Burke Lake Golf Center

The folks at Burke Lake Golf have done a great job in their rebuild. The new driving range is a first class 2 level one. The new club house, practice putting gree and instruction area was a great face-lift. Being an 18 hole Par 3 is not a pitch put one. It is well laid out and challenging.

A small issue is that they flipped the course. The first tee was #10. The issue is in using a Sky Caddy watch. But that is easily corrected.

Go play, walk, of course and then take the steam engine train ride around the park.

Many years ago I used to play this course frequently - was anxious to try it again. but big disappointment. Maintenance for this course must be minimal to non-existent other than occasionally cutting some grass.

Grasses on the course have become a mixed bag, with more weeds than grass. The greens were in miserable shape. Apparently no one fixes ball marks there, perhaps an indication that the type of "players" that frequent the course have no idea that they are supposed to fix their ball marks or simply don't know how. They are the bumpiest greens that I've played on this year.

There are several holes with branches from tall trees overhanging the fairway that catch good hits and drop the balls off into rough that simply gobbles them up. Trim the trees!!

Goose poop! It was nearly impossible to walk any fairway without stepping in goose poop. Apparently the course manager isn't aware that a piece of strong string or rope placed at waters edge about 1' off the ground will make it impossible for the geese to come ashore to forage. The will go to other lakes and greener pastures. It's a fully humane way to stop goose intrusions.

Pace of play - forget about it. Plan to wait several minutes on every tee. This is another indication that the type of "golfer" playing this course is a beginner or just someone out for a day in the fresh air.

Bunkers - very few; none groomed or raked.

The course was in a very good shape some weeks ago, now I have seen slow greens and illness of the grass of parts of the greens. Hope the staff knows how to manage that problem.

Probably due to the recent rain, the biting flies were a nuisance more than any other time I’ve played here. It may help to spray for those, mosquitos and gnats are the summer humidity increases.

Practice short game on course then hit range with drivers

It was perfect for I was looking for, an easy round and short game practice. Very good place.

My friends wanted a course where we could work on our short game. Burke Lake is the perfect course for that. I never pulled out my driver or 3 wood for any shot. Greens rolled well. Fairways in pretty good shape. Overall, a fun par 3.

The manager questioned the age of our 5 year olds after the round. They are almost 6 and normal size so clearly he doesn't know what a 5 year old looks like. His real criticism was about pace of play which would have been fair but calling me a liar about the kids age was out of bounds and rude. This was their first time out and I warned the starter that we had two 5 year olds. If you don't want 5 year old kids on the course then change the rules. We will be back because there aren't a lot of places a kid that young can play and my kids love it. The kids will get better and become more mindful as they get older. That being said we will seek other places in the future as well.

Fun time on first time play. Greens could be smoother, but course layout is easy to follow with limited water and sand challenges. Good topography creates challenging approaches. Will play again.