Getting To Know: Tumble Creek By Brian Weis

Getting To Know: Tumble Creek

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
Designed by renowned golf course architect, Tom Doak, this private, members-only par-71 course is situated on a plateau above the Cle Elum River and modeled after the traditional parkland style golf clubs of the Northeast. With stunning views of the river valley and surrounding mountains, Tumble Creek includes manicured bent grass fairways that flow with the mountain topography, green shapes with significant movement and 100 natural edge bunkers that seamlessly blend in to the Northwest landscape. Open April 11 - November 2.

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 key to scoring at Tumble Creek is to keep your ball in play off the tee, on the correct side of most hole locations, and understanding how to navigate the bent grass fairways and approaches. Tumble Creek is not a course that requires a lob wedge, like most of the courses in the Seattle area. Many of the approaches and green surrounds are designed with the thought of playing the ball along the ground.

Recent Awards or What You Are Most Proud About The Course?
Host 2013 US Open Sectional Qualifying and 2014 NCAA Division 1 Regional Championship.

What Is The Signature, Most Talked About, or Most Photographed Hole?
Honestly, all of them. Tumble Creek is the best collective 18 holes in the Northwest. If I had to pick one, well then I would pick 18. A dramatic, strong Par 4 finishing hole with an amphitheater like greens complex. Requires a great tee shot, a precise approach to navigate the deep and punishing bunkers and the toughest putts you will face the entire day. A Tom Doak Masterpiece.

What Is Your Favorite Hole? Any Tips to Play It?
#18 is my favorite hole. A behemoth finishing hole, this 485 yard par 4 with an up hill second shot only provides relief when the prevailing wind is out of the west. The green is no bargain either, with a large bowl front / left providing the only amicable hole location for those hoping to birdie the last.

Must Have Dish or Drink after the round at the 19th Hole?
Tumble Creek Club has the best views in Suncadia looking toward Domerie Peak, Mt Baldy and Red Mountain shadowing Lake Cle Elum. Enjoy a bevy of options from Chef Chad Storms and your favorite beverage while watching playing finish up the dramatic 18th hole. A better place to enjoy a beverage can not be found anywhere else in the Northwest.

Who Holds Course Record and What Was Their Score? Alex Prugh, current PGA Tour professional and former UW Golf Team member posted a 65 for the Championship tees.

Back Tee Stats
Par: 71
Yardage: 7122 yards
Slope: 138 slope
Rating: 75.4 rating

More Information
Tumble Creek
3320 Suncadia Trail Roslyn, WA 98922
509.649.6450
www.suncadiaresort.com/golf/vacation-golf-resorts

Revised: 10/14/2014 - Article Viewed 34,891 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.