River/Maple at Fowler's Mill Golf Course

I’ll start with the lack of starter. I showed up at 3:15 for a 3:30 tee time with a hot deal. There was no starter, so I was left up to make my decision of what group to tag along with along with just taking a random cart.

I played here in high school and it was renowned as the nicest course where we would play. At that point in time, it was. It is now spotty at best, which is interesting considering their prices are around $85 for 18. I’m so glad I got it for $30 as a hot deal.

It took 3 hours for our threesome (which was playing well) just to get through the front 9. The course was in rough shape in the fairways with dead grass and many leaves which left finding your ball to be a nightmare. The carts did not have any zip to them whatsoever which was terrible for how hilly the course is. When we made the turn, I switched my cart. I gave up on hole 11 as my cart didn’t have enough power to get up the hill and I decided to just take the loss and move on with my day.

Long story short, this course has fallen from it’s highly touted reputation to be an average course at best. It’s possible they have staffing issues which I understand, but they can’t possibly justify $85 for 18 on a normal day now. Extremely disappointed as I was really looking forward to playing this course again.

This used to be a destination type course. The condition was terrible. With the issues of work force i I’m understanding in some respects. I walked off the course on 13 tee box after 4 hours 45 minutes of play. We did not see a single ranger on the course. No one pushed play. This was easily the most brutal I’ve seen FM ever. The sand traps had little sand and the greens were beaten up pretty badly. All of that I understand. The POP was uncalled for.

Only thing good about the course was it’s fairways. Greens are in horrible shape for a course that charges a premium price of $85 per round on the weekend. Parts of the course are poorly maintained/overgrown. Hole 7 par 3, missing the green just to the left puts you in danger - the ground is infested with a TON hornets nests, which lead into the 8th tee as well. People have raved about this course in the past but it certainly isn’t worth it.

Normally the course is in great shape. Figured it would be on a weekend. Fairways were very good.

Greens were disappointing as they weren’t cut and extremely slow. Not usually the case for this course

But for the $$$ high price , you’d expect greens to be at least cut.

The course has several holes where you can be in the fairway and also blocked out by trees. Not in a normal or strategic layout but in an unfair layout making the course less enjoyable. The rough was also so long and uneven that it took sometimes several minutes to find a ball that was just a few feet off the fairway.

The greens they keep in very nice shape and they are fast but more than half of all bunkers were no more than a bare spot of dirt.

Expecting a great course and one of ohios top public courses, this was a very large letdown. Multiple holes require woods, long, or even mid irons off the tee. The two people that played were a 2 and 12 handicap and scored decently, but neither of us found it to be a course we would like to play. I can’t imagine how slow pace gets when every group has to look for the balls in uncut rough, unmaintained bunkers, all while avoiding stepping in numerous holes and even a couple extremely large bee nests (huge mounds) that they know about but have not treated.

Beautiful course. Was a little expensive, but you definitely get what you pay for here ! A little tricky. Teaches you how to play your shots around hazards if you don't already know.

Played River/Maple early Sunday morning. Course was in decent condition. Love how the streams flow through each hole. It's a stunning course early in the day when there is a little mist in the valley. I had never play Maple before and really enjoyed the course as well. It's more open and less mature than Lake/River. My only criticism was that the bunkers look hard and appeared to have no sand in them. Luckily I didn't find any though.

Only complaint is that the greens weren't rolled or cut that day. Cups looked a few days old. Greens were a little spongy and neede some love. Overall the course is great and I would come back. As far as public golf goes it's tough to beat it.

Course layout has always been great. Greens were perfect, both firm & receptive as usual, but somewhat slower than expected (although they've never been overly fast, just moderately speedy at best). The rough was too tall for a public track this early in the season on a non-tournament day. If the course had been crowded pace-of-play would've slowed to a crawl with everyone looking for balls buried in the 3"-5" rough. EVERY bunker on the course was either mud or dirt...no sand, or rakes, or any sign of maintenance for quite some time....possibly dating back to the previous season or two. Hopefully these issues are the result of short-term / early-season staffing issues and not a sign of general, on-going decline. We'll find out the next time we play here in a few weeks...

Just needs attention, nice track, but really needs maintenance. And no starter or ranger help in moving golfers along. Far drive for not exceptional experience.

This course is gorgeous, especially if your an individual such as myself whom enjoys golfing in mid-late October. Holes 4, 5, 17, & 18 feature some of the most beautiful scenery you will ever see.

Downside, the individual at the front desk isn’t exactly the friendliest person on the planet. Asking the individual a question is as tedious as pulling teeth and don’t even wast your time asking about the maple course because you won’t even get a response.

Other than that this course is worth every penny. Happy golfing!