The Best Par 3s at Mid Columbia Golf Courses — Curt Cartier’s Favorite Holes
Summer time is for golfing and I just have to recommend my favorite Par 3 holes in the Mid Columbia.
- 1
Hole 14 at Horn Rapids
What is now Hole 14 when I first started playing that course it was No. 4. It's a long, downhill par 3 with a tongue-shaped green and bunkers on each side. It's an elevated tee so you're shooting at a downhill target with the meandering Yakima River as a backdrop. I like how it's sagebrush and shrub steppe with the lush Horn Rapids course cut right out of it. It's the most picturesque hole in the Tri-Cities.
- 2
Hole 12 at Canyon Lakes
Runner up is par 3 at Canyon Lakes. It's the largest green in the Pacific Northwest. It has a bunker on the right and water in the front. It's another downhill shot -- noticing a pattern?
- 3
Tri-City Country Club
Since I like the downhill shots, No. 3 goes to the most drastic high to low: Tri-City Country Club's Hole 13 (or is it 14?).
- 4
Sun Willows Hole 7
With the busy traffic flow of Highway 12, if you put one on the highway you've used too much club, which is a hell of a shot. (I couldn't even get there with a super driver). Your success depends on how much trim the guy cutting the holes does the night before. If he got enough loving, he'll make it easy for you. If he was rebuffed, he'll make it ridiculously hard to get close.
- 5
Columbia Point Hole 12
Those who golf with me may be surprised it's a favorite because I constantly put it in the huge sand bunkers or into the water to the right -- or onto the road running parallel to the approach. It's a favorite because it's such a challenge. The irony is it's a relatively easy hole, but all the sand and water gets into my head. It just seems like it's extra hard to focus sometimes on doing what I got to do.