Forest Park Golf Course - Hawthorne

Played the first nine (dogwood) slow play, then went to tee off on redbud.
One group teed off, two more groups waiting in front of us ,one more group pulled up, and us, five groups waiting to tee off. We left didn’t get to play. Obviously overbooked. We won’t be back

Played here at least 20 times. 5 hour minimum for 18. Layout a little wonky and gimmicky, but can keep you interested if only for that. They have a flat rectangle green and another one but it has a massive valley in the middle of it. Lots of city noise and traffic around the course and many “pedestrians” walking through the course. No marshal or beverage and snack cart. Greens a little fuzzy always but not awful. Lots of tree and foliage debris on greens, some so bad there’s not even a reason to read the putt. No range also.

I’ve learned that driving 30 to 45 min out of the city yields much nicer courses with much fast pace at the same price point or even cheaper. The time saved driving to Forest Park is more than made up by pace of play when driving outside the city for a round.

I only play at FP now when invited by friends for an outing, never my choice.

They obviously aerated the greens in the last week. Greens are terrible to Pitt on as they didn’t do a good job of sanding and rolling so it is like plinko. I would give it another week or 2. They shouldn’t have been charging full price for these conditions.

Greens on Redbud had just been rolled and spiked and were in very poor shape. Rain previous night by course handled well.

No starter or marshal so there were many single players and twosomes. Pace of play was EXTREMELY slow. They also booked regular tee times at the same time as a multi-team high school match. The course was way too crowded and every tee had a long wait time. Greens had been aerated with large holes all over them so putting was nearly impossible. A very poor golfing experience.

The course is nothing fancy, but it’s always in great shape, three separate 9s let’s you switch it up often, and for the price point there’s not much better golf in town. Right in the center of the city and always buzzing with walkers bikers and nature. Go to golf course for me and my friends.

Tee Boxes and Fairways were excellent. Enjoyed the course layout.

I UNDERSTAND THIS IS A COVID OPERATION PERIOD FOR ALL BUSINESSES AND RECREATIONAL FACILITIES, HOWEVER THE BATHROOM FACILITY AWAY FROM THE MAIN BUILDING WAS IN HORRIBLE CONDITION...AT LEAST THE MENS BATHROOM THAT IS, NOT SURE WHAT THE CONDITIONS WERE FOR THE WOMEN. IF WE ARE GOING TO OPEN FOR BUSINESS, MAKE SURE THE CARTS & BATHROOMS ARE CLEANED TO PREVENT FURTHER COVID CASES

Course was in great shape considering a one inch plus overbite rain. Average difficulty, perfect for average players like us. We played Hawthorne and Rosebud..