With the threat of showers in the forecast, I rescheduled my Maplewood round in favor of a round at The Golf Club At Echo Falls Country Club. The 5952 yard, par 70 layout winds its way through the hills of Snohomish and protects itself with tight fairways and narrow greens. The Blue Tees feature a rating of 69.5 and a slope of 126. There are also white (5484/67.1/1122 men – 71.9/131 women), gold (4883/64.2/112 men – 68.7/124 women) and red (not rated for men – 4342/65.7/114 women) tees for golfers of almost any skill level. With blind tee shots and even tougher shots into the small greens, Echo Falls is a great challenge to longer hitters and almost favors the shorter player, with the exception of a few holes.
I want to start with the fact that I teed off at 6:30 in the morning and was the only player on the course. No warm ups, no swings, no putting. Just paid up and hit the first tee. As I walked up to the first tee, the first thing I noticed was the narrow fairways that were carved out between the trees. The 340 yard hole set up nicely for a 1 iron draw off the tee, which I caught a bit thin. That left a solid 9 Iron to the back pin. My second shot flew the green, but I was able to chip on and 2 putt for a bogey out of the gate. The 2nd hole was a slightly uphill par 4 that measured 350 yards from the back tees. I hit a solid tee shot up the hill that checked up at 190 yards. I took an 8 iron from 160 up the hill to land on the right edge of the green. A 2 putt finished out my par on the second hole. The 3rd hole lays out nicely for my game with trouble right and a narrow fairway in the landing area. The 284 yard hole is tempting to drive, but the water coming in from the right makes it difficult to pull out the big stick to go after it. Instead, I opted for a 1 iron draw, over the water, back into the fairway. A chipped wedge put me on the green for a simple 2 putt par. After 3 holes, I was one over par.
The par 5 4th hole plays a short 470 yards, which my 305 yard drive made short work of. A quick 8 Iron in from 165 yards missed the green just right. A chip and 2 putt scored a par. This brought me to my first par 3 of the day. The 5th was playing a solid 190 yards and there was a bit of a breeze coming into me. It was slightly out of my 6 iron range, but I pushed hard to get it there. Of course, I had to escape the embarrassment of the grounds crew telling me I hit to the wrong green before hitting about 40 yards over to the correct green and two putting for bogey. The 6th was the second par 5 on the front side. The my drive on the 526 yard hole just missed the down hill slope and settled in at the top of the hill. A nice 5 iron found the rough left and short of the green. Again, a simple pitch and 2 putt left me with another par and a two over score through 6.
The 186 yard par 3 7th was another hole that stretched approach shots to the extreme from the back tees. My 6 iron once again found the area just right of the green, but this time a chip and a 1 putt made a par on the tough hole. The 366 yard par 4 8th played straight up with a solid 1 iron off the tee and a sand wedge into the green for a 2 putt par. The front ended with a huge 430 yard par 4. My 265 yard drive found the fairway and my 8 iron landed on the right edge of the green. A simple 2 putt par left me with a 2 over par 38 on the front side.
Moving on to the back 9 and the, finally, short par 3 10th. The short 110 yard hole took only a strong sand wedge to reach. After landing 10 feet to the left of the flag, I managed to drain the putt for my first birdie of the day. The 379 yard par 4 11th was definitely a change of pace from the short par 3 that opened the back side. A long driver up the center of the fairway left me a half wedge to the green. A simple 2 putt for par and I was on my way to the 12th. Nothing could have prepared me for what was to come next… The Hill. This was no ordinary climb, but really more of something that involved day packs and a base camp. Once I finally reached the top (and caught my breath) I grabbed the driver to hit down the wide open fairway. The 501 yare hole had no chance after rifling a 345 yard drive down the center of it. A simple 8 iron in to the green left me a 2 putt birdie to bring myself back to even par.
Moving on to the 13th hole, a nice 202 yard par 3, I felt the urge to hit a 5 iron into the wind and roll it up on to the front edge. My plan worked perfectly and the shot found the right front edge. A quick two putt and I was off to the races again. Moving back to reality again, the 13th was followed up with a short 136 yard par 3 at 14. A solid pitching wedge landed just right of the green and left me an easy chip to 3 feet for a 1 putt par. That brought around another 502 yard par 5 that took a 90 degree turn about 240 yards off the tee. A solid 1 iron rifled down the center of the fairway left a 5 iron down the hill to the green. The wind caught the shot and pushed it just right of the green for a chip and a two putt finish. Again, another par. This was shaping up to be quite a great round.
As I stood in the tee box on 16, I realized that my goal of beating a 75 was within my reach. With the par 70 course, my adjusted total would be a 3 over 73 at Echo Falls. 16 set up with a slight fade at 368 yards. A 290 yard fading driver landed dead center of the fairway. The wedge that followed that landed just right of the target in the greenside bunker. A beautiful out left me a 3 foot tap in for par. Then the devastating par 4 17th came along. Measuring at 460 yards, I have no clue how this snuck through the loop and didn’t get classified as a par 5. I hit s very solid drive, avoiding the trouble right, but still faced a 180 yard approach with more water in the way than I wanted to play with. I played a short left shot to the green to stay dry and chipped on. I missed the par put by inches and settled for a bogey 5. That brought me to the signature 18th hole with their ‘island’ green. The 151 yard short might seem dangerous to some, but a simple 9 iron fell softly on to the putting surface for me and two putts later, I walked off the course with a one over par, 71.
This was my first 9 hole round that I finished under par and, in all honesty, that 17th needs to get updated folks, the best round I’ve played yet. With solid ball striking, great putting and the best driving performance I may have ever had, this round will go down in the books as one of the best of the year. The fact that I didn’t miss a single fairway and really didn’t miss a green by more than 10 yards really made for a fast paced and great scoring round.
As far as my thoughts on The Golf Club At Echo Falls go, I would give it a mixed rating. Starting with the layout, it’s challenging and fun, but it’s not a great setup for those that like to walk during a round. Carts are almost a requirement for most players here. Next up, the pricing. At $35 for an early bird weekday round, it was quite a good deal. At $62 for a peak weekend round, I would have a seriously hard time recommending it when you can play courses like Washington National or even Chamber’s Bay for not much more cash. That said, if you are local to the area and don’t want to drive an hour to get to a course, Echo Falls is a challenging layout that will test just about every aspect of your game. Longer hitters may be frustrated by the smaller, narrow greens. Target golfers will lose out on the longer par 4 and 5 holes. It’s a great mix for just about everyone to play. Probably the most telling sign about the course is if I would be willing to tee it up there again. My answer would have to be a resounding, yes, but… I would probably opt for paying for the cart this time around.
If you are interested in checking out the course layout an amenities, you can visit their website at www.echofallsgolf.com.
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