jeffinMDR

I looked at a ton of different courses in the Atlanta area as I was driving back from Augusta, and I saw Echelon on most of the "10 Best Courses in Atlanta" and I was staying north of town a bit in Duluth, so it worked! Even though I was teeing off in twilight around 4:10pm, and I arrived around 3:30pm, there were still staff out front working the carts and helping with golf bags, so this was very nice to see and a great first impression! Checking in was smooth and painless and the gentleman behind the counter was full of great guidance and directions around the course, which was very nice to see! The course does have a HUGE practice range, but all of the targets are well below grade, and there are no signs for distance or anything like that as the teeing areas surround the range, so it might be tough to manage anyways, but it was a strange but huge practice area! The course was starting to green up, but there was still a significant amount of brown / dormant grass - but I imagine the course will be amazingly beautiful when it greens up! As many people mentioned in their reviews, it is hilly - VERY HILLY - so you cannot walk this course. The course has 5 different tee boxes so there is something for everyone here - but it's a challenge no matter what. The only thing that I would love to see is REAL bathrooms on the course of this caliber. Porta-potties behind some lattice fences is not enough for this type of course! I would love to see this improvement, but I definitely would recommend the course at $75, and probably up to maybe $125!

I would definitely call Spencer T. Olin a must-play course in the greater St. Louis area, especially for those on a budget! One of the few Arnold Palmer designed courses in the area (if the only one!), and it does not disappoint! It's not country club conditions, but it's in great shape for a muni, and the layout is creative and unique and a challenge around every turn! No GPS on the carts, but bring your favorite phone app and your rangefinder and you'll be fine! The staff in the Pro Shop and the Cafe were very friendly and accommodating! Looking forward to my next round here!

My girlfriend and I played Red Tiger on a Saturday afternoon, and the starter offered us the ability to jump ahead of two foursomes, so we jumped at that! We played the front 9 in just over an hour, and enjoyed it! Finally caught up to a twosome ahead of us, and they were slowed by a threesome ahead of them - but overall, we finished in about 3 hours, which was great. The course was in great shape, although they had some rain in the previous couple days. We tried to avoid some of the lower, wet areas - although I was disappointed to see that some of the golfers ahead of us had not - and tore up some of the well-groomed turf. Sad to see! The rest of the course was in great shape, the flowers and trees were well landscaped and it was a great round other than the humidity and the "slower" back 9. Highly recommend.

I played the course at twilight on Sunday under a Hot Deal via Golf Now for $17 for both myself and girlfriend. There was a wedding going on, and I think they were trying to keep the greens a bit open for the reception, and were actually placing people strategically at various holes. I had actually never seen this where people were teeing off at Hole 5, so it was a bit weird. Overall, I hadn't played the course in 15 years, when it was newer and a higher value course, so I was pretty disappointed in how far the course has fallen. The twosome that we were paired with informed us that new owners had taken over, and were putting a lot of effort into improving things, so I hope that things will improve! Overall, it was great for $17, but I don't plan to pay much more to play there again unless it improves. I would love to see another great course in the Ventura County area, so I hope it does!

Always love playing TPC Harding Park - but hate the cart path only rules that keep the course in such great shape. Double-edged sword there! It might be one of those situations where it seemed it was faster to walk the course than to ride it - but all depends on your viewpoint. You tend to almost plan your shot making so that your shots are near the cart path! Course was in great shape and can't wait to go back!

Had a very enjoyable twilight around out at Moorpark Country Club! The two 9s we played were challenging yet fair, with very few gimmicky shots. The greens rolled fairly true, but were so soft that they did carry residual spike and shoe marks from earlier in the day, which did impact the roll. That was really the only issue I had out there! I guess I might have been disappointed in some of the golfers ahead of me who failed to fix their ball marks on those soft greens. Disappointing from a largely member-played club. Many thanks for the starter/range minder from Camarillo (Marlon?), who was very kind and polite, and seemed to be enjoying his retirement job!

Enjoyed a 3:30pm start on a February afternoon, with sunset at 6:30pm and got in 17 holes, skipping one of the holes to be able to close out the course's signature holes near the end. I played the previous weekend (not through GolfNow) and the course seemed to be in better condition - and when I returned, all of the tee boxes had been punched, and it seemed to have a rough week of wear - however - a gorgeous, challenging course that sees very little play and they do a great job of maintaining it! The full rack rate may be a bit steep, but what do you expect on a course on the St. Regis resort property. You pay for the exclusivity behind the guarded gates and the ocean front location. Looking forward to playing again and comparing it to Dorado East - which I have yet to play, but is considered a challenger for "best course on the island".

As I placed by "stars" in the section above, I realized that there isn't one unique thing about Wente that blows me away - it's the combination of things, including the patio overlooking 18, and knowing that I'm going to have a great dinner at the restaurant there at the vineyard after a round. The rolling hills backdrop is always spectacular, and the layout of the course is always challenging, no matter which way the winds are blowing!

I would love to see the course condition improve a bit, but overall - I'd recommend this course to anyone looking for a beautiful challenge and a fun overall "experience".

We played Oak Creek for the first time this past Sunday afternoon. It was a cool day with the chance of rain, which I think kept some folks away, but it felt like we had the course to ourselves! The course layout, trees and overall condition made it feel like a country club experience for the public. It was a great place that I can't wait to play again!

In addition, the pro shop was great and the practice area among the largest I've seen in the area. I can't wait to go back!

-Jeff

Since moving away from Thousand Oaks a few years back, I haven't had the opportunity to play Robles much. The new pro shop and restaurant turned out nice, however I was shocked to hear that rental clubs at a muni course cost $45? I did see that they were Callaway RAZR X clubs, but it doesn't seem to align with the overall course clientele and price tiers - by purely my opinion. Maybe offer a 'regular" rental and a "premium" rental to serve a broader audience? That was going to cost more than our twilight round! Something did not seem right there, but we ended up finding some clubs to use. My biggest grief of the day was that when we arrived, the pro shop team told us we should move pretty quickly, at 2:15 per 9... only to find out there were two tournaments ahead of us and we finished the first nine in 2:40. It was a long round, got about 13 holes in.

I moved to California in 2001, but always love to come back to St. Louis to visit family, and to play the Missouri Bluffs golf course. It's one of the most balanced and beautiful courses in the area. GolfNow offers a great discount to the call-up rate and it served me well for this round. During a call to the course, I did ask them about any relaxed dress code rules for the winter, and was told that there was no change, and that denim was not allowed. I had not prepared for this when packing, and went out to the local Nike store to buy some clothes and informed the others in my party. When we arrived at the course, there were multiple people allowed on the course wearing denim and without collars. In addition, our two riding carts, as well as many others I saw were missing the simple GPS sensors that the Bluffs provides... but still hard to beat for $27/person for twilight.

I had played the Wolf course, but found a special "Buy it Now" twilight rate for $30 for the Sun course and couldn't pass it up. Found another 15% internet coupon and you're at $27 for a great course! Due to the tight-ish fairway and desert surroundings, play can be a little slow due to excessive ball searching, but overall the pace of play could be improved - otherwise a great experience! Thank you Paiute and GolfNow!