Settlers Bay Golf Course

Settlers Bay Golf Course in Wasilla is the oldest continuously operating golf course in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley (the second-ever course built in the Valley), a Ted Locke design that opened as a 9-hole par-37 layout with quick-coupler irrigation in 1977-1978 and expanded to 18 holes with another Ted Locke-designed nine twenty years later. That makes Settlers Bay one of the most architecturally coherent resort-style public courses in Alaska: a single-architect 18-hole routing where the original 9 (now the back nine) and the newer 9 (the front) are both Locke's voice. The original 9 is home to what many Alaska golfers consider the toughest hole in the state, the old #18 'Nome,' which was retained as the closing hole of the expanded 18-hole circuit, with the new 16th shortened to a par-3 to accommodate the re-sequencing. The course sits within a 2,000-acre residential community in the heart of Alaska's Iditarod country, with mountain views framing most holes and wildlife (moose, bear sightings common) a regular part of the round. For the Anchorage / Mat-Su Valley trip visitor, Settlers Bay is the scenic must-play, 45 minutes north of Anchorage, pairs naturally with Palmer Golf Course for a two-round Valley package.