Bethel Island Club, The

COULD BE NICE, HOWEVER, NOT ENOUGH INCOME TO WARRENT SPENDING TO IMPROVE CONDITIONS..

Grass over grown. Some holes couldn't find ball in fairway. Rough was impossible !!!

Had to find the T box, it was covered in overgrown weeds, lost 4 balls in the middle of the fairway. Need I say more.

Since I have played this course before, I was prepared for less than average conditions, but the state of neglect was even worse than expected. So many small things could have been done to make a big difference in course conditions (ie removing patches of clover from the greens, mowing large patches of tall grass/clover/weeds in the fairways). My party lost 3-5 balls IN fairways.

In addition to the poor course conditions, the staff was neither knowledgeable nor friendly. We arrived about an hour before our scheduled tee time, so that we could warm up on the range. We purchased buckets of balls, and went out to the range. When we returned to "check in" for our round, the lady at the desk informed us that she only had one cart "charged for 18 holes", and that we would have to take a cart "charged for 9 holes", and then turn it back in when we made the turn, and get another cart charged for the back nine. I have to admit I had never heard of this before, and was curious as to why another cart could not have been charging while we were on the range... not like it was a surprise that we were there.

Cart problems behind us, we played our round and were getting ready to tee off on hole 17 (at about 5:15pm) when the "course marshal" drove up and informed us that all carts are supposed to be returned by 5:00pm... we could finish our round, but we would have to bring the carts back to the clubhouse and then walk the last two holes. A)Someone could have informed us of this prior to us starting our round, so that we could have adjusted our pace (no one mentioned it nor was it posted anywhere in the clubhouse), B) The "course marshal" passed us several times during our round... once was only about half an hour before he informed us about the carts needing to be back... would that not have been a good time to mention that to us?, and C) Could they not have let us have that last 15-20 minutes to play 17 and 18?

If the marshal was so in to marshaling, he might have tried to run off the teenagers (residents of the adjoining trailer park) who were walking around the course, picking up golf balls and throwing them on to random greens and fairways... pretty annoying, especially when they pick up your ball and throw it onto another fairway.

I admit that we select this course whenever we are playing with new/in-experienced players BECAUSE of the slow pace and the very casual atmosphere. It's close to home, and the hot deals on golfnow can't be beat, BUT I would never play this course for full price... in fact I may never again... period.

I'm a pretty easy-going guy as are most in my group... we can overlook a problem here or there, but the stack of problems at Bethel Island have become almost too numerous to look past. I really hope that the ownership at this course is able to turn it around... if not I don't think many golfers (including myself) will continue to throw money at such a fiasco.

Course looked as if it wasn't watered in weeks. Tees were bumpy and uneven. Greens were dry and grainy. Fairways were very dry and looked as if they haven't been cut in days. Sand Traps had weeds in them and no sand just dry dirt.

Golf now should not offer this course on their website in my opinion. It distracts from all the good courses you do list. This was my 15th booking through Golf Now and if it was the first one I wouldn't have used your website again.

The staff was very nice. Older couple that greeted us with smiles and a warm good morning.

Three of us played the back nine of Bethel Island Golf Course on Wednesday, October 23, 2013, The employees were very friendly and accomodating. The course is in terrible shape. Grass is dying, weeds in the traps, greens not maintained, tee boxes not mowed, tee markers missing or wrong colors, sparse above ground sprinklers. I will not play this course again and advise taking if off the golfnow.com website
Laurie Cullenward

Would like to see restrooms on playing course. At times, there are windy conditions that make it tough to golf. The course could use a little more attention to grooming the greens. It is a great place to golf for beginners. We live close, so we definitely will be getting more tee times in the near future. Thanks

If your looking for a Monterey quality course then go to Monterey, but if you want to play a rough and tough course at a great price play here. This course has some great open fairways that will test your driving ability and some not so open.

The sand traps had more green weeds growing out than the fairways. The course needs fertilizer and some serious care. The hour and a half drive to the course was definitely not worth it

Course is mostly in bad shape greens are all different speeds slow fast normail bunkers are hard / not groomed and a lot of dead grass fairways. This course has seen better days

like playing in field, hit the fairways and still cannot find your ball. but course is getting better

As a beginner I don't like feeling rushed or intimidated by more experienced golfers. For me I like the fact that I can take my time and try and improve my game. Everyone so far is extremely friendly and understanding . The price makes it easy for me to get alot of playing time.

It looks like they fired the ground crew last year - the greens are not being maintained - the weeds growing on the greens were flowering - seriously - the sand drops were also over grown with weeds - the rough off the fairway was 8-8 inches deep - the place is a mess

This is without a doubt the poorest condition course I have ever played. To call it a cow pasture does a disservice to gathering places for cattle. The greens are not grass, rather tightly mown weeds with a hole. The bunkers have weeds and brush growing. I one instance I noted the rake had been taken over by growth. Take your $37 green fee in all ones. Wait for a good breeze and throw it in the air and watch it fly. Your satisfaction will exceed the golf experience as you at least know that some of it may be recovered. Should you choose to play regardless of my comments, take solitude that all future golf outings will be better. This is indeed ground zero.

True the course is pretty open, but the wind made it nearly unplayable. Carts are old and run down, ours died on us at hole 3 and they had to bring us another one. Greens were more like putting from the rough, and the overall condition of the course is very unkempt and run down, ridiculous over growth near some greens, the second cut would swallow your ball and even my Pitching wedge when I set it down to putt. Seriously, no effort is put into maintaining this course. No wonder you can get on for 5 bucks, but +10 strokes added to your game for lost balls and wind. Still had fun, but what a challenge.

worst course I ever played, BEWARE. No wonder it was a $5 hot deal.

Course is in bad shape but you can't pass on some of the deals that they have at golfnow.com I wouldn't pay more than $20 to play on this course with the current shape this course is on.

The course consist of all Bermuda grass. The greens had not been Mowed or rolled therefore the vines of the grass was sticking up everywhere, and there were other weeds all over the greens making it impossible to putt.
All bunkers were over grown with weeds.

Bethel Island is a "cow pasture" in the delta. If you are a beginner and just need a place to work on your game this is a good course because it's inexpensive and pretty easy although it can play long because of the winds. I am not a golf snob but it's barely maintained and has large areas of dead grass, bare dirt and tall grass areas that on even a muni are mowed. The day I went I played 18 by myself in 2 hours and there were maybe 12 people on the whole course. I will go again because of the price and because I can work on driving and chipping.

This place is beat up! Run down, sand traps filled with weeds, sprinkler piping is used as flag poles, golf carts in disrepair. They should be embarrassed to even charge to come to this dump.