Hole #7 - Lake Spanaway Golf Course

Getting To Know: Lake Spanaway Golf Course

An Insightful Interview With Nicholas Pike, General Manager

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 Nicholas Pike 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
The 18-hole, championship layout Lake Spanaway, designed by legendary A. V. Macan, (who also designed, among others, Fircrest in Tacoma, Broadmoor and Inglewood in Seattle, and Royal Colwood in Victoria), opened in 1967 and is located within a community south of Tacoma in central Pierce County adjacent to Spanaway Lake. Lake Spanaway golf course is owned by Pierce County and managed by KemperSports. Lake Spanaway is a part of the Pierce County golf family including Chambers Bay.

If Someone Was Looking To Golf In The Area, Why Should They Play Your Course?
Lake Spanaway is a majestic golf course carved out of a forest of native firs that truly is a great test of golf. A long straight driver at Lake Spanaway is a great tool to have to lower your scores. The greens are large and the breaks are somewhat subtle at times. This is a challenging, yet fair, golf course for golfers of all levels and ages.

What Tips or Local Knowledge Would You Provide To Help Them Score Better At Your Course?
Lake Spanaway rewards those that are bold with their driver. There are demands to move the ball both ways off the tee. An accurate drive will keep you in play and out of the many towering trees. Be sure to keep your approach shots below the hole as many greens have severe slopes.

Recent Awards or What You Are Most Proud About The Course?
In 2002, Lake Spanaway's 15th hole was selected by the Seattle Times as one the top 18 holes in the Puget Sound, with 7 of its other holes receiving Honorable Mention or Runner Up recognition as well. In 2003, the Seattle Times referred to Lake Spanaway as one of the "Best Bang for the Buck" courses in the area.

Lake Spanaway has a Championship pedigree and has hosted multiple WAGolf Championships, USGA Qualifying events, and the Annual Puget Sound Amateur.

What Is The Signature, Most Talked About, or Most Photographed Hole?
The most photographed hole is the 7th with a lone towering fir tree set directly in the middle of the fairway and demanding a choice off the tee to go left or right of it.

What Is Your Favorite Hole? Any Tips to Play It?
My favorite hole is the 12th which is a shortish par four with plenty of character. The tee shot gives you the choice to lay up to the top of the plateau or to "bend it like Beckham" to get around the dogleg left and shorten the approach. Anything that gives you a full shot in is rewarded as the green is guarded in front by two ominous bunkers and the green falls away both left and right.

Must Have Dish or Drink after the round at the 19th Hole?
The Malibu Chicken Burger is a must have. It is a grilled chicken breast topped with pineapple, melted Swiss cheese, onion, lettuce, tomato, and a secret sauce served on a toasted brioche bun.

For the traveling golfer, do you have lodging onsite or partner with any area hotels?
There is no lodging onsite nor any preferred area hotel.

Who Holds Course Record and What Was Their Score?
The course record is 64 and held by Tristan Mandur and Joe Fowler. Both rounds were recorded during the final round of the Sectional Qualifying for the 2019 USGA U.S. Amateur.

Back Tee Stats
Par: 72
Yardage: 7083
Slope: 136
Rating: 74.2

More Information
Lake Spanaway Golf Course
15602 Pacific Ave
South Tacoma, WA, 98498
(253) 531-3660

www.lakespanawaygc.com

Revised: 09/06/2021 - Article Viewed 5,660 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.