TRI-MOUNTAIN GOLF COURSE
RIDGEFIELD, WA

TRIMOUNTAIN GOLF COURSE - OUR COMMENTS

Maintenance:  The maintenance of the greens, fairways, tee boxes and bunkers is very good.  They are all relatively green and smooth, even in late summer, though some areas of grass were raw and the pale green color told us that it was way overdue for fertilizing.  The bunkers have white Idaho sand which makes them excellent to look at and play in.  The smoothest we've played.  However, outside the fairways doesn't see water at all, it looks like.  It's all brown, and the rough is covered with ugly brown scrub.  The small hills that are all over the course are mostly brown in late summer, along with the scrub which really detracts from the overall look of the course.

Scenery: The high point of the scenery is the endless rolling hills that make up the course.  That part is kind of interesting - different, at least.  However, trees are almost non-existent, and the course borders Interstate 5 with no barrier in between.  It's surrounded on the other sides by roads, also with no barrier.  You can reach out and touch cars from all sides except I-5.  The #8 and 9 holes are right next to a truck stop along the freeway.  The water they talk about is limited to a few bogs which aren't much to look at and the aquatic driving range, which has no net so we almost got hit a couple of times.  All the out-of-bounds areas are ugly, brown scrub - tall grass so you lose your ball and just plain ugly.  The other positive aspect is the brilliant colors of the bunkers. 

Fun: We didn't enjoy playing this course - the fairways were all long, straight, and flat, except hole #9 which had more bunkers than you can count - that one was fun.  All the holes seem pretty much the same as each other, with a couple of exceptions.

Safety: Tri-Mountain is a lot of holes in a small area - that creates an atmosphere you may want to consider a hard hat.  Lots of balls flying and bouncing around us when we played.  On several holes, if you mis-hit, you stand a good chance of nailing a passing car and getting to pay for a windshield too.  You don't cross any roads, however.  Watch out when you're passing the driving range too - it's in the middle of the course with no net.  We almost got hit a couple of times.

Staff:  We had limited interaction with the staff, which was okay.  Our only real interaction was when we called for a tee time for a Saturday afternoon for 9 holes. The guy on the phone told us that we had to play 18 holes on the weekend - no exceptions.  When we said "No thanks - we'll pass", suddenly 9 holes was okay.  That rubbed us the wrong way a bit.

Design: The course is built on a small parcel of land surrounded on all sides by roads.  It used to be a flat field.  That they could make a playable golf course with any interesting features at all is quite a feat - we're impressed.  There is a little more walking than might be necessary, and some better landscape architecture (i.e. planting trees or making some type of creek features) would have been nice, but overall they did pretty good with what they had to work with.  The Aquatic driving range is interesting too.

Value:  The course is priced higher than we think it should be, but not outrageously so.  They do take away the Early Bird, Senior, and Junior Rates on the weekends, so it's hard to get a good deal.  Plus, to get a Senior rate, you have to buy a Senior card for $25 first - that's pretty lame.  The Junior rate is good, though, during the week at half-price.

Other Comments:  We were beat after nine holes on this course - if you're playing 18, you'll want a cart.  There's a lot of walking, and the course is long to begin with.  Plus walking up and down all those hills can wear you out.  There's an aquatic driving range here which is kind of interesting.   There's an 18 hole putting course too.  Nicely kept grounds out in front of the course.   We just wish they'd water outside the fairways - it would make the course so much nicer.