Golden Oaks Golf Club

Third time playing here. Teed off in a foursome at noon on Thursday, Oct. 28th.

I caddied my way through college at Aronimink, just outside of Philly, which is on most lists of top 100 courses in the US. Golden Oaks reminds me of Aronimink. The course is majestic and grand. Fairways are tree lined but super-wide. The greens are a hellish nightmare of speed and slope, but the greens are perfect. Putts roll out forever. It means absolutely nothing to be on a green in regulation because three putting is always on your mind. You want to play conservative and aim for the middle of the green but that is a recipe for a putting meltdown. The alternative is to aim at the flag and risk shortsiding yourself where an up and down is 100% impossible.

Golden Oaks has the best pitstop cheeseburgers anywhere. They are made by the restaurant chef in the morning, internally seasoned to perfection, and large. I've found myself playing other courses dreaming about Golden Oaks burgers at the turn.

Like Aronimink, the clubhouse veranda overlooks the first tee, and the 9th and 18th greens, so even after you're done your own round you get to live and die again, watching, three screens of live action.

The tree of us paid $25 each for a Hotdeal. The dreamburgers are $5. You'd be crazy not to play Golden Oaks.

I was told this was a very good course, and was not disappointed. The course conditions were excellent, and it was a great deal when using Golf Now.

Would be nice if there were more sand in the bunkers

Course conditions were good to very good, even after a couple days of rain. Pace of play was good, finished in roughly 3:40 and only waited a couple times - longish rough that made finding balls challenging was the primary cause of any slowdowns.

Greens were deceptively fast and only got faster as it warmed up and dried out. Subtle breaks on many greens, given their speed anything above the whole was tough - our threesome totaled 5 putts that ended up off the green! Don't get me wrong - they are VERY fair and roll true, just faster than most in the area.

Definitely recommended, good value at normal price, excellent if can get a discounted tee time.

Like the course and it's on my foursome's list to play often. But they stopped their Brandywine Trail Program without warning players in the program. So we show up and are then told the benefit is not available. Thus due to management the course has lost value and we will no longer play unless it's the last course on our list with available tee times.

The course was in excellent condition, best/fastest greens I’ve played on inyears just the best bang for your buck Worth the drive

Played 36 holes with my sons. Teed off early and played in a leisurely 3:45. Could’ve played quicker as there were only twosomes in front of us that were a couple of holes ahead of us. Second round we teed off about 12:30 and played in just over 4 hours. We waited on a few shots but nothing to complain about for an afternoon tee time. The staff here is very friendly from the pro shop to the starter to the bar tender. We had lunch in between rounds. Food was pretty good and they have an excellent assortment of beers on tap. We also stopped in for a post round beer. Bar area is nice with great views up the 18th hole. I’d highly recommend a post round libation. The course is in excellent shape with the exception of the bunkers. There is little to no sand in the bunkers. I realize we have had some torrential rains lately in NE PA but the bunkers have been a problem here for a while and they have only gotten worse. The grounds crew is doing a good job with what they have but a bunker restoration is in need. The rest of the course is in outstanding shape. The turf is healthy tee to green. Too healthy in some areas. As I mentioned we’ve had some heavy rains come through, the last one courtesy of Hurricane Ida. They are probably a little behind on cutting the course. The fairways were excellent and the rough was cut about two full mower widths. Outside of that the rough was 6” in some areas. You’d have to hit a pretty stray shot to be in that rough but if you did hit it there, it was hard to find the ball let alone hit it. The layout of this course is spectacular. The first hole is a challenging up hill dogleg left with all the trouble on the left tee to green. Large fairway bunkers and OB on the left and bunkers guarding the left side of the green. The fairway is generous to the right of the bunkers though. Add at least a club for your approach shot as it plays up hill. The second and third holes are pretty benign shortish par 4’s that let you get your round going. The 4th is a nice par 3 over water. The green, like most greens here, is pretty large. Take an extra club and make sure you clear the water and hit Terra firma. The 6th hole is probably the toughest hole on the front playing to about 430 from the gold tees with an up hill approach. The front culminates with a 180 yard par 3 over water. Great hole. The back side has a lot of elevation change and the way the course is laid out, you are hitting up hill for the majority of your approach shots. All the down hill comes on the last two holes. 17 is a 480 yard par 4 that drops at least a 100’ and 18 is a par 5 that drops the rest of the way back to the clubhouse. Golden Oaks is 1:20 drive from my house but I never regret the ride. I’ll keep coming back and play this course at least 5-6 times a year.

Tough conditions to play in.....but the course was fair and playable

Course is always in great shape. Cart path only was the only negative, many fairways could have been open.