Blackberry Oaks Golf Club

Nice day and course to play. Challenging course and in great spring shape.

Although the course is not very long, it is well laid. On most of the par for holes, the distances left me in between clubs on the second shot as well as the tees on the par 3 holes. The fairways are very well manicure. Not too many trees and fairways are wide enough. Price is a little high compared to other simular courses I played by around $7.

When I first played the course, I played from the white tees, and it was easy to score well. From the blues, it's a different story. This is very challenging and you have to keep your focus. IT's early Spring and the rate was $23 with cart for 18 holes. Not too bad. The bunkers need work, and they didn't have rakes out yet. Overall, the course was in pretty good shape. Pace of play was good, but funny how everyone on the course seemed to apologize to each other for playing slow. 3 1/2 hours isn't bad for a nice April Friday afternoon.

This course was once a solid place to play; challenging for most levels, friendly staff, an interesting layout and consistently good conditioning. But a baffling refusal to manage the pace of play, a lack of maintenance that I assume is the result of ill-advised discounting of greens fees have left it a shambles. On weekend afternoons you naturally expect things to slow a bit, but it has become virtually unplayable as a result of slow groups and the total absence of a ranger. My last round ended after 9, since I didn't want to spend the same amount of time on the back as I had on the front: 3 hours. What's happened at Blackberry Oaks is a cautionary tale for other popular public courses trying to boost revenue by ditching "extras" like rangers, staffing the weekends with bored teenagers, and jamming as many discounted foursomes (or more-- I saw 6 in a group earlier this summer) onto the course as possible.