So basically I might be going to school in the Seattle area. I was wondering about the golf season up there. I'm fine with playing if it drops down to the 40's, and am fine playing in light rain. How long is the golf season? All year round?

I was stationed there (Fort Lewis) and the record for consecutive rainy days was set while I was there. You get about 3 months of absolutely BEAUTIFUL weather, and after that be prepared for the worst. The winter's definitely go lower than 40, although it doesn't snow much, but you will still run into the light drizzle in the cold. I couldn't imagine playing in that.

When it's beautiful there though, it's hard to beat.

I agree with the post above....3 months is exremely beautiful

My best advice is get used to the rain and get some good rain gear....(personally I love playing golf in the rain)

I live on the Olympic Peninsula, part of which is pretty much the rainiest place in the country. Here in Port Angeles the mountains provide a rain shadow and we get much less rain than Seattle does. Sequim which is 15 miles east of me is in the fattest part of the rain shadow, and they supposedly get less rain in a year than Palm Springs.

That being said it will rain, it will get cold. Right now it is in the 40s during the day, 30s at night. The ground is very soft and muddy in a lot of places. The greens at my home course are actually in awesome shape, better right now than they were in the summer. Get used to the rain and the golf season can be pretty much year round. I know where I live it is going to get colder and probably dump a little snow so those weeks are going to be out of the question, although I will be out of the country for two months around that time!

By the way, I love my career in the Coast Guard, but if I could turn my life back 6 years or so I would have applied to UW and finished college there. I am not sure where you are thinking about going to school but Seattle is an awesome city and you can count yourself lucky if you are coming up here for college!

I grew up in Seattle and lived there for most of my life before moving to Oregon. The golfing scene for the Seattle area is as follows:

1.) It is going to rain regardless of the time of year so always be prepared no matter what day on the calender it is.
2.) You can play golf year round...as long as you don't mind playing when it is cold and wet.
3.) Leave the ProV1s at home during the winter.....you will plug several balls and never see them again.
4.) Invest in the following: a really good umbrella if you use a cart or walk, several towels, UnderArmor, DryJoy Rain gloves, waterproof shoes and hat, and a really decent pair of waterproof pants and light jacket ( Gore-tex is your friend!)

Have the right mental attitude for playing in the rain.....the ball will fly less and you will never get any roll so tweak your gear accordingly, you will want a driver that will produce carry rather than roll.

Have fun, stay dry.

I am SO glad I moved to AZ...15 years in the northwest that I will never get back

I agree about the 3 months of nice weather...but that is stacked and accumulated throughout a year

Get some good rain/cold weather gloves..they are a must...if it isnt too cold...get the type that you purposely soak and get wet so that you dont have to stress about trying to keep everything dry...that was key for me

A comment on rain. Rain is very light in the Seattle area, most of the time. It is not the rain you see in the movies. It might be described as a mist. Of course, one can play in the rain with appropriate gear and/or carts. I play once a week on the weekends. I had played only rain 3 days this year.

This year I started in mid March-- courses were a bit soggy and temperature were in the mid 50's.

I played my last round mid-November. The biggest hindering factors were leaves on the course, the start of the winter rainy season (soggy courses), drop in temperature -- highs below 60, and darkness -- if you wait for noon to get the temperature up, you run out of daylight.

Seattle is quite far north. So during the winter. sunrise is about 730 AM and sunset is 430-500 PM. And we do mean dark, no twilight. The great thing is during the summer, sunrise is very early and sunset is late evening, up til 10 PM. You can almost get a round in after work.


If you are happy into the 40's, you might be able to go almost year round. Seattle get 1-4 days of snow each year. The tempeartures do reach freezing overnight. This is not the midwest. No minus or low teens temperatures. Spring golf starts as so as the green dry out.

ok i have lived in seattle for the last 6 years i moved up from LA so I know good golf weather. Seattle can host golf year round no problem....the summers are amazing. This fall has been great in the month of november its only rained 7 days! Yeah its cold and many days there are frost delays starting in november and through the winter so underarmour is a must but by the 10th hole it will be 50 degrees.It tends to rain december until spring, but its a steady rain not a down pour that last a day like in california. When we get into rainy season it only rains 2 times a week...one lasts 3 days and the other lasts 4 days. There are many covered and HEATED driving ranges too. If you can play in a steady light rain there are a ton of good courses to play that are good in the winter (the home course which is built on rocks and will help host the 2010 us amature along with chambers bay built on mounds of sand...and tacoma club and more). Golf is played year round up here just ask the UW husky golf team.

Well, I have lived in the Gig Harbor/Tacoma area all my life and will say that if you can live with the rain and the wind during the winter months, you can pretty much golf all year. However, sometimes it does get into the 20s-30s, but if you pick your days you can play year round. I will agree with previous posters in that raingear is a must, and to leave the Prov1s at home. But those three months in the summer contain some of the best golf you will ever experience, and the days are long enough that you can get a round in after work.

I usually try to get at least 1 round every 2 weeks in the winter. If it isn't rain on the forecast, I'll probably make plans to go play (weather.com is your friend!).

If it isn't, I go to a covered driving range, or hit into the net in my garage.

But I agree, the summer is beautiful...

So basically, if you don't need to play every week, then yes golf is year round here.

In the Pacific Northwest it's all about drainage. The courses that don't drain so well will get muddy. Like others have said, the rain is more like a constant mist up in Seattle. It's usually not a downpour like other parts in the country.

About the only time I don't golf here is when the ground is frozen and they won't let me on the course!

Above descriptions are pretty much on-I'd note that most of the newer courses in the Seattle area (say, built in the last 10-15 years) have excellent drainage and for the most part are playable soon after all but the worst of the fall/winter storms.

lived in Seattle from '96-'00, one thing that hasn't been mentioned is that during the summer, it stays light out until around 9:15-9:30, so you can play pretty late during the day. Played 50 holes in one day once by taking advantage of the late light. i'd sneak in 9 after work at times during the summer. i'd also get one of those waterproof SunMountain H2No or Titleist Sta Dry carry bags.

just thought I'd add that I played golf every day since 11/26 and it never rained.....today was even very sunny!

very easy to play year round.... like flyfish says.. there are good drainage courses and bad ones.. good ones in my book: Jackson, Home Course, Rainier, Chambers,

alot of bad drainage courses

be prepared for muddy shoes/socks.. divot splatters in your eye... but the good thing is you can fire at the flags and your ball will stick... although there will only be half of the ball visible

I live near Tacoma and play about 75-100 rounds a year. There are some of the best courses in the country around here. Chambers Bay, The Home Course, Washington National, Gold Mountain's Olympic course, just to name a few.
Work is slow for me in the winter so I play a lot more then. They give pretty good deals in the wet season, and the course is usually wide open and you don't push anyone or get pushed. Tee off before noon though if you want to get 18 in. After 11/1 it gets dark early.
Just invest in a good lightweight rain jacket that you can swing in and a good pair of shoes that keep your feet dry. You'll figure out the rest as you go. Think layers.
I've only been blown off the course by a storm once and it was last Spring. I would have walked off this August during a horrific blow with hard rain but it was our company tournament so we all hung in there and drank a lot. They rest of the time the rain/misting isn't bad.
I played Sunday 11/30 and broke 80 for the first time (78). So you can also play decent golf here when its wet. I also play cheaper Wilson Zip's when its wet out. It hurts less to lose those when you plug them... and you will plug them. That and I'm like a lot of hackers up here, I have a second driver that I use in the winter that carries a bit farther. The ball does roll significantly less. I love my Hybrids.
From May through late October before we set the clocks back the golf here is great and you can easily get 18 in after 2 or 3pm and pay twilight rates. I've tee'd off at 5:30 many times and finished 18 in daylight. Its also light enough to tee off at 5am all Summer but most places won't start till 6. The fair weather golfers chasing balls in the trees tend to slow things down a bit so I play twilight a lot because it stays light so long.
All that said... I CAN'T WAIT TO GET TO OAHU IN FEBRUARY I'm staying at Turtle Bay for a reason
One things for sure, and this should illicit a few smiles and nods. If you want to know what the weather is going to be like for the next week to 10 days here.
Ask a Pacific Northwest golfer. They are accurate and current.
I'm playing again tomorrow and Friday. The weather is fine.

Ain't that the truth!

haven't had a day of rain still since 11/26 and i've playd every day! today it sprinkled for 2 holes at washington national...cheap too seeing it is normally $98 plus tax we got off for $35 at 10am (along with the 24 other golfers they had all day) with a cart.