the links at echo springs

Full disclosure – the foursome that I golf with likes to play golf for the fun of playing golf. We look for nice well-maintained courses but at the same time, we look for affordable courses. We don’t play many of the higher end / highly manicured courses but generally stick with the smaller but still well managed and well maintained courses.As the name indicates – the Links at Echo Springs is a “links style” course. It’s very open although there are enough trees to present some challenges and there’s lots of water. Echo Springs is just a little pricier than some of the other courses we normally play with weekday rates of $24 walking or $38 w/ a cart and weekend rates of $28 (walking) and $42 w/ a cart. However, Echo Springs does not allow “walkers” before early afternoon on the weekends. If you’re playing in the morning they require the use of a cart (they claim walkers slow down the game although I’ve seen plenty of “cart golfers” who actually play slower than many walkers.This is one of the more scenic courses in the area. It was designed by Barry Serafin who also designed the Chapel Hill course. One of the more interesting holes at Echo Springs is the 12th hole – 315 yards over a ravine with heavy vegetation. The bunkers actually had sand in them but nothing like the sand you see when watching golf on television – although you can actually hit out of these bunkers.Echo Springs has a very comfortable club house with typical golf course fare – hot dogs, chips, pop, beer, etc.Course Rating/Slope/Length (yards)• Blue 72.3/128/6,875• Black 69.8/120/6,324• White 67.6/115/5,842• Gold 64.1/106/5,102• Red 64.7/110/4,465