HOTSPOTTS

1st Chicagoland round of 2024 is in the books for me. I had not ventured to Cinder Ridge since the 2020 season and overjoyed that I did. All kinds of positive improvements in course conditions/playability since then. Shock and awe for this flogger who's played Cinder almost since in opened in 1995. Superintendent is doing it right!!! When things green up this course will be a must play.....good sand in all of the traps and well maintained. Very friendly folks. Even this early in a season that really hasn't started yet I do not hesitate to highly recommend this course. Lot's of fun with good challenge.....and decent greens fees. Make the extra 10 minute drive south past Heritage Bluffs who fail miserably with their sand trap maintenance.....

Go ahead and complain about this course. We play it each year with our Golfvisions players pass book. The clubhouse is big old square shack which has a men's room, women's room, long bar and kitchen. The original clubhouse was torn down years ago. Course is kept in just playable shape. The greens are pretty decent and were rolling ok for us. All other ground is rock hard.....so the course is playing hard and fast to the point where you have to play the front yardage of every green as your distance or if the flag is in front play 10 yards less than the green front. We had a very fun day. The hard fast conditions made for most interesting round where the 5th, 13th and 15th holes became short par 4's that were easily reached by a well placed drive off the tee. The par 5 9th also became reachable in two. With the way to dry conditions grass is sparse on the fairways. The traps haven't been maintained much if at all in several years. I've learned to just putt out of them if I get in one. Tee boxes are marginally ok but have lots of divots in them.

Chapel Hill is always a solid 3 stars - it's usually never that crowded and doesn't chew on your wallet too hard. Just adapt the conditions that are presented. You won't play well if you're complaining about it. There's a mix of long holes (the first 4 holes, 17 and 18) and the rest of the course are pretty much short holes for their par. Big greens and small greens. Once a season is enough for me but I never complain about playing here.

HofE receives a ridiculous amount of play. Had not played here for 6 years plus. Was pretty surprised we were easily able to get a time in the afternoon yesterday after checking their tee sheet several times this season - finding it way too full to the point of overbooking... Weather must have been too hot.....there's pretty much no shade at all on this course so use that sunscreen..

Course was in decent shape...greens were rolling okay however they were littered with old ball marks....and my playing partner had two putts that went off line due to not repaired or poorly repaired. Most approaches to greens are uphill so hit an extra club. In addition the fairways especially around sprinkler heads are so over watered to the point of where there's no consistency in ground conditions.....easy to chunk irons after your last fairway iron the ground was hard as a rock...Traps were also inconsistent with some poorly raked/wet muddy. Tee boxes are pretty ripped up as well.

Good clubhouse, lots of water jugs on course, nurse service, bathrooms with running water at mid-point of both nines (the back nine men's room needs a deep cleaning and air out (smells like a dead elephant) and a good halfway house slightly pricey. Driving range off mats....$7 for a small bucket is rather pricey for mats only. Both starters we interacted with were outstanding.

Recommend for play but if it's windy day you are better off playing elsewhere....as this is fully exposed links type course with almost no trees for shade or wind block.

Course has a great layout but play did slow considerably on the back nine. You need a few rounds under your belt here to enjoy it as greens are very large and there are some blind shots as well as a few fairways that are so sloped towards hazards you can find them only being slightly off line. Recommend if you can find a day without a full tee sheet.

On a weekday morning you should not have to fight to just tee off. Checking in we were told there was a foursome and single in front of us. We get to the tee and have to ask what everyone's tee time is. Yep directly after the single except the single was smart and asked if he could join with the twosome teeing off. Thanks for that but then a two some that was supposed to play with the two some that just teed off showed up 10 MINUTES LATE for their time while we were about to walk on the 1st tee box. And these guys actually expected (and assumed they would play ahead of us.....even though they were very late. For good measure both were terrible golfers - had no idea where to park their cart...pretty much made us wait the entire 18 holes...several holes just dawdling to clear and drive away the front side of most greens. Many times we had to back off tee shots because these two Richards were off searching for balls deep into the woods and one would suddenly appear with no club in hand just walking across the fairway with no cart in sight. Clueless. It took them well over 15 minutes to play the 10th hole. They deserved all that bad Karma - both lost a dozen plus balls. This is not a course for twice a season golfers because of all the water hazards and swamps. Several greens are angled (back to front can be 3 clubs and the angles makes them not very deep especially with front or back flags.. Course was in decent shape but over the years we've never had a round that had a decent pace to it...weekday or weekend and I'm well into double digits rounds played here. We're sick and tired of having to be our own starter.....and no ranger to move play along. Golf on a weekday midday should not take close to 5 hours. 3 stars. If you enjoy a tight test of golf with lots of hazards and challenges to navigate this course is for you.

Unfortunately conditions at Oak Grove continue to deteriorate. It's a great track but the sand traps aren't in good shape and tee boxes are pretty ripped up. Greens are okay but you have to know which ones are hard as a rock lightning fast and which ones aren't. Grass range, nurse service and a decent but deteriorating clubhouse. Overall I really like Oak Grove but for a least a decade now the course conditions continue to get worse. Pace of play is also an issue.....it there are any turtles out there you're screwed because there's no ranger to move them along. Lot of fun holes to play. Heck I finally birdied Anaconda (11th hole). Recommend......good value but golfers need to take of this place. They don't......

Another event by Golf Moose on 7/10. We had a wonderful afternoon. Read my review below...conditions were the same except they are in the process of refurbing sand traps which are like playing out of quicksand right now....Do not pass up Aurora CC if you're invited to play it.

No real surprises at Lake Bluff it's a mundane muni with a few quirky holes. The greens are a bit larger than most but they are seem to be similar...you have to have course knowledge to learn which side of the green to hit to so your ball so it may roll in the proper direction. And it's very rare that your putt doesn't have a decent size break....a straight putt is hard to come by on this course. The grounds crew wasn't in a good mood and a number of flags were placed in areas that definitely slowed play. .

They run out of carts frequently and you can get behind some very slow play. Conditions are fine.....course does drain extremely poorly after any rain. What cracks me up is that there's never a starter - if the first tee is empty recommend you just drive out to the tee box even if your tee time is much later. Prior to anyone else pulling up look at your watch and subtract 5 or 10 minutes if you're asked what time you have. Last two times we've played here we've teed off a 1/2 hour early (both times with packed/full tee sheet) and no one even questioned us.

Lake Bluff has been part of our GolfVisions players pass book for a few years now. For our group it's one and done each season - plenty of other courses with more interest. No real inkling to return again until next year if Lake Bluff continues with Golf Visions. Has a range usually off mats that doesn't allow woods. A solid 3 stars and but major downgrade as there are many holes including several dog leg holes where the trees dictate play - it's kind of like a better maintained White Pines but a tad less tree claustrophobic. In better than average shape recommend except you have to gird for slow play, a possible wait for a cart and the crap shoot of when you should tee off.

Orchard Valley is a very good value - $40 senior during the week and fyi they were charging weekday rates on 7/3 and 7/4......so even a better value this week as most courses charge weekend rates these two days. Course overall is in decent shape - sand traps hit and miss. This place gets a lot of play so you have to overlook the divot laced tee boxes but what you can't overlook is the slow play. We were waiting on almost every shot. The time of the round wasn't bad but upon arrival it was clearly obvious there were a few groups that were not even close to keeping pace.....the tee sheet was packed....went to the range and for a solid 1/2 hour did not see one group make the turn.. Greens are okay but slower than other courses. With the huge rain the day before the course drained very well and it was obvious that people were not used to fixing their ball marks (but they never do!!). Good facilities, range, locker room in basement with decent showers, halfway house is open, roving course nurse and we even saw a ranger for the first time in a long time. Nice patio for post round food/beverage. 3.65 stars recommended.

I had to look up the last time I played Randall Oaks. Hard to believe it was October of 2013.....far too long. The course was almost in impeccable shape....fast smooth slick greens, good tee boxes and traps and nice fairways. Everyone who works there wants you to have a great experience.

It's a challenging routing and it was nice to see scores of trees (many that dictated play) had been cleared out on the back nine - lots of sunshine and good grass now - the Par 5 dogleg left 15th and short par 4 16th are no longer chutes of trees anymore.

Good clubhouse, bar with outdoor patio. Nice range and 3 hole and 4 hole short courses you can play to practice your short game.. The locker room has showers....but they barely work.

All in all Randall gets everything right except it's pricey during the week for most - $64 ($49 senior rate is really good). A main drawback is that is that it's always packed to the gills...can be very difficult to get a decent tee time....and there are a lot of leagues as well.....so play is usually very slow. Count on at least a 4 1/2 hour round or more in most instances. The slope ratings are also way too low....the course is extremely hard and fast and at least half the golfers won't be able to handle the speeds and slopes of the greens....your short game and putter have to be on (almost exacting) to not 3 putt several times.

Highly recommend for play.....it definitely won't take me another 10 years to return to Randall Oaks. Solid 4.25 stars plus.

Our group has played Torch for over 30 years - well prior to them building Sundance in 2005. Torch is a very pretty old school course that has some quirks. $89 weekday is a tad steep for greens that still show aeration marks and frankly are a bit bumpy. Due to the age of the course Torch's greens are much slower than Sundance - pro-tip - using the only practice green near the driving range will definitely screw up your speed all day you play Torch.

Pace of play was average and at best and we had to wait a few times despite teeing off well prior to noon. And a couple of foursomes were blasting their music as loud as possible.....just having a mid-day booze party - they disturbed pretty much everyone behind them on the back nine.

Course is in okay condition but it's not an $89 weekday course.....it's more like $50 or $60 at most. The old original Torch clubhouse with restaurant has been nicely renovated except for the bathrooms. A better making the turn experience than the main newer clubhouse. Greens okay but slow/bumpy, traps hit and miss...fairways tees just okay and rough is patchy. I cannot recommend these two courses as the management is only concerned about booking large drunken groups and squeezing every dollar they can out of anyone that books a round there.

We used to enjoy playing these two A-ga-ming courses - there are plenty of other courses in the area that charge a fairer rate, don't have a bunch of jack-a-lope large groups destroying them and you can play them in well less then 5 hours. Simply put these two courses have lost our longtime business.

I've played Sundance since it opened in 2005. We teed off prior to 11am on a Thursday morning and were charged $109. What a complete ripoff. On an abnormally cold damp/wet morning our round took FIVE HOURS AND FOURTY MINUTES!!! We easily finished as a six-some on 18 and probably should have a played as a six-some the entire back nine. Several in our small group will have had it with A-ga-ming Sundance or Torch and will vote to not play here again next year.

Management has never enforced a pace of play and the with length of our most experience they should be embarrassed and absolutely deserve this scathing review 100pct. In fact I'm here to say I submitted a review a week ago.....and it was never posted (gee I wonder why????) There were 3 foursome ahead of us that morning that screwed every golfer the entire rest of the day that teed off after them.

As far as the course - due to the lack of rain there are several areas of fairways which are extremely wet and over watered. Sand traps are hit and miss....there were a couple that proudly showed their ripped black under liners. They had a "tractor" maintaining the waste area bunkers between the 12th and 14th holes. The result - a huge muddy ridged mess that enabled one of those slow playing foursomes to make the round even longer. They took over 21 MINUTES to play the 14th with absolutely no one in front of them.....(while we stood on the 12th tee the entire time observing them). Greens were in good shape. The fringes and roughs around greens from 2 to 5 yards are a confounding ridiculous mess of 3 different lengths and types of grasses - you're 3 feet off the green and those types of conditions warrant a charge of over $100 on a weekday??? With an extra charge for range balls? Please.

They built a new clubhouse for the two courses a couple of years ago. It's a clunky layout at best...there are steps up everywhere just to get in.....incredibly poor design and just one smelly head in the men's room for two courses? Again ridiculous - beverages are also overpriced.

A-ga-ming's Sundance and Torch courses have lost my longtime annual visits and business. They simply don't care and there are plenty of other courses in the area we can play for far less that are just as an enjoyable and appreciate our business.

We played the Torch course the next day. I also reviewed that last week and that review wasn't posted. I will type up another one.....

I've lost count of how many times I've played Cedar over the years. In fact it's one of my favorite courses to play - Weiskopf designed fabulous fun golf courses didn't he?

It was the weekend but 112 bucks (guest rate of member) is pretty ridiculous....most I think I've ever paid for Cedar since it opened. You get great service and smiles all the way around but for pretty much the entire day we were stacked up on the tee box with the group in front of us. I guess when people are spending that much to play golf (course was packed to the gills) they feel like they can do most anything including play slowly. We had a guy in front of us who threw his club helicopter style at least three times in anger. Both groups in front of us were first timers - the 5th hole is a bottleneck and on the back nine the 12th hole brings pace to a crawl.....so how the heck Golf Advisor ranked Cedar #5 in 2022 for pace of play is beyond me. It's at least a 4.5 plus hour round on weekends.

Range to warm up on which is on the way to the first tee box. Greens were in great shape, traps were just ok and Shanty owners should have them refurbished especially for the amount of coin they now charge. Halfway house is credit card only. You can visit it after #2 and #9. Abnormally dry early season weather has patches of fairwaybrowning out. With the amount of rounds this course gets there are quite a few sand filled divots in the fairways.

Always a solid 4 star plus experience....except it's getting to be a bit too pricey and three are courses just as good nearby that charge far less.Recommend however your wallet will be much lighter.....Cedar isn't a $100 plus experience.....charging that you should expect perfect conditions as well as no pace of play issues..

Booked a last minute hot deal for 34 bucks. A steal and I played 18 in 2 hours and 15 minutes.....yes 215. With the Shanty Creek resort courses packed to the gills this front nine forested back nine parkland was empty on a perfect cool sunny Friday afternoon. Full driving range for warm up, proshop and restauran/bar with a nice outdoor deck. The Farm may be tight in places but is a scenic northern Michigan journey for mostly the local folks in the know. I hadn't played here in 15 years but I know I will return again soon when I'm back in the area. They switched the nines but it works as the first nine is short tight and sporty....the back nine a a few long ones after you've warmed up a bit. A rare par 3 start. Very pleasant yet challenging course with some turtleback and front to back slopes on the greens. For the life of me why play the Shanty courses when this is in good shape and emplty to boot. If shouldn't be and if want to get in an extra round before or after a round aT Shanty you should be able to. RECOMMEND AND PLAY IT!!!

Decided to play last minute and checked Shanty Creek website as I wanted to play Hawk's Eye twilight. Website showec plenty of availability....but when I called from downtown Bellaire to go out as single.....all of sudden there are no openings until almost 4pm?? That seems a bit far fetched....so rather than calling I just drove to The Chief. Was a bit disappointed my last couple of plays a few years back (conditioning was not good and course was deteriorating).

When I arriving the gal in the proshop was super accomodating. I've been playing The Chief off and on since it opened in 2000. The current 10th hole was originally a ridiculously hard Par 5 that they turned into a Par 4 and the course has been rerouted so you return the proshop/restaurant area after the 9th. Current 16th through 18th holes were the original 1, 2 & 3 starting holes. The rerouting was a good thing and there's a lot more scenic driving through thick forest to reach the next tee box. The signs can be tough to follow but if you pay attention you'll have no issues getting around.

Some of the greens have some minor fungus issue but I did not notice impacting my play. Tee boxes and fairways were great....traps generally okay. The course is in the best shape I've seen in at least a decade and all of the improvements eliminating some sand traps and filling in a bit of water hazard on the 5th hole make the course a bit more friendly. The white tees are more than enough (139 slope) for any serious golfer. The Chief has to played a few times to get the hang of it...forced carries and trouble if you get marginally off line. This is course that you must learn to fully appreciate and enjoy....it has several quirks and shots you normally are not face so first timers - just smile when you park a ball in the woods and say to youself- I can't wait to get another crack at this place. I played the 129 slope gold tees and had a very enjoyable round. Other than a couple of lay up tee shots the course is much more playable and you can still swing away in most instances. The yardages are deceptive - elevation changes abound and with certain wind conditions even downhill shots can easily be an extra club or two. There are a number of holes that play really really long uphill - several approaches don't appear to be uphill but are.

Staff could not have been more pleasant....everyone had a smile on their face. Range and practice area to warm up. Awesome outdoor patio and bar as well as a the Pelican's Nest which is wonderful to enjoy a post round dinner or libation. There were several people picking up takeout.

On a weekday afternoon I got around as a single in 3 hours - a perfect sunny day with enough wind to keep things interesting. Solid 4 stars plus plus and I highly recommend .....better than playing at those completely packed Shanty Creek courses...Chief IMHO a much better value.

Surprised no reviews were posted in 2022 for this course. I must have not played it last season? Anyway the pace of play stunk (as usual) when we asked the 4 some ahead of us to move along one of them actually said "There's no where to go" when in fact there were almost TWO WIDE OPEN HOLES IN FRONT OF THEM. The group behind us was a least 2 holes behind as well. It should not take any more than 4 hours to play when you tee off earlier than 10am.....and these Richards managed to draw their round out to 4 1/2 hours plus! Thankfully we had superior on course nurse service from Lisa. She's excellent.

Course itself is an over watered sloppy mess in the fairway....so the ball goes no where when you hit the fairway.....land in the rough and the ball bounces forever right into hazards.. Traps very wet and inconsistent sand conditions throughout - several traps had black liners showing. Tee boxes need renovation. The course is playing unlike any other course in Chicagoland right now. It is not hard and fast.....we were making ball marks and holding greens. Greens had good speed - the flag positions were difficult - many of the greens have smallish shelves in several areas....and if you not on the right level it can get a tad ridiculous....greens undulations slightly over the top/smallish areas to play to and this feature definitely slows play. Decent clubhouse restaurant and the routing itself is interesting and pretty. Recommend but gird for extremely slow play by the many Richards who play here. We've had a lot of bad slow play idiot experiences at Waters Edge over the years. And that trend continues......

Overall Orchard Valley pleases but does have a few faults. One of the very best senior rates - $40 on weekdays. Sand traps are mostly a miss and very few people even rake them.....just too lazy....and the golfing gods will get them for that. Tee boxes really need renovation. You always are trying to find that one place where your feet aren't in a divot. Fairways have lots of divots but not as much as high end Bowes Creek did. Greens are so so......very speedy downhillers.....however observed several playing partners putts take a hop or two. With the drought hard fast conditions.

Restrooms with running water mid-way through each nine. On course nurse service. Entertaining layout to play and it's great to see the halfway house open by the range and full restaurant service in the club house. Good patio for beverages post round. Locker rooms/showers in the basement.

Much of my deduction results from of the preponderance of slow play at this course.....even during the week.....and it's been an issue for many years now. Observing the clientele they are now drawing - pace will get even worse as this season progresses. We were generally waiting on the front nine on every shot.....but then the weather got iffy on the turn and a few groups probably quit.

Recommend but always gird for some very stupid slow players with no care for the course whatsoever.

The conditions at Big Run always are dependent on the weather. They don't have a full blown sprinkler system. Currently there's US Open length rough and it's very difficult to find balls let alone hit out of it. If they cut the rough with the current drought they'd lose it. Same with the green collars and fairways.....and the fairways are already browning out a bit. Hard very fast conditions - greens slow and a tad bumpy.....traps have needed attention for several years now. Quite a few dead trees that should be cut down - and a bunch of others that need trimming. The opening tee shot is too claustrophobic. Nets to warm up and a great old school clubhouse with bar/locker room/showers. I've lost count of how many times I've played Big Run. Our group at a wonderful day and thanks to all of the great folks at Big Run for the hospitality.

Solid 3 stars plus. $45 senior rate during week is decent.....with a bit of rain hopefully the grounds crew will be able to cut the rough down to a playable level as we as getting the speed of the greens up a tad. Others have panned this place and guess what.....I love it, recommend it and always happy to play it. We'll be back later in the season for sure!

Mistwood is a PUBLIC golf course with way too many SELFISH/completely inconsiderate members.

We were truly fortunate to paired up with a PGA Pro who has played a number of Korn Ferry events and his caddie. Both of them awesome - fun to talk with/thoughtful individuals. Great guys. We had a absolutely wonderful joyous afternoon together with lots of laughs.......however it was marred two experiences - one personally for me at the driving range bar and another that our foursome experienced on the 10th and 11th holes. Even when my playing partner and I were enjoying our dinner post round the vibe around us didn't seem really welcoming at all.

To a person the staff are absolutely fabulous and frankly they shouldn't have to put up with about 50pct of you. They shouldn't have to put up with your "entitlement".'....this a public course and sorry.....but you should respect the employees as well as John Q Public patrons just like anybody else at the golf club. Heck were we playing with a very accomplished pro and his caddy who was a very good golfer in his own right.....remember??

At the driving range bar a female "member" was acting like a member....and ordering lunch for her group making the turn. I felt sorry for the bartender. 4 different meat sandwiches with all kinds of modifications. It took over 4 minutes to write down the order.- it was so complicated with no this/add that and of yeah none of that. Ridiculous and now I know why there was slow play later in our round.

On the Par 3 ninth hole the group in front of us was clearing the green when we arrived at the tee box. We played the ninth and did not even stop to get beverages or anything at the turn. We tee off on the 10th hole and we start driving off. All of sudden behind us this guy yells at us and says hey we're only a two-some can we play through? I explain we're right on the group in front of us. We park up at the green....the looking to my left I discovered the group in front had only played nine as 11th hole was clear. I yelled back at the two some who were now in the fairway.....we'll tee off on 11 and let you play through. We all teed off the pro/caddy in the fairway and two of us in the right rough all with good to decent approach shots on the par 4.....and then drove up a tad and got way out of the way so the 2 some could tee off and play through. These two guys (I really should call them jack-a-lopes) took their sweet time teeing off......they then drove right past us - no thank you or even an acknowledgement of our COURTESY. Then it got really ridiculous. One of the guys couldn't find his ball... it was way right and probably OB.......but then the two of them actually spent a full 5 minutes looking for his ball while we're waiting 20 yards behind them!!! The guy who lost his ball finally got around to dropping one took another 2 minutes to get a scope yardage and hit his approach shot.....his playing partner drove over to the left rough where his tee shot was....couldn't locate it initially and then took his sweet time before he even hit his approach shot. Then they did the same thing around the green and putting. A ridiculous rude as heck side show with another 10 minutes of wait. None of us could believe it......I asked the pro - you ever seen anything like this? He was incredulous. When we finished 11 these two jack-a-lopes were barely off the 12th tee.

We ran into the beverage cart at the 13th tee. I asked the gal if these two guys were Mistwood members. Sheepishly she said yes....I could tell even she wasn't too pleased with them. I couldn't hold back my feelings about them.....and I owe her an apology.

These guys then pulled very same stunt to the group in front of us on the Par 3 14th.....begged them to play through and then took there time to the point our foursome ended up stacked on top of their foursome before they even teed off on 14. RIDICULOUS!! The golfing gods should send these guys to golf purgatory. And maybe the management at Mistwood will figure out who these two guys are and REVOKE their memberships. Self entitled complete jack-a-lopes that should not be allowed on any golf course. Want to drive business away? These guys are experts at that.

The course itself was in fine shape - but for some reason the greens seemed a bit sketchy....the pro had several putts that unusually and suddenly veered the opposite direction (large sand particles perhaps?) and the rest of us struggled as well....the greens seem to roll nice but then they don't....tough to explain.....

Top notch restaurant/bar for food/cocktails post round. Full driving range and practice facilities included with your greens fee off mats. The bathroom facilities are really lacking....one extremely smelly head in the driving range building and only two in the locker room. Wall to wall wet carpeting near and around shower area that's pretty gross.

I don't what it is this season but Mistwood joins a growing list that has an extremely poor beer selection to quaff on course. No microbrews or locals were available....what gives?

Mistwood bills itself as a public course providing a private club experience. Yesterday was definitely not the case. 3 stars and ZERO stars for several of your entitled members. Yes they should be called members....you know what I mean..

Anybody who posts a review of Tanna over 3 stars for the rest of the season simply isn't credible. Amenities? NONE. One stinky bathroom in the pro shop is the only place with running water (except for the hose to "clean" carts). Restaurant/Bar areas still closed and locked off - probably to never reopen? TF does not return to the clubhouse until you finish 18. A porta potty at the 9th green and another at the 13th tee. Beverage cart was out (probably only weekends) and we saw it three times.....but the only beer selections are light beer. You read that right....the gal mentioned they also had hot dogs but ask yourself where were they cooked and how long ago? I love old hot dogs and light beer...don't you?

Our cart was pretty messy/sticky and it appeared they were very close to running out of carts. And a good reason for that - might be the incredibly slow play. Our round took 440 and and idiots in front of us took a solid 20 minutes to play the par 4 14th hole....the group in front of them had already driven off to the 15th tee box by the time they even started to tee off on 14. If you're not an accomplished golfer please don't play the blue tees - while the front appears short on the scorecard there's still plenty of trouble. The back nine - that's 3400 yards of multiple forced carries off the tee box. All of the employees were most pleasant....but even if they wanted to they all would admit to a person that there's nothing they can do to improve your experience except to smile. Calling the clubhouse to alert them of slow play - futile -- they have no one to send out to get slow players moving. Everyone behind us needless to say were pretty frustrated....every tee box had a group waiting on it.

No warm up range (Mill Creek range is fairly nearby) and postage stamp with sticks practice green make sure to drive home the point that this course will treat you like crap - as you wait in line to tee off at least you're mildly entertained watching others first swings of the day try to keep their ball dry - yes there is an island green Par 3 start.

The course itself is maintained just enough to be playable.....the sand traps were surprisingly in fair shape - they have filled in a few traps on 5 and 7 and those are nice and weedy. Slow sandpaper greens....and a bit bumpy as well. A ton of tucked flags yesterday - none were remotely in the middle of a green and these pin placements also contributed to the extremely slow play.; Fairways are divot laced hard and fast.....and the first cut, fringes and roughs are ok. The 12th hole is a stupid hackers nightmare of short Par 4 with water everywhere. With the very dry conditions they are also cut down the swamp that crossed the Par 5 13th fairway. So two holes in a row you're still hitting irons off the tee to make sure you have a good fairway lie for your second.

I can't recommend this course anymore. If you send a friend to golf here....they really aren't your friend. Garbage cans were overflowing on almost every hole. Anyone that's in the know brings their own refreshments and snacks. 2.5 stars and I'm being generous only because the layout at least for me is pretty entertaining.

While Bowes is a nice facility however I was very surprised that most greens still had small aeration mark issues. Overall good speed but not as smooth.consistent as other courses played this season. Downgrading a full star because 4 of my drives were right down the middle ended up in divots....that's way way too much and no apologies.....you can't chalk that up to bad luck. Fairways are cut pretty tight but generally are laced with far too numerous sand filled divots....and with the lack of rain so far this season the course is playing hard and fast. First cut and rough are very lush. Traps are in good shape and maintained better than most.

Front nine is way more difficult than the back nine. Front nine suffers as the par 3's are way too similar, same wind direction and you usually hit same club. $7 for a small bucket of maybe 25 balls is a tad steep. Halfway house has a really mediocre at best beer selection - not what you'd expect from a "club" of this caliber. And yes there's some "entitlement" of members as noted in a previous review......for some reason you never do feel really welcome when you play there. While the employees are nice the 4 minute starter talk you get at the first tee seems to be a bit much....and there was a bit of slow play going on.....and it can be a long day if the course is really crowded as the difficulty can be a bit much for the occasional player.

62+ senior rate $55 during the week is a very good value. But it's not that "perfect" 4.9 folks.......recommend -Bowes always has been a solid 4 stars plus....to get a 4.9 rating you absolutely should not have the issues mentioned above.