Eric5060592

This course seems straight-forward, but even low-handicappers are tested with shot placement. I enjoy returning to this course year after year.

Course layout is beautiful, exceptional quality every time at Old Kinderhook. The problem that I had this round was the gosh-awful pace of play. And it pains to write this review because I truly love Old Kinderhook.

Played as a single, caught up to group ahead of me on hole 5. On hole 6 tee, one of the guys comes up and says, and I quote, “I’d let you play through, but we are playing with the group ahead of us. Sorry.” I assumed the Marshall would see and say something later on; the waiting was every shot on every hole through 9 green.

Group ahead of me didn’t go straight to 10 tee, so I played through and their “friends” let me play right through on 11 tee.

Thennnn the big delay happened on 15 tee: An 8-some. That’s not an exaggeration as you can see by my attached picture of 16 green. The 8-some didn’t play fast at all, not a single quick thing about this group. Took me over an hour to play 15-18.

Course Marshall? What Course Marshall.....

I used to play this course when I was a student at SIUE years ago. Once I graduated and moved out of state, I was sad to not be able to play the course as often as before.

Well, I was finally able to return for a round and the course didn’t disappoint. It’s exactly as I remember it. Course in good shape and greens roll great! Fairways have some rough patches, but it’s nothing to complain over; just move your ball a yard or so to a good spot.

Greens are usually mowed a little higher, so expect slow greens; reason for this is little moisture received this season. Definitely not a reason to skip a round at CM, though. Great value for money, course always meets expectations.

Walked up, Day seemed to be just like any other time playing Emerald. However, this time wasn’t greeted by any cart attendant, wasn’t directed which cart to place clubs in; this wasn’t much of a problem, I could figure it out. However, after checking in and hopping into a cart to pick up clubs from my car, a loud, barking voice says “would you mind not taking carts from this section?” There were tons of carts out, but I was never instructed where to pull from until being yelled at.

Next was the pace of play. My buddy and I pull up behind 2 threesomes that appeared to know one another. They see our twosome and continue to tee off, which was no problem. The problem was when we would catch up them playing as a 6some, at which point they’d separate into 2 threesomes, only to reconvene further down the track.

There wasn’t a course marshall at any point, nor was there a beverage cart. It was a typical June day in the Midwest, humidity included, and 2 of the water coolers were bone dry.

Overall, it was a decent day, but definitely not the same experience when compared to rounds previously played at Emerald.

I apologize for the negative sounding review, but this was my experience for my most recent round. I’m sure, hopefully, this was just a bad day and isn’t the direction that the course is headed.

As an Edwardsville, IL resident, I have played this course many times over the last few years. The course conditions have gone downhill over that time and I t's terrible to see such a great course go in such a direction! They are in the process of switching grass types for the fairways and I guess it isn't taking too well. Just about every fairway is half grass and half dirt. It pains me to write a poor review for this course, as I used to love playing here when I was a student at SIUE, but I can't justify paying $39 on a weekend to hit my ball off of dirt (sometimes grass). There is a plus side: with the dirt, you get a lot of extra roll.