Bear Creek Finds Saviors for Golf Course

By: Bob Spiwak

Early in 2015 the owners of Bear Creek Golf Course in Winthrop, Wash., announced that unless they had a buyer or a lessor, the course would be shut down and left to its original condition as fallow farm and ranch land.

North-central Washington's Methow Valley is known for having the largest groomed cross-country ski area in the U.S., and lesser for its hub of Winthrop with the quaint, ersatz "Western" theme. There are the usual alpine diversions in the warm months, including golf, a few miles outside of the town. Bear Creek is the only place to golf within a radius of 45 miles. The mountain panoramas here range from lovely to downright spectacular.

The Methow Valley curls out of the east slope of the North Cascade Mountains like a badly busted finger, with the Methow River flowing eastward to Winthrop and then south to join the Columbia River. Its 100-mile journey includes perhaps 6,000 people, many of them part-timers with vacation homes. For an idea of the climate, when spring comes here and people are golfing elsewhere in the Evergreen State, Winthrop's high school golf team is in the gym hitting Wiffle balls. In other words, there's still lots of snow. But by mid-April, Bear Creek is usually ready for play.

The year 2015 will mark the 50th anniversary of Bear Creek. In 1948 Herman Court - a retired Seattle fireman - bought 480 acres through which theBear Creek flows. Being a golfer, in 1965 Court created a rudimentary three-hole course, which morphed into six and eventually nine holes in 1969. In 1982 he turned the enterprise over to son Ashley and his wife Linda.

Ready to retire, with their children grown, Ashley and Linda Courts sold the course to a California developer. By now there were nine greens with 18 sets of tees. The developer's plan was to do away with the twice-around format and put a new back nine on an irrigated piece of the property. But he went broke and the Courts bought it back.

Late in 2014, Linda what was originally thought to have suffered a stroke, but was later diagnosed with a different brain aberration. She had, for many years, been the bookkeeper, pro shop manager and buyer for just about everything but the course's maintenance equipment. She and Ashley decided they had had enough of owning and maintaining a golf course. (In 2014 alone, never taking a salary, they estimated their "volunteer" time in all aspects of the operation came to about 4,200 hours.)

Linda, at the time of this writing in February of 2015, is still recovering from her illness. Thus the decision to sell, lease or let it go.

A letter was sent to the members of the men's club explaining the potential shut-down with the hope that perhaps the club could buy or lease the facility. The membership, according to Linda, had shrunk over the years, which in part led to her stating that golf is a dying sport, an opinion shared by others in the industry.

In late 2014, married couple Debbie and Terry Evans, learned from Ashley of the dire possibilities for Bear Creek. The two, who live in Snohomish, Wash., near Seattle, had a relationship with the Court family: Debbie had grandparents and a great grandparent who had lived on a hill above the golf course, and she used to play there on vacations. "It is part of who we are," she said of Bear Creek. So they signed a one-year renewable lease. "The Courts made it easy on us," Terry said.

Who they are is demonstrated in Terry's response when asked why they were taking on the project. He said that he hated to see Winthrop without a course, and perhaps more importantly, understanding that Linda Court's illness was the catalyst for the decision of the Courts to quit.

The Evans have three grown children and seven grandchildren. Terry works in I.T. in Snohomish and, for now, will keep his job during the week and help at the course and relieve his wife who will be overseeing the pro shop. She is retired from the Snohomish School District, and they have a home not far from Bear Creek.

Terry also has plans for the course, one of which is using the property for FootGolf, which involves using an area about half that of a regular course and no clubs. Rather, it is played with a soccer ball; the legs replace clubs and propel the ball to holes that are (as arm-measured) about the size of a 55-gallon drum. "I'm hoping to get a new clientele," said Terry. "And the FootGolf would not interfere with the regular course. There is a U.S. FootGolf Association and already 11 courses in Washington. It is inexpensive and easy to play."

He sees it as a way to attract parents and kids to the course for a family activity, one that is fun for all, not take four hours to play, and expose youngsters to fundamentals of regular golf such that they might take it up later.

Another project that will certainly draw cheers from the locals (and revenue from visitors as well) is a new driving range. The course has been lacking one of these for all its half-century of existence. There was, for a couple of decades, an "irons-only" area situated parallel to the first fairway where golfers could hit and retrieve their own balls. Terry has the location for the new practice facility already scoped out.

Last year's employees will return to work for the new owners. Ashley has told them he'd like to remain involved in several aspects of the grounds maintenance, but will not take any managerial role. "I want to help (Terry and Debbie) all I can," he said. And now he will have time to fish, hunt and address other pursuits for which he has not had the time in many years. And Terry Evans is delighted to have his assistance and knowledge of the idiosyncrasies that go along with running and maintaining a golf course.

While Bear Creek now slumbers underneath 15 inches of snow, area golfers restricted to television or other activities are already planning for the upcoming season. For a while, it appeared there would be no "next" season for the local denizens and the tourists who flock to the Methow Valley when the weather warms up, the grass turns green, and they can tee it up.

All of this thanks to the entrepreneurial bent of Terry and Debbie Evans, who will now take Bear Creek into its second half-century.

For more information about the course, visit http://www.bearcreekgolfcourse.com.

Bob Spiwak took up golf in 1953 while awaiting the Korean War draft. First published at the age of 12, he entered the golf-writing arena in the early 1980s as a freelancer and staff writer for Golf Course News and GolfWeek, all the while freelancing for other publications in the U.S. and abroad. A co-founder of the Northwest Golf Media Association and contributing editor of Cybergolf, he lives below a mountain near Mazama, Wash., with a wife and pets on his former Whispering Rattlesnakes Golf and Flubbers Club. They have unwelcome guests like cougars, bears, deer, and Bob's very high handicap.

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