Deerfield Golf & Tennis Club

After being hit in the chest with a golf ball, still bruised, recovered, I made my fourth hole in one on hole 16. I guess you can say I'm very lucky 😄!!!

This course will be very enjoyable if you can move the ball off the tee. If not it'll be a tad difficult but rewarding when you beat it up on a couple of holes.

Course is not easy because it’s narrow and very hilly. You get little additional yardage because of so many uphill shots. Beginner golfers probably come for the reasonable price but then really struggle and drag down the pace of play significantly because of the course playing longer due to the hills and lots of lost balls because it’s narrow. Three hours for nine holes is obscene. This is our second time playing there as we thought it would be better this time than last, but it was still extremely slow. We ended up quitting after nine because it was so slow. Last time we played here an 18 hole round was also over five hours . They may need to consider more like 12 to 13 minutes between teetimes instead of 10 because I think that is really messing up the pace of play.

I used to not care for Deerfield as I always thought it was just too difficult for me to enjoy, but I have completely changed my thinking. The more I’ve played it, the more I have come to accept its quirks and perhaps even be able to enjoy them! What quirks you ask? Big elevation changes, blind shots, severely sloped fairways and greens. Also, always play more break on your putts than you see, and never hit your approach over the green. The staff is great, the grill is welcoming and the food is objectively good.

Fortunately, the front desk was able to accommodate us and move us to the next tee time since we just made it to our scheduled time. We played 9 holes. The first tee is a par 5.which is the only one of the front nine but the par 4s are longer than usual. The pace of play was 15 minutes per hole which is good. The starter was very helpful and the restaurant staff was exceptional given about 200 people were coming from a wedding.

I played Deerfield a few times lately after not playing it since early spring, and I am enjoying it more now. And I think the main reason is that I started playing the blended tees rather than the pure whites. I am an 85-95 shooter who doesn’t hit the ball particularly far, and the white tee length was just a bit too much for me. The course plays longer than its yardage already because of the large elevation changes (no flat lies!). While your mileage may differ, the blended tees seem right for me. The staff in the pro shop, the starter and the staff at the restaurant are all great. Friendly and efficient. Deerfield can be a slow round, especially if you have folks out there struggling, but my last few times out have moved well at 3:50 and 3:15 (on two very hot days when folks were incentivized to move it along out there!). It provides good value for money and if you have a good round, you can be confident you played well.

the staff were all amazing and the food and drinks were as well. $90 for the round seems a bit overpriced. Should be in the $60 range. The course feels like I am in the mountains of West Virginia and not Delaware. The carts were nice though too.