How do you rate a golf course?

[GregB135]

I have lots of course reviews posted in
Florida League Course Reviews


Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

[DiscipleofPenick]

Layout is by far the most important. Course should be playable and decently challenging without being tricked up. Conditions don't have to be pristine to be an enjoyable course, but well manicured will always add bonus points. Well kept greens are of the utmost importance. Pace of play is a huge impact for me, could be a beautiful course but if it takes 6 hours I'll avoid it. All I expect from a staff is to not ruin a round, so just don't have ignorant starters and rangers.

 

Take Dead Aim

 

 

 

 

[GolfSpy_SHARK]

For me I look at:

1) Bang for your buck. I am not talking a free course where you drop a couple bucks in the jar for your kid to go play some Par 3's ok. I am talking of for $50 weekend rate I can play this course which has a fantastic layout or I can play the $90 course where the fairway and greens are in a little better shape but not that much better kind of way.

2) Sand traps....I cannot stand rocks in a trap....granted I shouldnt be in the trap but guess what part of golf right? There is something to be said for being able to hit out of a nice fluffy trap without worrying about taking a chunk out of your wedge.

3) 2nd cut into the rough. I like a nice transition, when you start getting into hard pan patchy rough, very outputting to me. I am not super picky about fairways and greens I understand their are gonna be patches and for the most part can deal with that stuff but getting into the rough because lets face it not all of us are hitting every fairway lol and its hard concrete, put a fork in me I'm done @B.Boston this is my current opinion on maplegate lol I hope they get back to their old ways soon.

4) Lastly atmosphere. I will play an ok course with a nice starter and friendly beer cart personnel over a really nice course with a bunch of dicks.

[GolfSpy BOS]

For me I look at:
1) Bang for your buck. I am not talking a free course where you drop a couple bucks in the jar for your kid to go play some Par 3's ok. I am talking of for $50 weekend rate I can play this course which has a fantastic layout or I can play the $90 course where the fairway and greens are in a little better shape but not that much better kind of way.
2) Sand traps....I cannot stand rocks in a trap....granted I shouldnt be in the trap but guess what part of golf right? There is something to be said for being able to hit out of a nice fluffy trap without worrying about taking a chunk out of your wedge.
3) 2nd cut into the rough. I like a nice transition, when you start getting into hard pan patchy rough, very outputting to me. I am not super picky about fairways and greens I understand their are gonna be patches and for the most part can deal with that stuff but getting into the rough because lets face it not all of us are hitting every fairway lol and its hard concrete, put a fork in me I'm done [mention=85402]B.Boston[/mention] this is my current opinion on maplegate lol I hope they get back to their old ways soon.
4) Lastly atmosphere. I will play an ok course with a nice starter and friendly beer cart personnel over a really nice course with a bunch of dicks.

Yeah maplegate needs to work on their rough. It’s verrryyy patchy and ends up with a ton of hardpan.

Me + hardpan = not good, not good at all.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[5footslider107]

On 10/9/2019 at 12:49 PM, Mr. 82 said:

Specifically, what's the most important factor in rating a golf course high or low?  Conditions?  Scenery?  Layout? Greens?  Challenge?

In my way of looking at golf courses I look at the layout, and how interesting it is.  Having a scenic backdrop sure as heck doesn't hurt a golf course in my book.  Elevation changes seem to make a course more interesting to me, which is why I guess playing golf in the mountains, versus at home in Florida always gets me more excited when playing golf.

Beyond the layout/elevation/scenery I would definitely say that good greens are a must for any golf course I would rate highly.  You can have great tees and fairways, but if your greens aren't rolling true or good, then why waste my time, right?  And I would even say the opposite is true.  I played a course last night where the tee boxes were pretty worn out, and the fairways were ok, but not great, but their greens were fantastic bent grass, that rolled really true.  Well, I can overcome the poorer conditions on the front end if I know that I'll have a great surface to putt on.

And I guess with any golf course, if it's too easy, then I get bored and lose interest.  I need a track that works me out not only physically, but mentally.  My home course, for example, I am thinking on almost every shot, because I really have to focus to score well.  And if I miss a shot out there I will pay the price.  So any good course will really keep my mind engaged from start to finish.  I played a course last night for the first time, where I had to pull out a GPS map, because on half of the shots I had no idea where I was supposed to hit it.  But the end result was great, because I was definitely engaged for 18 holes.

So what do you like in a golf course, more than anything else, that keeps you coming back?

Absolutely agree that the greens are the first place I start when rating a course! That seems to be a common theme amongst many public courses in my area and I'm glad that at least the head groundskeepers agree with us. Just to add to your post, I think amenities to the course are very important. For example, water coolers around the course or the cart person riding around fairly constantly.  These couple of things will put the cherry on the top for many courses and it shows they care about the little things too!