Rlmitch79

Course was in good shape and the pace was better than most in this area which was very nice. Perhaps the starter being on top of his job was the reason for the pace, but this was one of those starters who thought he was the sheriff in town type of guy. He approached my partner practically forcing his iPad in my partners face to show him he had our tee time at 12:20 and not 12::30. I made the tee time and communicated to my partner that it was 12:30. I said I have a confirmation e-mail maybe I made a mistake. I went in the clubhouse checked in and confirmed the time with the folks inside and as my confirmation said it was indeed 12:30. Not sure where his mix up was and he was upset that the info he had was wrong when I confirmed the time inside. Either way it was just not a pleasant interaction in the beginning. After that mix up was resolved our round was issue free and enjoyable.

The course was in great shape and proved to be a challenging round from the tips. I was pleased with the pace. The course was plenty busy, but it was evident that the tee times were appropriately spaced out and running on-time. It’s not common on a lot of public courses to have free time at the range prior to teeing off, and that was a nice little perk that goes a long way in my book. It’s apparent that Shale Creek values professionalism and aims to provide a “Private Country Club” like atmosphere to everyone in attendance.

All courses in NE Ohio are going to be busy when a 65 degree day in November comes along, that was expected. However, if a course is going to make it mandatory that you’re paired up with another two prior to teeing off then you should be notified when booking. I had no issues playing with another two-some and likely would’ve paired up while we were waiting on every hole along the way. I didn’t care for the course employee demanding that we paired up w a group that had a tee time 20 min prior to our scheduled time. After 5 holes we surpassed the 2hr mark and this was not due to our poor/slow play. We were behind a 3-some who were also paired up on the first tee, that was about 2 holes behind the next group. I paid for 18 holes and left the course after 6.One individual in our group phoned the clubhouse and advised them of the extremely slow play and an employee came out, but the situation didn’t improve. Severely mismanaged / over-booked and the repeated response I received from the course employee was that Golf Now was to blame for the booking and the course didn’t even benefit or make money from those bookings. Not what any customer wants to hear. If the course has issues with how Golf Now is handling their booking then they should take that up with them and not treat the customer as if they’re just the person in the middle and everyone’s hands are tied. I didn’t pursue a credit/refund/rain check because I already knew that the course employee would just suggest I handle that issue with Golf Now, and frankly you couldn’t pay me to play there again. I’ll chalk up the 6 hole $25 experience as a reminder to never again go back! If you enjoy watching folks walk around in the cornfield that borders the course searching for golf balls for 10 min each hole, then this is the place for you!

I understand it’s Fall in Ohio and most courses will start to perform maintenance. It just would’ve been nice to know that I would be playing the back nine twice when I purchased the 18 holes. This was due to the front 9 being shut down for maintenance. Also, would be nice to know ahead of time that the 9 I’m playing twice has already just been aerated.