October, 1931
“… to make profane golfers contemplative, and the contemplative golfers better men.” unknown
On August 8th, 1931 the Rainier National Park company opened its nine hole golf course here in Paradise Valley. It featured four par 3s, four par 4s, and one par 5 and boasted spectacular views of Mount Rainier at every hole. (the first tee box was three hundred feet above it's landing area!) :) Alas, or fortunately, depending on your views, the shortsightedness of opening a golf course in the middle of nowhere during the great depression combined with the fact that it could only be played for three or four months a year before it looked like this image doomed the venture in just two months as when the snow fell in October 1931 it buried the course literally and figuratively.
I got the numbers and that quote from an article entitled 'the short, spectacular life of Paradise Golf Course, Mount Rainier written for a mag called NW Hickory Players. It's a short read, but the best part is a staged photo of a guy teeing off from a precipice I can only assume is somewhere atop one of the peaks of the Tatoosh Range, pretty amazing.
October, 1931
“… to make profane golfers contemplative, and the contemplative golfers better men.” unknown
On August 8th, 1931 the Rainier National Park company opened its nine hole golf course here in Paradise Valley. It featured four par 3s, four par 4s, and one par 5 and boasted spectacular views of Mount Rainier at every hole. (the first tee box was three hundred feet above it's landing area!) :) Alas, or fortunately, depending on your views, the shortsightedness of opening a golf course in the middle of nowhere during the great depression combined with the fact that it could only be played for three or four months a year before it looked like this image doomed the venture in just two months as when the snow fell in October 1931 it buried the course literally and figuratively.
I got the numbers and that quote from an article entitled 'the short, spectacular life of Paradise Golf Course, Mount Rainier written for a mag called NW Hickory Players. It's a short read, but the best part is a staged photo of a guy teeing off from a precipice I can only assume is somewhere atop one of the peaks of the Tatoosh Range, pretty amazing.