UNC Finley Golf Course

All in all Finley is a good to above average course. Costs seem a bit high but such is life. Some of the greens made no sense and there are wholes which wildly overlap each other so you feel like you are teeing off over groups sometimes. Greens had some rough patches but played pretty well. A few tee boxes need some extra work as some are more rounded than flat.

Course is in excellent condition. Pace of play very good.

There was little else to compliment other than a very good course. The staff was hardly visible for assistance. There was a bottle of warm water on the cart for the players, but no ice available unless you made a trip into the pro shop, where they had one of the staff get you a cup from the closed grill. When you buy something from the beverage cart ($7 per beer), you couldn't get ice for the cooler. When I was trying to talk to the starter, he kept interrupting and didn't answer questions I asked.

Great course , well maintained
Very pricey
Biggest problem was in my opinion was that there are too many bunkers and almost all of them were very deep ; so much so that it was difficult to enter and exit the bunkers

Staff was very welcoming. Practice facility has lots of options to prepare. Balls on range a bonus. I hadn't played this course since the remodel (some changes to holes, greens new, bunkers re-done).
Many tee boxes were really beat up, they could do way better managing these (especially since months with no play during remodel). Mix of grasses in some fairways (weird) and some more thin that others.
New greens are really large, really firm and have serious undulation (must be able to hit the quadrant where the pin is or 3 putt in play). Big challenge to get ball to stop on green with any longer club or lower shot. As greens get some age, will soften I suspect. Think I'll wait for things to grow in before I go back but will go back.

The course is in good shape, the pace of play was excellent. I love the layout and course updates.

I’ll start by saying, the conditions are solid.

However,

Get to course.. cart path only even though it was definitely dry enough to ride. Obnoxious since I tried to call twice before and nobody answered

No snack bar or place to buy drinks but staff was friendly.

The icing on the cake was waiting for UNC’s golf team to clear the green for a solid five minutes where they were clearly just playing around. What’s the point of the 18 hole putting course?

Overall, would give it one more shot but the “Carolina” attitude clearly showed.

The course played perfectly. Greens rolled true and conditions were perfect. Some amenities were not available as they were prepping for the NCAA tournament, but otherwise it was a great day of golf.

I'll start by saying that the old UNC Finley course was my favorite of the three major university courses in the RDU area. I had played it about 10 times over the course of a couple of years. I loved it. Just like before, the staff is fantastic and friendly, the conditions are great, and the practice area is a great spot to warm up and get ready for your round. The new putting course is a fun addition to the practice area.

Now for the redesign. I'd put it as the 4th best university course in the area. Yes, I'd even put Keith Hills ahead of it. I was hoping to be blown away, but I really hated what they did.

First, why start on a par 3? It's so weird and it's not a fun way to start your day. At the very least, flip the 9s.

Second, 3 par 3's in the first 6 holes? Who's idea was this? Was Davis Love high when he designed this? Just some of the most awful and cramped routing I've ever seen on a course. Tee boxes bumped right up against greens (Or close to it). The 6th/8th green area is literally going to get someone killed. You couldn't have placed two greens closer to each other if you tried. I felt uneasy putting on the 6th green while the guys on 8 were hitting their approach shots. The 3rd hole feels like "Hey, we ran out of room so let's just squeeze a 100 yard throwaway hole right here".

Truly not a fan and not sure if I'll ever be back. Luckily the holes that now make up the new back 9 haven't been tinkered with too much. But the removal of the old 11 and 12 is a huge mistake IMO. 11 was my favorite hole out there on the old course.

Overall, not impressed. The actual conditions were great and the people who work there were awesome, but the routing is a real turn off and turned a really fun course into a course that I'll likely pass up in the future. Especially for the price they're charging.

Had an amazing time playing this course. There definitely was put a lot of love & detail into making it a challenging yet achievable course. Will 100% recommend to play for any golfer wanting to experience the essence of Carolina golf. Will play it again 100x

Played here for the first time and it was such a nice setup. Greens were tough on me but it was a great experience.

Early April conditions were as expected. Sandy grrens. Cart path only. But a great layout and a nice practice facility.