Ballantrae Golf Club

My outing on yesterday was awesome! Everything was excellent and I only lost 2 balls!!

Great course! Several different tee boxes to suite anyone. Perfect greens, fairways and tee boxes. I don’t go to Birmingham often but when I do I will always play there.

Ballantrae is by far the best value course in the Birmingham area, especially with the summer rate after 6pm being $19 for 9 holes. The greens themselves are worth any rate you may pay, and you can almost expect to see deer (multiple) every time you come to play out here. It is a unique experience that you just do not find everywhere or even anywhere and I will continue to make the drive to enjoy this course. Today, I had the first experience at Ballantrae that was worth leaving a public review besides praise and so here I am. The starter today, Sunday September 22 2024, was a guy named Herb. The starters always catch you right between the driving range and the first tee, and usually it’s pleasantries and information about the pin location for the day and a simple “enjoy your round.” Today, we meet Herb at the starter house to learn that the entire tee sheet is behind 10 minutes for the day. We had just finished up at the range and met him 2 minutes before our tee time. He informed us that we were welcome to putt around on the practice green and wait for the tee box to clear up, as he was actively sending a twosome off in front of our foursome. My group proceeded to putt in the 10 minute window between tee times that Ballantrae maintains for their pace of play. After that time, we found that the twosome sent in front of us 10 minutes earlier were still actively on the tee box on the first hole. Given that my foursome was charged for 18 holes and it was then 10 minutes after our tee time without a clear tee box, with sundown being 6:45, I decided it was appropriate and within reason to ask the starter if there would be any opportunity for my group to possibly begin our 18 holes on the back 9 of the course. This question confounded the starter greatly, and it prompted Herb to ask why my foursome thought we could “disrupt his whole system.” I responded that it appeared “his whole system” was running about 10 minutes behind pace. He felt the need to inquire why my group would have booked a later tee time (omitting the time) with any expectation to finish 18 on a day such as today. To this, I responded that we had booked our tee time on Thursday the 19th, and had found there were no tee times in a reasonable time frame for our 4 players to finish 18 holes available anywhere in the Birmingham metro area except for Ballantrae’s time that was available that we booked . To this, the starter responded that “there is an opportunity for your group to start on the back 9, but there is no chance that’s happening.” He then explained how the course had been busy all day and it was very typical for Sundays to be backed up because “men bring their kids and spouses out.” He then elaborated that how badly he wanted my group to get to play 18 holes because of my request, and informed my foursome that he would ensure he would get staff on the course if the pace of play was slow in front of us and that he knew we all were “going to shoot even par.” He made sure to let us know that he was merely joking about that, and that the course plays fast “if you can hit fairways and then hit the green.” Herb told us that to ensure we got to play as many holes as possible, we should go ahead and head to the tee box and to wait 5 minutes after we saw the group in front of us disappear down the course so we wouldn’t be stacked up at all and the pace would feel better. This was all well and good information, but it did not help my foursome finish the 18 holes we paid for nor did it give us the warm feeling I have come to expect from interacting with the starter at Ballantrae. We finished 14 in the dark. All in all, Ballantrae is the only true 5 star course in the Birmingham area that is public and it is always an absolute pleasure to make it out there and swing the golf clubs around. But it is instances such as today, where a frankly non helpful and facetious attitude from a name badged employee will make me take a hiatus from a course and also tell as many of my golfing friends possible to avoid a course when it’s already very far away. Take it as you will, thanks Herb.

Course is in GREAT condition. Staff is nice; from bag boys to diner staff to cart ladies to clubhouse folks. Everyone we encountered was just super friendly. On the food side I had the burger & it was, “Mehh”. Partner had the chicken club and said it was VERY good. It’s just a REALLY nice place to play and enjoy a nice round of golf. We had a very good day playing and will definitely be back.

Enjoyable round, it’s rained all week and the course drained well and was pretty n good playing shape!

Perfect tee boxes, fairways and greens. Extremely affordable and the staff was overly friendly. Absolutely zero complaints. This course is among the best I’ve ever played. Can’t wait to go back!

The course is in stunning condition and the staff are very friendly and accommodating. A very fun layout.

Course was in great shape and play for a Sunday afternoon wasn’t too bad. Played as a twosome in 4:15 hrs. Cart girl was very friendly and made many rounds while we played. Definitely will be going back with my buddies!

Great course and great staff. The course is in superb condition

Amazing course really enjoyed playing with friends on this awesome course.

Course was in good shape. Got paired up with a young couple. Having a great round, but 4 holes in (slow play on the course) a terrible storm came and shut the course down. Hope to return soon!