Markglore

The course was in very good condition and a good value for the money would play the course again.

But, the course has three nines that all start from about the same place. We started on the south nine and had good pace of play for our foresome. When we got to our 10th hole, which was the first hole for the north nine, there was a new twosome waiting in the tee and a new threesome halfway down the fairway. The threesome was ridiculously slow, and took a good 20 minutes to play the hole. After the second hole of this nine the twosome quit and we were right behind the slow threesome., waiting a long time for every shot.

The course should not put our groups ahead of a stream of groups playing 18. The slow threesome should have drawn martial attention. An enjoyable first nine turned into an agonizing second nine.

Greens are in wonderful shape for November. Fairways also in excellent shape. This is probably my favorite course in the Salem area. Only issue - and this is no one's fault - is that I have played this course via Golfnow several times, and always go off by myself. This time, there were two fivesomes of members a few holes ahead of me, and I had to jog around from hole to hole.

They are working hard on the course and it shows. Fairways and greens in good condition. Not quite up to the standards of the best courses in the area, but well worth playing. Very nice, brand new electric carts. My only frustration has been the flow of play. I have played four times in the last few weeks using a golf now "hot deal". Three of the times I was the only one who signed up, so they put me out by myself. I prefer to play with other people in general, but all three times I rapidly caught up to groups in front of me. It was then either wait forever, or try to jump ahead and come back later and play the missed holes. This is not the fault of the course, just an observation of mid-week play in Salem.

The first three holes were slow, but tolerable. Then, we got to the par three 4th hole, and there were 3 groups waiting. We waited there at least 20 minutes. Pace of play was very slow the rest of the front 9. Back 9 was better, but still waiting a few minutes every shot. Marshall was driving around, but all he could say was "they put them out too close together". Also, the conditions of the fairways were poor. Looked like about half the overseed took. Overall, we got what we paid for, but won't be back anytime soon.

I was disappointed. Narrow, inconsistent fairways between long scruffy bermuda. When they say cart path they really mean "path". Most of the cart paths are just dirt, and bumpy and rutted at that. For the price paid I was not upset, but this is a low end course. Bright spot: the bar is great.