Raspberry Golf Trail Courses - Condition

[costanza]

I've not played one of their courses this year in good condition. Am I the only one?

 

Raspberry Falls was a disaster today - from tee to green. Bull Run pummeled their tee boxes in the spring.

[jwellefson1]

Old Hickory was god-awful when I played a few weeks ago. Raspberry Falls was bad even before the horrid rain we got. Definitely disappointed in the conditions this year. We are

[GowerND11]

Our 4some got down to the Links at Gettysburg on Saturday. It was definitely very wet on most holes. Casual water even in a few fairways. That said, the course was in very good shape IMO. I will say, the rain the Mid-Atlantic has gotten all year has made it a miserable time to keep courses in shape, so I give some courses a pass this year because of that.

[davep043]

Our 4some got down to the Links at Gettysburg on Saturday. It was definitely very wet on most holes. Casual water even in a few fairways. That said, the course was in very good shape IMO. I will say, the rain the Mid-Atlantic has gotten all year has made it a miserable time to keep courses in shape, so I give some courses a pass this year because of that.

Over the past few months, we've had rainfall totals of something like a foot more than normal. Lots of courses, including many private clubs, have had real problems. Water ponding in fairways has killed significant patches of grass, and made it nearly impossible to mow without damaging low areas. I'm not making excuses for the Raspberry courses, just saying that they're not alone in fighting very difficult conditions.

[3puttchamp]

Played Old Hickory, Augustine, Bull Run and Raspberry in the past month. All are in horrible condition with Augustine being the absolute worst.

[mmckee02]

Most courses in the region have received tons of rain and are soggy, with turf rot in low lying areas, losing sections of greens, etc. I haven't been to any of the Raspberry courses, but many in the area are suffering.

[Dean21]

Just played Bull Run two days ago. All things considered, it's really not in bad shape. Greens were in very good condition. Most of the tee boxes are getting there (I can only remember one that was still totally dead). Fairways weren't bad....there were still a couple that need a lot of work, but most were in decent shape considering the terrible weather we've had. They are just getting beat up due to the extremely wet and soft conditions.

 

You can tell that they are definitely putting some work in to get it back into shape, though. I was hesitant at first, but I'd go back and play it.....no reservations.

[snoilr1]

I played Raspberry Falls in late July. It was in fine shape, except for the bunkers being GIR that day because most were full of water from torrential rain the previous day. Every course in Northern VA has some problems related to the unusual amount of rain we’ve had the second half of the summer. Raspberry Falls isn’t even close to the worst that I’ve seen.

 

I have heard that Augustine is in rough shape from multiple people that have played it, but haven’t played it myself. I’m playing Old Hickory this Saturday.

[shizblam]

I play Penn National and Royal Manchester fairly regularly... considering that they see a ton of play, both facilities are in decent shape. It has been about a month since I played Royal Manchester and 2 months since Penn National.

[snoilr1]

Played Old Hickory yesterday. All bunkers were GIR About half had water in the bottom, and many were washed out. There’s not much they can do about that with the rain from Florence rolling through earlier this week. The grass on most tee boxes was in rough shape, but they were mowed and level, so no problem using them. The greens and fairways were in good shape, except for a few spots here and there.

 

The worst thing I noticed was half a dozen greens looked like the hole had been in the same place for a few days. The surface was getting really torn up around those holes. That’s the one thing that seemed in their control that wasn’t as good as it could have been.

 

It’s perfectly playable, but not in as good shape as Westfields, Raspberry Falls or Laurel Hills. I only payed $60. Not sure if the rate was lowered because of conditions, or if my group got a better rate because we had an 8 man outing.

[Miker20890]

Played bull run yesterday. Actually in good condition and much better than I expected. Had some bad areas on fairways but was never near it all day. Greens were nice also.

[Dean21]

Not a Raspberry Trail course, but if anyone in Nova every plays Twin Lakes, I would hold off on that right now. Played there yesterday and it was not in good shape at all. I played the Lakes course....it wasn't great,, but it was the better of the two. The Oaks is even worse. I'm not sure what's going on. I mean, I know the weather has been less than ideal, but it looks like they aren't even trying to maintain it. I was pissed that I had to pay $60 for a twilight rate when it was in that poor condition.