Tradition Golf Club at Oak Lane

Played during the covid virus and couldn’t be happier. Course is mint and the staff are the beat

The round begins staring down from a tee box over a winding corkscrew of a dogleg left 570 yard par 5 with a creek splitting the fairway. A good drive leaves a blind uphill second over that creek to a Sloping fairway guardedl bunkers on both sides. That’s followed up by long 400+ yard par4 followed by Yet another 425 yard hole and a short par 3 with 130 yard of carry over a pond. Run that gauntlet unscathed and you might have a good day ahead of you.

Tradition is long(ish) rolling woodland track with fast sloping greens and narrow fairways lined with trees. Errant drives leave you with shots off pine straw under overhanging branches.

Elevation changes make yardages deceptive.; On some holes like the par4 450 yard 10th, the fairway plummets as much as 100 feet. Often elevation changes combine with doglegs that Force you to choose your line and your club with care. Hazards like little creeks and ponds take driver out of your hands on short par fours.

Firm elevated greens make for challenging distance control with the irons and on chipping. Once on the surface, the contours are deceptive. Even slightly downhill putts are lightning and breaks tend to be more severe than they seem.

The back nine feels more open, but three par 4s well over 400 yards.

At 6700 yards Tradition isn’t terribly long, but the shorter holes require precision and positioning, and elevation changes force you to select your club with care.

Know when to leave your ego in your bag, and wield your putter gently.

Parkland style golf. Good conditions and you can tell that it’s well tended in season. It’s still early in the season but it’s shaping up fine. This is a very good golf course for walking, which is a good thing because no carts are allowed during the epidemic.

The layout is pretty straightforward, with only a few twists. The only complaint the I would have is the last 4 holes are parallel and back and forth. Kinda unimaginative but just a minor complaint.

It was a very pleasant day at a solid place. It was a refreshing change from playing more difficult and punitive courses.

Good mini play it several times a year. Good layout and carts have GPS.

It took a long time to write this review because i don’t really do bad reviews. However this was the last time i will play this course. I played as a single, and apparently i was “lucky” to be let off as a single. I was playing pretty well so when i got behind groups of four they let me pass no problem. Unfortunately i had to skip 3 holes on the front to do so. By the time i was done on 18 it was around 5pm on a Sunday. There were very little people left on the course. So i wanted to play the three holes i had skipped earlier. Considering i had paid full price and the course was empty i didn’t think it was a problem. I don’t know if he was a starter but the kid, probably i. High school said to play the first hole and leave. I played the first hole (one of my skipped holes) and went on to finish the other two. The young child came racing after me with his buddy in a golf cart yelling that i was allowed to play the other two holes. He said they were “tracking” my cart and i was passing people earlier which isn’t allowed. I told the creep i played 15 holes in 2 1/2 hours which is pretty fast. They should want people to play quickly. Instead he acted like he owned the course and was extremely rude. Then he had his boss standing out by the cart drop who said nothing. I mean it was late on a Sunday and the course was empty. But this child had to have his way. I will never go back. I’ve been there a few times and every time the starter or the person at the register has an attitude. Customer service is not something you will find at Oak Lane. It’s surprising bc Trad in Wallingford has much better customer service.

All good except ridiculous super SLOW PLAY with darkness setting in. Grip it and rip it

Temperatures were quite cold but course was enjoyable to play. Slopes and blind spots on a number of holes make for interesting challenges and use of clubs. a beginner would find many holes intimidating. Because of weather pace of play was excellent! Always a nice gem to play and course kept in good shape. I would recommend trying if you haven't played here.

The friendly staff secured a tee time for me the day before. Course has pretty wide fairways and large undulating greens. You still have work to do after you hit the green. The greens were very fast (estimated at an 11 on the stimp meter).

The only criticism I have are that the bunkers were very tough. They have 1/8 to 1/2” depth (of small gravel vs sand). I am a pretty good bunker player normally but my sand wedge kept bouncing off the firm hard pan in the bunkers and colliding with the ball.

I would come back and play again but would be more careful around the green side bunkers.

Great course, challenging holes, friendly helpful staff.

First and last time playing here. Some of the worst bunkers i have ever seen. Whether it’s the “sand” that’s basically small pebbles or being able to have the option to putt out of most (including greenside) if you wanted. Greens were very fast which was probably the only nice feature, otherwise it was overall a very unimpressive course.

The course is in great shape and It was fun and challenging round.

What a pleasant surprise, course is in excellent shape and the staff was amazing, recommend this course to anyone at any level of play

Course was in Great condition for late in the season ! challenging and very friendly staff

Greens were the best I played all year. Played at 11am on Saturday and finished in 4 hrs 10 minutes with a full course in front of me. Ranger was great, he sped up a group in front of me and we flew around the course!

The course is in beautiful shape, lush and extremely well maintained.

Greens are too fast for the average player which causes slow play

We finished 6 holes ahead of the next group.

the pins were cut in ridiculous places num 4 in particular. un playable number 10 again unplayable . cut the pins on downslopes that fed off the green 3 times . i like it hard but unfair and ruined everyones day

Conditions could be better and have been in the past. Still a decent value