Any reviews of Center Square Golf Course in Skippack, PA?

[Big D McGee]

I'm playing Center Square this saturday at 1:30, more by "default" than necessarily by choice. See, I'm working from 6a to 1p, and CS is literally 5 minutes from work. I needed to play a course as close as possible, since I really need to be home by 6 or so.

 

Anyway, Center Square has been on my list for awhile, so I'm glad I'll get to play there tomorrow. But it's hard to find a review other than "wide-open" or "nice track". I see that it's pretty short from the whites, I'll probably play from the blues.

 

Anyone played this course? Can you give me a decent review? Anything I should be aware of as far as hazards, pace of play, etc.?

 

Thanks!

[Big D McGee]

Played here today for the first (and surely last) time. Easily the most overpriced course I've ever played. For $60, you get chewed-up tee boxes, burnt-out fairways, and greens with ball marks and goose poop (ok, only 18th green had goose $hit on it). Oh, and pretty much every green is mowed differently, and thus a different speed. Hole #1 was lightning quick, I'd say around 12 on the stimpmeter, so I baby my putt on #2 to find it's maybe an 8. Yikes. Oh, and another thing: I expect uneven lies from the fairway from time to time, but on the tee box?? The 13th or 14th hole had tee markers that force you to tee the ball up above your feet. Good luck hitting it straight! Oh, and the buzzing power lines on 4 or 5 holes are a nice touch, too. The ONLY thing good about this course is that pace of play at 1:30 on a Saturday was 4 hours. Well, that and I saw a HAWT Asian girl warming up on the putting green as I was leaving.

 

Unless you're desperate, stay away from Center Square. The staff is friendly enough, but the course is uninteresting (too many blind tee shots), and in poor condition relative to the price. Turtle Creek, Jeffersonville, even Paxon Hollow are all better places to spend your money.

[Big D McGee]

Will do. Which courses do you usually play? My "home" course is Jeffersonville, 'cause for $25 to walk on weekdays, it's a steal. Also fond of Turtle Creek and Bella Vista, though I need to fix my poor tee game before I tackle either one of those courses again.

[brettcra]

I agree totally with your assessment of Center Square. It's way overpriced for a course of that condition. But for some reason my wife likes it. I play Jeffersonville every week in a golf league. It's always in good shape, but it gets kind of boring after a while. And the starter can be a real pain sometimes. As for Turtle Creek, it's a nice course but I'll never play there again. The people that run that course are the biggest jerks I've ever met on a golf course.

[Big D McGee]

^^I've never really interacted with anyone but the starter and the guy in the proshop at Turtle Creek. But I've found them to be nice enough. In fact, they were running a promotion for a free 15-pack of balls, and I forgot the coupon...and the guy pulled out an extra and gave it to me anyway.

 

I will say that the one ranger does like to come upon your group as you're teeing off...and just stare at you. I'm always wondering, if I duff the ball, will he deem me unworthy to play? LOL.

[brettcra]

Last time I played Turtle Creek I had a 2:52 tee time, which was the last tee time before twilight rates started at 3:00. I went to pay and noticed that there were a few groups waiting on the first tee. I asked if it was backed up and the guy said there was an outing but it shouldn't be more than 10 minutes behind. At 3:20 we were still waiting so I went back inside and asked if we could get a partial refund down to the twilight rate since twilight started at 3:00. I was told no. Okay so we finally teed off around 3:30. Well of course the outing moved so slowly that it was almost 6:30 when we came off the front nine, and I complained again that I shouldn't have had to pay full price when I teed off after twilight began, especially now that it was obvious that we wouldn't even be able to complete our round before it got dark. The guy inside got the owner to talk to us, and I explained that we paid full price but didn't get to tee off until 3:30, and now we weren't going to be able to finish, etc. She goes and looks at the starters sheet, comes back and says that the sheet said we teed off at 3:25, as if my 5 minute discrepancy somehow negated any wrongdoing on their part. Sorry I wasn't looking at my watch when we teed off, but she literally told us we teed off at 3:35 and then stood there staring at us as if she was waiting for us to apologize. We all looked at each other in amazement and told her never mind, that she just didn't get it. She then offered us half our money back if we left right then. We told her to forget it, we'd just play as much as we could before dark. I was really polite and stayed calm throughout, but this lady knows nothing about customer service. She got my money that time, but she'll never get another dime out of me.

 

Since I ranted so long, I'm going to give an example of how things can be done right. I played Cape May National on weekend. When we got there they didn't have our tee time in the books. They apologized and got us out 20 minutes later. We weren't even mad, we understand things happen sometimes. On the 3rd or 4th hole, someone from the pro shop rode out to us and gave each of us a $25 voucher for our next round. That's customer service.

[Big D McGee]

^^I've never interacted with the owner, but I do remember the pro shop guy telling me I showed up just in time, 'cause "She just left, the owner". If she were around, he wouldn't have been able to give me the free balls...even though they had stacks and stacks of 'em.

 

We also had to wait, but it was only 10 minutes, it wasn't so bad. Honestly, if I had to wait more than 15 minutes when I had set up a tee time, I'd demand a refund. No way would I wait 40-odd minutes. Good luck getting me out of the proshop without refunding my money!

 

That sucks you had a bad experience there. Truth be told, I won't play there on the weekends, it's just ridiculous (5.5 hour rounds are the norm).

 

Cape May National is public? How is it? Challenging for a 15-handicapper?

[Grimace45]

Sorry I didn't see this sooner. I would have said something. Feel free to pm me next time. Maybe I can help. ^^

 

 

Same here. PM if you ever need course reviews in the Philly area. I have played most of the public courses and if I have not I am sure I have a buddy that has.

[brettcra]

Yes, Cape May National is public. I like that course a lot. I know some people who don't like it, but that's mainly because it has a small clubhouse, and it has a lot of envionmentally protected areas, it basically doesn't have all of the bells and whistles of some other courses. But it's definitely not too difficult for a 15 handicapper.

 

Shoregate is another nice course in that area. I've played most of the public courses in that area, so if you have any questions just let me know.

[Big D McGee]

Yes, Cape May National is public. I like that course a lot. I know some people who don't like it, but that's mainly because it has a small clubhouse, and it has a lot of envionmentally protected areas, it basically doesn't have all of the bells and whistles of some other courses. But it's definitely not too difficult for a 15 handicapper.

 

Shoregate is another nice course in that area. I've played most of the public courses in that area, so if you have any questions just let me know.

 

I'll definitely try Cape May National, then. My must-plays "downashore" are: Twisted Dune, Scotland Run (not technically down the shore, but in Gloucester County), McCullough's Emerald (second time), and of course Atlantic City Country Club.

 

Played any of those?

[Grimace45]

Yes, Cape May National is public. I like that course a lot. I know some people who don't like it, but that's mainly because it has a small clubhouse, and it has a lot of envionmentally protected areas, it basically doesn't have all of the bells and whistles of some other courses. But it's definitely not too difficult for a 15 handicapper.

 

Shoregate is another nice course in that area. I've played most of the public courses in that area, so if you have any questions just let me know.

 

I'll definitely try Cape May National, then. My must-plays "downashore" are: Twisted Dune, Scotland Run (not technically down the shore, but in Gloucester County), McCullough's Emerald (second time), and of course Atlantic City Country Club.

 

Played any of those?

 

Twisted Dune is a nice links style course with not a tree over three feet tall on the entire course. Me and my college buddies play a Ryder Cup style match there every September. The staff is also very nice to deal with.

 

McCullough's is a good track from what I remember. Only played it once about a year and half ago.

 

AC Country Club is a must play if you can get a comp as it is really pricey (I think around $160 on weekends) to play. The club is now tied into Harrah's Resorts and well worth the time to play. Marriott Seaview Bay Course is a poor man's ACCC if you are looking for a cheaper alternative.

 

Other good tracks in S. Jersey are Sand Barrens and Avalon GC in the Cape May/Wildwood area. Seaview, Blue Herron Pines and Gallaway National in the AC area are all nice places as well.

[brettcra]

I haven't played AC Country Club, but I've heard great things. Here is my ranking of the shore courses:

 

1. ShoreGate: When it's in good shape, it's my favorite. However, there are times when they seem to let it go. Or maybe they just don't have a good sprinkler system.

 

2. Sand Barrens: Great course and it has 27 holes which helps move things along.

 

3. MacCullough's: Most underrated course at the shore. I love the layout and the price is the best.

 

4. Cape May National: See previous post.

 

5. Twisted Dune: Course is good, but SLOW. 5 1/2 hour round last time I played there. At the end of the round one of the kids that work there told me they start taking tee times at 6:00 even though sunrise was 6:20, so it was backed up 3 groups before they even started.

 

6. Brigantine Beach: Nothing special, but I shot my lowest score there (79). However, a lot of the tee boxes were moved up I think. I know I hit into 2 par 5's with an iron on my 2nd shot, including a PW on 18.

 

7. Harbor Pines: It's just okay. Nothing memorable about it.

 

8. Avalon: Nothing special, but worse now since they built all of the homes.

 

9. Seaview Pines: I've played it twice and been thoroughly unimpressed both times. It's the most expensive and the worst maintained. I've never played the Bay course.

 

Next on my list is the course at the Renault Winery

 

I've played Scotland Run but I don't consider it a shore course. I thought it was good, but not worth all of the hype it gets. Didn't help that I had a bad round.

 

Another good course a little ways from the shore is Buena Vista. Much cheaper, and a difficult layout.

[Grimace45]

I am heading to Renault to play in two weeks and I will let you know what I think of it. I have a few friends that have played it and said it was just a fantastic layout. The key to Twisted Dune is playing it on off times in April or September,

[brettcra]

Yes, let me know what you think of Renault. I'm going to try to play it in the fall.