MOUNTLAKE TERRACE – In recent years, Ballinger Lakes Golf Course has made an ambitious effort to upgrade both the quality of its facility and the quality of its reputation.
The first step came five years ago when this quiet nine-hole course on the northern shore of Lake Ballinger in south Snohomish County underwent an extensive reconstruction, resulting in significant drainage improvements and a completely new design. At about the same time, course officials finally figured they could best solve the ongoing problem of geese on the grounds by employing a frisky Border Collie named Mike, who has, in his tenure, helped rid the fairways of the birds and their droppings.
Now, Ballinger Lakes is taking another important stride by bringing teaching pro Eric Driessen on board. Driessen, who has a successful downtown Seattle studio known as the Golf Zone, expects to be at Ballinger Lakes three to four days a week, giving lessons and helping to oversee the overall operation at the venerable public course.
According to co-operator Jan Japar, who has been at Ballinger Lakes (formerly Lake Ballinger Golf Course) for 30 years, Driessen will be the first pro at the course since Dan Tachell left for Carnation Golf Course in 1978. “We’ve had guys teaching golf lessons,” Japar said, “but no PGA guys.”
Driessen, she went on, will not be a head pro in the truest sense. He will focus on his teaching while Japar and business partner Mimi Racicot manage the day-to-day operations. Driessen will move into a section of the newly remodeled clubhouse that has been transformed from a restaurant seating area into a teaching studio.
“The restaurant was going very poorly,” Japar said, “so this is probably the best use we could come up with. We’re renting the space to Eric and he’s doing all the tenant improvements. And that golf course is perfect for instructing people to golf, so this is just a perfect step for us.”
“Teaching has become my passion,” said Driessen, who charges $45 for a first one-hour lesson, which usually focuses on swing analysis. A series of five subsequent lessons is $225 and a series of nine is $360, and he stays very busy, giving an estimated 70-80 lessons in a typical week.
Driessen, Japar said, “is just an exceptional teacher. This guy is probably a better teacher than he knows. Most guys as good as he is are about 80 years old. His main thrust will be the instructional stuff in the studio, but he’ll also be able to do some stuff on the golf course. … It’s Golf 101 stuff where people need to learn how to get around the golf course.”
Ballinger Lakes, in fact, is well suited for novice golfers. It has one par 5 and three par 3s over nine holes, and has three sets of tees that measure between 2,564 and 2,267 yards. Yet the course is attractive, well-kept and surprisingly challenging. Water comes into play on every hole but one (No. 7), and the fairways are narrow enough to give grief to wayward swingers.
“If you want to go after a good low number, good luck because it may take you a few times around,” said Driessen, a Missoula, Mont., native who had stints at Tacoma’s Oakbrook Golf and Country Club (including one year as the interim head pro) and Snohomish’s Echo Falls Golf Club before opening his Seattle studio in 1995. “This is nine holes, but it’s not just a (typical) par-3 course. It’s extremely challenging.
“Big hitters will tend to take some risks, but they’ll usually pay for it,” he said. “You can find some angles to try to take advantage, but if you miss, you’ll be penalized for it, no doubt about it.”
There is, Driessen and Japar both know, a common perception about nine-hole golf courses. That is, they are either par-3 facilities, best suited for raw beginners and the elderly, or they are mom-and-pop operations that lack both length and quality. The old Ballinger, in fact, fit some of those stereotypes. It had an unimaginative back-and-forth design, and it suffered from poor drainage and the residue from a vast population of geese drawn to the nearby lake.
Said Japar, “We went from being probably one of the worst golf experiences you could have – and we’re still fighting that because people don’t know what’s happened – to now where it’s just excellent. And people are just starting to catch on. … It does not fit any expectations that people have.”
Another plus is the location. Ballinger Lakes is on the boundary between Mountlake Terrace and Edmonds, and just minutes from Lynnwood and Shoreline with the freeway less than a mile away. Most people in south Snohomish County can get there in a short period of time, including those folks who might want to get in a quick nine holes before work in the morning or nine holes on the way home at night.
In the future, Driessen said, Ballinger Lakes would like to add a practice area, with a range and/or a chipping area. He also hopes to expand its programs for golfers of all ages and abilities, making the course “a good family recreation and learning center.”
Most of Ballinger’s play, he added, has come from south Snohomish County and north King County. “It’s a real good group of local people and they’ve been really steady,” he said. “However the crowd is really changing. A lot of people used to come out to Ballinger and maybe they’d grab a couple of the pond balls to play. We’d also sell a lot of the rental sets. But this season we’ve sold more Titleist golf balls (a brand often used by competitive players) than ever.
“I’m seeing guys out here who obviously know how to play. I’ll say, ‘What’s your handicap?’ and they’ll say, ‘A 5.’ Or maybe it’s a 4 or a 7 or a 10. And I’ll say, ‘What are you doing out here?’ and they’ll say, ‘It’s a great place to work on stuff.’ So it’s starting to change, and it’s neat.”
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