Franklin D. Roosevelt Golf Course

I had low expectations going into the round and the course failed to meet even a low bar. This is a bad golf course, in bad condition, that is being neglected at the end of its life. I've played 400+ golf courses in my life and this ranks as the worst I've seen. The greens are painted green, spotty, very bumpy, and infested with different types of grass and weeds. The turf in the fairway is as thick and difficult as any rough you'd ever play. Drives in the fairway get lost about half the time.

I think Tour Pros can do pretty much anything yet I have my doubts that many could break par on this course in the condition it is in. I'm a single-digit player and shot 15 over, playing winter rules throughout, not taking penalties for balls lost in the fairway (I lost 8 in the fairway), and raking anything inside 4 feet.

I guess they are going to convert the course into a park. I think they only thing they have to do is remove the flags. I'ts already barely recognizable as a golf course.

This was the worst course I’ve ever played on. There is a lot of mud, fungus on waters, and a bad bad smell. Save your time and never play here

Need more maintenance on the fairway, green, golf cart way.

Tee time was booked days in advance. We arrived at 20 minutes early to check in. They did not have a cart for us. People had carts on the driving range, which is unheard of. Staff lied about wait time for a cart. We did not tee off until 35-40 min after our tee time. Course conditions were awful. There were 5 holes where you had a blind tee shot over weeds/grass that was 10 ft high. This is very dangerous because you couldn't tell if people were still on the other side. The layout of the course did not make sense and there was no direction on where to go for the next hole. Cart paths were missing or completely destroyed. The cart's steering wheel was completely off center and the cart was damaged. The bridges and walkways had pieces of wood hanging and missing, which is unsafe. The greens had markings all over them. The bunkers contained so much grass. Not even worth $15 bucks to play here. The only thing that was nice was the practice putting and chipping space. it is simply poor to hear other people that were also waiting compare this course to Jurassic Park meets the Amazon forest.

I went with a buddy who is just getting into golf. I have played the course a couple times knowing it wasn’t the best but for the $17 pp we payed I figured why not. This course has good potential but the cart paths are horrible and not very clear getting from hole to hole. It seemed like small asteroid strikes had hit the paths leaving giant trenches to navigate through mud and potholes. We had to push our cart out 2x and almost tipped it a few times trying to drive the course. If you want to play a cheap round you could do worse.

This course needs a serious overhaul. Been playing this course for many years because have been a member of a golf league which I enjoy. Every year when I think the course conditions can not get any worse, I am proven wrong. This course is a disappointment. May have to think about leaving the league.

If you’re looking to play at the worst golf course in the state of PA then this place is the place for you. I read all the negative reviews about this place and thought “for 15 bucks I’m sure it’s not THAT bad” and boy was I wrong. It was worse. They called us 20 minutes before our tee time (in the afternoon) to tell us the whole front 9 was closed, and we had to walk no golf carts (which we paid for 18 and carts). Extremely inconsiderate. Fairways were awful covered in mud and the geeens were even worse. Zero upkeep on this place. You couldn’t pay me to play here again. Stay away from this place. This place was so bad it made me question if I even liked golf anymore. Again, and I can not stress this enough, never play here. Shocked it’s even in business.

Terrible course and conditions. There’s no such thing as a fairway, everything is the rough. Greens are basically mud and have divots everywhere. In FDR’s defense, it’s closing down in October so they don’t seem like they care what it looks like.

Today I had $15 and an appetite for the new Bacon Jalapeno Burger at Wendy's™. Instead I decided to go golfing. I was greeted with a cart with no roof. It's okay, I enjoy heat strokes. Everything was fine until hole 4 when we needed to drive through "the jungle", aka a muddy path where we got stuck. After pushing the cart through the mud, I knew this course was worth 5 stars. Eventually we made it out to a green that had more dirt than the hazards. That's fine, I was already dirty from the mud pushing. The back 9 wasn't too bad. I assume everyone leaves after 9 anyway. 1/5 not enough trash cans.

Nice course for the money, good layout with some interesting holes. Very wet and muddy in places but not bad.

Run down and old , maybe a 15 dollar course. The pot holes on the course from the ground hogs or on the cart path will make you think your at a theme park. Grass needs to be cut . Greens need attention , greens needs attention.

The course is in horrible shape! Either the grass isn't cut at all or it was cut and the dead grass was left on the course. The greens are in horrible shape they're patchy and some of them even have mounds of sand on them! The cart paths are even worse they have huge crater size holes in all of them throughout the course. There was trash all over, empty beer cans and other debris. And there was no water on the course. They don't have coolers on the golf carts to keep ice in to keep your drinks cold and won't allow you to bring your own cooler! Nobody wants to drink hot water and Gatorade! $25 is still too much for this raggedy course, it needs serious maintenance.

Course is in terrible condition. Cart path almost non existent. Huge branches and dead spots in fairways and greens. Standard rate is $25 which is actually expensive for what you get.

I would treat this place like a gym. If your gym is too far away, you're not gonna workout very often, but if its close, you'll work out whenever you have time. This is exactly how I use this course: after-work rounds. Its perfect for inner-city locals who don't want to drive 45+ minutes to a club in the burbs to play golf after work.

I’m not sure why people's reviews beat this course up so much. My experience was pleasant, and I know I will play here again. They have membership rates that are a crazy value in comparison to to other clubs. IMO these rates reflect an accurate self-appraisal on Billy Casper Golf's part about exactly what they have in FDR - an inner city municipal course attempting to accommodate inner-city golfer's demand.

I’ve played nicer courses, and I’ve played worse as well. I'll say I am high handicap golfer with about 4 seasons behind me - just to level-set. I can see why better golfers could expect more challenges than what this course offers, but I enjoyed myself for a number of reasons. The staff was friendly, the course was easy to navigate, and I was able to save-face with some strategically played rescue shots when things didn’t go right down the middle – which for me is 70% of the time.

I come later in the day, and walk, so I am not subjected to the reportedly troublesome carts and paths that folks tend to complain about. The paths are a bit rough in spots, but as a walker, I am blissfully unaffected by this. I prefer to walk.

Also if we think about the history of this course - it was opened in the 1940's when there wasn't golf carts anyway. It’s evident by the layout that the course was originally designed for walking. I think Ed Clarey would be pleased if folks walked and enjoyed some of the natural subtleties of his course design instead of smogging past them while making sure your cart bag doesn’t fly off the back.

I recently moved to Philadelphia and this course is practically in my back-yard, so that makes the convenience draw quite strong. I had a wonderfully enjoyable walking round as I watched the sun set over the city.

There are some subtle bits of conditioning that give evidence the Billy Casper Golf is trying hard to make this course as pleasant as possible. Things like a few holes with false fronts clipped into the grass etc. Certainly players cant expect lush, maniucred conditions at a municipal course with municipal greens fees. There are a few trouble spots for sure, but overall the place doesnt feel like its being neglected. The fairways are clipped, the greens are in surprising shape in most cases.

Finally, they are a host club to the First Tee program - a youth development program that teaches core values through golf.

In summary - not a destination course, but a place for locals to work on game improvement frequently.