Two border crossings and you're playing Point Roberts

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POINT ROBERTS — The most exotic place in the country to play golf?

Depends, I suppose, on your definition of exotic, but there is nothing quite like crossing two international borders to be in your own country.

"We like to think of it as the world's largest gated community," said Mark Lundrigan, manager of Point Roberts Golf and Country Club.

"The border crossing takes care of crime."

In 2003, Golf Digest magazine rated Point Roberts as the eighth-best public golf course to come on line the prior year in the United States.

It would have ranked higher in Canada, but it isn't in Canada, even though it probably ought to be and even though its greens fees are listed in Canadian dollars and 95 percent of the people who play it are Canadian.

Point Roberts is a thumb of land — 5 square miles — below the 49th parallel that would be one of the San Juan Islands if it weren't connected to Canada. The Americans got it a long time ago in exchange for letting the Canadians have the bottom part of Vancouver Island.

You can't expect to get Alaska or the Louisiana Purchase in every deal.

You can see Point Roberts from the resort at Semiahmoo in Blaine, next to the border, but to get there takes crossing the border into Canada and a 25-minute drive around Boundary Bay to cross the border again back into the United States, back into Whatcom County.

Talk about isolated. And strangely wonderful.

The brush thickens, the birds speak up, there is little sign of progress or commerce on Point Roberts save a few gas stations nestled up to the border to lure Canadians.

"How you guys doing today?" asked the U.S. Customs officer guarding the gate into Point Roberts. He saw our golf clubs; he didn't need to see our passports. I mean, where could we go?

The golf course is a gem, serene, separate, a modern design on a very old piece of property.

Years ago, locals dedicated the property to golf and sold it to a Japanese firm that hired Greg Norman as its designer. The major tree lines were cut, but the lawyers, not the earthmovers, took over next, the course tied up in litigation for four years until it was purchased by Kenji Nose.

The finishing design, as it was at Loomis Trail course near Blaine, was left to Canadian architect Graham Cooke, who created a tough, but playable 18 through dense forests, so dense that the tree-lined edges of just about every fairway are marked as water hazards.

Still, there is much to like about Point Roberts, or The Point as they call it.

There isn't a house to be seen on the course, other than the two-story lodge-style clubhouse that seems just the right size, you know, small pro shop, cozy restaurant with a deck that views the 18th hole.

"Well," said Lundrigan, "it's just about golf, isn't it?"

This is a golf club, reminding me a little of Tokatee in Oregon, where most players seem to walk, where, indeed, you are both allowed and able to walk. Eagles nest near the second green, herons walk stiff-legged through water hazards.

Despite the technical difficulties involved with getting here, Lundrigan said the course did 40,000 rounds last year, especially popular in the winter when its firm fairways offer relief from the sogginess of much of the Vancouver area. Summer weekends are pretty much booked solid.

On a cool day in April, balls hitting the fairways seemed to bounce forever. Those hit wildly into the trees were lost forever.

Like any good San Juan island, Point Roberts reports less rain and more sunshine than the majority of the Vancouver area.

The course is in very good condition, especially the greens.

"The greens are our livelihood," said Lundrigan.

Despite the encroaching vegetation, the fairways are generous, this isn't your old mountain-resort course winding narrowly through the woods. Cooke has peppered it with bunkers, and there are two cuts of rough, the second nearly 2 inches deep.

"We want it to be challenging," said Lundrigan, "but also enjoyable."

First time around, there is a fear factor to deal with. Fairways seem narrower than they are. There is water on half the holes. An early series of holes seems daunting, the par 3s especially all you can handle.

But once you play the course instead of letting it play you, there is no doubt you can score while keeping most of your golf balls in your bag. If, of course, you pick the right tees from which to play.

From the back tees, The Point measures 6,868 yards, with a healthy slope of 136. We played the white tees at 6,029 and a slope of 123.

Green fees are $40 (American) now, and $55-$65 in the summer. A driving range is expected to open in July.

There is a Bed & Breakfast in Point Roberts, but we stayed in White Rock, just across the border from Blaine, where shoulder-to-shoulder restaurants overlooking a beach promenade make you think you're somewhere on the English Channel.

You get the feeling that time has stopped at Point Roberts, where 1,200 people live and another 5,000 come in the summer to walk the beaches, play a little bingo at the Breakers, or play golf.

In the early '90s, when the Canadian dollar was stronger, Point Roberts drew big weekend party crowds. But that has changed, especially after 9/11.

"Our golfers (from Canada) have to remember proof of citizenship," said Lundrigan. "A few of them get left at the border."

The clubhouse restaurant has to deal with two currencies, as well as making its own buns for hamburgers because little can be brought in from Canada. The meat is shipped in a bonded truck from Bellingham.

Kids after grade three go to Blaine for school.

It isn't easy being a country attached to a country, but golfers are ready to deal with anything to play a good course. And this is a good course.

Blaine Newnham: 206-464-2364 or bnewnham@seattletimes.com