a housing development and the holes are weird? 16 is a very short par 4 across a canyon and it slows the pace of play to a snails pace. 18 is another short par 3. Not many courses that I have played end with a short par 3? Anyway, the club house is very nice and the views are incredible overlooking the Columbia river. This course is a $30 course at best. I won't be back.

I love to play Highlander. There are great views and enough challenging holes to make it fun golf. With the redesign of the back 9 this year I think they have really messed some things up: Especially hole 17. The poor design of this hole causes terrible backups and slows the play. I have to wonder if the desire to sell house lots made them take too much away from the course. I would have given it 5 stars last year.

Staff was friendly , played in the heat of the day so the course was not too busy . Greens were in good shape , rolled true . A fair amount of slope . Some reachable par 5's , Hole 9 looks great across a small canyon to the green . Back nine is where the course has been altered to accommodate new housing development. Will "grow in" over time.
Prefer the front to the back . 17 looks scary , requires you to pick a club that will be straight down the fairway ( but does not have to be long) or you will loose your ball. Finish up with a par 3 .
If you can get a deal stop by for a round . Not too bad at full price as well .

Having played this course for several years I am somewhat disappointed with the recent reconstruction, it seems it was a business decision and not about improving the quality of the course or play but creating lots to build homes on.

It's understandable from the view point of the ownership I imagine.

It is no longer a unique link style course with long rough and fast fairways and greens. It is harder to guess what the redesigned theme is. I would say sort of a country club esque style shorter in length, with more water features and trees. The last 5 holes are creating a lot of back ups and bottle necks. I think it is a good value at or around $30, maybe $40 during peak times but not more.

A few buddies of mine have enjoyed Highlander for years. It is a great course and great value and we would take trips to Wenatchee to play and get away for the weekend. When playing over the Memorial Day weekend however we were saddened to see that the owner of the course has decided to sell off a huge chunk of the back nine for development. A large chunk of the once great view holes will now be approx. 32 lots. Development itself isn’t a huge deal but a lot of the appeal of the course is the beautiful views from the course, which will now be obscured by houses. Also a shame is that they couldn't do the development without carving into a substantial amount of the back nine. At least 500 yards have been taken off the back nine affecting six holes. It will be going from a par 36 technically down to a par 34, but realistically a par 32 as a few par 4s on the back have been substantially shortened to under 300 yards. In my opinion this change to the golf course has ruined the integrity of the course and my buddy and I were speechless as we played the back nine. The back nine has been reduced to "rinky dink" level that I would expect from a public municipal course. I don't see Highlander being able to continue to charge $50+ for green fees to this course, and I'm not sure we will ever be making a trip back out to play one of our once favorite courses.

Over the years they have limited the tall grasses to speed up play... Now they have significantly changed the back nine due to a new housing project. They have shortened the course, making it more target golf, with water hazards. The last 2 holes have been re-platted over the ravines.... Not long, but you better hit it straight. They have created several new greens and they are in good shape with plenty of undulation and pull to the river. There is plenty of elevation on the back nine as it goes up and down the hillsides...They have placed many new and mature trees between the fairways which helps protect the golfers from errant shots. They still have more changes on the drawing board for more water features.

The course was in excellent shape. They are in the process of building new homes in the area and have re-design a majority of the back 9 holes. The new design is impressive and is very scenic, however it was recently built so the grass and greens have not fully developed into mature shape yet. Definitely worth playing this course.

The "New" back 9 is a little easier and hole 17 needs to be re-thought. The water feature looks nice and the views great.