Celebrating 75 years at the Ritzville Golf Course

In 1943, the City of Ritzville purchased two tracts of land on the west side of Division Street from Theodore W. and Velma L. Pfannekuchen and Alma K. Scott Galbreath for expansion of our golf course to nine holes.

The official opening of the expanded course was scheduled for March 15, 1944.

Season tickets sold for $15 for city and $10 for rural residents, $7.50 for half-season city members and $5 half season rural members.

Greens fees cost 50 cents for 18 holes, 35 cents for nine holes, and 25 cents for six holes.

Tens of thousands of rounds of golf have been played on the Ritzville Golf Course over the past 75 years.

We have hosted various state championships and Pro-Am tournaments to name just two.

Each year we host the following events.

The Digs: a men’s invitational, which was initiated by Ralph Danekas in 1965. The Kirk Danekas family still manages it, and it’s a tradition we appreciate and enjoy every year.

This year we celebrated its 50th anniversary.

Putin’ on the Ritz: a women’s annual invitational, prior to The Digs, and which brings in ladies from Montana, Idaho and Oregon, as well as avid golfers from surrounding towns.

Additional events include: Spokane/Ritzville Lions Club Tournament, Member/Guest Tournaments, EWSU coaches vs. Ritzville Lions Club members, Various Scrambles and Wednesday evening Horse Race.

Our course has given up over 200 holes-in-one, primarily on the par 3 holes, numbers 2 and 4, but also on holes 1, 7 and 8.

Fred Campbell made the first hole-in-one and M. D. Thiel (owner of the original Pastime) made the second.

Our course has been called the “Course of Champions”, due in large measure to PGA golf pro, Ron Barker, who served Ritzville from 1981-2001.

No high school in the nation produced more state golf championships in the decade of the 1990’s.

In those 10 years, Ron Barker coached the Ritzville High School team to seven state championships, five second places and two third places. The National Golf Foundation rates Ritzville Golf Course among the best nine-hole courses in the country.

Following is a partial list of High School Championship golfers from Ritzville: Ryan Benzel, Brian Gordon, Darren Danekas, Jon McPherson and Emily Gordon.

There are inadvertent omissions to this list.

Manager Dan Duff who, along with his staff, has maintained the course at a level we only hitherto dreamed about.

It is truly a challenging and fun course, which provides us a beautiful setting for golf as well as a park-like ambiance, which dominates the beauty of our town.

Congratulations to the Ritzville men and women of the past 75 years who had the vision to build and maintain a truly remarkable golf course.

Our thanks to Mike Lynch, President of the Ritzville Golf Association, for his tireless efforts to maintain the standards we enjoy.

We will celebrate the 75th Birthday of the Ritzville Golf Course on Sept. 26 with a Best Ball tournament followed by a barbecue.

If you are interested, sign up at the clubhouse or call 659-9868.