sstites16

We were playing as a twosome yesterday before 10 AM. The course was not overly full at that time for a Wednesday morning. We waited the whole day for every shot that was not a putt. No Marshall was out managing the pace of play nor the foursome of retired guys that made us wait the whole day. It usually is the people that are retired that do not observe this courtesy as if everyone has all the time in the world like they do which they too would have disliked when they were working and tried to squeeze in a round in under 4.5 hours.
Also, the course has gone down hill in the past decade with all the areas under repair, the poor condition of tee boxes and greens plus the condition of the bunkers.
I played there today with some guys from work and due to the size of our group - we had to pay normal rates which is insult to injury there. For the conditions, you should not have to pay more than $25 on a weekday to play there.
It is a shame, Royal Oaks used to be as nice as the country club across the street more than a decade ago or perhaps a half step down from it. Now it is becoming a lower tier course. They need to manage the pace of play and the shape of the course much better because it has not been too hot or dry this summer at all for this part of the northeast. I may just have to only consider this course for scrambles only soon.

This was a fun round from the tips on this shorter course. The greens took me a while to get the speed - much faster than they appear even with average amount of slope.
Cons: They need to do some significant improvements to on course signage so new people can progress better to the next tees and they really need cart path work!
Also, someone needs to inforce pace of play as I was a single and only passed one foursome of elderly guys at the turn and not because they let me play through from the third hole onward. Then a group of older ladies did not extend the courtesy and no one in front of them either. The guy in the pro shop was very nice and accommodating!
Now that I know a little more about where to go and to avoid there - I hope to play a scramble there sometime because this course has some really nice challenges to the short game.

It helps to have 70 plus degree weather in February. I had not played there in over 10 years. It was good to play there with someone who knew where drive from one hole to the next. The on course signage and the cart paths need improvement. Greens were faster than most area course for the season by a large margin. They were trickier than I recalled too. There were some seasonal disease/fungus in the greens which is somewhat to be expected for the time of year. There was too much mossy grass on the greens which made the roll inconsistent.
The layout is terrific with a ton of variation between the holes and it is very fun course to play. It is not a predictable course at all in terms of how it sets up which makes it better to me. While I prefer Royal Manchester for quality and conditions, this is a wonderful place to play and I love the patio for food and beverage overlooking the picturesque 18th finishing hole! It was a spectacular day made better by GolfNow hotdeal tee time plus a rewards code to play for under $12 you cannot beat it!

Course is improving this year. Last year natural areas were clear cut and it looked horrible. Still too much standing water from over watering in some low lying fairways. Greens are really good.

Despite things being a bit slow due to raining a lot lately, this is in great shape. The greens are in prime condition and it drains well and quickly. Loved the variation from hole to hole and how it has matured!
It is a challenging and very fair test! It is very well managed and cared for and it does not attract too many hacks and duffers that play slow or rudely. I wish it was closer to Hershey area.

Layout was confusing at times with a lot of surrounding construction in developments that the course weaves through. Too long to walk it so make sure you have a cart and pace of play was slower by 15-30 minutes than it should have been. It was in great shape and the greens were lightning fast and you must be below the hole! A lot of tournament pin placements and sucker pins too! Staff was a bit too aloof and the 18% gratuity on beer or snacks for each person was robbery! I would send people to play it for the greens alone - brutal!

Need a Marshall out to manage the pace of play as a threesome ahead of us was not keeping up with a foursome ahead of them. No excuse to wait as a twosome for three that will not let you play through and they knew better too. A Marshall is needed and they need to seriously improve the greens. The owner said something about having just rolled the greens. The old hole markers on most holes are in rough shape and the players there need to repair their ball marks on the greens. It is a fun layout when the round does not take forever.

More actual sand in traps and a lot less pebbles in the traps that get sprayed onto nearby greens. All tees were very forward or temporary of sorts to save the normal areas for later in the season which was good to see since they get so torn up there. The setup for some of the holes could use some different angles for approach and some greens are just due for being reworked. Green conditions are fair and fairways are sub par. Few amenities in the club house and snack bar so it is not a nice experience. They crowd the tee times so it is always a lot of waiting on busy days even during the week like this past Wednesday. The golfnow hot deal price is the only thing that made me want to play there as the normal rates are not a good value for what you get!

Fairways and tee boxes are improving slowly. You can tell someone with new ideas is trying to make some needed improvements. For spring, they need a lot more sand in the sand traps as it is more like cement with pebbles in it and that was true earlier in the season too. Especially the green side bunkers need more sand in volume and quality.
The greens are not cut nor cared for consistently as too many were unusually slow (needing cut and less watering during the fall) and some were much faster irrespective of slope or grain. The greens need a lot of care and focus to bring this back to a four star course that rivaled the CC across the street at one time in terms of its conditions.
The variation in architecture and layout is still a lot of fun! It needs to be a value play until conditions approach a slight step down from Iron Valley in quality level while keeping to its own style.

Was trying to get a round in for a scramble on Saturday that was rescheduled due to hurricane rain system coming through. It rained early and long on Thursday despite the forecast not really indicating that so I was soaked. A lot of standing water due to volume of rain and had to take relief from standing water on greens and bunkers, etc. I love this course though and always have. The lager on tap here is perfect from Yeungling! Finally have spicy mustard that was heat for my hot sausage (another tradition of mine at Sunset). They need to add more sand to the bunkers so it is less like hitting out of cement or gritty little pebbles. Love some of the new approach angles on number 11 and one other par 3 on the front nine. 17th is still a great test as is the second!! 10th hole is so great now and love how they opened up the area between 18th hole and tenth fairway! Cannot wait to have a scramble there!!!!

For $10 it was worth going. Too much of it is in rough shape as they need to water more and take better care of the green. On one hole that I believe was a par 3, it looked like someone drove a cart right over the green and did major damage.
There is some kind of fungus on one or two of the other greens. Also, this whole region of PA is suffering from drought and all but the nicest and most expensive courses are showing it.

Greens need to be better. 2 were temporaryas they lost one and the other was fine and not used for some reason. Layout had a lot of repetition. Fairways are down low an a lot of elevated greens. Would go back for a scramble and to introduce it to another to see their impressions.

It is a really nice course especially their 18th signature hole upon which I had a GIR with my six iron which I usually hate to hit. Overall, it is not a punishing course for being a links style course that is fairly narrow in terms of fairway width.
I made the mistake of playing a little over a week after the greens were aerated and that was too soon. The tee boxes were done that day and the day before so they were in rough shape. I bet the course is normally pristine. The greens were in a rather sandy condition as a result and it rained a lot the day before so your ball and putter blade got rather sandy as a result.
This course has some gorgeous views. It is close to Brunner Island so some views are interrupted by the cooling towers.
The par 5s are great and not too challenging. The par 3s are very challenging for a variety of reasons. There is some great course architecture here on about 40% of the holes.
If the greens had not been aerated and it had not rained the day before, these greens would be lightning quick. I believe they are the fastest in the region. While it is worth playing, it is clearly not the best value in the area.
Also, I wanted a repair tool and ball marker from there and they ran out which was disappointing. The staff is super friendly and most courses need to take a page out of their book.
Next time I will test their food and beer menu for which I ran out of time to check out.

This course is really in need of some TLC for the tee boxes, sand traps and especially the greens. The fairways are the best part of this course in terms of condition and the course is fairly forgiving till you land in a trap.
The greens need cut better and more regularly. With the balance of rain and sun and lower summer temperatures, this course should be in much better shape than it is. Also, it is off the beaten path a bit more than others so people out of the area may find it a challenge to find.
The best part of this course is that through golfnow.com, you can get sub-$20 rounds regularly here (including cart and 18 holes) so that creates more value to work on your game. It is not usually crowded here either so that is a plus. The course is not long and is fairly wide open if you can stay out of the water.

I played this course in college 16 years ago and no longer live near that area. Loved the course layout - mature course. It is open and forgiving with large greens that are fairly easy to read. There are still challenges while hackers like me can still break 100. The course is shorter (Par 70) and there is a sea of par 4's. Only two Par 5's and the layout is a little confusing when you look at the course map and yet everything is well marked from hole to hole. The Marshall should get out and manage the pace of play better on the weekends. I definitely will go back as I left some shots on the course and yet it makes me feel good about my game with its level of challenge. I love putting here - always did.
The conditions of the greens and the fairways need some work - we have had enough rain that it should look better than it does overall. Still, I had a blast and the price through Golfnow was incredible!

Greens and fairways are in decent shape - this is mainly due to consistent amounts of rain and a lack of very hot temps thus far into the summer. Sand traps are in terrible shape and need more sand - more like hard gritty dirt instead of sand that you can hit through as one would expect. The biggest concern is the complete lack of drinking water on the course anywhere - they force you to buy it or smuggle it in - yesterday was extremely hot with heat index near 100 degrees. They should have at least 4 coolers of water out for their customers as a vital service to them. If not, at least have the young cart girls bring beverages for sale out to the course to help patrons avoid dehydration and possible heat stroke. If you have to pay any more than $25 with a cart to play this course, then it is not worth it. Through golfnow,com and playing later in the day, it is an acceptable value. The holes have some interest and variation. The challenging nature of the greens are what keeps me coming back. It is often easier to chip well here than to putt well. Their difficulty of the greens is subtle and they often have challenging pin placements. They should reposition some tee boxes to freshen things up and change some launch angles and increase some of the challenge and interest on some of the par 3s and a few of the par fours as well.

This course is madenning and fun at the same time. If I did not know better, a masachistic Scottsman (more likely PA Dutchman in that area) is responsible for this root canal of a course. There is not a flat spot on this course and especially the greens are extremely challenging and the pin placements were brutally ridiculous and unfair. The cart paths need a ton of work - especially on the back nine. The carts themselves need major attention to the brakes due to severe downhill extremes on this course on the front and back.
There was no water on the course till hole 17 and the snack shack and the availability of hot dogs that were supposedly on special were non-existent. The snack shack was unmanned and closed. The vending machine at the snack shack did not even work. They comped us some fries at the bar after the round to compensate which was not neccessary but appreciated.
You cannot be in some of the rough and score. The bunkers are brutal around some of the greens and the slope on some of them - especially the par 3s will break your hot on even good shots! This course will make you curse and seduce you into thinking that you can shoot so much better the next time. This is not reality because I went back later that week for an even better price through golfnow.com and I was even worse on this flipping mess of a course. I will go back though and shave off at least 10 strokes.
You have to be straight and long is not a big requirement here. Accuracy is vital and very difficult with the lies you will have - even in the fairway. Enjoy!