Ballamor

[LPSISCO]

Great course, poorly managed

I've played most of the AC courses through the years due to multiple vacations in Ocean City or LBI. Back in August we went to Ballamor for the first time and loved the course. Not the friendliest staff, but the course made up for it.

My buddy and I went to AC for the last two days, played 27 at Blue Heron Pines on Thursday and hate a great time. Rangers keep things moving along, very friendly and useful staff. Course is in great shape. Friday we have a 10 AM time at Ballamor - first hole is open when we tee off. By the second tee, we had caught the group ahead of us......uh oh. We proceeded to wait for two ridiculously slow groups ahead of us for the next 17 holes. They were bad golfers who were also slow golfers - a deadly combination. We talked to the ranger twice (second time he said "they're slow, I don't need this aggravation" and drove away), and called the clubhouse twice, to no avail. There were open holes in front of these two groups, but the staff wouldn't force these groups to catch up to the groups ahead by skipping a hole or two. Five hour round that seemed like six hours since we were in carts, waiting on every single shot.

I couldn't leave without going into the Pro Shop to talk to the Pro (I think he was Pro) directly. He said "yea, I heard it was slow, I only have one ranger for 160 golfers, sorry bout that" and looked away. I said "the issue wasn't 160 golfers, it was 2 groups playing much slower than the groups ahead of them, and slowing down everyone else". Response: "they were an outside group from NY, they were slow". HUH?? Who cares if they are an outside group, or if they are from NY - just move them along!!!!

He couldn't have cared less that we had a miserable time, didn't offer anything to ameliorate the damage, no visceral response at all - he just didn't care.

Moral to the story - if you can get the first tee time at Ballamor, go for it. Great course. If you can't get the first tee time, go somewhere where the staff has a clue, and a pulse.