Ambassador at Hickory Valley Golf Club

I've played and reviewed HV many times before. This review is primarily an update on the current conditions. Given the brutally hot July August and even part of September, HV was in excellent shape. The fairways greens and tee boxes are all in great shape. The rough is very good, just a couple of spots here and there that are thin but nothing like other courses in the area. The bunkers tend to be a bit thin in spots. Just adding sand every year doesn't cut it if the bunker has been contaminated. They will need to bite the bullet and re do all the bunkers if they want to resolve the problem but this is very costly and probably not in the budget of a public course that charges such low greens fees. I played with my son on a Sunday and we teed off at 1:45. We played in just about 3 hours and that included some lengthy searches for balls in the deep rough. There was no one on the course in front of us probably because the iggles were on. Great time to play... This is an oldy but goody. Tree lined fairways, well placed bunkers and everything is right in front of you. It's not tricked up in the least. Go Play!

Nice track, always in very good condition. The course is not particularly long, but there are many (!) trees that will disrupt wayward shots. The front nine is harder than the back. Best holes are #2 (narrow driving area, creek bisects the fairway, green guarded by large trees, and #6 (straight par 4, another creek bisects the fairway, small slopey green protected by stream and grass bunker. Trees on 10 makes the approach shot difficult - a chain saw is sorely needed here. A fun track at a very affordable price.

This older course has mature trees lining many holes. Nice feel to it, but requires some distance and shot control. Entire course was well maintained. Greens were a little faster than the average course in the area, but not much. Several sets of tee boxes help the long and short hitters create the challenge level they want.

Hole variety is good. Something I like. Pace of play can be slow as it gets folks who should really play the more basic open courses in the area but seem to think they can handle doglegs with 200 year old oaks.

Club house is always well staffed and folks ready to help.

You won't be able to let it fly on all holes, but can on others. It's worth playing to experience an old course with tree lined fairways.

Booked 9am tee time through Golf now as a single. Showed up at 8:30 to be informed that another single had taken my spot. I mentioned i had a reservation and was told as a single i had no standing at HV on a weekend. My earliest available time was 10:15. I asked for a refund and the starter came in and moved me to the other course with a regular threesome.

Starter was super nice, clerk at desk was a jerk.

Course was great. Play it; just bring a friend.

The course was in great shape considering no rain all summer great job by the super. The leaves are falling early due to drought so finding balls is a challenge if your off the fairways, but overall fine public course.

I liked the course because if your an above average to long driver of the ball you need to take the appropriate line or club selection off the tee to avoid hazards . Just can't grip n rip the driver ; but with that said it will not really punish you on less than perfect shots , it's pretty open. It should be noted that we went during drought conditions here in PA and the course was in great shape.

We played both Ambassador and Presidential.

Ambassador is old style so it is tighter Presidential is a little longer but more forgiving. Both courses are in great condition. But no cart lady/girl. Could not buy a cold drink in this hot day but there was plenty of water stations.

Course was in good shape, but pin placements on some of the holes were on slopes and a little unfair for the average golfer.

It was hard to stop the put within 2 feet around the cup. Having a day on the links is still better than working. Good price thanks to GolfNow deal.

The course is kept in great shape....The Ambassador course can be tough if you are a "ball-sprayer."

Greens are small targets with greens that don't have a flat spot on them. Many of the pins were located on spines or the extreme front or back of the green. 16s pins was fifteen feet off the front edge and three of us putted off the front of the green from fifteen feet above the hole. A bit extreme, on a hole that is beyond narrow and 450 yards up the hill! Greens are smooth and roll well but slopes can be extreme

Pins where on every hump. For weekend play the pins could have been in more score able positions.

Called Tuesday for a Sunday tee time. I had a groupon that couldn't be used until 11. Person on the phone said there was an outing on Sunday starting at 11 but I could play the tee time right before at 1048. I get to the course after a 50 minute drive and they tell me I cannot use it. Uh what?

Not only that, the guy who I am assuming is the manager kept saying how the person who booked it will be paying for my tee time. Golf is an expendable income hobby so I said I didn't want them to do that. It's probably some high school kid who was trying to be accommodating.

Let me be clear: it is not that they didn't honor the groupon. I'm totally understanding of why regulations are in place but 1 telling me I could use it and 2 how they approached the issue when I arrived. They were just flat out huge jerks about it. I don't want some kid in high school who was trying to be nice to pay for a $65 tee time. I asked if I could at least get the 11am rate if I'm going to pay full price. I didn't want someone else paying for my tee time. Nope. They're losing an additional golfer for the day off the tee sheet if I left but they didn't seem to care. It was 12 minutes! I wouldn't be complaining if they didn't already book me earlier in the week.

So I left and played Landis Creek down the road. With so many courses in the area, I will never return. Unbelievable. Worst service at a golf course I have ever received. No wonder you can't even email anyone on the staff through their website.

One of my favorite courses in the area. It offers a challenging but fair layout. The golf course is always in great shape.

Really interesting course with lots of character. Don't let the yardage on the card fool you. It plays much longer than 6300+ yards from the back. A few of the holes are about placement so the shorter length on a few par 4's and one of the shorter par 5's make it actually play more like 7000 yards. Greens were in excellent shape. Quite fast with lots of slope. A couple might be bordering on too sloped. One gripe on design. 16 from the back tees at 484 is far too hard for a public daily fee course and will definitely slow down play in general. A Slight dog right, extremely narrow with giant trees down both sides, and a small intensely sloped green make it too tough for its own good. Apparently it used to be a short par 5, but I think it's totally unreasonable as a 4. The Presidential course started as 9 holes. You can definitely tell. I prefer the front 9 plus hole 10. 11-18 are interesting, but can get a little claustrophobic if your driver isn't sharp. Overall a really nice experience. Staff was very friendly as well.

Played Presidential course and it wasn't our 1st time. Like the layout and the course was well kept. A little too much maybe since it seems over watered. Balls dug into the greens even though there hasn't been any rain. Won't be going back any time soon and 2 of our 4-some don't want to come back at all. mostly because of the pin positions. Played on a Monday morning and was the 1st group to go out so there wasn't any pace of play issues but there were at least 10 greens that had the pins placed on slopes so if you were on the wrong side of the hole you couldn't stop the ball. The course itself is hard but when you add unfair pin placements it doesn't add up to a fun round. 2 of us log a handicap but as per USGA specs. they are not abiding by the rules. Here is an excerpt for those interested:The USGA suggests that at least a 2-foot radius surrounding the hole “should be as nearly level as possible and of uniform grade.” The hole shouldn’t be placed on a steep slope on which a missed putt from above the hole will roll a long distance past the cup. “A player above the hole should be able to stop the ball at the hole,” according to Rule 15-3(iii).

Nice maintenance except only could play 15 holes due to in unannounced league

(Please note that weather caused round to end after just 4 holes, so I am writing a review from a round here a few weeks back)

Very challenging front nine in which you must be able to place the ball to score well. This is NOT A COURSE for beginners. (Which is why pace was slow as a bunch of hacks spent plenty of time losing balls and looking for them) Greens are nice, putt true, and fairways and tees pretty well taken care of too. Back nine is not as tough, but can drive you nuts as still plenty of hazards to avoid.

Also please play the sister course across the street which is a beatiful course called The Presidential.

Nice course and glad they participate in golf now and specials

My wife and I like the course and it was a good pace until the log jam at the 11th hole. We were at least 3 holes behind anyone else then bam. foursomes on the 4 holes in front of us. You would think they would want to get off the course as quickly as possible in that kind of heat. We got tired of waiting and went to the next open hole where we wouldn't hold anyone up.

It is a great course for the money and just wish they would monitor the slow play better.

good course to play but today's pace of play made it horrible. think they was a tournament finishing before we teed off but it took 2 hours and 45 minutes to play the front 9 because of it. I understand tournament play but this was ridiculously too long to play 9 holes. I usually can get through 18 in 4 hours which is normal but almost 3 hours to play 9 holes is u called for. no attention to pace of play. I had to cut out after 14 holes because I'm a father of 3 kids and cannot spend 5-1/2 hours to play 18. noone should have to wait this long to play 18. definitely took the fun out of the day. also had the sprinklers going of most of the round I played. not that good when you are getting ready to putt and you get hit in the back with sprinklers during your backstroke. good course usually. just not today