Echelon Golf Club, Alpharetta Georgia

Did a crazy thing and drove up to Atlanta for the wkn.

The crazy thing was I drove thru a couple of tornado warnings. (Those polygon thingys)....at night! Must have made Helen Hunt proud of me.



Nevermind the scare and the possible death. Didn't find out about it till I was within 10miles and nowhere to hide. Lesson learnt.

Anyway, did abit of golf shopping (but went home without new clubs). Met up w my aunt but most imptly, play a round of golf in Georgia, home state of Augusta National and East Lake.

Ploughed thru golfnow.com and found out about this place called Echelon Golf Club in Alpharetta which is about 15miles north of downtown Atlanta.

Drove up the gate pretty impressed....was hoping to see how the clubhouse looked like.



With houses like these dotting the drive up and some of the fairways, I was feeling pretty good.



There wasn't any clubhouse. What stood before me was a cabin. Siao liao, tio cheated.

Found out from the staff this is a Rees Jones multi-million dollar project that was a members-only club that gone bust. Since then, public play has been allowed and I happen to take advantage of it.

Nevermind, reminded myself of the positive reviews online and decided to trust it.

It was freezing at 6*C when I reached in the morning. Didn't help that I only had a windbreaker and berms.

Anyway, to keep a long story short. This Rees Jones monster spans 7558yds and I played the full monty. Yup, I am a sucker for punishment.

Slope rating was 77.8/154.

Par 3s avg 191 -250yds. Some of the tees thankfully played up as the terrible storms that came thru put a ton of moisture on the course.

Par 4s were 360-464yds. The elevation changes put Keppel into shame.





The Par 5s were 508yds (25* upslope all the way) to 622yds. The water hazards fronting the fairways all require at least a 240yd carry. Thankfully, non of those holes played into the wind.



Majestic views line every hole. The fairways were still dormant from the cold and should be coming alive soon. There were deer running around some fairways but I wasn't quick enuff to snap photos of Bambi.





Greens were bentgrass (my fav) and double rolled. Starters told us they make sure they were at least 13 on the stimp as requested by members. I finally found out what US Open green speed was.



Even the cups were painted white just like how they are on tour. Nice touch.



Shot an 87 with 1 lost ball and not doing anything else too wrong. Hit decent drives, hit some decent approaches which never held the green due to the hardness of them and the severity of the speed and slope.

This is one heck of a monster course. If you are a casual or weekend golfer, can skip this as after the round, you might wanna take up fishing instead.