Woodlands/Lakeside at Shaker Run Golf Club

Great layout and staff was friendly. Overall condition was ok, except for bunkers that were inconsistent and spotty and best. Unfortunately, I played after aeration so cannot really comment on greens.

This is a tough course, every par 3 requires you to carry water. There are lots of bunkers and a few holes where you can't see the pin when you tee off. There are a couple 400+ yd par 4s, which is a long way for the average weekend golfer (Tee it Forward people!).

As for the condition, I was expecting a disaster based on other reviews, but this was a pretty typical Cincinnati course in my experience. We paid $35 for 18, that would have been fair if they hadn't been aerating the greens.

- Bunkers have no sand in them, just ground up dirt or mud.
- Parking lot looks horrible, just old and someone needs to run a weedwacker around the place.
- Cart paths were in good condition.
- Tee boxes and fairways were in good condition.
- They were aerating the greens, which is never fun, but they looked fine other than that.
- Woodlands setting is beautiful, back in the woods.
- Meadows is mostly a blend of houses and overgrown fields, not as fun.

Overall it was a fine course, I expect we'll play it again this year.

The greens had been aerated, but wasn't informed until after I had paid. There might have been an alert, but since I was new to GolfNow, I didn't know this. The rest of the course looked great. Slow play, it would have been nice if they had paired us up with another twosome.

I played in a golf tournament here last here and they were aerating the greens. I went yesterday and the greens looked exactly the same as when I was there a year ago. They had mowers basically following us around the entire 18 holes. They were spraying chemicals that we had to smell through about 5-6 holes. Not worth the money and we got a decent deal!

This post would have been scathing, but the staff delayed that review, which might inevitably come at a future date anyway. I made the trek down from Columbus with a buddy to give Shaker Run a try. We are both trying to play the top 15 public courses in Ohio, based on Golf Magazine's 2014 rankings. Shaker Run is ranked #3, if you play the Lakeside/Woodlands combo. I called down on the Tuesday prior to our round to make the tee time. I had read some other golfnow reviews stating the course was in bad shape, and how it had gone downhill over the last few years. I was told by the man on the phone that he thought I'd be overly happy with the condition of the course. I was optimistic, and booked a tee time for the Lakeside/Woodlands at 9:51 for the upcoming Saturday.

We arrived around 9:15. The course looked fine on the way in, and the lake behind the clubhouse was gorgeous and got me excited for our round. We checked in and paid the full $59. Right after paying, the attendant informed us that we would be going off the Meadows 9 and then over to Lakeside. I was baffled, especially since the rates for playing a round that included Meadows as part of your 18 was clearly marked at a $45 rate, not to mention that is not what I had booked. He went on to inform us that the Cincinnati Bengals were having an outing, and they were on Woodlands and Lakeside at this time, so they couldn't send us off on either. I'm irritated, and he offers to give us the $14 difference on a gift card. The money didn't bother us. We drove down to play the "ranked" combination, and that's what we wanted to do. And the $14 gift card does us almost no good, as we live 2 hours away. He ends up suggesting that we go ahead and play Meadows/Lakeside, as he thinks by the time we'd finish our 18, that the outing would be through and we could then play Lakeside. We're content with this offer, so long as pace of play is not an issue, because we had a 4:00 tee time at the #8 ranked Stonelick Hills we needed to make.

So we took off for Meadows. We got right up to the tee box and hit our shots. As we're heading back to our carts, the ranger pulls up and says "What tee time are you?" and we tell him the 9:51. (At this point, it's 9:30 - the clubhouse guy told us to just get out and go since nobody was ahead of us.) The ranger looks at his sheet, and he's disgruntled. He says, "They've got us all screwed up. It's gonna be slow out there boys, because we are a mess this morning..." Grrrrreat! To our surprise, we had no issues on Meadows, and played those completely unforgettable 9 holes in just under 90 minutes. As we were coming up 9, the clubhouse guy was driving out to check on us. (To his credit, he tried to accommodate us as best as he could, and was a pretty nice guy.) He tells us that Lakeside is still backed up, but to go on to Woodlands instead, as it should be open.

As we walk up to the tee box on Woodlands, you can already tell that this 9 is going to be MUCH nicer than Meadows. We could also see a really cool hole right on the lake, and we were excited to eventually play that one. The Woodlands 9 was pretty nice, and had some great holes with elevated tee boxes and great views. We were enjoying ourselves despite being annoyed from how the morning began, and had the course to ourselves for the most part and were playing quickly. Maybe we'd get 27 holes in after all. Then we pull up to hole #9, which is the gorgeous hole we saw from #1. This is where it really went downhill. There is a huge tent going up right in the middle of the fairway. The Bengals were apparently having an event that evening, and that's where they decided it was going to occur... Annoyance level is now at an 8, and about to go up further. We skip #9 - which really irritated my buddy because it really was a beautiful hole - and decide to grab a quick bite to eat before heading to Lakeside. We head inside to the grill, and alas, it's closed. "Closed - Private Party for the Cincinnati Bengals - Head to the Pro Shop for food." Super! The pro shop had a very wide selection to choose from, between hot dogs, hot dogs, and if you were in the mood for something else, hot dogs... (The hot dogs were awful - soggy bun and no condiments other than ketchup/mustard were available. Whatever.) The guy sent us on to Lakeside, where we arrive to find 3 foursomes lined up waiting to tee off. They had started sending other groups off because the outing was now on Meadows and Woodlands, so here we are! We waited 30 minutes before we could finally hit our shots, and by now it's raining, and the groups ahead of us were awful golfers and so slow they made Kevin Na look brisk. After 2 holes, we finally threw in the towel. We drove the entire Lakeside to see what we were missing, loaded up the car, and went back into the pro shop.

The guy knew we were irritated, and initially offered us the $14 gift card again. At this point, neither of us have any desire to ever come back down to this place, so we reject his offer and request $14 back. I guess the computer wouldn't allow this, and apparently they didn't believe in cash. After talking with another guy, he tells us that he'll give us a gift certificate for a full round on the Lakeside/Woodlands combo, and we have a year to use it. Given it was really our only choice, we accepted. I'm still irritated, but at least he handled it as well as he could. I'm still agitated, but content enough.

Long story short, management clearly had no idea what was going on. If this outing was such a huge deal - and it was - why couldn't they have told us when we booked our tee time? The most disappointing thing to us was that the course itself looked like it'd be a pretty enjoyable round, if you could get over the irritation that everything else induced...

We will go back and hopefully have a better experience.

It was disappointing to see a once great course fall into disrepair Most of the bunkers had no sand or it hasn't been raked in 6 months. They quit cutting the grass around the backside of most of the traps. Half of the fairways looked burned out from lack of water. Most of the tee boxes were chewed up as if the never move the blocks or reseed.

The drinks were flowing like mud as the one and only cart service was seen only once at the 9th hole. Only two water coolers on 18 holes and only I trash can next to the water cooler. So trash was blowing around everywhere.

It used to be worth the premium price to play this course but it simply was very disappointing and I'm sure we won't be back. It's at best a $20 round as I'm sure it will only get worse as the summer goes on

Disappointing

Shaker Run Golf Course in the past was considered a premiere golf course in Ohio. Not so, presently. It is still a nice course, but it is not the elite destination the current owner(s) are trying to market it as. There are many courses in the Dayton/Cincinnati that are a far better value. The rates of $49 and $41 for a round of golf at Shaker Run are borderline ridiculous. There are not separate rates for seniors and the discount websites are no help in finding a decent rate for what this course has to offer. My regular foursome (we played 68 rounds at 46 different courses at an avergage rate of $24.67 in 2014) played Shaker Run on Monday, May 11, and we pretty much had the course to ourselves. We were surprised at the C+ condition of the course. We were not surprised there were only a few golfers because the Monday-Thursday mainstay senior golfers are not as a whole going to pay $40+ for a round of golf. We just happened to find a rare under-$30 deal on a website. This needs to become the rule and not the rare exception. My regular Monday and Thursday foursome of seniors would like to play Shaker Run more often, but that is not likely if the current management refuses to see the current golf market more realistically! At the current rates, I cannot recommend Shaker Run Golf Course!

I have played the course several times before and getting better compare to last year but still need to be impoved. No bunker has been maintenanced and lack of leveler of bunker. A lot of leaves remained on the fairway. I need value to pay over 50$.

We played Shaker Run Woodlands to Meadows. I had never played the Meadows before. I really enjoyed the course. I found it to be challenging golf consistent with the remainder of Shaker Run. Some of the holes require positioning to avoid large scores. We enjoyed and we will definitely be back to play again, also felt like it was good value. Don Snider

I remember when Anthony Kim and Michelle Wie played at Shaker, the course was top notch clean. I did not make it out last year due to rumors of its demise. Unfortunately the rumors are true. Fields of dandelions now play a large part of the layout surrounding the fairways. Clumps of grass from the fairway mowers littered the fairways. The greens... the greens. It's as if there are 2 types of grass growing, each possessing is own speed. On a positive note, the bunkers appeared to have fresh sand in them. I paid $41 on golfnow.com and I feel there are plenty of $25-$30 deals on nicer courses. I hope mgmt sees this and makes appropriate changes as this was once known as a premier course for my area.

The course was great as always. Played on a Saturday afternoon and there was no cart person on the course. Stopped in the club house at the turn and the lady working the bar area was rude. Seemed like everything you asked for they didn't have and what was available seemed like you were being a bother to her. Credit card machine was not working either. Had to go to proshop to pay.

The appearances around the clubhouse are poor. parking lot needs repaving, and the grass was full of dandelions, in general a poor first impression.

Our golf cart was dirty, one cup holder had bird droppings in it, also both of the sand bottles were almost empty.

The meadows course traps were so bad, we could not play out of them. The fairways and greens were in good shape. I would not be willing to play this again.

The Lakeside course was in better shape relative to the traps, however there is still a lot of wood laying around from the cutting down of diseased oak trees. the loss of these trees has diminished the once beautiful course.

Would have little inclination to return to this course

course wasn't in the best shape really wet. Had to remain on cart path which made play really slow. But overall I would recommend this course to everyone

Course was to ourselves and in great condition. Looking forward for the next round.

Used to be one of my favorite places to visit and play, but it has really gone downhill. Proshop is almost devoid of merchandise, restaurant/bar is closed, and the course is in overall lousy condition compared with prior years. Bunkers look like they had not had any attention in weeks, greens were mostly terrible, fairways were decent. Had all winter to do renovations/repairs, etc. , so why does the place look like it is almost closed in the middle of April. We wondered why the prices were much lower than in the past, and now we know.

Course was in fair shape, greens were a bit lumpy, they are removing many treees, opening up the course a bit.

A little slow at times, but it is the best public course in Cincinnati. Going in the fall is beautiful. Sneak in one more round out there before winter!

Teed off at 9am. Hit the turn at 11:20, went in to get a beverage. With only 4 customers in the bar, it took over 15 minutes to be acknowledged by the bartender. The cook behind the bar wouldn't even look up. Then they acted like they were doing you a favor to get you a beverage for the back nine. We finished at 2pm. FIve hours.........and waited every shot. Brutal.

I played Lakeside to Woodlands. Never had to wait and nobody waited on us. Fantastic greens that require looking at putt from both sides. Greens were a bit bumpy but we got great rate to compensate. Some of the best finishing holes in the city.

Played this course years ago. Always enjoyed it and thought it magnificent. Yesterday the fairways were nice for the most part but the greens had a lot of problems. Still love the course and will try again next year.