Inniscrone Golf Club

I played this golf course the weekend of Spetember 20th 2014. After playing Haretfeld and Merion the day before I was looking forward to playing a Gil Hanse design that may be more of a hidden gem. As someone who has built and designed golf courses I look at them from a variety of angles. After playing Inniscrone I can honestly say that this golf course is a perfect example of why the industry is struggling. The site is strong enough to have produced a solid golf course. We played on a Saturday morning around 8:15. After enduring a 10 minute sermon from the head pro regarding all the courses negatives (great first impression) I headed to the range. First impression was a range tee that appears to be growing a new strain of hardy crabgrass. In the modern era a vibrant high quality range can be a great source of revenue. This range appears to be attempting to conjure fond memories of hitting golf balls out of your yard into the woods. While the first hole is easy to handle you quickly realize why this course is struggling and what their current model is. Not one of the fairways were mowed nor were ANY of the bunkers even remotely raked. If you can't get a fairway mow crew out or a bunker crew out before a 8:15 tee time then you are either incompetant or simply don't care. There was even a VERY dead grounhog in the fairway near the front of the green. I did see a crew EDGING bunkers which may have been the dumbest waste of time and manpower I have ever seen on a weekend. Architecturally put this one in the "anti typical" category. Several holes are a bit tortured simply to be different (the short downhill Par 3 is horrific!!) Let me cut to the chase. If you want to get your swings in and not pay crazy money this is an option. They also know that they are realtively cheap and therefore are not in the mood to lift a finger to make this place better. If they want to make money and provide a great product here's some tips. Put your best foot forward on the weekends!!! Raise the rates $15 bucks mow the fairways and tees, rake the bunkers, redo the cart paths at 5,10, 18 before someone gets killed. Inniscrone could be good. Instead it's soildly in the "played it once ain't going back" column.

I played this course for the first time today and have a few thoughts. First the range, the layout of the range is great..problem is the tee area...its pretty much like rough. Its very poorly maintained and if you are looking to work on some timing with divot feedback, you are not gonna get it. That being said, its not mats and the layout was good. I should mention the clubhouse and staff are great..very nice people and lots of new equipment for reasonable prices. Now on to the course...the first thing I noticed on the first tee was that the tee boxes were very fury. Longer grass than you would expect and might distract you or cause slippage if you are used to closely trimmed tee boxes. The ball washes need towel replacement. The fairways are well maintained and are eye pleasing, keep your ball there. The rough is quite long.. adds to the challenge of the course but not unmanageable at all. It actually makes you feel like you are on a course that pros would play. The Sand bunkers are very inconsistent and it seems as if they only rake a few of them when they feel like it..only had 1 bunker shot today but I looked at all of them and some of them were unplayable. Now on to the greens...they are difficult.. even that is an understatement. They are undulated and extremely fast on the front 9. What boggled my mind was the speed difference between the back and front... The back 9 has much more playable greens. the front was nearly unplayable and really disappointing. The course layout is great but if you are a first timer then you definitely want to go with someone that can tell how long and what direction to hit your shots. I could had saved at least 2-3 strokes if I had a clue where the flag was on some holes. There is a really cool 95 par 3 that plays severely downhill. Hit it thin and you are done. I had to use a 60 and landed 4ft from the pin. It really plays around 70-75. The par 5s are getable. There are a ton of uneven landing areas so you need to either find a flat lie or be on top of your game with uneven lies. If this club was maintained properly, it could be a top course in the area. My recommendations to the club is slow down the speed of the greens since they are so contoured, care for the sand bunkers, all of them and trim the tee boxes. I drove and hour to get there, had a great time here and would come back.

Value: 7/10
Condition: 6/10
Playability : 7/10

Inniscrone is a nice course and is the former home of the Exelon Invitational, a one day charity PGA event. There are a few unique holes and the course is maintained nicely. The greens are fast, but playable. The value of $25 riding weekday via an online deal is hard to beat considering an unlimited driving range is included in that price. They also have logo balls, a big plus for the collector like myself. However, being an average golfer who usually shoots around 100, this course was too difficult and built for those with low handicaps. Some carries from the tee box are quite challenging and the 18th is near impossible. The thing that made it the least fun was how high the rough was, done by design to make the course play harder so I get it, but that aspect took away the ability of an average golfer to shoot quality shots. Bottomline, I wouldn't recommend this course unless you shoot under 90 or want a stiff challenge which might end up hurting the confidence of your game. If your truly in that upper echelon of golfers then try it out and you'll probably like it. For the record, I shot 48 on the front and 60 on the back( Back 9 way harder than front) and played well that day. I normally shoot 100, shot 108 that day, but probably would have shot 113 if I wasn't playing great just to give you some idea. Overall rating B-.

One of the worst managed course I have played in a while. Everytime I've played around 2pm, it always take 5 hours to finish. The pro shop pack so many players in but don't bother having rangers out to manage the pace of play. Over priced; badly managed; don't think I will be driving that far again to play this course.

Inniscrone Golf Club has made a turn for the better. Bunker work that has not been touched in years is now underway. Conditions of the greens are marvelous. Price is reasonable. I would recommend it to anyone to go there and take a look at Gil Hanse's early work.

Big fan of the course in the PAST! Played the other day on a beautiful day, course was in AWEFUL shape, did not see one person working on the course the entire round. Price was ok for time of year but check it out they are going to $55 on March, 16!! Are you kidding!!!
The new management is nothing like the great people that ran it the last several years, where are the VanSycles? They were awesome and so were Scott and the rest of the staff, this such a shame! I will be taking my business to another course.

Nice course...Great layout..Lots of fun to play..From long carries to a 94 yard par 3..our foursome loved it can't wait to go back ...free yardage book ..which comes in handy your first time here like ours was ..awesome value