Fox Hills Golf Center - Golden Fox Course

Let me preface my remarks by saying that I've played a handful of the top 25 courses in the country and consequently, I've had the pleasure of experiencing a spectrum of course designers and some of their best work. As a result, I think I've earned a bit of credibility along the way.

First the pros:
Arrival to the course was cool and laid back, there was plenty of help if we needed it and they knew enough to sense we were pretty self sufficient.

The facility, restrooms, and grill were clean comfortable, nicely appointed, and the staff were professional. Guys in the Pro shop were efficient and accomodating and the starter was very tuned in and attentive to our needs (we were concerned about rain predicted several hours later) and he got us out on the back 9 first to expedite our round, which thrilled us. The carts were brand new with GPS and fast! Nothing worse than a slow cart!
The practice facilities, although I didn't have time to use them, were very appealing as well.
The course itself, to my pleasant surprise, is an Arthur Hills design which usually connotes, with no exception in this case, a roomy feel off the tees and and increasing degree of difficulty as one approaches the greens. I played the blue (men's) tees at about 6500 yards and it looked like the course maxed out at about 6900 yards, so it wasn't overly long, and my 81 year old father played the yellow (presumably senior) tees at about 5100 yards which eliminated all but a couple forced carries. Arthur Hills seems to subscribe to the philosophy that "luck favors the aggressor" as nearly every tee shot offers a straight-away (safe) route And a more assertive path for the intrepid. This also pleases me because as a low double digit handicapper I can't always be certain to "thread the needle" on any given day. This course will often allow you to scramble your way to a respectable outcome and nearly always offers a safe side of the green to miss, although this often makes for a harder pitch.
The wonderful variety of holes never left my concentration waning and I was never underwhelmed. The course was reasonably sloped and fair. The green complexes offered a stout test and equal variety. The designer keeps changing his mind from greens well protected by beautiful traps to equally vexing large rolling mounds as fortification.
I found the beauty of the property also exceeded my expectations and, had there been an intermediate cut of rough, the grooming would have had me thinking I was playing a private caliber club. Oh, and before I forget, I can't say enough about the bunkers, which were exquisitely groomed, with excellent sand, and with their peripheries hand raked to perfection! The green surfaces were challenging without being Mickey Mouse and, had they not been plugged and sanded recently, appeared to be kept in great shape with virtually zero unrepaired pitchmarks.

The Cons:
The GPS system disables the carts when they approach restricted areas, sometimes 30-50 yards away from the greens etc., with no warning or demarcation and the only remedy is to reverse the cart and CRAWL backward up till the cart reactivates.
Having more than a passing relationship with golf etiquette I found this annoying and infuriating as the cart would die when I was clearly nowhere near a green, an apron, a bunker, or any other sensitive area.
Far too many wooded hazards where one is unnecessarily double penalized with out-of-bounds stakes. I interpreted this as a band aid remedy and deterrent to ball hunting induced slow play, and was very tempted to ignore them altogether as they were an unduly penal stop gap and couldn't possibly proximate the architect's intentions.
And lastly, and most courses are guilty of this one; Failing to post or verbalize conditions of aeration. This is a hack move and any course that doesn't offer this information or some concession in price pays for it in loss of good will. I really didn't expect aeration as most courses had completed this weeks earlier. Had I not received such an unbelievable deal I may have thought twice about playing.

I was able to play this course on a hot deal from Golf Now and I was more than pleasantly surprised as $25 was an absolute steal! I don't even know what the full fare Is but, assuming the greens aren't torn up, I would pay upwards of $60 to play this track. (Assuming, of course, that it's not a death march in mid season. Very few courses are worth playing in longer than 4 hours.)

I always thought of Fox Hills as a League Factory and as having courses commensurate with that philosophy, how happily wrong I was with The Golden Fox!

If you haven't play Golden Fox you're going to want to add it to your list.

everything you need in one place lots of golf practice facilities , par three course , three classic nines, and the crown jewel being the golden fox. love all of them

Had an awesome solo round. I was first off the tee box at 7am and weather was perfect. Course is in pristine condition.

This course was very challenging and well-maintained. The greens were extremely difficult and there were plenty of rough areas that forced me to be conscious of every swing. All-in-all it was a great experience; however, no one was managing the start area so I had to go from the 1st hole to the 10th hole after being told by other players on the course. Also, although I was set to go pair with three other players, no one was there to tell me who so I played a rather dull round by myself.

Had an 11:26 tee time and by 3:15 we were only on hole 10. The course was in great condition and is fun to play, but it would have been a 6 hour round. Our foursome called it a day when we had THREE different groups waiting on the tee box for hole 11. They let people wear anything and we had a six-some in front holding everyone up all day.

Golden Fox: Top-notch driving range. Course is in outstanding condition. Real nice course layout. No tricked-up holes. Greens were in outstanding shape. Pins work well with rangefinders. Will definitely play another Hot Deal round here.