Auburn Golf Course: A Two-Tier Muni Along the Green River

If you stand on the first tee at Auburn Golf Course on a clear morning, you notice the unusual setup right away. The opening four holes sit on a plateau roughly 350 feet above the rest of the property. After you play the fourth, you descend to what feels like a different golf course, fourteen holes laid out on flat ground along the Green River. It is a layout you do not find at most municipal courses, and it gives Auburn a personality that separates it from the surrounding King County options.

The course opened in 1948 as the Green River Golf and Country Club. A group of WWII veterans organized the original nine-hole layout on land that had been hops fields and the Isaac Evans farmstead at the turn of the century. The City of Auburn bought the property in 1969, expanded onto adjacent land previously owned by the State of Washington, and reopened the full 18 in 1970 under the Parks, Arts, and Recreation Department. That ownership structure still runs the course today, which is part of why the rates stay competitive.

The Numbers

From the Blue tees, Auburn plays 6,183 yards at par 71 with a course rating of 69.8 and a slope of 123. The Whites measure 5,820 yards with a men's rating of 68.2 and slope of 120. The Gold forward tees run 5,058 yards at 64.3 and 112. The full property covers about 200 acres, with the playing surface on roughly 150 of those.

The course gets a lot of play. Auburn hosts more than 50,000 rounds per year. The Men's and Ladies Clubs together exceed 900 members, one of the largest combined memberships in Washington, and another 300 golfers cycle through the Merchants and Couples leagues. Book your tee time well in advance during the summer.

The Holes That Will Test You

Hole 6 is the test on the front side. It is the longest par 4 on the course at 417 yards from the back, with out-of-bounds fences along both sides and behind the green. Two fairway bunkers on the right are reachable from the tee for big hitters, and a deep greenside bunker guards a lower tier in the back right portion of an undulating putting surface. It is the men's handicap 1 hole for a reason.

Hole 4 is a long par 3 at 217 yards, and it asks for an honest club. The green sits on two tiers, and a putt from the wrong side will leave you trying to two-putt a slope you do not want. Anything pin-high on the right side is a real shot.

Hole 9 closes the front with a short but troublesome par 5. The fairway gets squeezed by bunkers on both sides off the tee, a large maple blocks the second shot, and the green sits behind a pond that runs the entire front and left side. Most players lay up and pitch on. The few who go for it in two are usually rolling the dice on the carry.

The back nine opens with the course's longest hole. Hole 10 stretches 515 yards, a slight dogleg left with a tree-lined fairway and a green that slopes from front right to back left. Both the 1st and 10th got new greens in the most recent renovation, which followed a multi-year project that rebuilt nine fairways, 15 greens, and 17 tee boxes.

The Course Setup

Auburn is not a links course or a championship layout. It is a well-conditioned muni with classic features: 20 strategically placed bunkers, two ponds with fountains, and a waterfall. The terrain produces plenty of uneven lies but no blind shots. The hillside holes on the upper portion deliver views down into the river valley, and on a clear day you can see all the way to Mount Rainier. GolfPass reviewers consistently rank course conditions as the strongest part of the experience.

Walking is allowed, which matters because the front-nine elevation makes the cart fee feel worth it for a lot of players. The pro shop, lessons, leagues, and tournament hosting run out of the clubhouse, built in 2007, which also houses Bogey's, a 110-seat full-service restaurant, and a 150-seat banquet space.

Know Before You Go

Greens fees run $60 for 18 holes on weekdays at the regular rate and $54 with a Player's Card. Twilight after 3pm drops to $35. The course sits at 29630 Green River Road SE in Auburn, just off the river south of Highway 18. Tee times go through the pro shop at 253-833-2350.

If you are playing courses around Puget Sound and want a muni that gives you more than the standard parks-and-rec layout, Auburn is worth the round. The elevation change alone makes the front nine feel like a different course than the back, and the renovation work over the past several years has the greens in real shape.

View the full Auburn Golf Course scorecard, hole-by-hole yardages, and slope ratings on Stymie Golf.