North at Sahalee Country Club

Sahalee Country Club's North Course occupies a forested site in Sammamish, Washington, east of Seattle in the Cascade foothills. Ted Robinson designed the original layout in the early 1960s, carving fairways through dense stands of Douglas fir, cedar, and hemlock that create a cathedral-like atmosphere throughout the round. The course takes its name from a Chinook word meaning "high heavenly ground," reflecting both its elevation and the towering canopy overhead. Keith Evans later refined the design, and Rees Jones completed a significant renovation in the 1990s to prepare the course for major championship play.

The routing moves through heavily wooded terrain with minimal elevation change, though the thick forest defines every hole and demands accuracy from tee to green. Narrow fairways and small, well-protected greens reward precision over distance. The course gained national attention when it hosted the 1998 PGA Championship, won by Vijay Singh in difficult conditions that emphasized the layout's strategic demands. The tree-lined corridors and intimate scale create a distinctly Pacific Northwest experience, quite different from the open, links-inspired designs found elsewhere in the region.

Sahalee operates as a private club with a membership that has supported significant tournament golf over the decades. The club also features a second eighteen holes, the South Course, which provides members with variety while the North Course has remained the championship venue. The setting remains largely unchanged from its original wooded character, preserving the sense of seclusion that defines the Sahalee experience.