Ambassador at Hickory Valley Golf Club

We showed up 10 minutes early for our tee time and had to wait behind a rush of people who all checked in at the same time. There was 12 people waiting on the 1st tee at our scheduled tee time. When I approached management in the pro shop I was told they book tee times every 10 minutes, meaning that over an hours' worth of reserved tee times showed up at the same moment in time. I'm not buying that nonsense and these events added over an hour to our round which ended up not being a very enjoyable experience. Additionally when we went to tee off on hole 11 there was no flag anywhere to be found on the green. I grabbed a branch from the woods so the group behind us would have a target to shoot at.

I realize it's early in the season but there's no excuse not to have a starter. Stay away from this course as it is run very poorly.

Easily in the top 3 public courses in Philadelphia area. It's like all of the other great courses but without out any developments surrounding the fairways. It's all farm and forest! If I lived closer I'd play the Presidential every time. You have to use course management to score well here, as you can't just go from hole to hole blasting the ball with a driver. Lots of dog legs, hazards, and tricky greens. The best part is the serenity. Again, no developments or power plants around!

Very good condition and course has some challenges that you will like

This course is my favorite. It's always on good shape, after a rain it's not too soggy and after a few dry days the fairways are still soft, even in the afternoon! The staff is friendly. There's no restaurant though, only a snack bar. The greens are challenging but not too ridiculous and there are enough hazards to make it interesting.

what may appear to be a typical farmland course, is quite a gem. has rolling terrain, water, trees and taco chip greens to present enough trouble and keep you in the fairway..

rare to find a course this time of year that doesn't have leaves everywhere. Hickory Valley does an excellent job of clearing the leaves away. I will be back again to play this course. Only thing that was an annoyance was the mandatory use of cart paths only. It rained most of yesterday so that was expected.

I purchased a GolfNow Deal Caddy offer awhile ago for a foursome on the Presidential course. The offer had since expired, so I called Tuesday to ask what their policy would be for a Saturday round in October. The gentleman answering the phone told me that they would honor the offer provided I played after 11:00AM because it was October, and they were off-season. I brought 3 friends, and when I arrived, they told me it would cost me an additional $25/man to tee off. I explained my previous call, and how I would have easily used this offer later in the afternoon (or not at all) to no avail. Needless to say I was beyond embarrassed in front of the 3 friends I invited BECAUSE of this deal. The 3 staff, let's call them "Moe, Larry, and Curly" finally agreed to 'only' charge me an extra $12/man... which I put entirely on my Visa. I've been in the golf industry for 20 years, and I don't ever remember dealing with this kind of situation. The course was very average, but I was too irritated to notice. The four of us will never be back, and since I play a lot of golf, a lot of people will be hearing this one. Unreal how hiring miserable people can ruin what should have been a nice day.

Let me begin by saying that Hickory Valley is an excellent layout and extremely well maintained. I have played here a number of times over the summer and fall but I can't recommend this course anymore to anyone!

The fact is that pace of play has ground to a halt and there is ZERO monitoring. On several occasions it made no difference to have a starting time or not. And most annoying was the fact that there was a 'Sr League' on the side I played ... a fact that was not disclosed until I had played one hole until I was smack behind it ( and not a nine hole league I might add).

In all cases, it has made no difference whether I played alone or paired up. Watching paint dry would have been preferable. Today was NOT packed at all. The twosome in front of me was SLOW but did let me thru. But they were not the worst of it. The twosome I caught up with routinely hit at least three balls off the tee (none straight or findable). They did ask me if I would like to join them! REALLY? Unfortunately there were about three groups in front of them ... equally inept and SLOW. I finally gave up after nine and tried to find a couple of holes to finish on. So I had to bypass FIVE HOLES to get to the last four. I was so flustered at this point it really didn't matter.
I gave the course a chance one too many times I guess so that's on me ... I should have gone to Gilbertsville, just about a mile away instead of being tortured. I absolutely will in the future. Hickory Valley is now OFF my rotation in this area. I recommend the same to you. A real shame because it's a fine layout!

I play about 20 rounds a year, and I am always looking for a new place to play. I had monday off, so I went on GolfNow on Sunday looking for a new place to play, that wasn't too far and reasonably priced. I found this course, most of the reviews were positive except for pace of play and condition of carts. Well those reviews were spot on. My tee time was 11:20, I rolled up at 10:50 and the place looked pretty busy, I was immediately concerned. I thought for sure playing on a Monday morning it would not be busy, I forgot it was Columbus day. The first thing I noticed was the course, it was beautiful, nice greens, water, bunkers, the place is well taken care of. I walked in to pay, there was no line, I paid after it took them a few mins to find my reservation. Then I told the guy I had never been there before, if he could tell me what to do. He was very rude, told me the starter was outside and he would instruct me, he acted annoyed I asked him a question. The other man there, noticed he was being rude and told me where to get my scorecard, the only thing is he told me to grab the wrong card, they have two courses. So I go out to the starter, show him my ticket, he looks at the sheet and says, "Hmm, why'd they do that?" I can only imagine, either I wasn't listed or they over booked it. He says, take any cart you want, start on 1, I put my stuff in the cart, and it wont go, so I switch carts and this one is put put putting along, TERRIBLE carts You can join those guys or go ahead of them. I went over, introduced myself, they were nice, but they were warming up, so I just went my myself. 1st hole was great, par 4, 400 yds, nice greens. I par the hole, and drive up to hole 2, there are 4 people waiting to tee off, there is a 2-some about 75 yds in, a 4 some right before the green and a 3-some putting. So right off the bat I knew it was bad. Then 3 guys got backed up behind me, we knew it was over booked, so I joined them. It was like this all day, constantly waiting, people getting backed up all over the place. Took us almost 6 hours to finish the round. No ranger ever came out. No cart girls with beverages. The little snack bar at 10 was closed. It's a shame, this is a beautiful course. that doesn't seem to be run correctly. I probably wont go back there.

WHY DON'T YOU TELL PEOPLE WHEN YOU JUST AERATED!!! Drove over an hour for fresh aerated greens that weren't cut or smoothed out. No stars for you!!!!

Played this course because of the good reviews and great golfnow deal. Was pleasantly surprised by the condition and layout of the course. Challenging holes and great greens. Found that there were a few pretty sharp angles dog legs but just requires more precise shots. The pace of play was a little slower than expected or desired. Overall, enjoyed the course and will most likely be back!

This course was in great shape, gives a lot of character. It's far and challenging at the same time!! If it were closer to me I would make it my main course!!

well maintained course, tee box, fair way and green. love to play here again.recommend to golf lovers.

Great day. Snack bar was closed and clubhouse is not easily accessible for food and drinks.

I played a late Saturday afternoon round with good weather. Course wasn't busy and played alone most of the round. It was my second time at the course. I wanted to see if I enjoyed it more knowing the layout better.

Course conditions were average. Nothing to complain about, nor get excited about. The greens were slow and needed locals to do a better job fixing their divots. The sand was nicely raked, an indicator to me whether the club cares for the course and visited the beach twice this day. I've not played here often even though close to my home, mostly because it is a busy course (one of two they have here) and hard to get tee times sometimes.

The course was a good mix of open and woods, straight and dogwoods in both directions. Some required placing shots, others you could let if go. The course isn't very hilly, but does move with the landscape. What's odd for me is that I like holes that vary which this one has, but both times I played I came away feeling ho-hum about the round and I can't put my finger on why.

Staff was friendly and accommodating, and the locals I saw hanging around the club house this visit and my first seemed to really be enjoying themselves. The club house isn't large, but has room to hang out and watch TV or eat some grub. I didn't do either.

So overall it was a nice day of golf. Nice enough course. It doesn't stand out in my mind, but it is a fairly good course overall. Worth trying out.

The course was great at a good price. We did have some very slow people in front of us, but the starter made their way out to the course a couple times to help sped things up.

I played the Ambassador course for the first time. Without local knowledge, I was at a bit of a disadvantage... particularly distances to hazards.

The Ambassador course is not very long, with many if the par 4 holes being in the 330 to 365 yard range. However, with dog legs, there were holes where you could not hit driver. The Ambassador has very few sand traps, but it has creeks and a pond or two so there are hazards. Additionally, there are many tree lined holes.

The course was in beautiful shape. The tees and greens were as good as I've played in the Berks/Montgomery County area. Employees were working on the course, specifically trimming low hanging tree branches on mature oaks.

Although I played as a single, playing time was still 4 hours, from 11 AM to 3 PM. I played the first 2 holes with no one in front, but from then on I had to wait to hit each shot thereafter. I would have enjoyed the round a little more had I played at a faster rate. They must have been busy earlier in the morning. I will say that I noticed senior players hitting from the forward tees.

Paved cart paths were the norm for the length of every hole. Lines were painted on each cart path to denote distance to the green. 90 degree rule was in effect.

The value using Golf Now was very good.

I've probably played both of these courses combined close to 100 times considering I played high school golf here and I have been consistently coming back ever since. I know the courses very well but they still challenge me every time. I have to say this year the courses conditions were the best I've ever played and they really picked it up on the ambassador. I love the front nine on the Presidential and the back of the ambassador, some of my favorite holes in the area. I travel a lot to top notch courses and I always consider these courses to be among my favorites. Thanks for keeping the place beautiful and challenging. MUST PLAY!!!

Having played the Presidential before, we decided to try the Ambassador. This course is in beautiful condition from tee boxes,fairways,traps and greens. It does help to play with someone familiar with the layout because there are some creeks and landing areas that you need to be aware of. I have nothing bad to say about either course at Hickory Valley. Just come out and play.

Very nice conditions. Greens were in excellent shape. First time playing so we (three of 3) didn't know optimum line to hit ball off some of the tees.

One golfer had Hole in One on 5th hole.