Golf club reopens before statewide mandate, adds increased safety precautions

SHELTON, Wash. — Salish Cliffs Golf Club is officially back open for play.

Ray Peters is the Intergovernmental Tribal Council Liaison for the Squaxin Island Tribe, which owns and operates the golf club. He believes they’re the first course to reopen in the state.

"Our leadership felt very strongly that we were ready to open up with the precautions and with the protocols in place,” Peters said.

The club closed late March. Since then, they’ve been suffering.

"We're all hurting. This has been very crippling and devastating. As a sovereign nation, we rely on that revenue and on that tax base. It is critical infrastructure for us,” said Peters.

Monday, Gov. Jay Inslee announced he'd lift some recreational restrictions, including fishing, hunting and golfing.

Golf courses can reopen May 5. Salish Cliffs Golf Club opened April 28, a week before the governor’s mandate.

"That wasn't made lightly. We reached out to the governor. We wanted to share with him our decision to open it up, give him a chance to give us some feedback,” said Peters.

The club sits on tribal land, so it's not subject to the governor's statewide order.

Safety protocols are different now that the club is back open.

Golfers must go through security at the gate, they can't arrive more than a half hour early and tee times are every 15 minutes, rather than 10.

Salish Cliffs Golf Club is booking foursomes, which goes against the governor's order, but they’re only allowing one person in each cart.

“The contact points at the golf course are very, very minimal. The fact that each of them has their own cart, we go through an extensive sanitization of the carts prior to the golfer getting into it,” said Peters.

More than 100 golfers teed up Tuesday and Wednesday. Peters said they all followed the new safety rules.

"They're very appreciative to be able to get outside and do a recreation that they absolutely love and I think that's very important for the mental health for the citizens of Washington state and the citizens of the Squaxin Island Tribe,” he said.

Reservations must be made online or by phone.

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