dyamane

Played Santee Cooper on our way down to Hilton Head for the 4th of July and decided to try Lake Marion on the way back. Was glad we stopped.

Staff are very welcoming, and the pro shop is WELL stocked with Foot Joys at great prices. I also picked up some Volvik golf balls cheaper than I can buy them on line. Drinks and food, like the greens fees ($30), are all priced fairly.

Unlike its sister course Santee Cooper, this time our cart had a GPS monitor, which was really helpful especially in judging distances to hazards off the tee and on approaches. That said, the greens are very large so it helps to have a rangefinder also because the difference between a front and back pin location can be 10 to 15 yards.

The course was in very good condition in early July. The greens were large and many had quite extreme slopes so putting was a challenge even though the greens rolled true. Tee boxes and fairways were also good. Course had what I would call resort rough - meaning it was only marginally longer than the fairways. Much less water than Santee Cooper.

The course is not extremely difficult, but challenging enough and requiring enough different shots to make for an interesting round.

Pace of play was good. We finished in 4 hours. Only had to wait and only got pushed a couple of times. One group of local ladies had played the back 9 first and were making the turn as we were teeing off on 1, but they just waited for us to tee off and then drove around us and we never saw them again.

I enjoyed both of my rounds in Santee. It's title "America's Value Golf Destination" definitely has more than a grain of truth to it.

My first visit to Hilton Head Island and I was excited to add a trip to Dafuskie Island and a round of golf to the itinerary. It doesn't come cheap -- for my wife and I we paid $90 plus $20 tip for round trip ride on an H20 Sports zodiac ride from Harbour Town, and $128 for 2 greens fees plus ample tips for the one poor soul who was our chauffeur, cart boy, and manned the pro shop by himself. On balance, I would say it was worth it.

Riding a boat to play a round of golf is in itself a unique experience. The course is also routed through some of the most beautiful surroundings I have been in. The carts have GPS monitors built in which help alot. And it is an excellent Jack Nicklaus Signature design. Classic Nicklaus risk/reward decisions have to be made on almost every hole. Take the shorter route on a hole to make birdie a possibility and you also bring danger into the picture. Take the longer route and you are safer but have a much longer approach and could make a bogey anyway. Of course, Melrose also favors someone who can hit towering left to right approach shots - like Nicklaus and unlike myself!

The course itself is a world class layout in municipal course shape. The course is part of a struggling beach resort that is trying to turn itself around, so I don't know how they can do much better with the grounds on 10-20 rounds a day.

I fear that the course is not long for this world. Bloody Point Golf Course on Dafuskie Island was already moth balled for several years. So I am glad I had the chance to play Melrose when I did.

A first class experience from start to finish. Every employee we encountered along the way -- and there were MANY there to help -- was very pleasant and helpful.

The course itself was in very good shape, including some very challenging soft fluffy sand. There were five sets of tees, plus a set of family tees that were for young children, which made the course a fair challenge for players of all abilities. I heard that the course had been "softened" around on and on the green, which is hard to imagine because we found the greens to be very challenging to putt as is. That said, this is not the most difficult Pete Dye course I have seen or played. It is a challenging course for a resort.

One thing I especially liked about Heron Point is the emphasis on playing a round in 4 hours. The starter emphasized this to us and we saw a few rangers along the way who were checking in on our pace of play. And, lo and behold, we finished in 4 hours.

We played on 4th of July weekend so they had an American flag on the stick at the 18th green. I was impressed that they included a stand next to the green to rest the flag stick on so the American flag itself wouldn't touch the ground.

At the end of the round you can pop into the locker room in the club house -- gentlemen, remove your hats -- and have some jelly bellies or other candies provided gratis. Get your car, collect your bags, duke the staff, and start planning your next trip to the course.

End of June round today the course conditions were excellent. Greens were smooth and I never had a bad lie in the fairway.

Lot of dog legs and some water. Had a brand new cart which was nice but no GPS which would have helped. They said the carts were so new they didn't have time to install the GPS, which is a bit bogus to me.

Cart guy walked all the way into the snack bar to thank me for the couple of bucks I left on the cart. Does no one tip the cart guys anymore?

7:15 tee time and had the course to ourselves. Good value on package with Clark's Inn. Would definitely play again.

This is a true championship layout that is not in championship course condition. Not that it is in bad shape on the tees, fairways, and greens. But as you play you can imagine what it must have been like when they played professional events here.

One of the features I like most about this course (especially in this area) is that it was designed to be walked. No quarter mile walks from green to tee, no extreme elevation changes (though the course is hardly flat).

There is alot of sand on this course, but if you play the right tee box and think your way around you can avoid alot of it. At the same time, the biggest liability of the course conditioning is the EXTREMELY uneven condition of the sand - hard, soft, white, red, rocks, smooth. Since the sand traps are one of the biggest features of the course, this is particularly frustrating.

In the condition it is in, I would not pay the "rack rate" to play Tanglewood Championship, but we often find good discounts on Golf Now which make playing here a good value indeed.

Not sure why I don't play Reynolds Park more often. Playing in the early fall the course was in reasonably good shape overall (the fairways were cut a bit long for my taste), and the greens were immaculate. IMMACULATE. True and challenging. Course offers a nice combination of uphill and downhill, long and short, left and right bending holes. There are some greenside bunkers but for the most part the green complexes are open in front (except for a couple of par 3s that you have to carry all the way to the green).

Although the price gap between the riding discount of $25 and whatever walking costs can't be that much, the course is relatively walkable. I'm looking forward to ditching the electric buggy next time.

My wife played here during a golf outing for work and afterward said I would like it. She was right. Even though we have had a lot of rain recently, the course was in good condition. Greens had been sanded as part of fall conditioning, but they were in excellent shape and rolled true.

The course is reasonably challenging with a good mix of hole lengths, fairway and greenside bunkers, and water. But almost every green is open in the front so you don't have forced carries. There are four sets of tees (blue, white, yellow, and red). My wife played the most forward tees and this allowed her not to have forced carries over water off the tee.

Slow play is the worst, so I am happy to report that we teed off at 2:30p on a Wednesday afternoon and finished by 6:00p -- a 3.5 hour round, which is awesome. We caught up to a foursome on the back 9 and when they saw us they picked up their pace of play. Depending on day and time YMMV.

$31 during the week to ride 18, and $23 to walk 18. Course is not flat, but it is walkable if you are in reasonable shape.

Should also note that they have a nice practice putting green AND practice chipping green (rare in my experience), as well as a driving range. We didn't eat but the grill looked nice.

Made a reservation on GolfNow, a hot deal for $11 for 18 holes for my wife and me. 2:30pm on Wednesday. Received a call and email at 10am on Wednesday notifying me that our tee time was canceled because the course had a tournament that day. I called the course to confirm this. Why were all of the GolfNow tee times listed then?

No contact from the course, no offer to honor the rate another time. Will update my review if I ever go to Winding Creek, but for now, having nothing good to say about it.

I am told that some work has been done to improve Long Creek Club recent, but having played there today it has a ways to go. The grass in the fairways and on the tees was very inconsistent, and several of the greens were burnt out. We moved the ball around on a number of fairways to get a decent lie.

Design-wise, the course is interesting, with long and short holes, some dog legs, and sand traps guarding a number of greens. I had to hit almost all of the clubs in my bag during my round. The distance was a good challenge both for me (white tees) and my wife (red tees).

Pace of play was very good. We finished in 4 hours just sort of meandering around.

Unfortunately, with alot of ups and downs and long distances from greens to tee, the course is NOT walkable. The $20 green fee with cart we found on the course's web site made walking a non-issue though.

Outside of golf proper, the course is doing some interesting things to draw interest. The have "foot golf," where people kick a soccer ball down the fairway toward a hole, night golf with illuminated balls, and corn hole tournaments.

I hope the course continues to improve because it is a great location and the layout of the course is pretty nice. But for now there are better options in the Winston-Salem area, for me at least.

I have driven past Heather Hills for years but never thought to stop and play. But with my wife taking up golf recently, the idea of playing an executive course has become more attractive. The Par 3 course at Tanglewood Park is fun, but lacks variety. Heather Hills is an executive course with a few par 4s and a bunch of par 3s that play different lengths. You have to play alot of different clubs to do well on this course.

The course is not in pristine condition, but you can find some grass in most places. This isn't a place for you to perfect your putting stroke on the rough-ish greens, but, hey, you're probably not a pro level putter anyway, are you?

We paid $12 to walk 18 holes, and the course was fairly walkable -- though there were a couple of holes that were very uphill from green to the next tee. But we made it, despite the 90 degree weather.

It was good to learn during our first round that the 9th hole does not take you back to the clubhouse and there is no water on the course, so plan ahead.

We also had a very good hamburger and fries at the clubhouse restaurant, so feel free to eat there before or after your round.

Heather Hills is a good course for kids, beginners, and more experienced golfers who want to work on their shorter clubs and have a good time.

I have played several rounds of golf at Wilshire so know it well. It is a fairly interesting layout that is in fairly good condition and is fairly forgiving. We usually play in the afternoon when the pace of play is good. Weekend greens fees are $31 to ride and $21 to walk - not a bargain by any means, but reasonable.

Course par is 71 and it plays just over 6,000 yards from the back tees, 5,400 yards from the white tees, and 4,318 yards from the red tees. There is also a set of yellow tees (for senior men?) that is not on the scorecard. The red tees are well placed, my wife was able to hit approach shots with similar clubs to my son and I who played the back tees.

The hole lengths vary, so you don't just hit driver off every tee. Water is present on a number of holes also, and the tee marker helpfully indicates the distance from the tee to water when that is a factor. There are three holes that are severely uphill and so quite challenging.

The greens are interesting because they are very firm -- it is hard to get an approach shot to "stick" even with a short iron -- but they roll slow when putting. That said, they roll true so you just have to adjust to that.

The course seems to be a family owned and operated. The club house staff are very friendly. We are looking forward to heading back soon.

Having married someone from Davie County, I am coming to discover the area's hidden gems. Pudding Ridge Golf Course is one of them. I didn't have high expectations driving through the countryside to get to this course, but once I arrived I was impressed. Nice club house, good practice green, a nice chipping green near the first tee to get warmed up.

With water on a number of holes, you have to think your way around this course. Some local knowledge or a rangefinder is helpful on some of the holes. There are downhill holes and uphill holes, doglegs, short and long par 3s. Good variety.

Cost is reasonable, especially with twilight rates, and especially if you walk. It's not an easy walking course -- the distance from the 2nd green to the 3rd tee is looooong -- but my son walks it regularly.

If you want a change of pace from Tanglewood, or something more affordable than Oak Valley or Salem Glen, or an upgrade from Lake Louise, Pudding Ridge will hit the spot.

This is a nice country golf course outside of Mocksville. It has a nice mix of holes, some wide open and some that need more precision, some big flat greens and some smaller undulating ones. Water comes into play on a few holes. People who play here aren't too precious about their golf games so the pace of play is good.

People are friendly and the cost is reasonable. If I lived closer to Mocksville I would play here regularly.

Never heard of this course until it popped up on Golf Now. Got an unbelievable deal for Monday morning, crossed my fingers, and hoped for the best. Was very happy with what I found. The greens were outstanding, immaculate. The bunkers were very good. And for the most part the fairways were good -- though they are clearly battling drought, which is most evident in the 18th fairway, on many of the tee boxes, and on some of the mounded areas. The grounds crew was out working hard, though. And we never had a problem finding a grassy area to hit from in the fairway.

Like many courses in this area, Yadkin CC is routed up and down and around the rolling terrain and through trees. Water comes into play on several holes.

It was a good challenge from the blue tees. The par 3s were long, the par 5s reachable for big hitters, and the par 4s required thoughtful drives and approaches.

The grill was closed on Monday so can't comment on that.

I will be going back for sure. Great value and good fun.