Spending the holidays in the Miami area with family, and played my first round of the trip this morning at Miami Lakes (formerly known as Shula's). I really wanted to like this course, but I just didn... Continue »

Spending the holidays in the Miami area with family, and played my first round of the trip this morning at Miami Lakes (formerly known as Shula's). I really wanted to like this course, but I just didn't have as much fun as I'd hoped I would. The course itself is pretty good, but I found the customer service just not quite up to it.

The greens here are really nice, they had a few poorly repaired pitch marks but in general rolled really well, at a medium/fast pace. Most of them are a bit elevated, making for some interesting shots around them. Nothing unfair, but nothing really easy either. Fairways were pretty good, and rough not too much higher making it not much of a penalty. Tee boxes were very beat up, and bunkers not maintained very well at all. The design is pretty interesting, the front nine is pretty straightforward with a few dog legs here and there, while the back nine has water all over the place, in play on almost every hole. Wind was up, varying between 1 or 2 club's worth which made for several really tough shots.

As I'm writing this review, I almost want to play it again because there's just so much potential here. But I just don't think I can. I'd called on the phone a few days ago to book the tee time, and confirm that I could walk (which is allowed all day during the week, according to their website). When I arrived, my tee time apparently hadn't actually been booked. The woman in the pro shop was able to fit me in and verify that I could walk, I just had to wait about an extra 30 minutes. I went over to the range to hit balls, and hit a small bucket off of what was one of the worst mats I've ever had to use. I noticed later that they would have let me use the grass area, but honestly that didn't look very good either. I went back to the putting green (which was very nice) and worked on that and a little bit of chipping as well.

About 10 minutes before my time, I walked over to the 1st tee to check in with the starter, and I arrived there before the 3 some I was grouped with. The starter then essentially demanded I go out in front of them since I was walking, implying that I'd be holding up play and he had a bunch of leagues going out behind me. I wanted to argue the point, but I decided to let it go. I was a bit bummed as I'd never played here, and kind of wanted some company to help watch shots with the low morning sun, get a little local knowledge, etc. I stewed about it as I played the front 9 as slow as I could in order to not push the 4 in front of me, and found myself getting over it by the time I made the turn. As I made the turn, I wanted to go into the pro shop and grab a beverage to carry for the back 9, but there was about 6 guys waiting in line to check in, and only the 1 woman at the counter to take care of them. Restaurant was closed, so I gave up on that and walked over to the 10th tee to find a new threesome there teeing off in front of me. I played behind them for a few holes, waiting on every shot, and getting pushed by a group behind me as well. Thankfully they let me through on #14, and I finished the round at a normal pace. If things were being run at the start a bit better, and I could actually book a tee time, I'd go back. But I'm not so sure I'll take the chance, knowing there's a bunch of other really nice places to play around here.