Course Review: Indian Summer Golf & Country Club

Course Overview

Location: Olympia, Washington (Thurston County) — tucked into the old-growth forest southeast of downtown Olympia, roughly 60 minutes from Seattle and easily reachable off I-5 via SeaTac (~1 hour).

Course Type: Semi-private. Long a members-only country club, Indian Summer opened its doors to limited public play in 2021. Members and their guests still come first, so tee times for the public can be tight, call ahead and book early. Managed by Oki Golf.

Par & Yardage: Par 72. Plays approximately 7,216 yards from the back tees, with six sets of tees to fit every game.

Designer & Opened: Peter Thomson & Michael Wolveridge, opened 1992.

Notable Features:

• Built to rigid, tournament-caliber specifications — and it shows

• Water in play on a huge chunk of the golf course

• Magnificent old-growth forest framing nearly every hole

• Peekaboo views of Mount Rainier from several holes on a clear day

• Widely regarded as one of the five toughest courses in Washington State

• Designed by the acclaimed Thomson–Wolveridge partnership (Peter Thomson was a five-time Open champion)

• A polished, full-service country club clubhouse with The Embers Restaurant

Quick Take

Indian Summer is the tournament-spec country club test hiding in the Olympia woods, and now, for the first time in decades, you can actually get on it. For years this was a private members' club with a reputation among competitive players as one of the hardest tracks in the state. That reputation is entirely earned. Peter Thomson and Michael Wolveridge routed a demanding, water-laced championship layout through gorgeous old-growth forest, and the conditioning is about as good as public-access golf gets in the Pacific Northwest.

Fair warning: this course is a genuine grind, and water is the reason. There is water in play on a staggering number of holes, and unlike a forgiving muni, Indian Summer punishes loose golf immediately and permanently. Bring a full sleeve. Bring two. But if you love a fair, well-conditioned, think-your-way-around-it test with real country-club polish, this is one of the best-kept public-access secrets in the South Sound.

Detailed Course Breakdown

Course Difficulty — 8.1/10

Let's not sugarcoat it: Indian Summer is hard. It's routinely mentioned among the toughest courses in Washington, and from the back tees at 7,216 yards it earns every bit of that billing. But where a course like The Idaho Club beats you up with out-of-bounds and elevation, Indian Summer does it with water. Ponds, wetlands, and creeks are woven through the routing in a way that forces you to think on nearly every tee and approach. There's very little "swing away and figure it out later" golf here.

The good news is that the difficulty is fair. The trouble is visible, the lines are honest, and the six sets of tees mean you can dial the test down to something enjoyable if you play the correct markers. Play from too far back and it will eat you alive; play the right tees and it's one of the most rewarding rounds in the region.

Who's it best for?

• Low- to mid-handicappers who want a genuine tournament-caliber test

• Golfers who enjoy course management and picking their spots over water

• Anyone who plays the correct tees and checks their ego at the first tee

Key challenges:

• Water in play across a large portion of the course — accuracy is non-negotiable

• Tight, forest-lined corridors that punish the big miss

• Tournament-spec green complexes that demand precise approach play

• A layout built to test better players, so smart tee selection matters more than usual

Bring your patience, bring your course-management brain, and — did we mention? — bring extra golf balls.

Scenery — 7.3/10

Indian Summer trades the dramatic lakeside-and-mountain fireworks of a destination course for something quieter and more intimate: deep, mature Pacific Northwest forest. The old-growth timber lining the holes gives the round a secluded, cathedral-like feel, and on a clear day you'll catch genuinely lovely glimpses of Mount Rainier from several holes.

It's flatter ground than you'll find at Salish Cliffs or up in the Idaho panhandle, and there are homes on the property — though the design deserves credit for routing them well out of play and largely out of sight. This isn't bucket-list, jaw-on-the-floor scenery. It's handsome, peaceful, classic PNW forest golf, and it's a genuinely pleasant place to spend four hours.

Course Design — 8.5/10

This is where the Thomson–Wolveridge pedigree shines through. The design was built to tournament specifications, and the routing does a smart job of using water and forest to create variety and force decisions without ever feeling gimmicky. No two holes blur together, and the shot values are compelling throughout.

Design highlights:

• Water features integrated strategically as both hazard and framing, not just as filler

• Strong variety across the par 4s, from reachable to genuine three-shot grinds

• Tournament-caliber green complexes that reward a committed, well-struck approach

• Six tee sets that make a demanding design genuinely playable for every level

The design respects the golfer. It presents the challenge honestly, gives you the information you need off the tee, and then makes you execute. That's exactly what you want from a course with championship aspirations.

Course Conditions & Maintenance — 8.6/10

Conditioning is a real calling card here. Indian Summer is known for superb, year-round conditioning, and under Oki Golf's management the standard is consistently high. The bentgrass surfaces roll true, the fairways are tight and healthy, and the whole property carries the buttoned-up feel you'd expect from a course with a country-club heritage.

For a South Sound course dealing with plenty of Pacific Northwest rain, the presentation holds up impressively well across the seasons. If you value pure surfaces and dialed-in conditioning, this is one of the strongest in the area.

Amenities & Food — 8.5/10

The country-club roots pay off the moment you get off the course. The clubhouse is genuinely impressive, anchored by The Embers Restaurant, with club rooms and banquet space that host everything from weddings to corporate outings. There's also a large practice facility to warm up on before you take on all that water.

The overall experience carries a polish that a lot of daily-fee courses simply can't match — attentive service, a comfortable post-round atmosphere, and the sense that you're playing somewhere a cut above the standard public track. After a round this demanding, sitting down at The Embers to relive (or forget) your adventures with the water hazards feels well earned.

Value for Money — 8.8/10

Here's the kicker. Peak green fees typically sit right around $95 — and for a tournament-spec, top-five-toughest-in-the-state country club with conditioning this good, that's a genuine bargain. You're getting private-club design and presentation at a price well below what many lesser daily-fee courses charge.

Factor in that Indian Summer was, until recently, completely off-limits to the public, and the value proposition gets even better. Getting to play a course of this caliber, in this condition, at this number is one of the better deals in Washington golf right now.

One important note: public access is limited and members come first. This is not a course to leave to chance — call ahead, book early, and plan around it.

Overall Rating — 8.1/10

Indian Summer is one of the most pleasant surprises in South Sound golf — a demanding, beautifully conditioned, tournament-caliber test that spent decades behind the members-only curtain and is now (at least partly) open to the rest of us. It won't overwhelm you with destination scenery, but it will absolutely test your game, reward smart golf, and send you home talking about how good the conditioning was and how many balls the water swallowed.

It will test your accuracy, your nerve over water, and your discipline off the tee. You will lose a ball or three. You will second-guess a club selection or two. And when you walk off 18 and add up a score that's a few strokes higher than you expected, you'll probably already be thinking about how much better you'd do next time.

Best For: Golfers who want a fair-but-brutal tournament test with country-club conditioning and polish — without the country-club price tag.

Would we recommend? Absolutely. Public access is limited so you'll need to plan ahead, but if you can get a tee time, Indian Summer is one of the best value-for-caliber rounds in the Olympia area. Bring your best ball-striking, bring extra ammo for the water, and enjoy one of Washington's genuinely tough, genuinely rewarding tracks. It deserves a spot on any serious South Sound golf list.