The St. Anne's Club

Generally, people are far more likely to post a negative review than to submit a moderately positive review. Like most golfers in Delaware, I had heard the horror stories about how terrible this course was, from conditions to layout. A friend asked me to try a $25 tee time deal in order to give the courses a shot. I'm a pass holder at Deerfield, and usually play 80 percent of my golf there., and as such have a pretty good perspective on what a well conditioned course should be. Perhaps going in with low expectations played a part in my experience, but frankly, I was very impressed with the tract, the staff, and found the conditions while not where they should be....not awful. Yes, the tee boxes need to be seeded, yes on some greens there where dark dead spots....but overall, for mid to late August, I found the fairways and rough to be in good condition, well maintained and very playable.

In terms of the layout....I really enjoyed it, challenging but very fair. I particularly liked that many of the greens were accessible from "bump and run" shots short of the green (similar to Florida courses) rather than than the steep fronts more common in our area...particularly at Deerfield. I also liked the risk/reward par 5's that forced a decision between laying up or going for a hero shot. The only other downside is that unless someone lives in Middletown, it is really off the beaten trail.....but that also helps with the pace of play, and value. Finally, I would, strongly recommend giving this course a try over the next few months.

We had a group of 9 people in 3 tee times that played this "course" after an all night rain. We arrived an asked for direction to the driving range and we told "it's open but I don't know if there's any balls over there". This was at 9:30 AM! The sprinklers were watering the course from start to finish after about 1.5" of rain the night before. It was a sloppy mess, yet carts were allowed on the fairways. The flags on most greens were placed in areas where the greens were at their worst. There wasn't a single putt where it wasn't extremely bumpy or bare. Many, many areas were overgrown. Several tee boxes infested with crabgrass. When you go to the course's website, they have a scorecard of Back Creek, not even their own course! There are no pictures of the hole layout (although the did have pics posted a week before). Now all they have is a description of the holes. You know you're in for an adventure when you go to the website and the video that plays contains NOTHING of the course itself, just 2 people walking from a cart to the pub then another 1:27 of ONLY the bar and restaurant. NEVER. AGAIN...EVER!

This course has a good layout, with a good amount of water, tall grass and dunes. The greens can be tough to play. My issue was the conditions. The tees were OK and the fairways were good but the greens were lacking. They had burned out spots and need attention. Maybe they need more time to grown in.

This course has a good layout, with quite a bit of water on the front 9, some dunes and tall grass. It is challeniging with tough greens,. My only issue was conditioning; the tees were OK, fairways were good but the greens need more attention as quite a few had some burned out spots. Maybe it needs more time to grow in.

A year has passed since my last review and the course has not improved at all over that year. There are still a bunch of bare spots which need to be seeded and then just put under ground under repair. Let those areas fill in. Tee boxes have definitely gotten worse and they also needed to be fixed. The course that looked the best was the greens. Great shape and looked great, just a little slow. The layout is fun and challenging but they really needed to tackle the problem spots. Also had lunch after the round and the food was only ok. Still is a must play course if in the area.

The golf course is brand new. The greens and fairways are coming along beautifully. Nice layout lots of water. Stay in the fairways otherwise your ball is gone. Friendly staff.

Played here about 5 times this year. Course is growing in nicely. This course has some very difficult holes. You need to keep it in the fairway. Some of the longest par 4's around. This has to be one of the greatest lay outs around.

It would be nice to have some trash cans and water coolers on the course.

First time playing this course after eagerly awaiting it's opening. The majority of the course is green and grown in with few brown spots throughout. Must keep it in the fairway to have a decent approach or second shots. Water and tall grass consume this course, which isn't a bad thing. Course amenities are on point. I love that they have a range and practice area.

The one issue I would like to see rectified is for a photo of the course layout with some yardages to the holes hanging up in the golf cart. There were plenty of blind tee shots and second shots where you could not totally see your landing area.

Overall, I was genuinely happy with the round and the golf course as a whole!

The course stood up to the tough reviews. Many holes were lined with water or thick fescue. Greens were in great shape but still growing in other areas throughout the course. Loved playing this course as it was different from anything in the area. Just wish they had hole layouts somewhere to show hidden hazards In front of greens

Last year I played this course three times when only 11 and 15 holes were open. The course had a lot of bare spots but it was good to finally get to play a course that’s was 10 yrs in the making. A new season has arrived and all 18 are now open. The course that was open last year has really started to come in and is looking great. There still are some bad areas but tee boxes are getting new sod, fairways are looking great and greens are smooth with good speed. I finally got to play the holes that were not open last year which are 9-11. Those holes are beautifully designed and will make the average golfer nervous for almost every shot. There is a giant valley the runs long the holes which should name that stretch of holes The Pit. The course was already challenging enough and then you add those holes in. For almost the rest of the course there is water on every hole and the opposite side has tall fescue. This course should definitely be a stop for most golfers and by next year this will probably be a five star course.

Over the last year I have now played this course four times and it just keeps getting better. Last year I played it when it only had 11 and 15 holes open. It had a lot of patchy areas but was good that it was finally open. Today I finally got to play all 18 holes which made it a whole new beast. The opening of holes 9-11 are just insane holes to be added to what was already a hard layout. Those three holes should be called the Pit for the giant valley that plays around them. The design of this course is absolutely fantastic and it will definitely become an area favorite. The course still needs a little more time to grow in but is very playable with some newly sodded tee boxes, nice fairways and smooth greens. Like my title said, bring extra balls. There is water on almost every hole and the fairways are also lined with tall fescue. Make sure you bring you’re clubs for accuracy over distance. I expect in a year that all the bare spots will be grown in and this will be a 5 star course.

I collect golf courses the way I once collected baseball cards! Today was course number 823 at Links at St. Anne's in Middletown, Delaware. That's about an hour south of Philadelphia. Development of this course was apparently begun "back in the days of Tiger-related golf expansion" but the project went dormant... apparently until last year. L@SA is part of a fairly large, upscale development. The clubhouse is structurally complete though much of it wasn't open today (early in the season). Though the shop isn't fully stocked, my greeting in the shop could not have been more cordial or helpful. The course has 15 holes complete with the three additional holes to come on line this spring. The new holes can be seen behind the current #2 though the routing is temporary. We played the white tees at something like 6000. The back tees weren't open yet but they'll probably go another 600 yards longer. The course is fairly flat with an abundance of water and it's mostly devoid of trees. The bunkering is strategic. The greens putt nicely but there are rough spots occasionally in some parts of the fairway... and more than just occasionally in the rough. There will be high grasses as another defense, come summertime. I got paired with a good player and a nice guy, Matt. His guidance on the lines to be taken off some tees and how to avoid some lurking water that couldn't be seen off the tee. This is Allen Liddicoat's (Wilmington based real estate developer and golf course designer) 3rd project (Frog Hollow and Back Creek) design. He has a sense of what should happen on a links style design. I see a bright future for this course. The course should be judged for what it is (very young and early in the season). I'll be back!

Definitely the worst golf course I have ever played. They should be ashamed that they have opened this course for play and are charging money to play it. Please do not waste your time and money. On the bright side we were the only group on the course so we zipped through.

My girls and I were in the area and decided to stop in a grab a bite to eat. We had Mahi Mahi sandwich, Chicken wrap and tortilla chicken salad.

It was excellent. I was told that they got a new cook and he does specials.

I recommend that anyone, that is in the area, should definitely stop in and grab something to eat. They are open to the public.