AVALON and EAGLEMONT
Location: Skagit County
Distance between courses: 11.8 miles
Total trip time (including golf): 12 hours
In the springtime, people go to Skagit County to see the tulips. In the summer, they come back for the golf. The tiny county is home to two of Western Washington’s top courses in Burlington’s Avalon Golf Links and Eaglemont Golf Course in Mount Vernon.
The two have long been summer favorites for their incredible play-all-day values. Avalon’s annual Summer Solstice Challenge sees golfers tee off at 5 a.m. and play until dark — or until you simply can’t swing any more. The names of every golfer who has managed to fit in 72 holes are engraved in the clubhouse. Eaglemont, meanwhile, offers an all-day rate of just $67 on weekdays, and $77 on weekends, that’s lower than the 18-hole summer rate at many of the Seattle area’s top tracks.
Pair them together, though, and you can experience two courses that are a perfect complement. Barely an hour from Seattle, Avalon features 27 holes routed across a bluff overlooking the farmland below. Only average in length and without any truly penal rough, Avalon challenges golfers with doglegs, small, fast greens and out-of-bounds on almost every hole. Eaglemont, on the other hand, is a fun test of shotmaking ability that can be as easy, or as hard, as you want to make it — play it from the whites, at just over 5,700 yards, or from the blacks at 7,200. Tough enough for U.S. Open qualifiers, and easy enough to enjoy with the family, it’s a perfect round to end your day.
Play it last to take advantage of the brand new clubhouse, where you can enjoy a prime steak and cold drink to celebrate a summer’s day well done.