raseron

i love this course.

it's not simply a "smash a driver and hit a wedge" place, but a course where you can use a variety of clubs. there are times when you need to be precise, and others when you have room for error.

i wouldn't recommend it for a beginner, a moderate player will enjoy as will someone with more skill yet.

i've never known it to be in poor condition, and the people i've met while playing have always been friendly.

it's a little bit of a drive for me (no pun intended), but one that i gladly make.

if you want an easier go of things, play the sister course, the Ambassador, which is the other 18 of the 36 holes offered at Hickory Valley.

small downside - the range is small and has poor mats, with lousy, used balls. so you can warm up, but you won't spend too much time on it.

i've played kimberton a lot. it's really a decent course, usually in pretty decent condition. and for $10 (including cart), it's almost a no-brainer.

almost.

i have never seen a ranger, nor have i ever seen a starter. which means you could have a foursome, single, single, double, foursome, single all tee off the first with no one sorting that out.

and because there's no ranger, people tend to jump around as they feel like. the front 9 went at a decent, 2-hour pace, but when i made the turn there was a foursome waiting at the tee and one that had just tee'd off. i could also see a group on the next tee who was waiting for a group in the fairway who was in turn waiting for a group hitting on to the green.

yikes. seems like more than 1 group had started off of #10.

so my playing partner and i did the only reasonable thing - we went and played the front 9 again.

if you can get there at a time when the course isn't busy, it's great. but sometimes you can find yourself behind a sixsome (i'm not kidding) or a group of novice players who stop in the middle of the fairway for a friendly discussion (they were nice, by the way, but i still had to go around them).