Dear Twin Lakes Members,
It’s really looking and feeling like autumn outside, with cooler temperatures and rain. The course has had its share of issues this summer and hopefully everyone has had a chance to read our Superintendent’s report on the golf course conditions sent out this week. We plan to update the membership regularly with what’s happening with the golf course and what we plan to do to address issues. John and his crew work really hard with limited resources and they share everyone’s concerns.
The club’s social calendar is very busy through the end of the year! Join us for Rock ‘n Roll Bingo on October 9th, Paint Night October 14th, Trivia on October 17th, Scareyoke on October 24th, Ladies Day on November 2nd, Turkey Trot Thanksgiving Day, Gingerbread contest and Festive Holiday Trivia in the Lounge on December 12th. Plans are underway for a travel-themed New Year’s Eve party with heavy apps, dessert bar, a “sunrise brunch” and fun travel-themed drink stations! RSVP’s will be required, so keep an eye out for official announcements.
The Twin Lakes Amateur and Glowball tournaments are happening this month. The Twin Lakes Annual Meeting will be November 12th in the ballroom at 6:30PM. We are still taking nominations for the Board, so please consider running!
Consider making Twin Lakes part of your holiday plans! Our facilities are available to rent for corporate and family parties, and our annual Santa Brunch is a wonderful tradition for families. The Social and House committees generously donate their time to decorate the clubhouse for Halloween and the Holidays, Twin Lakes is a festive place to bring friends and family for dinner and drinks.
We are booking outside tournaments for 2026 – if your company hosts a corporate tournament, consider getting a quote from Twin Lakes!
Sincerely,
Erika Sheffield-Stull
Twin Lakes Board President
erikasbot@twinlakesgolf.net
jeffebot@twinlakesgolf.net
Happy Fall, All!
I am hopeful that everyone enjoyed their time at the pool. Not only are we the only private club in the city, we also now have one of the nicest pools in the area, of which we should be very proud. Thank you again to Lillian Tucker and her lifeguard staff for all their hard work this summer. Although the pool is officially closed for the season, you may still see some activity occurring. Due to seasonal closures at other pools in the area, and thanks to our very efficient system, we can rent pool time to some groups as an added benefit to our new beautiful aquatics center. Lorenzo and some of our member volunteers have already started working on improvements to the pool area and building. Next year will be even better!
With the many improvements coming to the City of Federal Way, including the extension of the light rail, I see nothing but good things in the coming years for Twin Lakes and Federal Way. I can’t emphasize enough how important Twin Lakes G&CC is to the Federal Way community. We continue to increase our membership, thanks to member referrals but there is still room for more. Please remember to include your guests in our social activities and events. It is a wonderful way for your friends and neighbors to experience the club. As summer ends and the rain sets in, our focus is on offering many social activities inside the club. Be on the lookout for many upcoming events such as a Scotch Tasting, Rock and Roll Bingo, and Trivia to name just a few. There are lots of opportunities to enjoy the club and show it off to others at the same time!
I look forward to seeing you all at the Club!
Birthdays
Anniversaries
Dave Gromala & Colleen Gilligan
Happy October Everyone!
As you read this sandblaster article, we will be finishing up our fall aerification. We had a bit of damp weather going into last week which extended the timeline to finish up getting sand into the holes.. Thank you all for your patience with having the golf course closed Sunday late afternoon into Wednesday morning. With a follow up day this Monday.
On behalf of the golf operations, I would like to thank all of you in advance for continuing to fix your ball marks as well as those left by players in front along with replacing your divots in the fairways and rough areas. I understand that many of you don’t believe that you make a pitch mark on the greens, but if you come across one, please take the time to help fix it.
We have plenty of sand bottles for everyone to use as they play the course. If you take some turf while making your shot, please replace it and then use the sand bottles. If you come across a divot not replaced, if you could please help put it back in it’s place for the healing process. This preventive maintenance that we ask you to do regularly will help John and his crew to keep their hard work intact.
Congratulations to our 2025 “Winward Cup” Champion – Andrew Ziltener. Our men’s league program recognized weekly winners along with major championship winners with participation points as well as points weighed on how the players finished. Last Sunday, we had our final event to crown this year’s champion. A “end of season” dinner followed play with Herb Winward, along with his son and son-in-law joining us. Men, mark your calendars for the start of 2026 season. We will kick off April 8th with our Master’s Par 3 Challenge.
This month’s golf events start with our 2nd Annual Couples Championship. Congratulations to Julia Larsen & Edward Chae. We then finish out the week with our “Glow Ball” tournament this Friday which will begin soon after the member drawing in the lounge at 6:30pm. The following day is the Twin Lakes Amateur, Oct 11th. Then the next weekend we play our Twin Lakes Ryder Cup on Oct 18 & 19; players being matched up according to the teams drawn on Friday night prior. Finishing up the month is the Women’s Division hosting their annual horse race on Saturday, Oct 26 at 2pm.
As we enter into the winter months, it is predicted that we will not have that many nice days left before the rainy weather settles in on us, so make sure to make the most of the nice days we have left and head out to the club and squeeze in as many rounds as you can before the rains become the norm.
November also starts our winter tour events. A reminder to those returning diehards and those new to the winter play – there is no commitment to play until the day of the event so do not be shy in signing up ahead of time.
For those new to the club, our Winter Tour events are extremely popular so please consider participating. They are unique in that we do not have any sign-up for the events. If you wake up and it is pouring down rain you just do not have to show, BUT if you wake up and it is a nice day, you can come to the club and enjoy breakfast and a round of golf with your friends.
These events are designed for our members to also bring out guests to enjoy the club. We have four events each winter. The dates for the 1st half of these winter events will be November 8th and December 12th. There will be individual and team competitions for each event. The team competitions will be different for each event. So, make sure to mark your calendar for these dates and line up your teams/guests in advance. Members pay $35 and the guests pay $60 which includes green fees, competition, and breakfast.
Also in November, the handicap posting season will stop. This is for those playing in the Pacific Northwest. If you play outside the area, for instance, in Arizona, Hawaii, California, you still must post your scores. Your 2026 USGA Handicap fees will be charged to your accounts mid-December. If you already have an established GHIN # and want to transfer it over to Twin Lakes, please contact the golf shop.
For those members staying in the area and still planning on playing and working on their swings this winter, there should still be a few good days of weather to get a quick lesson or tune up, giving yourself some things to work on through the winter months. It is sometimes difficult to find enough time in between rain to get a round of golf in during the winter months but you can usually find an hour or so for some short game/driving range time to work on the new golf swing for next year. We are here to assist with any questions/tips to help you with your golf swing/game all year round.
A reminder with the Driving Range hours – we are still closing the range daily 1 hour prior to dusk so that we can stay up with the practice demand. We ask that you call ahead as usual to make sure that the range will open before driving to the club, especially with any inclement weather in the forecast. We also want to thank all the range users for returning the unused golf balls and buckets after using the range. This procedure has helped us to keep up with the supply and demand as well.
Lastly, I know it is early to think this way, but if you are thinking about golf items for Christmas (yes, Christmas gifts) it is never too early to plan, especially if we need to order the item. The more time we have for ordering the better the chances it will be here for Christmas morning. Also, our “End of Year” Pro Shop party is scheduled for December 5th between the hours of 5:00-8:00. If you have credit book money to spend…… Do not forget this money needs to be spent before Dec 31.
Enjoy what great weather we have left; stay safe and warm. We look forward to a great October and the activities that we have planned. Weather permitting.
See you around the club!
Kathy, Ben, and the Golf Operations Staff
It is fall time and the weather sure turned to fall quickly. Thanks to John and his crew for their quick course clean up and for everything they do to keep our course going, and allowing us to golf year-round. After you read this we will have already gone through the fall aerification earlier in the week, which is an essential process to the future health of the greens. Thank you to everyone for their patience during the necessary closures.
As detailed in last month’s article, John and team are continuing to do everything they can to fight some diseased areas on the course. John wrote a detailed letter that is being sent to all members early this month that explains what led to some of the issues around the course, what he has done already and what he is continuing to do moving forward to improve the health of these areas. Please take the time to read John’s letter as it is incredibly detailed and will answer many questions. Thank you for the thorough explanation and constant efforts, John.
During this busy time of year, projects and improvements are still happening:
● Sandtraps- the crew has worked on renovating many of them and we are working on a list of bunkers to continue to renovate and/or remove
● Hole 15 hillside clean up- continue to spray and treat this area- hillside is getting firmer
● Updated tree list for removal/limbing to improve play/course maintenance
Potential upcoming projects we have discussed:
● Continue wood chip disbursement throughout the course
● Hole 3 hillside clean up in between blue and white tees
● Crushed gravel fill on areas near and around cart paths
As a reminder to all members and your guests, please do your part to assist with course conditions by following cart path rules, repairing pitch and ball marks, and sanding your divots. These small efforts add up in a big way and help the golf course recover more quickly.
If you have any ideas you would like the Greens Committee to address, you are always welcome to reach out. For other questions, comments, or concerns please email tpac14@gmail.com and/or ssealey16@gmail.com and we will review with the committee.
Thank you,
Tyler Pac & Stephen Sealey
Committee Co-Chairs
It definitely feels like Fall is here. Our major events have wrapped up and it’s time to look back and look ahead.
Congratulations to Minhee Chung for a nice net 63 to take Low Net in August and to Julia Larsen on her net 69 to take the September Ace prize!
WSWGA State Seniors was held at Bellingham G&CC on September 8th & 9th. Six of us went and we represented Twin Lakes well. Sharon Lorenzo was 1st Low Gross in her division and Kathleen Ouellet came in 4th Low Net in hers. We all had a great time in Bellingham and at the course. This tournament will be at Olympia C&GC next year. I encourage all players over 50 years of age to consider going.
Next on the calendar was Sweeps at Rainier G&CC. We had 13 ladies go and, again, represented our club well. Sharon Lorenzo was the Low Gross winner and Angela Lee the Low Net winner. Diane Meyers and Sally Irvine placed in their flights. Sweeps is a great opportunity to play courses in the greater Seattle area. Be sure to ask Denise Harrell if you have questions about it.
Thank you so much to Sue Sohn, Janet Sage, Kathy Wake and Ben Bergner for a really fun Field Day. That putting contest was a real challenge and the variety of obstacles was truly outstanding. Thanks, also, to Sue Stevens for administering the 3 Putt Challenge and her continuing support of the Women’s Division.
Due to aerification the 18 Hole competition on September 30th had to be cancelled. What a nice surprise to receive an invitation from the 9 Hole Division to join them for a fun 9 holes in the afternoon! Sue Hebert and Kim Crahan joined in and had a very good time. Thank you for your generous offer!
Looking ahead, our last 18 Hole Ace Day and WSWGA Home Course Competition is being postponed to October 14 due to course conditions from aerification.
Our 3rd Annual Women’s Division Horserace is scheduled for October 25th at 2pm. If you haven’t played in this event, you should be sure to sign up. Kathy Wake will send out an invitation through Golf Genius and pairings will be made through the program. We will play holes 1, 2, 3 and the last 4 teams will play hole 9 to decide the winners.
Afterwards there will be a gathering in the Club House and pizza party will break out. The funds for this event have come from the generous support of our members sponsoring holes and raffle items at Guest Day so Thank You to those of you who have made this fun, end of season, event possible.
여성회원 모든분을 골프 경마에 초대합니다.
10월25일 2시에 시작합니다.
골프지니어스의 초대에 답하시거나 프로샾에서 등록하시면 됩니다. 끝난후 피자 파티가 있읍니다. 등록비는 없읍니다.
여성 뉴스에 도움을 주신 수 손에게 감사드립니다.
Thank you Sue Sohn for helping with the Women’s news.
Have fun and HAPPY GOLFING!
9 Hole Ladies Division
With the evenings getting darker every week, the 9 Hole Ladies Division had their last competition of the season on Tuesday, 9/30/25. What a great season it’s been and how fitting that it ended with a huge accomplishment by Donna Luinstra who had a HOLE IN ONE on 3. There is about a one in 12,500 chance for an average golfer to get a hole in one. So, how awesome is that! Way to go, Donna!
We had so many fun games and competition this year including a monthly shotgun which is always a team competition, (so you golf with different ladies every month). Earlier in September we had our 5th annual field day, which included a multitude of fun and hilarious games, a Happy Gilmore Tee Off, One-club challenge (yes, the entire hole with just one club!), No bunkers on this hole (take your ball out of the bunker before hitting – free drop), Putt Backwards and a Dizzy Bat hole.
We love this game of golf, and we have all had our highs and lows during the season.
We’ve also all made some solid friendships and we are already looking forward to next year’s season. We had 5 new ladies join our division this year to bring our total golfers to 28 and we are hoping to add more next season. If you are thinking of joining, but have questions please don’t hesitate to call the pro shop and they will put you in contact with the appropriate people.
Don’t miss these fun October events and a chance to win prizes
· On Thursday, Oct 9th, get your groove on playing three free Rock n Roll Bingo games
· On Friday, Oct 17th, monthly Trivia is back to assess your knowledge on various categories or to convey facts you may have missed or forgotten
· On Friday, Oct 24th, watch the Scaryoke costume contest and listen to musical performers singing along to favorite Karaoke melodies
· Register by Oct 29th to participate in Ladies Day (Sunday, November 2nd) to enjoy a delicious champagne brunch while shopping for crafts from local artisans including some of our Twin Lakes Members!
Meeting: Second Thursday – 5:30pm
Meeting: When Needed
Meeting: Third Wednesday – 5:30pm
Meeting: Every Other Month
Meeting: Third Thursday
Actively seeking and appointing committee members!
Meeting: Second Wednesday – 6:00 pm
Marlies Scott-Wenzel & Casey Gibson (Chair)
Meeting: Third Tuesday—6:00 pm
Meeting: Wednesday – 6:00 pm
To help promote the game of golf by offering a challenging and beautiful course and other complementary facilities that are affordable, inclusive, and inviting. Provide a thriving comprehensive recreational and social venue offering its members, guests, and community partners exceptional experiences to play, relax and socialize in a tranquil and peaceful environment.