Paul5069707

Loved this course. Quite a few beautiful views along the course with the white-faced cliff, probably 300+ feet high, emerging from a black pond as the center piece. There are plenty of opportunities to lose golf balls as most holes border cliffs or desert or both, but the course is fair, and generally provides bail out areas for conservative play. I enjoyed the course - found its strategy interesting and its conditioning decent - and feel it’s a fair deal at $99. Was irritated the range closed at 9am on a Tuesday, which seems nonsensical, but 🤷🏻‍♂️.
Overall a great experience! I heard a rumor it’s closing in two years due to a housing development, which I hope is not the case because it’s a unique and gorgeous course. Would be a real shame not to be able to play here when I visit biannually for work, because I certainly intend to make this a regular stop.

It’s a solid course. The bones of it are high quality - this isn’t some decently manicured pasture course, this is a course carved into the land, with wonderful elevation changes, water hazards, bunkering, and overall views. It’s a real golf course. The reason it’s not 5 stars is because the greens are only ok. The conditioning is fine, but their structuring is mediocre, with little creativity or thoughtfulness. Many of them simply run back to front, steeply, with no additional contouring. Additionally, 4 or 5 of the pin placements were silly when I played, set on the steepest slopes in the greens, and the ball would roll back to you if you didn’t hole the putt. That’s unacceptable.
The course could be great, though never long, as the property is too small, but it’s a beautiful plot. If they could put a few million into redoing the greens, it’d be one of the best options in Jersey. Still worth playing, but slightly disappointing as most aspects are excellent, excepting the greens.

Got 12 holes in on a 5:20pm tee time in a 4some on a Thursday. Very fortunate no one was ahead of us. Paid $50, which is a good 9 hole rate. Unfortunately, I feel prices at other times are exorbitant. Conditions are good, routing is good, operation is seemingly run smoothly. Just wish rates were more reasonable.

It was a cold, windy day when I played, and the greens were impressively fast - private club fast, probably rolling around a 10 or 11.
Course is in nice condition, and interesting strategically, but my biggest complaint is I feel it’s overly penal. It’s not the most playable course, and if you’re having an off day, you’ll lose many golf balls. It’s not really an appropriate course for weak golfers. Main reason I think it’s a 4 star course instead of 5. I also wish the driving range could be renovated… it’s really in poor shape.
But all in all, it’s a beautiful course and offers a solid test for the lowish handicap golfer.

I played TPC Louisiana the day before and enjoyed English Turn more. The variety of strategic, penal, and heroic holes, and the balanced order in which they’re placed, make this course a joy to play. The conditioning is decent - nothing to boast about, but certainly good enough. But the star of the show is the design by Nicklaus. Very fun course that requires careful consideration to score well and extremely playable, for all levels of golfer. Highly recommended.

Was expecting green conditions after playing in NJ the past couple weeks on surprisingly healthy grass, but the Bermuda is still dormant here at Cypress and there’s not enough of it to cover the course. Frequent bare spots allot the grounds and few fairways have dense-enough turf to elevate the ball off the underlying hard pan mud. I may be ignorant with my expectations of healthier grass, but the situation was exacerbated by the dozens of lush, green lawns that surround the houses bordering the course.
The course design is fine. Quite a few narrow tee shots, especially on the par 5’s, which elevates the tension. The par 3 17th is an aesthetic, heroic hole. But the best holes in my opinion are the few short par 4’s, which tempt you to play the greedy shot but punish anything other than excellence. Even the mid-short second shot, if one decides to layup conservatively, is interesting due to the tucked, slanted greens.
The greens are in good shape, the driving range is a welcome plus, and the practice putting green in front of the clubhouse is a repeated design choice I approve of. I also appreciated the food offerings in the grill-room. But the conditions are currently disappointing, and the many former sand bunkers that have been filled in, which I believe make the course less interesting, seem to indicate financial issues that makes one worry about the future of the course. With some tender-loving-care, Cypress could be a fun little club. Hopefully the imminent warmth will provide the spark needed to liven up the place enough to quell concerns.

This course is not truly a 4.5 star course. This course should be rated 3.5 stars. The Star system is often deceptive on GolfNow, but especially so in this case, when Southern Pines is ranked just under 4 but is actually a 5+ and Carolina Trace, as a bland, decently conditioned but basic course, should be 3.5 stars. There is no wonderful architecture here and the aesthetic is average. But you can play golf on grassy fairways and impressively well manicured greens. Just don’t expect excitement.

Fun, strategic course in nice shape. The kikuyu grass fairways were a pleasant surprise as it creates ideal lies. Unfortunately, the greens are far too slow for a course of this caliber which costs them a star on this review. Also, the mosquitos were an absolute nuisance. I leave the course with bites on my neck, calves, arms and ankles. About 10 all together.
I believe with some tree removal and bug spraying, this could be a 5 star course.

Have played this course three times and have seen no more than four other groups on the course all three times. This is an invaluable perk as the pace of play has been exceptional, the conditioning just as impressive, and the rates beyond reasonable. Feels like a private club. Truly first rate. Course design is very good, as well. Highly recommended for anyone visiting the area (Iowa City included) and looking for a special experience.

I’m writing this review to help golfers like me... visitors to the state who trust reviews on Golfnow and see 4+ stars for a course and so enthusiastically book a tee time. Well, for the second time in my Golfnow lifetime, I arrived at a course which was ranked 4.2 stars yet nowhere near deserving of its ranking, which once again proves why 5-star ranking systems are flawed.
This course is not a sculpted, completed course. Meaning, there’s no shape or refinement to it. The land is naturally hilly, in the basic sense, but looks as if no dozer was used, ever. And not in a good way. The course looks unfinished and seemingly has been maintained by high-schoolers.
The grass, inundated with weeds and mud spots, has simply been cut to different lengths to define fairways and greens instead of actually being built and designated as such. The bunkers are shallow sand-pools that children would be happy to play in... they look amateurish and serve as no real hazard. No aspect of the course is truly fulfilled in what it is. There’s no defined rough and no separation of grass-type between fairway and not-fairway.
The greens are alright, probably the best aspect of the course. But again, the grass is many different types and it’s obvious weeds are most of those types.
This course has been reviewed by locals or visitors with low expectations, and probably because its not a stuffy course and the staff are friendly, they have a gay old time and rank the course, in their limited experience, highly. It’s a wonderful practice ground for beginners of the game, old-timers (there are many) and non-fussy players who are content to have a field and a hole to smack a ball towards.
But heed my advice, don’t book a tee time here and expect a 4.2 star course. You’ll get a 3 star, backyard course.

Lakewood National is impressive in every aspect and is my favorite public course in all of Sarasota county, and I’ve played them all.
Layout is fun, strategic and beautiful. Course design is perfect for allowing amateurs to have fun but challenging better players from the longer tees. Truly a great course.
Maintanence is impressive. Greens are private-course fast (11.5-12.5 stimp depending on the day) and fairways, bunkers and tees are ideal.
Practice facility is just magnificent. Extremely spacious driving range with short game area attached and multiple putting greens nearby, all directly behind clubhouse for easy access. No ball machines, either. Titleist range balls included in greens fee and stacked at each hitting spot.
The entire operation is run beautifully. Bag handlers at bag drop-off doing their job well; multiple attendants in pro shop so players aren’t waiting in line to check in; multiple starters helping punctuality: one collecting players from driving range and sending them to first tee and one at first tee informing players of course info and when to begin; friendly cart girl coming around multiple times and vigilant ranger keeping pace of play up and patiently speaking to each playing group to inform them of any timing issues. Truly impressive.
Following my round, I went back to the range and hit balls for another hour to fix some issues that came up. No questioning or dirty looks from any employees. Staff seems to take pride in their professional, enthusiastic and respectful nature. Wonderful experience. Please give LN a try, even if seemingly expensive. It’s worth it.

A wonderful course in every respect. Manicured beautifully; strategically built; fun, forgiving but challenging and part of an all-together well run operation. Practice facilities are great, too. Only gripe is back 9 can get slow and today was my second 4 hour 40 min round in a week. I see rangers out there, but I wish they’d be stricter regarding play-time.
All in all, I think it’s the best public course in Sarasota.

Course is decent. Condition, routing and variety is all not bad. I can’t say it’s worth a long drive to visit because I just didn’t find it that interesting.
The bunkers are haphazardly placed and undefined. There’s water on the course but it all looks unnatural and utilitarian. The course needs more definition. I think Fox Hollow has potential to be a good course, but some thought (strategic and artistic) and care need to be put in to it. It needs love. It’s too short not to look beautiful.
At the moment, it’s not comparable to Bally, Neshanic, Architects and Heron.

This is a beautiful course. Easily one of the top in central/northern New Jersey and comparative to other greats like Ballyowen and Architects. Prob top 3. BUT, no ranger available when I played at 3:45 pm on a Monday and it killed the round for me. I played with two other guys who exclaimed that the course 'is always this slow.' That's a shame. I played the front 9 in under 90 minutes, but when I got to 12 I hit a wall. The groups I ran in to had teed off around 2 and ended up playing over a 4 hour and 45 minute round. One of the requirements of being a prestigious course is maintaining pace so that the golfers can stay in rhythm and remain focused for 18 holes. Waiting for 10 minutes on every tee box for the final 6 holes destroyed my focus and my game went down the tubes, as did my playing partners'.
I spoke with an employee who said they only use rangers on Sun and Sat mornings. That can't happen if this course wants to be recognized as a top course. I'd normally say the $52 fee would be a good deal, but if you're waiting on the tees for over a couple minutes then it's not a good deal.
Beautiful course but management needs to sort out pace of play.

My main issue with Golfnow is that there is no way for bookers to distinguish whether courses are basic parkland golf courses or if they're prestigious architect-designed courses based on the current ranking system. I thoroughly read through the Golfnow user ratings to narrow my golf course search and then visit the courses' websites to further investigate their level of quality, but the course websites are deceptive and unreliable. Example: Alhambra is ranked 4 stars by users. They write things like 'greens and fairways in good condition' and 'Fun course! Rough a little thin but nice course.' Funnily enough, Angeles National is also ranked 4 stars, and that makes this ranking system a travesty. Angeles National is in a different universe compared to Alhambra. Alhambra is not a constructed course. It is parkland with one type of grass covering the entire facility that's cut to different lengths to distinguish rough from fairway. There are weeds everywhere and most of the rough is burned out completely. The fairway is not really a fairway as its not constructed to be a fairway, it's just short 'rough.' The greens are by far the best part of the course. They're in decent shape and are watered well. But if you're looking at this 4 star course and deciding between this and Angeles National or Moorpark or Oak/Quarry, like I did, then know that this course is not in the same category as those gems. Golfnow should separate courses like those I mentioned from courses like Alhambra so Golfnow members can understand that this course is decent compared to backyard creations. This is the third time I've shown up to a course ranked above 4 stars and realized it was only ranked that way because golfers who play prestigious courses are far more critical than golfers who enjoy a weekend round at their local 'home' course and so you get true golf course gems ranked worse than grassy meadows with flags stuck in the ground. Alhambra is in the grassy meadow category. Be warned.

I started playing the East course in the rain and immediately felt I was playing a special course. It's a links-like layout and the rain just added to the experience. I love the layout. It has very friendly landing areas for tee shots and then becomes more difficult with approaches to the green, but in general is a friendly course. A few of the greens have burnt out spots and the rough is inconsistent on quite a few holes, but I didn't mind. I actually felt it all contributed to the naturalness of the course.
I found this course exuded lots of character and drew me in with it's cohesiveness. Some courses you become tired of as you get through 14 holes, but I was invested in every shot on this course. Loved it.

First of all, playing a prestigious public golf course should mean that 18 hole rounds as a foursome should not take more than 4 hours and 15 minutes. It's not a 'plus' that a round moves along, it's a requirement. It's unacceptable that a course run by Troon Golf should ever accept enough reservations that it causes a round to take 4:45. It's impossible to remain focused and invested in a round when you're waiting ten minutes on multiple tee boxes. If you book that many golfers then there should be multiple rangers riding around keeping pace of play up. There are no excuses for it, it's just unnacceptable.
The course is pretty and scenic, and maintained well, but the elevation changes and severely sloped greens become tiresome. I would bet they're not USGA regulation. I'm not asking for flat greens, but it's impossible to stop putts near the flag on some holes if you miss the hole, making three putts a given.
All in all, when I've played quick rounds there, it's enjoyable. But delayed rounds of golf are like receiving delivery food late, it ruins the experience.

A notch above most Sarasota courses. I've never played Venice, but the only other courses that I feel come close to University Park are Sarasota National and River Strand.
The setup of the facilities are impressively efficient; the cart path starts at the bag drop where you imediately acquire your cart, then it circles around to the pro shop where you check in. It continues round to the grille and outdoor cafe which stocks tasty pre made sandwiches and drinks, and then it continues to the practice facilities where you can park your cart and access the putting and chipping green, the pitch practice area, the bunker area and the driving range, all of which offers free range balls. The starter shack is also located at the practice area and once you hand in your receipt, the starter will call your name over a loudspeaker when it's your turn to tee off.
The 27 holes are very well maintained and situated. I felt they encompassed me in an atmosphere of golf where I stood on the tee box and felt immersed in the game, separated from the outside world. Many Sarasota courses are narrowly wound through housing complexes that interfere with your focus and encroach on your peripheral awareness. At University, each hole feels complete, a fulfilled idea of the architects intention. I find this course inspiring and encouraging, like it's rooting for you to play your best and score well, unlike Waterlefe, which seems to enjoy ruining your confidence and is villainous. Considering the course's price and its availability to the public, I think it's a gem.
Pace of play isn't incredible and I waited on many holes. I think their Rangers could have been more influential in keeping groups on time, but it's not as much of an issue as it is on other courses in the area. My front 9 did take 2 and 1/2 hours due to a struggling 4some, but after talking to the starter, he sent me to the other 9 hole option for the back paired up with 2 others and it took us only 105 minutes.
All in all, I found the staff highly professional and friendly and as a full experience, considering amenities, practice facilities, course and price, University Park is prestigious.

In 2016, if a public course charges money to allow play, then it's unacceptable not to have a ranger monitoring pace. The round was only $20, which is a deal considering the layout and decent conditions, but shoving groups out one after another and not having someone regulating pace means the round is ruined because you're waiting 5 minutes for every shot. You cannot play a true, fulfilling round of golf if you're waiting on every shot, so essentially, it's not worth $20. What made it worth it for my twosome was that two of the groups ahead of us left after 9 and so we could finally play proper golf with rhythm and focus. Unfortunately it was 6 by then so we only got in 5 more holes before it was too dark to see.
Kingsway will most likely not change their management of daily rounds because the course is packed full of retirees who aren't really on the course for a serious round. They approach their tee times like its social hour and so Kingsway makes money regardless of pace. But if Kingsway wants to be taken seriously as a golfer's course and attract the business of serious golfers, they're going to have to space their tee times better and hire a ranger.

This is a beautiful piece of property that could contain a top 100 course in the country. However, it is not well maintained relative to its potential as a prestigious course.
The greens are maintained well, but the tee boxes, the fairways and the rough are wild. The rough is dried out, weedy and spotted. The tees are mixed; many are overrun with weeds and others are decently clean and lush. The fairway is the greatest disappointment. It is often undefined in relation to the rough; there is little color separation and since both are extremely dry and sparse, there is little advantage in hitting off the fairway compared to the rough. You don't feel the same satisfaction hitting well here as you would on a more maintained course.
The layout is also questionable at times. It's very difficult to know where to hit your shot and you're often punished for hitting what you initially thought were good shots. First hole is a good example.
All in all, playing here is a pleasant experience. The surrounding environment is gorgeous and you'll see a lot of wildlife on the property. I just wish they'd charge a bit more and use the money to upgrade the course.