HC45701

When I started the temperature was 60 degrees, sprinkling rain and very windy. It was 20 degrees cooler than the day before, and I wasn't dressed warmly enough for the front 9. By the back 9 it became sunny, but still windy.

I played the yellow tees. The tee boxes were in good shape, well covered with grass, but on several holes there was only one yellow marker and on one hole there were no yellow markers at all.

The fairways were only thinly covered with grass. This led to tight muddy lies and the fairway didn't offer much advantage over the matted-down rough. The lack of coverage may have to do with recent wet weather, but I read reviews saying other courses in the area don't have the same problem. Wispy, muddy fairways always make me think the course isn't draining well and conjure images of underfunded munis. LBV shouldn't be underfunded, given the high greens fees.

The bunkers had very little sand in them; this made getting out of fairway bunkers easy but made greenside bunkers very difficult until I resorted to a chipping stroke. I wonder whether rain has washed the sand out of the bunkers.

I thought the greens were in good condition and the ball rolled smoothly.

The layout is forgettable. It's flat and unimaginative - nothing leaps out as a clever use of terrain and it doesn't seem much earth was moved to make the course more interesting.

LBV is fine for a round of golf if you're at Disney for the parks and want a break, but it's not a course to play for a golf trip.

The course is not long, but the severe elevation changes lead to blind tee shots and, if you're not long off the tee, blind second shots. Many holes have hazards 80-100 yards before the green. If you choose to lay up, and can't see the landing area, then getting a sense from the yardage book of where to aim is critical. Luckily, the yardage book is complimentary, maybe because of the blind shots and also because the carts don't have GPS.
The green complexes are very difficult - severe slopes and fast as lightning. It's critical to keep your ball below the hole, as a long downhill putt risks going off the green. This made front pins more challenging than back pins.
We had cold morning weather that warmed up beautifully. The course was in good fall shape - matted down fairways that gave a lot of tight lies, but well-covered with no big bare spots. No thick rough to speak of, one of the course's main defenses is that there's nothing to stop your ball.
Easy-going staff and frequent visits from the cart girl; overall a challenging course with beautiful surroundings at a good price. Very happy with the experience!

Worthington Manor is a very challenging course for first time players; big elevation changes, extremely fast greens, thick unforgiving rough and lots of blind shots. It charges premium greens fees, which must go into course maintenance because the off-course facilities aren't in keeping with a premium experience. The golf carts are old, dusty and should be replaced or refurbished. The range is cramped; you have to step forward from the mats to be able to sink a tee into the ground to hit driver, which just feels dangerous. The range should probably be renovated, perhaps with low nets to keep balls from rolling into the first hole, or moved to another part of the property if there's space. The cart paths have lots of potholes. So I like the course and want to play it again now that I have some local knowledge, but considering the $110 greens fees, the overall experience feel a bit muni-like.

Kebo is a quirky, hilly course just outside Bar Harbor. It's the only 18-hole course open to the public year-round, and thus charges monopoly pricing ($124 for a Monday morning round). The course conditions don't justify such high rates. It's not just that there are dead patches on the fairways and rough and the course feel overgrown around the edges. I expect luxury conditions if I pay $100 or more for a round of golf - lush fairways, consistent rough and collars, neat tee boxes and decently kept hazards. Kebo just feels much more like a high-end muni. The course has a range consisting of a netted-in area. This would've been fine, but on the day we played a worker was blowing leaves from the hitting area and couldn't be bothered to stop his work and let us warm up before our round. So we left two unhit buckets of balls. Also, many of the greens are severely sloped which, when added to how fast the greens were running, made holding the green impossible on approach shots. It was verging on unfair for no real good reason. There are many reasons to come to Acadia, but golf isn't one of them.