The modest clubhouse at North Bellingham
Situated a few miles due north of Bellingham, WA in the sparsely populated farm area that locals call “the county”, North Bellingham Golf Course is not your typical Pacific Northwest style track. A wide open links-styled layout with only minor elevation change among a relative glut of courses with big hills and equally big trees, North Bellingham brings a little welcome variety to the plate for golfers in Northwest Washington and the Lower Mainland of British Columbia. One of this writer’s most commonly played tracks, the course offers some of the driest year-round conditions around with consistently excellent greens and a fair test of golf.
Practice area
The practice area at North Bellingham includes a medium to large putting green with 8-10 hole locations, driving range (covered stalls and mats in the winter, uncovered grass tees in spring thru fall), and a chipping/pitching green with greenside practice bunker. This green, like all at North Bellingham (see course conditions for more detail), rolls exceptionally smooth and reasonably fast with some significant breaks to practice. The driving range has a number of pin positions starting at about 80 yards from the tees and stretching out to approximately 200 yards; additionally, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, and 250 yard markers are provided. I will admit to some frustration on this particular occasion with the iffy quality of the grass tees – they were essentially rough rather than fairway. I believe the regular grass tees were undergoing maintenance, but still, not top marks in this category.
The practice green - rolling as true as ever.
The sand trap does a solid job of replicating sand conditions on course, at least in greenside traps – fairly soft, but still with some firmness (not “fluffy”). The chipping and pitching green isn’t maintained to quite the level of the other greens, but it’s still pretty darn good and gives you a good place to practice before a round or in a standalone practice session. I admit I have not sampled these areas as heavily as the range and putting green, but I have never been disappointed.
Overall, a solid practice area for a local course. Not world class, but plenty good enough for most folks’ practice needs. And like the other greens on the course, the putting green is a standout.
Grade: B
Course conditions
Fairways/Rough: North Bellingham is well known for being one of the best draining courses in the area, even through the very soggy Western Washington winters. On this particular day, the fairways were in great shape. I don’t ever recall running into an unfavorable condition in the fairway. These aren’t absolutely flawless carpet like some of the best higher end courses I’ve played, but they are as close as one can expect to that quality for a public course. The first cut of rough is well maintained and fairly mild - you can generally get a solid club on the ball and the ball has a tendency to sit up rather than nestle. However, all bets are off into the extremely long haygrass beyond the first cut. The ball is extremely difficult to FIND in this knee high nightmare realm, and even more difficult to actually hit should you manage to find it. As such, the course is fairly lenient to more marginal misses but bigger misses are punished severely.
Tee shot on the 516yd par 5 11th
Tee boxes: Very nice shape. I don’t think they have anyone running around fixing the divots, but they are consistent, flat, and fair. There is the expected rash of divots on par 3 boxes, but nothing terrible.
Sand: The greenside traps here are in very nice shape – not too fluffy, not too firm. However, fairway bunkers can be much more uneven. Some are in good shape like the greenside traps, and others are too firm and have some broadcasted stones in them. Also, in the winter, the fairway bunkers can really take a hit – to the point where we’ve had to take free drops out of them. So on average, good but not great quality.
Greens: The greens at North Bellingham are the highlight of the course’s conditions. Winter or summer, every single time I have played this course, the greens are rolling perfectly smooth. The speed varies from a little slower in the winter to pretty quick in the summer, but never ridiculous. They are generally fairly firm, but I’ve never had a difficult time sticking a well struck approach on a green here. Overall, some of the most consistently excellent greens I’ve ever played on.
Overall the conditions are very good, with the consistent year-round green and fairway quality being standouts. It takes a slight dock for the minor fairway bunker issues though.
Grade: A-
Layout
Tee Sets:
Black – 6816yds, 74.0/136
Blue – 6217yds, 70.3/128
White – 5790yds, 68.4/120 (74.1/133 women’s)
Red – 5160yds, 70.6/125 (women’s)
North Bellingham was opened on old farmland, formerly known as the Wilder Ranch, on the northern outskirts of Bellingham in 1995. The course was designed by Ted Locke, a British Columbia based Canadian architect who has been involved in the design or renovation of a number of notable layouts in the Pacific Northwest, including the two courses at Semiahmoo Resort and Bellingham Golf Club in Washington and Furry Creek Golf Course in British Columbia.
The course is a modified links layout that is designed to play firm and fast on the fairways, and the wind whips across the relatively treeless property making club selection very difficult at times. There are very few flat lies anywhere on the course despite the little net elevation change across the property, and numerous fairway and pot bunkers lurk throughout the course and around the greens. I say “modified links” because unlike a true links layout, water comes into play on numerous holes at North Bellingham – and it is often used to foster risk-reward scenarios to great effect. Nowhere is this more apparent than on the excellent and difficult par 4 4[SUP]th[/SUP] hole (tee shot pictured below), where taking a hybrid or iron to layup straight down the fairway is the safest play, but leaves 170+ yards to a green sloped heavily back to front. Being a Cape hole, taking a more aggressive line left requires a minimum of 200 yards carry over a diagonal water hazard guarding the entire left side of the hole, but a successful gamble rewards the player with a much shorter approach. The par 5 6[SUP]th[/SUP] hole espouses a similar design characteristic: Aim down the left for the safer shot with no forced carry, or take a more aggressive line to the right and take on the OB to have a shorter approach and a chance to get aboard in two.
The excellent risk-reward Cape 4th hole, par 4, 366yds
However, for all its risk-reward tricks off the tee, the course is relatively forgiving to wayward shots off the tee. The difficulty here lies in figuring out the pure rolling, heavily undulated greens. Being below the hole here is key, as downhill putts can be quite fast in the summer, as is being on the correct tier – the undulations are very sever in places and can make for borderline impossible putts from some locations. And the greenskeeper obviously has a sense of humor, because sometimes the pin positions here can be Sunday-at-Augusta difficult.
Overall, a great course for all ability levels, as it is fairly forgiving off the tee but difficult to score due to the difficulty of the greens.
Grade: A
Pace of play
I have had one or two rounds at North Bellingham that were very slow (around 4.5 hours), but that is definitely the exception to the rule. More often than not, we are able to finish in about 4 hours, or sometimes closer to 3.5 – which is more than acceptable, considering we always walk. Particularly if you can get off with the fast-playing early morning crew, the pace of play is generally one of the better in the area here.
Grade: A
Price
North Bellingham runs $57 (plus 8.7% Bellingham sales tax) to walk on a weekend morning in the high season. While that is on the higher half of rates in the area, I would say it is more than fair given the quality of the layout and the conditioning. In the winter, however, they still charge $43+tax on a weekend, which is one of the highest rates around. They know they can charge it given how well the course drains and the quality of the greens in winter, but it still feels a little high to me when I can play 18 holes at most other courses in the winter for less than $30 including tax. I’ll gladly pay it for the conditions though.
They also offer various memberships levels where you can get discounts off green fees and free rounds included. One of these plans pays itself off in 2 rounds, so it is really best to become a member in some capacity here, even if you only plan on playing 3 rounds a year.
Grade: B
Amenities
The amenities that are included are very good for a public course, but they are somewhat limited due to the small size of the clubhouse. The restaurant also serves as the snack bar at the turn, and offers everything from grab and go snacks and sandwiches to cooked to order sandwiches, burgers and wraps for after your round. I particularly recommend the special Jay Fury wrap – named both for the assistant pro at the course, and for the spicy fury of the gobs of Jalapeno peppers rolled in with the crispy chicken tenders and veggies. The pro shop is well stocked with many brands of equipment, despite its small size. They also often have deals here where if you spend $50 to $100 in merchandise, you get a free round – which is a solid deal. Full service restrooms are located on course in 2 locations (one on each 9). Beer cart service appears to start a little later in the day, as I frequently don’t see it when I play early, but I know that they have one. There are no locker room facilities that I am aware of, nor banquet facilities.
Grade: C+
Overall
The clubhouse from the 10th tee
North Bellingham is a great modified links layout in an area overwhelmed with tree lined mountain courses, and a refreshing change of pace for links lovers. Forgiving off the tee, but with difficult and wonderfully true rolling greens, it offers a relatively undaunting appearance to beginners and high handicappers but can fairly challenge more skilled golfers. I highly recommend you make a trip here if you are ever in the Bellingham area – you won’t be disappointed!
OVERALL GRADE: B+
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