SNOWBIRDS WHO SUMMER on the North Olympic Peninsula may soon bring a familiar site in southern climes to our roads: golf carts, if lawmakers have their way.
According to the Tacoma News Tribune, Rep. Tami Green, D-Lakewood, has introduced a bill that would let people drive golf carts in bike lanes and on sidewalks throughout the state.
Another bill by Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island, would let local jurisdictions create golf cart zones on low-speed streets.
Currently, state law allows police to ticket people who drive golf carts on roads.
Liberty Lake in the Spokane Valley has allowed golf carts on its city streets for more than three years and Orting became the first city in Western Washington to allow them four months ago.
Law enforcement is wary, worrying about whether it’s safe to allow golf carts to drive alongside multi-ton sedans and SUVs — especially since the carts wouldn’t need to have standard safety features such as seat belts.
Neither proposal would require the golf carts to have seat belts. Green’s bill also doesn’t establish an age or licensing requirement for people driving golf carts.
Those are big concerns for law enforcement officials, said Melissa Van Gorkom, equipment and standards manager for the Washington State Patrol.
“Technically, you could have a 12-year-old operating one of these on the street or the sidewalk who doesn’t have the training to operate a motor vehicle,” Van Gorkom said.
I’m not going to make any jokes about senior golf cart drivers slowing down things even more on Sequim’s Washington Street or other busy streets in our area, but I do know how I drove at times while staffing the cart barn at Port Ludlow Golf Course, as fast and recklessly as I could get away with.
That said, I see no need for anyone without a driver’s license to operate one of these vehicles on our roads.
Contact our state representatives, Kevin Van De Wege or Lynn Kessler if you are interested in their stance on the legislation.
SkyRidge Winter Links
Sequim’s SkyRidge Golf Course will hold its 27-hole Winter Links Open on Saturday, Feb. 6.
The event has an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start and will cost $160 for a four-person team.
The format changes every nine holes, and each team switches partners within their group to form two-person teams for each format.
The opening nine is a scramble, the second nine is best ball, and the third nine is alternating shot.
After combining the two nine-hole scores for each format, each four-person team will end up posting a 54-hole total score.
Each four-person team must have a total handicap index of 24 or greater.
Carts are $15 per seat for the 27 holes.
Port Townsend events
Port Townsend Golf Club’s PGA Director of Golf Mike Early says “the dates are set and the entries are out for the 27th annual and ‘original’ Arctic Open best-ball tournament presented by Marine View Beverage” at the course on Feb. 13-14.
“Don’t delay, find a partner and come to Port Townsend and become part of the golf season kickoff tradition on the North Olympic Peninsula,” Early said.
The 36-hole, two-person best ball tournament has an entry fee of $200.
The club held its Ice Cube Scramble (results on Page B2) and after play, golfers warmed themselves with some good cheer and Vicki Handyside’s homemade beef stew.
The club has a slew of tourneys on tap, including a Super Bowl Sunday Competition on Sunday, Feb. 7, a Spring Training Scramble on Saturday, Feb. 27 and the “World Famous” St. Patrick’s Day Tournament and Feast with the traditional corned beef cabbage meal on Saturday, March 20.
For more information on any event at PTGC, call the pro shop at 360-385-4547 or visit porttownsendgolf.com for more information.
Discovery Bay golf
Discovery Bay Golf Course of Port Townsend has a bargain deal for golfers this winter: 18 holes for $15 without cart and $20 with cart after 1 p.m. every day of the week.
The club will hold a Valentine’s Day event in February and a St. Patrick’s Day game in mid-March.
Putters Bay Cafe, the course restaurant, is open for breakfast and lunch Thursdays through Mondays and will also host its monthly four-course dinner special this Friday.
Customers can choose from blackened halibut, chicken and prawns or prime rib as an entree.
For more details, call the course at 360-385-0704.
Port Ludlow golf
Port Ludlow Golf Club has a two-man scramble tournament teeing off at 10 a.m. Saturday, and another event with the details still to be ironed out in late February.
For more information on these events, call the course at 360-437-0272 or 888-793-1195.
________
Michael Carman is the golf columnist for Peninsula Daily News. His column appears on Wednesdays. He can be reached at 360-417-3527 or pdngolf@gmail.com.