North Shore rises again, with assistance from the Puyallup Tribe and Dan Hixson
If this sprawling piece of wooded land in northeast Tacoma had been nothing but an economic proposition for its owners, it would be nothing but a housing development by now.
Instead, North Shore Golf Course in Browns Point is as good as its name – a golf course, as it’s been for 64 years, and you won’t miss the trees that aren’t there.
Today, well into a $7.5 million renovation, North Shore has its back nine holes open for public play – refreshed, updated and healthy – with the similarly rejuvenated front nine grassed in and scheduled for reopening likely in the spring of 2026.
The Puyallup Tribe of Indians acquired the North Shore property in 2016 and embarked on the renovation in late 2024. Kyle Eley, director of finance and business development for the tribe, said the work addressed a badly neglected irrigation system and cleared new pathways and sight lines by mass removal of trees on the property.
The renovation, directed by golf course designer Dan Hixson and constructed by Ridgetop Golf, has re-contoured many of the greens; upgraded, relocated or subtracted bunkers; leveled-out every tee box; and repaired, replaced or relocated cart paths.
“It was just getting this thing up to a standard we could be proud of,” Eley said. “That's what drove this.”
Hixson, a Northwest native whose notable course design portfolio includes regional standouts such as Wine Valley, Silvies Valley Ranch, Bar Run and Bandon Crossings, plus dozens of renovations like North Shore, said the Puyallup Tribe committed to the land and keeping the golf course on it.
“I'm really proud the tribe had the foresight and the wherewithal to really save a golf course like this,” Hixson said, “because frankly, the land is worth more for real estate than it is as a golf course.”
Shawn Cucciardi, senior vice president for Columbia Hospitality, which manages North Shore and six other golf courses in Washington, shared a similar sentiment when he said, “The tribe wanted to do something special with this property, to do something to elevate it,”
North Shore’s history, as detailed by current general manager David Wetli, dates to 1961, when Jim Bourne, a PGA professional, opened nine holes on property he leased from the then-owners. In 1978, Bourne and new partner Larry Proctor built the second nine and bought the golf course, which opened as 18 holes on July 4, 1979.
Sometime in the ‘60s, as the story goes, somebody had the idea the two trees on the North Shore property might need augmentation. So club members and other course supporters had a tree-planting party.
Through the years, the trees did as trees do: they grew. For all those decades, the only trees removed at North Shore were those that got sick and died, Hixson said.
In Hixson’s world, every tree has its place. Sometimes, they have to go. He doesn’t know the exact number of trees removed, but he knows greens no longer thickly shaded by trees will drain and recover better; massive tree roots will no longer buckle cart paths.
And sometimes, you can’t see the trees for the forest, which means, Hixson said, the best-looking, most distinctive trees didn’t stick out in a crowd the way they might standing alone or apart.
Hixson stood on the newly sodded No. 1 teebox on a clear morning in October and pointed up the golf course.
“See there, you can see all the way to the second green,” he said, “ that last heavy shadow way up there just underneath the limbs of that sequoia.
“It's kind of fun that we’ve really opened the place up and let it breathe a little more. Like, the golfers have a little more room.”
What fall and winter players are finding on North Shore’s back nine is not a radical rerouting but a clearer, cleaner path tee to green.
The most noticeable change on the back is No. 17, formerly a long par 3 known for its slopey elevated green that was punitive for putters and limiting for pinsetters. It now plays as a drivable par 4 at 253 yards. And you can putt on it.
Elsewhere, false green fronts on 11 and 12 have been removed, again to the benefit of golfers seeking to reach the putting surface and find the hole once upon it.
“There’s still plenty of contour and character to the greens,” Wetli said, “but we can utilize more pin positions. It’s much more functional.”
The tribe, Eley said, is delighted by the new North Shore. He took part in a “first tee-off” before the back nine opened in July, joined by Hixson and Cucciardi and a few others.
“I was blown away by the change that happened, just the condition and the quality of the fairways and the tee boxes and the greens and the new bunkers,” Eley said. “To me, it was night and day. I thought it was phenomenal.”