University of South Florida Golf Course - The Claw

I have not played the course in over a year because of the decline of the entire course. I had a friend play recently who told me it was it half way decent shape. So I brought my friends to play and he was right. The clubhouse, cart barn are in terrible condition and you have to use port a potty. On the first hole our cart died, we drove to our first shot and it just would not move. Other than that hiccup, the course is seeming like its coming back. The greens are rolling nice and most of them are in decent shape. The tee boxes, fairways and rough need quite a bit of TLC. In the military you can tell when a post commander does not play golf because the course is crappy, the claw reminds me of that. I would have to believe someone at the course does not give two flying fudge bars about golf.

Overall I would not recommend the course right now and that's because the money you pay is not worth.

Also there was no cart girl nor a ranger.

Nice layout not for the crooked driver its really tight in a few spots but overall a good track especially for the $. All greens are elevated so bring your A short game.

Play here all the time, great place to play! Challenging layouts always a good test!

Our foursome enjoyed The Claw very much! Course condition were excellent and the course was fair but challenging.

We played there two weeks ago and will be back later this winter. We travel from the Villages and enjoy somewhat difficult courses.

We would highly recommend The Claw!

Shocked at the horrible conditions and run-down facility. Practice area was terrible, but in-line with course conditions. Wouldn't play there for free. We left after 9 holes. Feel sorry for the golf team at USF. The worst golf course I have ever seen. Place needs a ton of love and a truck-load of money.

The golf course was in good condition. But the clubhouse and cart shed were condemned. I talked to some people at the course and they said that University of South Florida is not putting any money into the Pro Shop or restaurant or cart shed. This could be a really good place to play golf if they would just the facilities

USF needs to put money into the clubhouse and the cart shed. It is a disaster. I hope that they can keep the Billy Casper company under contract, because if they don't the whole course will probably die

We liked the layout best, tough narrow fairways. The greens were pretty fast, but on approach shots they held the ball very well. The fairways were in good shape for the most part, but the rough in alot of of places were just bare sand. Even close to the greens were sections of bare sand, I'm not talking about the bunkers, lol. They are going through renos in the restaurant and pro shop, that is very well needed, by the way. Had a cart that was running slow by #9, switched cart on this one the parking brake didn't work.

Your rates are higher than the actual course rates ,

The course is in good shape other than the tee boxes and sand traps. Tee boxes are in rough shape and the sand traps are like hitting off the cart path. No clubhouse is also a negative. Value is what is best with this course, my group will be back to play here again.

Overgrown weeds, greens filled with sand, overall horrible playing conditions and the tee boxes were destroyed

I've played this course for the past 10 years on and off and personally enjoy the challenging layout. Conditions at the moment are not good, grass is very high in certain spots (easy to lose golf balls). Its obvious this course can get in rough shape when it receives a lot of rain because it seems maintenance crews cannot mow certain areas. Finding a consistent lie on the fairway can even be challenging. I hope the course can improve on the conditioning as I enjoy the challenge it presents off the tee.

This is by far the worst kept course in the area. If you hit the ball in the fairway there’s a good chance it will get lost in the high grass. The back nine is almost unplayable. This is a shame, because this used to be a nicely kept course. Hopefully there are some course renovations done soon.

This course used to be pretty good. Now it is absolutely awful. If GolfNow had a ranking of the top 10 worst courses in America, this would be on it. There is a good chance that you will not find your ball if you hit it dead center of the fairway. I’m not even sure they own a lawnmower at this course. I hate to be so critical but I paid for 18 and got maybe 6 playable holes. It was impressively bad. I really don’t understand what happened here, the pro shop is now inside of a shipping container, the restrooms are port o potties. The tee box markers are painted solo cups. I really should have read the reviews before going here but it was pretty nice when I played 2 years ago and didn’t think of it. I wish I could give some constructive criticism other than actually cut the grass and take care of the course but honestly it looks like they just don’t care anymore. I can’t understand how any self respecting golf pro or whoever manages this place has the audacity to charge people to play there. Feel free to check it out for yourself if you don’t believe me but you have been warned. I won’t be back.

Used to love this course, not well maintained. Not worth the price, can play nicer courses for less money.