Eighteen at Oak Glen Country Club

Although it hadn't rained for 24 hours, the course had much standing water throughout, including in the bunkers. Overall the course was soggy. Many bunkers and other areas were roped off due to construction. The greens are large and sloped but putt and putt at moderate speeds. We couldn't find yardage markers except an occasional sprinkler head, and many of the greens were 35 yards or more from front to back, making club selection challenging. A few flags were mis-colored (a blue flag indicating hole on back of green when hole was front/middle). The edge of water hazards jutting into fairways weren't marked. No GPS on carts. Fivesomes allowed on course, slowing play. $85 for green fee and cart seemed high given condition of course and carts without GPS.

If your ideal course is one with lots of trees and nothing but nature all around, then Oak Glen Golf Course is not for you. The course is set in the middle of a housing development, and neighbors' back yards are in play on all but six of the holes. The houses are set so close to the course that in at least three places netting has been erected to prevent errant balls from breaking windows- or children! In my judgment, this makes the course unsuitable for beginners, because the likelihood of shanking or slicing a tee shot into a window is fairly high. I have seen even accomplished players pull or push their shots close to pools and hot tubs. On the other hand, if you can keep your ball fairly close to the fairway and you like a challenging but still not too difficult round and a course with well maintained fairways and large, smooth, fast greens, then you may want to give this course a try. Four sets of tees at 6574, 6310, 5810 and 5626 yards accommodate players including women and seniors. The course is set on a softly rolling tract of land, so there aren't any really flat fairways, but neither are there any dramatic elevation changes. Water is in play on only a few of the holes, but the opening hole is one of those. After your tee shot, you are asked to hit over a pond to a fairly large green that slopes from back to front. If you can't carry the pond after your tee shot, you can lay up farther down the fairway and go for the green from a shorter distance. The second hole, a 488 yard (from the back tees) par 5, may seem unfair to some golfers. About 230 yards out there is a pond on the left that can't really be seen from the tee, and a bunker on the right at the same distance. The fairway at this point narrows down to about 15 yards wide. It would take about a 250 yard carry to clear either obstacle, so the safe choice for many is to hit less than driver. A hole that might be an eagle chance for some golfers is defaulted to a birdie chance. A similar situation arises on the number 1 handicap hole, the par 5, 509 yard 14th hole. Once again, at about 235 yards out, bunkers right and left squeeze the fairway down to less than 25 yards wide, so some golfers may think twice about using a driver off the tee. Probably the most memorable hole on the course is the 10th, a 406 yard (from the back tees) par 4 with water left and the driving range on the right of a generous landing area that gets wider with increasing distance from the tee. The second shot is over a creek to a large green with water on the right. Par here is a real accomplishment. There really are no boring holes on this course, so it does keep your interest through all eighteen holes. Give it a shot, but remember to stay out of people's yards.