Prospector Golf Course

Getting To Know: Prospector Golf Course

An Insightful Interview With Brady Hatfield, Director of Resort Golf Operations

By Brian Weis

Whether you have played a course 20+ times a year or looking to play the course for the first time, insights from an insider can help enhance your golf experience. Below is an interview with Brady Hatfield who shares some valuable tidbits about the course, memorable holes and must eats and treats at the 19th.

Give Our Readers An Overview of the Golf Course/Property
Developed by the Palmer Course Design Company in 2004, this public, par-72 course features rolling, well-bunkered fairways; fast, medium-sized greens; and numerous water features that present plenty of risk-or-reward challenges for players of all skill levels. Open May 16 through Oct. 31, 2014; closed Wednesdays.

If Someone Was Looking To Golf In The Area, Why Should They Play Your Course?
Suncadia Resort offers 54-holes of championship golf on three award-winning courses that range from the more difficult to family-friendly options, ensuring there is a course for golfers of all levels during their stay.

What Tips or Local Knowledge Would You Provide To Help Them Score Better At Your Course?
The greens are the secret to scoring at Prospector. They are very difficult to read, and most putts break east, or away from the Cascade Mountain range, even when visually it appears otherwise. Accurate reading of greens is paramount to ensuring good scores

Recent Awards or What You Are Most Proud About The Course?
2006 - Golf Digest - 7th Best New Public - $75 and up category

What Is The Signature, Most Talked About, or Most Photographed Hole?
#10 - 125 foot elevation drop from teeing ground to landing area - providing breathtaking views of the Cascade range

What Is Your Favorite Hole? Any Tips to Play It?
#5 is my favorite hole, it is the quintessential strategic short par 4. It is a short dogleg left around water. The hole is drivable, with significant risk. A 3 wood or long iron to a very narrow landing area will be rewarded with a short, open angle and approach to the green. A mid iron to a wide, receptive landing area will be proceeded with a difficult approach to a shallow green now fronted by water. Three ways to play it, and much depends on the wind and what my score is at the time!

Must Have Dish or Drink after the round at the 19th Hole?
The Prospector patio overlooking 9 and 18 with Peoh point in the background is the perfect place for a burger and beer (Big Dirty Amber).

Back Tee Stats
Par: 72
Yardage: 7112 yards
Slope: 139 slope
Rating: 74.5 rating

More Information
Prospector Golf Course
3320 Suncadia Trail
Roslyn, WA, 98922
509-649-6450
http://www.suncadiaresort.com/golf/vacation-golf-resorts

Revised: 09/24/2014 - Article Viewed 34,041 Times - View Course Profile

About: Brian Weis

Brian Weis is the mastermind behind GolfTrips.com, a vast network of golf travel and directory sites covering everything from the rolling fairways of Wisconsin to the sunbaked desert layouts of Arizona. If there’s a golf destination worth visiting, chances are, Brian has written about it, played it, or at the very least, found a way to justify a "business trip" there.

As a card-carrying member of the Golf Writers Association of America (GWAA), International Network of Golf (ING), Golf Travel Writers of America (GTWA), International Golf Travel Writers Association (IGTWA), and The Society of Hickory Golfers (SoHG), Brian has the credentials to prove that talking about golf is his full-time job. In 2016, his peers even handed him The Shaheen Cup, a prestigious award in golf travel writing—essentially the Masters green jacket for guys who don’t hit the range but still know where the best 19th holes are.

Brian’s love for golf goes way back. As a kid, he competed in junior and high school golf, only to realize that his dreams of a college golf scholarship had about the same odds as a 30-handicap making a hole-in-one. Instead, he took the more practical route—working on the West Bend Country Club grounds crew to fund his University of Wisconsin education. Little did he know that mowing greens and fixing divots would one day lead to a career writing about the best courses on the planet.

In 2004, Brian turned his golf passion into a business, launching GolfWisconsin.com. Three years later, he expanded his vision, and GolfTrips.com was born—a one-stop shop for golf travel junkies looking for their next tee time. Today, his empire spans all 50 states, and 20+ international destinations.

On the course, Brian is a weekend warrior who oscillates between a 5 and 9 handicap, depending on how much he's been traveling (or how generous he’s feeling with his scorecard). His signature move" A high, soft fade that his playing partners affectionately (or not-so-affectionately) call "The Weis Slice." But when he catches one clean, his 300+ yard drives remind everyone that while he may write about golf for a living, he can still send a ball into the next zip code with the best of them.

Whether he’s hunting down the best public courses, digging up hidden gems, or simply outdriving his buddies, Brian Weis is living proof that golf is more than a game—it’s a way of life.