Banty's Roost Golf and Country Club - Blue/Red

As we are still in "lockdown" status due to Covid-19 virus the conditions at this course are similar to all courses.

All green fees are the same for any time during the day and this has brought out a steady group of golfers.

Course is in need of work and greens are particularly slow. Layout is fairly basic with a few holes worthy of note. It's a good place to play "practice" rounds which is what I use it for.

Wow... this course is in terrible conditions. From the tee boxes to fairways and greens, an absolute mess!!! Please save your money and do no waste your time there, this course is not worth the money you pay for it.

Course layout isn’t great. Bunkers are not maintained multiple stakes were missing and the greens weren’t taken care of.

Where to start!

Course I guess-

Sand traps were like concrete

Greens were brown

Fairways were unkept

Roughs were like fescue

Fringes were soaked.

They don’t care to upkeep this at all

Pace-

They don’t understand how online booking works- so many groups double booked. Pay $65.00 and tat one or 5 there were SIX GROUPS!! 1 on the green, 1 chipping, 1 on the fairway, 1 on tee box, 2 waiting behind tee box. Marshall’s driving around but they don’t care

Amenities-

Worst of all- no where prior to arrival does it say NO ALCOHOL, even when you register someone ought to tell you THEY DONT HAVE A LIQUOR LICENSE! Sorry but no pros are going to Banty Roost- it’s guys looking to enjoy a beer and play golf. And you can’t do either there

I used to play this track 5-6 times a season! This was my first of 2020 and my last ever! New owners clearly don’t care. Probably developers using the next summer or two to milk what they can before turning it into a subdivision

This is by far the worst course I have ever played. I played Saturday and had Sunday booked from earlier this week. During my round Saturday, I tried to cancel my Sunday booking but was unable. The course was not maintained, was told by employee that the maintenance crew did not come back from the year before. There is no organization and they have no idea what courses people are playing. There were 15 minute waits on each hole. I went on Sunday and waited 45 minutes to get a cart, got my money back. I have golfed here previous years but it has completely gone to crap.

I used to play this course for years. The price is not worth it. There is no dress code even though they say their is. The course is in shambles. They are stacking everyone on the course just trying to make a buck. No bunkers no water in the water traps. The course is not evenly cut. Also not COVID ready at all. The Marshall said he cleaned out cart at arrival we found cigarette butts in the cart. The cart also died on us and there was sorry or anything just a ohh well from the staff. Don’t play this course if you like or love golf it’s the worst it is like playing on the Toronto public golf courses except I expect them to be terrible this was disgusting. Never Again and the sad thing is we played twilight hours and it’s still not worth the money at all.

Read the reviews before we went and I was fearing the worst. Overall it was in ok shape, fairways pretty good, but greens need a lot of work.

Considering we paid $25 for 9 holes, I can't complain too much. I'd do that again.

Full price for 18 holes? Zero chance.

This course has a ton of potential and always seems to run into poor management issues. Hopefully one day it'll live up to its potential.

Either they are the worst time management course or are taking advantage of people. Have to apologize to the other comments, we should have listened. We called 3 days ago, and asked about tee times and conditions, lady told us everything was wide open and the course was in great shape, so we gambled. Got there waited in line for 30 minutes to pay (which was 15 past our tee time) to find out it was another hour wait to tee off regardless of cart or walking. Luckily we didn't pay and just left....never to return again. Listen people, only go if you are gonna tee off first thing, otherwise...........

This course has lost its luster. The greens were horrible with many dried out brown patches, there were dried grass clumps all around the course, tee boxes were hacked up and dry too. The signage was awful between holes and many golfers were lost trying to find their way. I was really disappointed as it is close to home and I have played this course many times and previously enjoyed it. It’s not awful, but it could be better.

It's true that this course is not in great condition. The new ownership has a lot to learn but there's potential here. My biggest advice is to temper your expectations and try to be understanding. I was truly disappointed in some other customers behaviour; Staff were being mistreated, passive aggressive comments made and grown men throwing childish tantrums instead of trying to work out a compromise.

Pros:

- You can tell they are really trying their best

- The staff I encountered were kind, helpful and working very hard

- The marshalls were very easy to deal with and understanding of players limitations

- If customers were forced to wait because of limited carts they were given free buckets for the range

- We had beautiful weather and you can tell the course has great potential

Cons:

- There aren't enough carts for the course under normal conditions let alone social distancing

- There were very few staff at the course in the AM, seemed to pick up considerably around 2pm

- There are no fairways; they are cut as long as typical rough

- The greens are long; they are cut as long as typical fairways

- The bunkers haven't seen a rake since at least last year; it would be easier to hit off concrete

- No liquor license

- They did not change their GolfNow listing to limit the booking of carts which cause major issues based on people's expectations and what they paid for

Overall, this course would not be on par with middle of the road public courses. If you are expecting a pristine course with no issues, this is not the place for you. If you can be easy going and willing to compromise you can still have a nice round. We had a "hot deal" so our round was $40, perhaps I'd have different feelings if I paid the full price which I believe was around $65.

To start, our tee time was at 4:32pm and we showed up about 20 minutes early to ensure we could secure carts. There are no twilight rates, so you pay full price to golf 18 holes at 4:30pm. After we made our payments, we were told to wait outside to get a cart where there were about 10 people waiting with absolutely no spacing. Carts are being returned with no one there to provide direction or to wipe/sanitize the carts. Our group took it upon ourselves to grab the clothes and sanitize our own carts because at this point it was alright 15 minutes past our tee time. Not to mention that it seems almost every cart was broken in some manner. The few we had the pleasure of having had smashed windshields which looked like somebody drove a ball right through the plexiglass.

We started our round and in the time of a pandemic, I was under the impression tee times should be spaced out at least 10 minutes or more, but this was not the case here. Pace of play was atrocious. It took us over an hour and a half to golf 4 holes and the entire time we had 2-3 three groups waiting right behind us and in front of us all waiting to complete the same hole.

The course conditions were awful. Fairways were so think and long that it was the equivalent of hitting your ball out of the rough. The greens were cut terribly as well as being super long, yellow and dry.

I would advise saving your money and choosing a different course. It is definitely not worth the $65 to play a twilight round here. I’m thoroughly disappointed.

I have attached a few pictures of how poorly the greens were cut.