LPGA International - Hills Course

I sent this email to the management of the LPGA International and have yet to receive a response.

Thursday (5/12) our golf group came to play your LPGA course. We made our tee time 2 weeks prior to coincide with one member of our group celebrating his 73rd birthday. I had played the original course years ago when there was only a trailer for a pro shop. We were all excited to play what we believed to be a stellar course, particularly because of the price to play and the name association.

To say what we encountered was less than stellar would be an understatement for many reasons. To be clear, we realize there are varying degrees of golf course conditions, many times dictated by the time of the year, maintenance schedule, etc. One of the members of the group (our birthday boy) worked on a golf course maintenance crew for almost a decade. Many times he would explain the various nuisances of golf course maintenance so we would all understand why we were seeing certain conditions.

We arrived Thursday, loaded up our clubs, went to the pro shop, paid our green fees, and proceeded to the driving range to warm up. Nothing unusual there. However, we realized something was amiss when we pulled up to the practice putting green and saw the green had been aerated and sanded. Needless to say we were disheartened after spending just under $100 to play on your course and then find an aerated and sanded green. We all mentioned we hoped this wasn't an indication of what was to come. But sure enough, as we made our way around the front nine, each green had been aerated and sanded.

We realize this type of maintenance has to be done to maintain healthy greens. However, we had each paid just under $100 to play now a less than stellar, maybe even less than average golf course. We were not happy !!!! Please know that to many $100 isn't that big a deal. But to four retired golfers, spending $100 to play golf is a big deal. We even mentioned to the marshal our dissatisfaction with green conditions. He was surprised when we told him no one had mentioned these conditions when we checked in and was equally surprised we had been charged full price.

As luck would have it, we got rained out on #15 so we made our way back to the clubhouse, dropped off our clubs, brushed ourselves off, and entered the pro shop to air our concerns. Again, we all understand maintenance schedules but here is the real point. Someone, including the lady behind the desk, should have alerted us to the sandy greens. (I promise you we would have thought twice about playing.) As we spoke to the gentlemen behind the counter, they seemed complacent at best. They did offer to let us then play the other course in the rain. Here's another kick in the pants. They also said we could have teed off on the other course, had we wanted to wait about 45 minutes. We were never given that chance. They also mentioned their boss would not approve any kind of discount. To add insult to injury, the rate we paid is the highest rate you charge for The Hill course.

Case in point. If "you" were to buy a product for $100 and quickly realized that the product advertised was not the product you paid for, wouldn't you want to get a refund of part if not all your purchase price of that product.

Lets be honest. The LPGA International was not honest with us, even potentially deceptive. We believe your organization saw 4 tourists ready to play golf at whatever cost, knowing full well that we probably weren't coming back, so what difference does it make if we aren't totally happy with our experience.

I must admit we do have pretty high standards. We play 3 different courses on a regular basis, Fleming Island Golf Club, Eagle Harbor, and Eagle Landing so we are spoiled with great conditions, a stellar staff willing to accommodate our needs, and course conditions far superior to LPGA International, especially for the price. And each course always alerts us to any conditions that are the exception to the rule.

The purpose of the email is to give LPGA International an honest assessment of our experience.

Too bad LPGA International wasn't honest with us.

Great experience, was paired with three members who were very nice people and fun to play with. Staff, especially the cart attendants are very friendly. Played the Hills course and the only reason I didn’t rate it a five is because the bunkers are in bad shape. Rest of the course is great.

Played hills in under three hours. Course is in great shape. Lots on new home construction going on but only evident on a few holes. Sand is still hit or miss but better than most courses

Course is absolutely beautiful fun to play but the greens were punched and sanded other than that would recommend

Fairways and tees are in perfect shape. Pace of play was great. Greens were recently aerated and were bumpy at best. Bunkers were hard and not raked, which is not the usual case for this facility. I’m thinking this was an oversight, not a ongoing problem. Always a treat to play LPGA, and I highly recommend it if you haven’t played here before.

Greens had been aerated the previous week and heavily sanded, but that did not detract from a great round of golf. Design is brilliant with emphasis on keeping the ball in play. You do not hit wild tee shots on this course and retrieve your ball. Played from the blue tees without realising until I had finished what the slope rating was. I have played most of the public courses in the Palm Coast area, but the benchmark has now been set. It will be difficult to go back to playing the other courses after this.

Course had no warning of aeration and top dressing. Extremely disappointed and would not have booked the round otherwise.

Overall course was good, but they sanded the greens very recently. Really disappointing that they didn't tell us in advance as we would have played elsewhere with my guests that came in from out of town.

like playing here, usually in great shape - just punched @ top dressed greens.

This is a challenging but fair golf course. Lots of dog leg holes with abundant lateral hazards (water and woods). Greens had been recently top-dressed making the greens more difficult to read which lead to the 4 star conditions rating. Otherwise it is very well maintained. Staff was helpful and polite.

I feel this is one of the best layouts of any course I have played. There is stunning scenery all around you. However, if you play off the back tees, trouble is never far from the fairways