Canada63

Once a year I travel to the Pinehurst area to play golf . I have played Hyland Golf Club many times and like the course. However this trip the owner who booked our tee time over the phone failed to tell us that she had back to back corporate tournaments booked before the tee time we requested. It was only once we showed up to check in did she mention the tournaments . The owner (Bridgette) told us the pace for a twosome was slow because of the tournaments out on the course . We decided that slow was ok enough to play and we were instructed that the number 1 tee box was open and we could tee off. Once reaching the first tee box the last group of tournament players were still teeing off with no starter in sight. We waited for the hole to open up and then teed off . By the third tee box there was a group on the tee , the group waiting to go on then our twosome , and the group of three behind us . Looking over the fairways we could see from our vantage point, there was no movement of any groups of golfers . The marshall told us the course was at a stand still . We watched the group on the tee box and saw a player hit her tee shot three times before she gave up and gave way to the next player. The marshal advised us to return to the clubhouse and get a refund.

Once back to the clubhouse the owner would not give a refund explaining she does not do that and would only give a raincheck if it was raining . The threesome behind us also returned to the clubhouse and wanted a refund . I could see the owner getting upset when I asked her what the tee time intervals are. She exclaimed that no one tells her to adjust her tee time intervals , even though I never mentioned anything about adjust her intervals. After further discussions the owner finally offered us a raincheck .

My opinion : The owner's responsibility was to tell us when we called for a tee time that she had two corporate tournaments that morning prior to us accepting a tee time.
When she said it was "slow" she didn't say the course was stopped and a 15+ minute wait on each tee box is expected . If you do schedule a corporate tournament on a weekend then wait at least 45 minutes after the last corporate group tees off before you book other customers a tee time
I also suggest corporate tournaments not be booked on a Saturday. The should also be of a best ball ,shot gun start with instructions to the players to pick up after a double boogie
The owners attitude sucks and puts the all mighty buck before the satisfaction of the patrons . I will not use my rain check and doubt if I will ever play Highland again.

Bridgette needs to hire a friendly manager that knows how to run a golf club There are too many other golf clubs in the region that offer a similar price points that actually care how the customers feels