acehopeful

It was a thoroughly enjoyable day playing with three people that I had never met before. The course was in good shape EXCEPT for the tee boxes. They had replaced the tee boxes just a few years ago but apparently have pretty much ignored them the last couple of years. Also, sand in the bunkers was pretty thin in the three bunkers that I managed to get into.

Tartan Pines is one of the nicest golf courses that I've played in the last five years. We were warmly welcomed when checking in and given good directions about where to find the putting green and practice range.
Tees and fairways were in excellent condition. The greens were fast and smooth. Bunkers were filled with soft, fluffy sand and were well groomed. Altogether the course was in fine shape. The ONLY negative thing I could possibly say is that they could use a nice sign around the 10th green directing to #11 tee.
Overall I found the course to be quite playable for just about any level of golfer skill. The back 9 is slighlly more challenging that the front 9.
Be aware that the restaurant is closed on Tuesdays but at least you can still get a hot dog at the bar.

We were warmly welcomed by the Pro and were able to get out without delay. He gave us information about putting green and practice area and directions to the 1st tee.
The fairways and greens were in excellent shape. Some of the tees and many areas in the rough lacked good grass cover. The course layout has enough doglegs to keep things interesting. On some of the tees it was hard to determine where optimum landing areas would be, so we had to drive the cart forward to get a good look. We found the back 9 more difficult than the front 9. Course signs would be very helpful, particularly on the back 9 where directions from green to next tee are needed.

What has happened to course maintenance? Many of the tees have BIG bare spots or covered with weeds. Bunkers have almost NO sand. Some of the greens are bumpy. Rough in many areas have way too many weeds and crabgrass.
This used to be one of the best courses in the Daytona Beach area.

The lack of an irrigation system has drastically affected this golf course. The fairways and tees are brown and grass is very, very thin -- some places completely bare. The greens had been aerated and the green surfaces were covered with sand, so it was impossible to see how the drought has affected the greens.

I had avoided playing this course for over two years because it was in such poor condition (worst in the county). But two friends had played it recently and reported that the course was in decent condition, so when a good "Hot Deal" was offered on GolfNow I felt it was time to check it out again.
Indeed, course maintenance has made some improvements, but there is still a long way to go. The fairways were in good condition, but all the areas beyond the fairways haven't seen much maintenance. Bushes and trees may not have been touched for months. There were way too many bare spots. Bunkers had been groomed but were sorely lacking in sand depth, some with barely a trace of sand. It's not fun bouncing a wedge on hardpan in the bunkers.
Greens have gone from absolutely atrocious to at least minimally acceptable. There are still too many bare spots.
OK, so is it a matter of insufficient budget for course maintenance and too few workers to do the job or inattention by the superintendant and work crew?

LPGA gets plenty of financial support from the community and SHOULD be expected to produce a very pleasant experience when playing there. But my experiences there over the years has been hit and miss. This time it was another miss.
Tees - average
Greens - very good
Fairways - very good
Rough - average
Bunkers - Total disaster (haven't been groomed for weeks and golfers who play there apparently don't know what rakes are for)
Water stations - NON EXISTENT! (This will sooner or later result with someone having a serious health situation)
Half-way house (closed)
Bag men - not around when finished in mid afternoon

The weather has been pretty dry the last couple of months. There are some fairways and tee areas that are showing clears signs of suffering from the drought. Get that irrigation system going!

Another excellent round at a very good golf course. Linked up with a friendly golfer from DeLand and a very nice couple from Ormond Beach and we had a fun time together.
The course is in very good condition. The greens were fast and smooth.

Beautiful day, plenty of wind to challenge each shot, nice layout, great friends to play with. Staff was friendly. Pace of play was pretty good.
The downside was that the fairways just weren't in very good condition. Yes, bermuda grass is only starting to come out of hibernation but that is no excuse for so many bare spots on the fairways. DB North is behind many of the other golf courses in the Daytona Beach area. They need to hire a good agronomist to give them some help.

Cool and damp but light wind, so it wasn't too uncomfortable. The course was in very good condition, play was light, and we were with some great friends so the round was quite enjoyable.
The course is the last designed by renowned architect Donald Ross. Green speed and notable contours make for a solid challenge for scoring. The greens were fast (about 11 on a stimpmeter) and quite smooth. That combination meant that it was important to decide just where to land approach shots to the greens. Yes, there were several places where shots headed to the edges of the classic Ross "inverted saucer" greens would find their way to a necessary chip shot rather than a putt.
Don't forget to try the nice restaurant after your round.

Course conditions were disappointing. Greens were slow and very bumpy. Apparently the golfers who play there regularly don't fix their ball marks.
This is a hilly course with plenty of uphill/downhill/sidehill lies. At least half of the tees were not level. The problem with the layout is that far too many shots were to blind landing zones. Fortunately there was very light play so we just went forward many times to see where we had to make the shots.
To play this course well you need to be familiar with the layout and where to hit the ball. I was able to keep the ball in the fairway most of the time. But the rough was deep enough that my playing partner lost a lot of balls there - again, often a problem with blind shots.
Bunkers had hard and ungroomed sand. Many had puddles
I checked "recommend to a friend" but only on the condition that weather hasn't prevented course maintenance from grooming the bunkers and trimming the rough.
Signs are needed near 17th green directing to the 18th hole. When you follow the cart path to the right of the green you end up in the road with no way to get over to the 18th tee.

Got a chance to play with my son - rare, because we live so far apart. We had a very enjoyable round.
First, we were greeted warmly by the PGA Pro. He went out of the shop to point out where everything was.
Golden Eagle has a very good layout with a nice variety of holes - good elevation changes and chances to hit uphill/downhill/sidehill lies. The rough was trimmed well in spite of recent rains.
Sand in the bunkers was a bit firm and the greens very, very soft from those rains. Of course the soft greens meant that it was easier to get balls to stop quickly.
Pace of play was excellent.

Many years ago I used to play this course frequently - was anxious to try it again. but big disappointment. Maintenance for this course must be minimal to non-existent other than occasionally cutting some grass.
Grasses on the course have become a mixed bag, with more weeds than grass. The greens were in miserable shape. Apparently no one fixes ball marks there, perhaps an indication that the type of "players" that frequent the course have no idea that they are supposed to fix their ball marks or simply don't know how. They are the bumpiest greens that I've played on this year.
There are several holes with branches from tall trees overhanging the fairway that catch good hits and drop the balls off into rough that simply gobbles them up. Trim the trees!!
Goose poop! It was nearly impossible to walk any fairway without stepping in goose poop. Apparently the course manager isn't aware that a piece of strong string or rope placed at waters edge about 1' off the ground will make it impossible for the geese to come ashore to forage. The will go to other lakes and greener pastures. It's a fully humane way to stop goose intrusions.
Pace of play - forget about it. Plan to wait several minutes on every tee. This is another indication that the type of "golfer" playing this course is a beginner or just someone out for a day in the fresh air.
Bunkers - very few; none groomed or raked.

I have played the Jones Course at LPGA many times and enjoyed it as one of the best courses in our county. But this time was sorely disappointing because maintenance is obviously slipping. Weeds are growing everywhere. Nature is having its way with the course with untrimmed brush everywhere, tall cattails or rushes growing along all the lakes and obstructing what used to be beautiful views, and brush and vines intruding along the edges of every hole. Bunkers appear to have not been groomed for weeks. Tee pads have large bare areas. There were many large areas of uncut rough, some with grass or weeds more than a foot tall.
What has happened? Has the maintenance budget been severely cut? Has the Superintendent or GM gone missing?
The pace of play was very good most of the round, mainly because there were few people on the course. Perhaps the word is getting around about the course conditions.

Weather was a bit warm, but getting to play with an old friend was great. The staff was congenial and helpful as they always seem to be. A beverage cart was available out on the course. Play was light, so we made it around in 3 1/2 hours.
The tees, fairways and greens are all in fine shape. Greens especially were smooth with speed about 9.5' to 10.0' today which was a little slower that I've seen them in the past. Fortunately I found the bunkers only twice because they still need some attention. Though they were groomed, the sand depth is still very inconsistent. It's hard to control shot distance when there is barely enough sand in some places to cover the hard bottom. Otherwise this could be one of the best courses in Central Florida. Bring in a few truckloads of good sand and reap the kudos you deserve.

The greens were aerated a month ago but still have deep bumps. They are much in need of being rolled. The greens are relatively small and typical Donald Ross "inverted saucer" design. They have moderate undulations, so with the greens still being bumpy it wasn't easy to score well.
We had a very nice day and grouped with a father/son pair. The son played from the back tees, and though I had played this course many times this was the first that I really noticed how some of those back tees were placed very close to previous greens, so we had to be watchful to avoid being hit. Unfortunately that happened twice. The property isn't all that extensive so it appears that Ross didn't have a lot of latitude to get better separation between greens and tees and still get the desired overall course length.
The weather was near perfect and the pace of play was excellent. So overall we had a great time.

I always enjoy playing this course. The greens were aerated three weeks ago and are coming around. They could use some rolling to smooth out the bumps.
But the bunkers are getting rather thin in sand coverage. Unfortunately I was in a bunker five times today (my bad), and each one of them barely had 1/4" of sand. It's no fun bouncing the club off the hard bottom. Let's get that fixed! This could be the best course in Volusia.

I play this course frequently and it's always enjoyable. The maintenance crew has done a good job overcoming the drought conditions that persisted this Spring and now have the fairways in very good condition. The greens seem to always be fast and smooth.