White Clay Creek Country Club at Delaware Park

I've played White Clay several times in the past. It's a very challenging layout, so I look forward to playing the course to test myself. I'm coming of an 82 that I shot from the tips last Thursday at Reading Country Club....my low round of the year, so I was looking forward to a good day on the course today.

From the completion of hole #2....I sensed we were being monitored closely by the ranger. Not sure why...but definitely sensed a presence. The ranger sat and watched us finish hole #6 from a spot near the next hole. As we rode up to the tee box for hole #7, he asked us to pick up our pace. Now mind you....my friend and I booked this round on golfnow. We were paired with two senior gentlemen playing from the forward and white tees. Not once did the ranger stop to ask them to pick up their play....particularly after he watched us on the previous hole where these gentlemen "chunked" their balls into bunkers well short of the green. Then flew the green when they tried to recover. My buddy parred the hole and I missed my 6 foot par putt to card a bogey. On hole #7....a 208 yard par 3....my buddy and I both hit our tee shots onto the green....I parred it and he bogeyed it with a 3 putt. We see the ranger again as we ride up to hit our 3rd shots near the green of the par 5 hole #8.

On hole #11....the ranger asked us to pick up our pace of play again. He said we were 29 minutes behind our playing time. Sat and watched us tee off on #12. As we get to the tee box for hole #13....we had to wait for the group in front of us to clear. And from holes 13 through 18....we waited on every tee box as the group in front of us was playing slow.

Were we really that far behind that a ranger needed to ask us twice in just over 9 holes to pick up our pace? How is that even possible if we caught up to the group in front of us just a few holes later?

After completing #18, I asked the group in front of us if the ranger had asked them to pick up their pace today. They said "No....he never once asked them." So while he's basically harassing our group to play faster....he never once asked the group in front of us to pick up their pace of play.

So I'm thinking the group behind us must have complained or something. I confronted (politely I might add) course management after our round to see why we were spoken to so much in such a short period of time. Did the group behind us complain? I learned they had not said a word. They had not complained. The ranger was simply looking at playing times and decided we were not playing fast enough, so he asked us to pick up our play.

When I asked the course management why he hadn't spoken to the group in front of us about their pace of play.....the answer I got was....."They play here all the time." So I suppose that excuses their pace of play, but not ours? The ranger confessed to me after I spoke to him directly that we were only 18 minutes behind at a later point. We finished our round in about 4 hours 30 minutes or so.....with the waiting we had from #13 on.

Sure....the course apologized for our inconvenience and the sense that we felt monitored to the point where it interfered mentally with a few of us. For our inconvenience, I was given a "Foursome plays for the price of a Threesome" coupon. I was the only player angry enough to confront management. So at the course rack rate....even with just 3 guys paying, that price is still higher than golfnow's price. And it puts me in the position of rounding up 3 guys to play with me. Each of us had booked individually on golfnow.

I was so angry about our treatment out there today....I had to write a review. First time review of any course for me. I bought a White Clay Creek golf towel and winter hat at the course last year....I liked the course that much, I wanted to own a logoed item and wear my hat when I played in the colder months. After today, I'm putting both items in the trash and I'll probably never play that course again.

Sometimes, it's not what people do overtly that gets under your skin. It's the subtle ways people can make your experience less than enjoyable for reasons that will never be verbalized. When you step back and look at the situation from a far....it's the only reasonable conclusion. Live n learn.

Hope this review helps anyone considering a round at White Clay.

Pros: Reasonable priced, challenging course. Pace of play was a little slow, but nothing to get upset about.

Cons: most of the tee boxes, were atrocious. Very little grass to actually tee off from. A couple of the greens had spots much like the tee boxes.

The woman who "greeted" us at the pro shop was all business. No chit chat..., just took our money and told us to head out to the tee when ready. There was no one else in the pro shop, so it's not like she was busy. For the price, it's a small thing to ask to feel welcome when coming out to play

WCCGC is a very nicely kept course. Lots of benefits:

unlimited range balls, chipping area, nice putting practice green, electric golf carts, cement cart paths,

GPS range finder on golf carts, and lots of drinking water coolers on the course. This adds up to a lot but why is this course always TOO Expensive to play without a Deal Time ? Also, good knowledge of the course a plus because some holes you have to play short of the hazards in front of you. Overall similar to Rock Manor in price and course design but overpriced for our group compared to Back Creek, Inniscrone, and Moccasin Run.

Having high expectations of the usually exemplary course conditions at WCCCC, I was disappointed by the somewhat poor condition of many of the tee boxes and greens. I think they need to give the course a rest for a few weeks.

Absolutely fantastic course. One of my favorites to be sure. They were aerating the greens - the reason I had to rate a lower score - but the rest of the course was great. Pace of play was better than usual - probably because of the greens kept a bigger crowd away. I didn't see a cart girl which was unusual, but the ice cold water stations all over the course works great for me. I play often at this course and it never disappoints.

Weather was perfect. Many tee box options. They do have a somewhat strict and confusing policy with the golf carts. We were told 90 degree rule but every time you try and drive onto a fairway the GPS would sound a warning to go back to the cart path? After a while we just ignored it and drove 90 degrees to our ball. While putting on the second green a ranger drove up to us and asked if the 2 people behind us could play through because they were members. The one guy who joined our group on the first tee told him "no way". We had a 4-some in front of us and the only reason we were 2 minutes over the 15 minutes per hole they allow you was because we couldn't drive to our tee shots because of the darn GPS telling us to stay on the cart path!! Other than that we had a great day. The greens have a lot of break and are starting to show signs of a fungus or something but they rolled true and were not too fast.

One of keys to enjoying your experience on this course is selecting the correct tees to play. Enjoyed our outing ( 4 players)

This is a real golf course, where you have to carry a lot of tee shots to keep it in play. Lots of bunkers, lots of junk to play over. If you go in the junk, forget about finding it, the vegetation is just to thick to even find it. We played from the blacks, some tee shots you need a 230 yard carry, and bend and you are in trouble.. I like the speed of the greens, but they are paying for that speed you can see some bald spots here and there. Will definitely play it again.

White Clay Creek is a first class facility. It has a beautiful club house, expansive pro shop and comfortable locker room. It has one of the best practice areas around with separate chipping and sand areas. The day I played was very hot and only 25 golfers played all day. The course was in great shape and the greens were running fast and true.

White Clay Creek is not an easy course with its namesake running through most holes (sometimes twice in the same hole). Bring a lot of golf balls and play it forward!

Extremely hard course due to layout and design, with many forced carries and hazards. Longer course too, with several holes that are tight with little room for error either left or right. Course conditions are excellent and staff was nice, except for the ranger that instructrd the twosome behind to drive their tee shot into our foursome. Greens are very nice and fast...plsys like a country club, and greens fees are on high side. Only real issue with course is the difficulty, which did not make it enjoyable, even for an above average golfer. Take your "A" game and plenty of balls (but not your best /brand new balls)...and be prepared to lose several.

Love the greens on this course. Great deal on golf now and pace of play was amazing!

Everything was top notch. You really need a cart to play this course because it is so spread out and some good distances between last green to next tee. Greens were true and fast. Fairways and tee boxes were in excellent shape.

This course is so nice. The weather was perfect and so was the hospitality of the staff. They send someone out to your car to pick up your golf bags and they strap them to your golf cart for you. You pay in the Pro Shop and head to the range where you have unlimited balls waiting for you (at no add'l charge).

I found this course to be very challenging. I was not playing well and we played from the Blended Tees (black and white tees) and the degree of difficulty was more than I could handle. The slope rating was 132 and well above my ability. I should have stuck to the white tees.

You should definitely give White Clay Creek a try and experience the beauty and difficulty of this course. The next time I am in Delaware from NJ I will try to tackle this beast again but this time from the white tees.

Played on Friday afternoon at 4 for $40-$45 with a group of 10 guys. Staff is very professional and want you to have a great experience. Only negative was starter who made the GPS system seem like rocket science, very very very thorough...

Course is in great shape. Bring your game or else bring extra balls.

We played three tracks this past weekend and havd guys from the tri-state area, Canada, & Arizona in for our event. This was the best track. Teed off at 4 and all three groups finished well before dark.

Dinner At The Rail was pricey, but hey on a guys trip you gotta splurge. The lamb was phenomenal and even the ATR Burger was super solid.

Great experience, great value!