Golf and destination bliss on the peninsula at Port Ludlow

The Resort at Port Ludlow on the Olympic Peninsula is a full-service golf destination resort, with lots to do while you’re there and lots of ways to get there.

To play the Port Ludlow Golf Course might be the main reason a person visits Port Ludlow, but opportunities abound for non-golfers to fill their hours: bicycling, boating or pickleball … or walks in the woods or fine dining … or day trips through the many natural attractions of the peninsula, using Ludlow as a base.

But first, you have to get there. While the phrase “by land, sea and air” might be overworked, it’s the literal truth at Port Ludlow.

Road trippers will find Highway 101 north from Olympia is a pretty straight shot to the resort. State Route 104, over the Hood Canal Bridge connecting the Kitsap Peninsula to the Olympic Peninsula, gets you close, too.

Resort guests with a boating bent can moor right at the Ludlow Marina and take a resort shuttle to the Inn at Port Ludlow (or the golf course).

And then there’s this: You can come in by seaplane, either chartered or personal aircraft, and land by the dock, right next to the inn.

“It’s a beautiful sight to see a float plane come in and then just taxi right up to the dock,” says Jim Mancill, head PGA professional at Port Ludlow Golf Course.

“It’s pretty nice.”

If a resort visitor brings golf clubs, Mancill can help, whether they’re resort guests playing the course for the first time, a daily fee player, or a member of the club.

“I think we blend a little bit of everything.” Mancill said. “We try on a daily basis to deliver the experience the player may want or expect based on who they are.”

First-time players will find a traditional Northwest golf course with views and many, many tall, mature trees.

“Our fairways are actually extremely generous,” Mancill said. “But I think to newer players, the eyes go to the trees and see them sometimes a little bit more.

“So, I think the balance is really nice. There’s a lot of room to play, but at the same time nature provides its own illusions or diversions depending on how you look at it.”

The first hole that jumps out at Mancill on a route through Ludlow is No. 2, a short par 4 with an interesting tee shot downhill to a green only 342 yards from the back tee.

“After you hit the tee shot and you head out,” he said, “you have an immediate view directly over the second green of Mount Baker. It’s just stunning.”

Port Ludlow, designed by esteemed golf architect Robert Muir Graves, has no paralleling fairways, Mancil says.

“When you play a hole, any given hole, that’s it,” he says. “You don’t look across two sets of fairways or another green or something like that.

“So, you’re always feeling like you’re kind of out there by yourself.”

Mancill came to Port Ludlow in March 2022, following head pro Tyler Sweet when he left for Wine Valley in Walla Walla. Just before coming to Ludlow, Mancill had been director of golf at Governor’s Towne Club in Acworth, Ga.

When he gets to play his own course, Mancill especially looks forward to the challenge of Ludlow’s final six holes.

“The stretch from 13 through 18 presents some really challenging tee shots, two long par 3s, and the 18th hole coming all the way back up the hill toward the clubhouse is a great finale.”

Maybe you’ll be joined, apres golf, by your non-playing spouse or partner or your kids, who have managed to fill out, quite nicely, a day without golf. Maybe they made use of the resort’s e-bike rentals, or watercraft rentals (standup paddleboards, kayaks, and 14-foot skiffs). Maybe they sweated it out on the resort’s tennis courts, which are also conveniently striped for pickleball play.

Golf or not, Mancill suggests, it might be time to meet up on the back porch of the clubhouse and have a meal at JR’s Sand Trap restaurant and look out on the golf course.

“It’s just a great end to the day.”

______________

The Resort at Port Ludlow

portludlowresort.com

Golf: (360) 437-0272

Stay and play: (360) 437-7000

______________