greggottlieb

Very nice layout. Good staff. Course in pretty good condition. This could be a top, top quality course, but lacks in a few areas. The carts are old and no good, for instance. They charge enough that they can step up the stuff around the golf and it would be top notch.

What a golf course! Elevation changes like you have never seen elevation changes. Stunning views. Tremendously interesting holes.

The terrain causes a few holes to be a bit tricked up. For example, you can hit the middle of the green and your ball can roll 85 yards down the hill into the fairway. (Two holes like this) But for the most part, the design is terrific.

What could they do better: everything else. No GPS. For $200, they should give you a free yardage book You'll need it! The food is mediocre at best. The service wasn't too friendly.

If you like mountain golf, this is outstanding. But I encourage the course management to step up the rest of its game.

I played Buffalo Creek for the first time today. Fantastic.

The layout is interesting, but not punishing. Ok, a few holes were pretty hard.

The conditions were excellent today. Greens are fast, but fair. Greens, fairways and tee boxes in great shape.

Kudos to Buffalo Creek for service. Everyone was friendly -- from bag drop (they met us with carts at the car), check-in, starter, drink cart women, snack bar staff. The management here has instilled a really great attitude with the staff.

I don't think I've ever written a bad review of a golf course due to service. Generally, specific problems are misunderstandings. In this case, however, there's a complete failure on the part of the course -- and one that is not idiosyncratic to an individual.

First, the course is a nice course. High quality. Nicely designed. The right level of challenge for a resort course: it's got some tough spots but isn't overly punishing.

The course was in good shape except for overseeding. But we knew that. The greens were like shag carpet. But that was temporary.

The failure was in the basics of providing a safe environment in the heat. It was 109 degrees. The course had no water. We understood that this is a COVID restriction. The clubhouse told us that a drink cart was available. That was not the case. At the turn, we finally got a chance to get to some form of water. The pro shop guy said "well, there was a cart girl when I got here this morning. I guess she left." When challenged on the safety of having no water in 109 degree heat, he said "well, that's not our issue; the hotel handles the cart girls." You've got to be kidding. I'm not talking about a lack of gin and tonics on the golf course. It was 109 degrees. There was no water. There was no drink cart. AND THEY DIDN'T EVEN TELL US THAT BEFORE WE STARTED. This is a basic failure. It was, in fact, dangerous.

[Note: I sent these comments to the course and asked for a response. They never bothered to reply. So I am posting here.]

My friends and I like the course a lot. But the condition of the course is getting bad. They just haven't done enough to keep up during the hot summer. If they don't get it together quickly, strong ratings for this course will be a thing of the past.

The Schoolmaster course provided an excellent round of golf. The layout is what's most impressive. Undulation through the course, interesting greens, strategic bunkers. It's pretty as well, though only one hole (18) gives a great view of the nearby river.

The course was reasonably challenging, but fair. Conditions were very good.

Will be happy to play again.

This RTJ course is very nice, but doesn't jump out at you as memorable. The course has no bunkers and lots of water. All (or virtually all) of the greens are elevated. This makes every approach shot that misses the green take an unfortunate bounce away from the hole/green. That got tiresome. If you're hitting greens, terrific. If you're just missing, you feel punished. The fairways similarly punish moderately offline shots with caroms into the water. This might be fine if you're good, but if you're mediocre, it can be frustrating.

Service was friendly. They could do better with drink service. There's no stop for a drink at the turn, no water on the course (COVID), and the drink cart was infrequent (2nd hole, 16th hole). Bring your own Gatorade!

Very good layout, with interesting holes. There are a couple places the layout gets wonky. There are two par 4s that wrap around each other early in the round (lots of close calls because slices endanger the players on the other hole). And there is a driveable par 4 sandwiched between two par 3s. The combo here really slows down pace of play, particularly as players wait to drive the par 4 until the hole is entirely cleared. Otherwise, the layout gets good marks.

The conditions were excellent, even after a lot of rain. There's an exception. They've lost the fairway completely on the signature hole. That's a shame.

We played Sunday in 4:45. That's ok.

Staff and amenities were good.

They should fix the call box at the 9th tee to the halfway house.

Have you ever played a course you recognized was a nice course, but just didn't like it? This was the experience for my friend and I. It's nice. It's fairly interesting. It deserves good ratings. But we just didn't like the feel of the course.

An issue: virtually every green is surrounded by hills. That makes for a nice look. But it also makes for constant walking down and then up hills. That's ok on some holes but virtually every hole? It got tiring and tiresome.

My beef with course maintenance was the bunkers. It had been a rainy week and some were flooded or flooded in parts. But not all had standing water. The staff had not touched the bunkers to make them playable. I understand leaving the ones with a lot of standing water. But the ones that were dry should have been dragged/raked to make for playable conditions. The staff just punted and didn't raise a finger to make any of the bunkers playable. That's a big miss for what's supposed to be a top course in the area.

Everything you have read below about poor course conditions is correct. The course is an excellent layout. Management is at fault for simply terrible course conditions. You may ask if we're being too picky. No, not at all. My brother and I play average courses all the time. Yes, the other courses (private) in the area appear pristine. But that's not the comparison at work here. We're comparing to public courses all over the country at about the same price ($90). Tee boxes are often almost bare. Greens are patchy at best. The fairways have major damage, like trucks/carts have driven through in awful conditions. Do you want the icing on the cake? We saw many bunkers with weeds growing in them. That's simply neglect. We still enjoyed our round because the layout is great and the weather was perfect.

The course is very good, but they have not kept up with expected amenities. First, the course. The front nine is beautiful and challenging, with big elevation changes and very interesting holes. The back nine is more forgiving, but still a good layout. Second, the amenities. My group's main complaint is the lack of GPS in the cart. This is 2018 and the course costs over $200 to play. In this day and age, nice courses have quality GPS systems. Rio Secco falls down here -- not having one at all. The clubhouse is fine. The food service on the course is adequate. The woman serving food on the course was very friendly.

This is a very nice layout: interesting holes and well maintained. The clubhouse is terrible, not at all a match for the quality of the course. When I have had pace of play issues, the marshals have done nothing. Today's round (almost 5 hours) was unnecessary -- if only a marshal would have pressured one group.

I enjoy the layout of this course and the facilities. It's definitely a good course in the Dallas area. However, on this visit, the greens were in poor shape -- very bumpy with areas of great distress. This is unacceptable for a $70 round. The course attendant blamed management, saying that the money is going into the clubhouse and not the course.

The layout is fairly interesting. Good bunkers and trees, little water. Not just a bunch of straight holes, but not tricky either.

Well maintained. Greens were in good shape.

Good food choices at the turn (use your mobile to call from the 9th tee box).

Only serious concern is drinking water. There are drinking fountains throughout the course and many have absolutely foul water. We were also unlucky enough to only see the drink cart on #3 and #17. So stock up on water; you won't want to drink what's out there.