Royal Lakes Golf & Country Club

This course has always been very playable, but this time the greens were rolling beautifully and were unbelievably receptive even to a low ball hitter like me. I look forward to playing Royal Lakes again soon.

Cannot think of one thing negative about this place. Staff and other golfers are always nice. Greens and fairways are always in good shape.

Really enjoyed playing on a Thursday afternoon. Had to jump ahead of a slow twosome on the 10th hole because they wouldn't let a single player go ahead of them. Other than that, I really enjoyed the round!

The front nine greens were aerated recently so they were a bit bumpy but the back nine greens were amazing. Give it a week or two and the front nine should be fine.

Although not my first choice, RL is a decent little course. The greens had been recently punched and the RL staff chose not to communicate this vital info on the GN site, which angered me somewhat - putting is more than half the game fellows... ah hem.

Anyway, aside from hole #11 and #13 you don't need local knowledge and the course is totally benign. However, on #11, a Par5, don't hit anything longer than 5w if you're a long hitter, and if you're not you still probably don't need to hit driver. And if you hit the ball left, you'll want to club down to something you know will not go left (water). This is just a strange hole which, to me, screams that the architect was thinking "I don't know what to do with this hole." And #13, is equally odd. On the tee, if you take (again if a long hitter) a driver or 3w, you're teeing off to an area as wide as a bowling lane, so you must club down to a 3i at most. If not a long hitter, you still only need a 5w. That will leave you with about 140yds or so a green you cannot see (can see top of flag) and see you must because it's the size of a postage stamp. If the flag on the right, you're thinking there's lots of room right of the flag, and there's none. If you miss the green long, left or right you're in for a rough almost certain bogey or dbl if you can't pitch. If you're going to miss the green, miss it short so you can at least chip/run the ball.

Also disappointing is there are a LOT of very very short par 4s. I like the odd short hole, but this course is littered with them. In fact, there are no long par 4s on this course. On one (hole #5 is a sharp dogleg right) or two of them, you cannot hit longer than a 5i off the tee (if you're a long hitter) or you'll go thru the dogleg.

Anyway, if you're short on a place to play, this is a decent route. You're just not going to be able to use your long clubs off of the tee, and if there's no one in front of you, you'll need about 1hr 45min to finish the track (I'm a low handicapper and not spending anytime in the woods looking for lost balls).

I was very disappointed to get out and try to play when all courses care about these days is to pack the courses and collect the money. I will think second before going back as I only played 9 holes and just got frustrated with the crazy slow pace of play.

Course is fun as always but the greens are in need of some TLC. Green fees are lower so still a happy customer and will return.

The course is in good shape excluding about 4 greens that obviously suffered damage from fungus. But the good parts putt very well. Would recommend this course especially the backside.

Some courses are in good shape, and having nothing wrong with them, but they can be boring. Royal Oaks offers 18 holes that are a challenging pleasure to play.

The fairway traps offer a challenge, and then the shot to get on the greens requires a good shot.

The lakes add a nice plus to the round.

Some greens need attention, and course maintenance is a little lacking---cart paths, etc., not the fairways themselves.

Great course. You have to keep the ball out in front of you. It will eat your lunch.

You shoot from 78 to 80. To have had a great round. Course is always in great shape.

Tee to green course was in great shape. The Greens seemed to have been let go. Large dead spots and they didn't seem to have been cared for.