Twin Lakes Golf and Country Club

About This Course: A Private Club With Puget Sound Views

Twin Lakes Golf and Country Club in Federal Way is a private, member owned club that began as part of a planned community, with its front nine opening in 1967. The club describes a course of rolling hills, trees and views of Puget Sound, known for its challenging blend of holes, sweeping Sound views and superb greens.

Golf is for members and their guests, and the 2025 scorecard measures 6,221 yards at par 72 from the Blue tees. The clubhouse is the part anyone can book: nonmembers can rent the ballroom, the putting room and the wedding lawn for weddings, meetings and parties.

Twin Lakes Golf and Country Club Fast Facts

Course Overview

The club says Twin Lakes got its start in the late 1960s as an integral part of a planned community. The front nine opened in 1967, the back nine followed two years later, and in 2017 the club marked its 50th anniversary. Washington’s Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation credits the course to Seattle landscape architect William G. Teufel, who also designed Tam O’Shanter in Bellevue and Fairwood in Maple Valley, and lists Twin Lakes among his projects with a 1966 date. The Pacific Coast Architecture Database dates the clubhouse to 1968, designed by Jack Woodman and Associates. Today the club counts more than 600 members.

The card is balanced at par 36 on each side, but the back nine is longer: 2,998 yards out and 3,223 in. Each nine has two par 3s and two par 5s, and the club says the course is open and playable year round. The club’s own hole notes stress sloping greens and out of bounds on several holes.

Hole by Hole Highlights

Yardages are from the Blue tees and handicaps from the men’s row of the 2025 scorecard. Notes come from the club’s hole descriptions.

• Hole 3, 143 yards, par 3: The club calls it a short, scenic par 3 over a pond, with a deep bunker front right of a tricky sloping green.
• Hole 4, 483 yards, par 5: A narrow par 5 with out of bounds on both sides from tee to green, finishing at a well bunkered green.
• Hole 5, 376 yards, par 4: The number 2 handicap, a dogleg right where a large tree about 50 yards short of the green can block approaches from the right.
• Hole 8, 213 yards, par 3: The club’s “classic signature” par 3, with trouble all around the green. Many shorter hitters lay up and try to save par with a pitch and one putt.
• Hole 13, 387 yards, par 4: A sharp dogleg left that starts what the club calls a stretch of three very difficult holes.
• Hole 14, 391 yards, par 4: The number 1 handicap. The fairway slopes left to right as the Sound comes into view, and two bunkers guard a green that slopes sharply.
• Hole 15, 504 yards, par 5: The signature par 5, with panoramic Sound views from the tee and an elevated two tiered green.
• Hole 16, 131 yards, par 3: The shortest hole, uphill to a green where downhill chips and putts can be intimidating.

Amenities and Practice

The club lists a driving range and a chipping and putting practice area, a Top Notch Junior Golf Program and PGA player development programs. Head Golf Pro Kathy Wake is a PGA and LPGA member, with Ben Bergner as first assistant professional. Members can store a bag or pull cart for $10 and use a personal cart for $300 a year. Members also share a swimming pool, a tennis court and a fitness center, and the pool hosts kids camps, swimming lessons and outside events.

Food and Drink

The clubhouse has an elegant dining room overlooking the 9th hole and a comfortable lounge, with Head Chef Juan Ibarra in the kitchen. The lunch and dinner menu runs from fresh soup and Friday clam chowder to crunchy fish tacos and a shrimp quesadilla, and lounge happy hour runs Tuesday through Friday from 4 to 6 p.m. Posted kitchen hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, and from 7:30 a.m. on weekends with breakfast until 1 p.m.

Plan Your Visit

Rates, Tee Times and Local Tips

Twin Lakes is private, so there are no public green fees or tee times; you play as a member’s guest. If you live nearby, the membership page lists Proprietary memberships (Individual, Family, and Junior plans for members under 40) with unlimited golf, an ownership certificate and voting rights, an initiation fee based on classification and a quarterly food minimum of $140 or $160. A Social membership carries a $120 quarterly food minimum and includes 6 discounted rounds a year per household. Dues and guest fees are not posted.

For an event you do not need to be a member. The ballroom holds up to 180 on its own or 225 combined with the putting room, which seats up to 45 by itself, and the wedding lawn sits right off hole 9. The club notes that the 15th, overlooking Puget Sound, is a short drive or cart ride away for photos.

Our Federal Way city guide covers the rest of town, and Dash Point State Park has beach and trails a short drive west. For a round you can book yourself, Riverbend Golf Complex in Kent is about 7 miles away.

How to Score Here

• Keep approaches below the hole. The club’s notes warn of sharply sloping greens on 6, 13 and 14.
• Stay straight on 4 and 11, where the club notes out of bounds on both sides.
• Brace for 13 through 15, which the club calls three very difficult holes in a row, including the number 1 handicap 14th.
• Take the long club on 8. At 213 yards it is the longest par 3 on the card.

Final Word

Twin Lakes Golf and Country Club packs a 1960s Teufel layout, Puget Sound views from the back nine and a full family club into Federal Way. If a member invites you, say yes.