brucewmitchell

Shanty Bay is a wonderful course at a very good price. It offers a reasonably challenging layout with tough greens. Excellent condition. Staff are always friendly--just a nice, relaxed atmosphere and a small town club feel with no attitude.

Despite the searing heat this summer, the grounds crew have done a great job keeping the greens in good shape as well as the tee boxes and most of the fairways. A few brown patches here and there but you can't fault them for that in this insane heat. Everyone there was really friendly. Pace of play was great. We played a 2nd round we had such a nice time. Good value for money, great service and some of the best views you'll get anywhere!

The course itself was great but it could up its game in overall amenities. For a nearly $100 round, pour a free cup of coffee. Open the halfway house on a busy Sunday. GPS in carts? Have the drinks cart show up more often. Like I said, it got the hard stuff right. The easy "experience" stuff needs attention.

The condition of the course was immaculate, the staff were friendly and helpful. It's very reminiscent of nicer courses in Myrtle Beach in terms of course conditions, topography, services and staff professionalism. We played a wonderful round in the morning and opted for a replay. Unfortunately, there apparently had been a tournament (that we never saw any sign of) that had gone through earlier and there were enormous backups on the back nine even though the course was not crowded. No sign of a superintendent, I guess he was sent home b/c it was a relatively quiet Monday afternoon, but the result was 4 groups piled up on each hole and you can't expect people to leave entirely happy when they're waiting 5-10 minutes to take each shot.

For a course that's close to the city, you never feel crowded at BB. Always enjoy our rounds here. The staff is friendly and efficient and the conditions great, especially considering all the hot, dry weather we've been getting. Pace of play was no problem. didn't wait once. Just a fun day all around. So many golf courses forget that they're in customer service but that doesn't happen at BB.

Pheasant Run runs through forest and has lots of elevation changes, water and interesting hole configurations. It has a nice vibe. The clubhouse is like a cottage which is a really nice touch. They're a bit inconsistent with taking the bags out of the car -- they charge a premium green fee so they should be on it. Beers on cart are also quite overpriced which feels like nickel and diming. They've got some groundskeeping issues -- one temporary green and a few greens pretty patchy. I'd have no quibbles at all at a slightly cheaper rate of about $70. Their rates, even on golfnow ($89) are a bit high -- while the full rate, at over $100, should never be paid.

Fun little course. Any reasonably experiencd golfer needs to play off the blues as it's pretty short. What it lacks in length it makes up for with a lot of narrow fairways that demand precision. Lot of houses around - it's in the middle of a subdivision. But amazing that there's a course in the middle of town at all. Paid abt $50 on golfnow and wouldn't be happy paying much more for this course.

Slowest round of my life -- 5 1/2 hours. Rangers driving around but they seemed to just be friendly old guys and nothing improved. Cart girl was an absolute misery. I don't know what her problem was but at one point she went over a bump and dropped about 20 plastic cups on the ground and she just rolled her eyes and kept driving. Are the players supposed to pick them up for her? Sorry she's having a bad day but hey..

Nice course but not mind-blowing and at that pace of play, I'll never go again. It was a holiday Monday so maybe that affected things but it shouldn't cause a total meltdown. On the plus side, they let you try out a demo driver if you wanted so that was a nice touch and the guys in the pro shop were professional and efficient. But getting-close-to-six-hours to play a round wrecks anything good they try to do.

Like most Kaneff courses, it seems to have a brand identity problem. It wants to be positioned as a upper tier course but it also wants to put through as many golfers as humanly possible. So you have a nice course, lots of nice detail touches like flower beds. But then the tee decks are severely beat up. Lots of slightly cheesy signs urging deals. And we had a group of four in front of us who took, no word of a lie, about 10 minutes to play each of their four shots every time. Groups were backed up for miles and no sign of a course official all day. Drinks cart appeared every ten minutes in the beginning then suddenly disappeared altogether. But it's a nice layout, the fairways and greens were in good condition. The clubhouse is good with a beautiful back patio overlooking the course and the setting sun. They just need to decide who they are -- if they want to be an upper tier course, they need to clean up the ragged edges.