What’s the condition of the golf course you play on a regular basis?
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Frankie's Fun Park isn't in the greatest condition anymore, but I do still enjoy the colorful balls.
Golf is for old men and rich white boys.
Linrick
Traps: So so!
Greens: Slow and spongy, but true! Quite a bit of crabgrass!
Fairways: Dry, hard, and fast!
OakHills
Traps: Rocky, but better than they used to be!
Greens: Still growing in, so splotchy/bumpy, but fairly fast
Fairways: Not too shabby!
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Alot of people young and old with some mighty fine tans play courses I play then.......
All of the courses in SW Montana are still very much in early spring conditions. The greens are in good shape, but shaggier and slower than they will be in a month or so. The fairways are starting to green up, but morning lows are still sometimes in the 20s, so they are just now coming out of dormancy. Weather-wise, it's still hit or miss for golf. We hit the 60s over the weekend, but the highs tomorrow and Wednesday are forecasted to be 38 and 40. Then, by Friday and Saturday, we should be back into the upper 60s.
Perhaps in other parts of the Rockies, but this was a light year for snow around here. Hopefully, the snowpack at the higher elevations is enough to keep the rivers flowing this August. We'll probably get several more light snows between now and early June but this time of year, even the accumulating snows tend to melt off pretty fast.
I'll be in SC in late June and early July visiting family. I'm planning to play the Greenwood Country Club, Cobb's Glen in Anderson, and Hickory Knob State Park and/or Forest Hills in Augusta. Anybody got any reports on these courses?
I'm only able to rarely play golf these days, but when I do it's typically at Pointe South in Augusta, GA. This statement is definitely wrong. There are men and women, old and young, black and white. It's a very diverse group of folks who play!
Have you played Hickory Knob before? It's typically in decent condition, but I haven't been there in a couple years. Layout wise I've never thought it very special.
Sea Island Retreat - have a buddy who is a caddy there, so we get to play relatively often
- greens roll about an 11 or so on a daily basis and very pure
- bunkers nice soft sand, always get a fair chance to get out depending on the lie.
- fairways 10/10
- greens roll about an 11 or so on a daily basis and very pure
- bunkers nice soft sand, always get a fair chance to get out depending on the lie.
- fairways 10/10
Yes, we've played it a few times over the years. It's become somewhat of a tradition when we go back to SC to meet up with family in the area and put 2 or 3 foursomes together to play Hickory Knob on a weekday. It's not my favorite layout, but it's fine. We mostly choose it because it's centrally located among us, so convenient for everyone. The only issue we ever experienced with it conditions-wise was during a spring break trip when the lake was at flood stage. I have thought about trying to do that gathering at one of the Savannah Lakes golf courses right around the corner from Hickory Knob. I've never played either of those courses before, but they usually look very nice from the road.
Since Augusta University took over Forest Hills it is usually in pretty good shape. It gets a lot of play. I'm not a golfer so I'm reporting what my golfing friends tell me.
I haven't played in so dang long........ Condition? Heck, most of the courses I used to enjoy playing are flat out closed up? Cooper's Creek (been closed a long time), Bogeyville (between Batesburg and Aiken), Indian Trail (Batesburg).....
Cooper's Creek, blast from the past! My senior year played Conference Championship there, nice and tough course on my memory.
Pine Lakes Country Club "The Granddaddy" Myrtle Beach. It's in really good condition - the best its been in years.
It's a good course. Been playing it since the 1970s. I've seen some significant changes in the design and agronomy.
Is Indian Trail actually closed now? If it's not, it should be, which is sad. I played a ton of rounds there in college with Groupon. Went back last year out of nostalgia and it was a disaster. Greens were literally unplayable. Think of a cow pasture with the grass scalped, then painted green. The course had been clearcut, so a lot of the character it had 6 or 7 years ago was gone.
Honestly, I just heard that it was; I haven't been or called or anything. Disappointing that so many affordable courses are closing.... (but, maybe that's why they're closing)
I don't know how golf courses stay afloat. The amount of work that it takes to keep one just ok would be astronomical.
Not to mention the value of the real estate, especially within metro areas, which makes selling and cashing out an attractive exit strategy for the owners.
There's an interesting article in this month's Golf Digest about a municipal course in the Phoenix area that installed stadium lighting on a portion of the course, built some additional tee boxes that turn a bunch of holes into par-3s, and opened up for night golf, complete with music. By day, it's an ordinary golfing experience, but by night, it's more of a nighttime entertainment venue, with different clientele and higher green fees. It makes golf a viable date-night option, similar to what Topgolf has done. I wouldn't be surprised if more courses do something like that in the future to stay profitable.
My parents live on the Pebble Creek Golf course in North Greenville.
They don't play Golf but when I visit it doesn't look like it's well taken care of.
I don't live far from the Greenbrier resort and the old white course is always spectacular.
They don't play Golf but when I visit it doesn't look like it's well taken care of.
I don't live far from the Greenbrier resort and the old white course is always spectacular.
Golf is a great game, but a lousy business.
University Club late 90s early 00s was usually in pretty good to very good shape. All went to ****.
A couple of Google images of old Bogeyville and Coopers. On both, you can barely make out where a few holes were. Seems so sad to me..... @will110, On their FB page, Indian Trail (or Gravel Trail as I always called it - RIP 9-iron {rock IN fairway}) had posted that Feb 18, 2024 was their last day of business.
I'm not a golfer but my best friend is a very good golfer and he keeps me informed of the state of the golf "industry". He says a major problem public (and some private) courses face is unrealistic expectations by golfers. Golfers watch tournaments on tv and see very expensive courses that have been coddled into near perfect tournament condition and they set that as their expectation of how all courses should look and play. Courses are astronomically expensive to maintain, even courses that are not in great shape are expensive to maintain. Labor costs alone can easily run into many hundreds of thousands of dollars a year at a small course. Equipment, fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides, carts, water (if a course doesn't have an adequate on site water supply), fuel for equipment, etc. all add up to make operating a golf course at any sort of profit a daunting task.
A private club with 500 members paying $600 a month in dues enjoys $3.6 million in revenue from dues alone every year. They also have revenue from food and beverage, pro shop sales and guest and cart fees. Even with those revenue streams, most private clubs are lucky to break even each year and frequently have to turn to assessments for capital improvements. Public courses rely on green fees, cart rental fees and what little clubhouse sales they can muster to try and show some sort of profit. I think it something of a minor miracle that any public courses are able to stay open.
A private club with 500 members paying $600 a month in dues enjoys $3.6 million in revenue from dues alone every year. They also have revenue from food and beverage, pro shop sales and guest and cart fees. Even with those revenue streams, most private clubs are lucky to break even each year and frequently have to turn to assessments for capital improvements. Public courses rely on green fees, cart rental fees and what little clubhouse sales they can muster to try and show some sort of profit. I think it something of a minor miracle that any public courses are able to stay open.
Savannah Lakes has two beautiful and demanding golf courses. My best friends brother was the superintendent at both locations and I was privy to go down when both were being constructed....Both used to be private and very hard to get on to play. My contact has unfortunately passed so I'm no help there. Good luck
Riverside Country Club in Bozeman, MT looked great yesterday afternoon. It has almost completed the transition from spring conditions to summer conditions. Greens are in great shape, perhaps just a tad slow, but that's to be expected this time of year out here. Bozeman got several inches of snow on Wednesday, so, it was just a tad on the wet side all around the course, resulting in shorter rolls on drives, but nothing bad. Just a couple of days after a winter storm, it was a spectacular sunny and 65' afternoon, leaving a green golf course against a snow-covered mountain backdrop.
They're starting to make some minor renovations out at Oak Hills, putting a little money into it, fairways are above average, greens will be good in a few weeks to a month and the bunkers have some gravel, but are way better than they used to be. It's a challenging tract, but still the best bang for your buck in Columbia IMO.
I would put in a word for Cheraw State Park. It's a good layout in nice shape, well worth the drive and what they charge. It took them about three tries after they opened to establish good greens by finally finding the right bermudagrass.
My only detraction is that, since Russell Breeden, a Myrtle Beach guy, was the architect, they installed many bunkers and most are large and deep.
I'm not against bunkers but these are just too numerous, which slows down play and detracts from the fun aspect. Also, it's hard to maintain that many bunkers, but they have done some nice restorative work.
Good course overall - very scenic. The 13th hole is the hardest par four I've ever seen.
I've heard that from a friend of mine who lives down there.
I've thought about trying it out, so I'll have to make an effort to do so at some point.
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