Any North of Seattle/East Siders?

[Fairways_and_Greens]

What courses are your favorite north and east of Seattle and how often do you play?

[MileHighGuye]

Flying in early for a bandon trip to play Chambers. Any other recommendations?

[kaschreiber]

North of Seattle I think you have to go quite a ways to get to anything solid. Avalon is a favorite that way, but you're looking at an hour north of Seattle. Bellingham has great public options, but now looking at 90 minutes to two hours. Echo Falls is another one we'll play frequently if heading that direction. For me, Harbour Pointe, Cedarcrest, Battle Creek, Gleneagle, Walter Hall- none of them do it for me. Nile and Lynwood are fine if you just want to get out, albeit short, long rounds, and can be in suspect shape depending on when you catch them.

 

East side: Bellevue is a fun muni that usually stays in good shape through the summer, although you can look at 5+ hours rounds on a day when everyone wants to get out. Mt Si ~40 minutes out of the city is a personal favorite in the area and I love Snoqualmie Ridge (although private). Newcastle might be the most overpriced course in the state, IMHO. 

[Mustu]

I play north of Seattle quite a bit mostly to avoid traffic.  I mostly play weekdays and traffic and pace of play is really important to me.  I play the Nile and Echo Falls the most.

 

Nile is short, fun and usually in nice shape.  It can get super busy though and 5 hour rounds are no fun there.  I only play early mornings there.  It's the course I play when I want to get in a 2-2.5 hour round before work.

 

I play Echo Falls a lot.  Convenient drive for me and never any traffic.  It was pretty crowded this year (like everywhere else), but I've found it to be pretty open generally and I think it's fun and in good shape.  But, it gets really muddy in the winter.  Membership is a really good value for anyone who plays a lot. 

 

I go to Avalon a couple of times per year to get in 36+ holes.  Because they have 3 - 9 hole loops the pace of play is really good and it is really fun.  But it's an hour drive for me so a little farther than I'd like to go regularly.

[pdouble23]

Harbour Pointe in Mukilteo is great.  
 

 

[kaschreiber]

16 hours ago, pdouble23 said:

Harbour Pointe in Mukilteo is great.  
 

 

Respectfully disagree. Overpriced for one (albeit awesome) hole with a view. Rounds are slow and the handful of times I've played the course has been in lackluster shape. Charged $100 for a cart, balls, round on a spring weekend when the course was too wet to mow roughs. You could run your ball through the fairway into ankle deep stuff and never see it again. Guys in the pro shop acknowledge that to be the case, yet didn't bat an eye at the price. To each their own, but certainly not worth the trip if coming into town to play Chambers for a Bandon trip and I'd stay on the road another hour to Avalon or head out to Echo as @Mustu says. Just my two cents.

[Seattlegolfnut]

North: I play Legion Memorial a lot, since they actually space out the tees and the forward setup is great distance for my wife. And the course holds up decent all year with wet winters and lots of summer play.

 

East: summertime, Willows Run. Two tracks with some variety. They have been redoing a lot of the bunkers lately and also cut down a ton of the brush to open things up like it was 25 years ago. I’ll occasionally wade around in mud boots in the winter too, when other courses are on temps since Willow’s tarp their greens at night. I just can’t stand the place in March - May because they don’t (or can’t since still soggy), cut the rough down enough and I have lost many a sleeve of balls just off the fairway in ankle thick grass. But, to make up for that shortcoming, they offer free range balls to kids all year long and are really cool about letting my daughter ride along and knock a few around when not busy.
 

Others: I do agree Bellevue is a fun mini as @kaschreiber mentioned. It’s short and tight; challenges me to think about hitting fairways and greens, and trying to get creative with some shot shapes. @Mustu commented on Echo Falls; that one is interesting for me. I never play the first hole well with tiny elongated green on the side of a hill, and the last hole is an odd par 3 island setup that just doesn’t leave me satisfied. Maybe because I’m often playing defensive on that hole so I don’t hit a water ball and end my day with a double. The ~90 yard 10th feels like it was an afterthought to make a 17 hole track into an 18. Another north and east course worth trying at least once is Snohomish. Greens are usually decent shape all year long. Winter a little wet, but drains better than some others, and in summer, I can actually get some driver rollout!