8 May 2014 - Tee Time B4 7 am. Wait too long, and the regulars are there, and will slow down play somewhat. This is a favorite course of ours. Play it at least once per month. The staff are all outsta... Continue »

8 May 2014 - Tee Time B4 7 am. Wait too long, and the regulars are there, and will slow down play somewhat. This is a favorite course of ours. Play it at least once per month. The staff are all outstanding, helpful, friendly, accommodating - always. This is a somewhat challenging course because of the uphill tee to green on a few of the holes. This course is designed to not be an easy course, yet we sometimes score in the 80s. And sometimes, yes, 103 to 108. Not the course's fault. Par 3s are challenging. We love the course. $25 with Sunshine pass. Get one; it's worth it.

Little slow posting this but better late than never!

Played April 9 in a GK Cup match with 1RudeDog. We were originally going to be paired up into a foursome, but Rude talked to the guy in the pro... Continue »

Little slow posting this but better late than never!

Played April 9 in a GK Cup match with 1RudeDog. We were originally going to be paired up into a foursome, but Rude talked to the guy in the pro shop and explained what we were doing and he let us go as a twosome. Nice and thoughtful gesture by the staff, "plus 1" for them.

Pace of play was fairly slow for a midweek time. Men's club was out ahead of us, but what really slowed things down was the group of 9 ahead of us (five and four). Would have been better served to split it into 3 threesomes ("minus 1" for the staff).

Conditions were relatively good. Fairway conditions varied from good to somewhat patchy and/or thin, but only a handful of spots where it would significantly impact play. Greens were above average and rolled pretty smooth, but slower than I remember for this course. Fairway and greenside rough had the most fluctuation, anything from "non-existent" to a couple inches deep, more so around the greens. Bunker sand was a little heavy/damp, but again, consistent.

Tee boxes have some leveling issues, it looks like they had dirt/seed put on them a number of times without regard to any change in height, end result is a lot are "crowned", sloping slightly from middle out the edges.

While it's not a great track, it has some good holes, and for the price ($30 senior base rate including cart) it's a good value and a reasonable option for those in the area.

Played here this morning. Booked a 6:52 time through GN ($45 with cart) and was in the first group off ahead of all the Mens Club groups. Enjoyed a nice overall pace of just over 3 hours as the lead f... Continue »

Played here this morning. Booked a 6:52 time through GN ($45 with cart) and was in the first group off ahead of all the Mens Club groups. Enjoyed a nice overall pace of just over 3 hours as the lead foursome. Cart girl came by for us once on each nine. I thought the course was in better condition than expected after reading the previous reviews. The tee boxes were excellent. Fairways and rough looked decent from a distance (mostly green), but grass pretty patchy. Had too many fairway lies that would nestle between two little clumps of grass or find a thin spot. Despite the aeration last week, the greens are already recovering nicely. They are not sanded, but rolling slow and still somewhat bumpy. Give them another week or two, though, and they will be beautiful. I was in more sand traps than I'd care to admit and they were all very good. I've always enjoyed Shandin Hills as a good low-budget option in the IE. Fun and fair layout with some holes that favor a fade and some that favor a draw. Freeway and trains a little noisy at times, but not that much of a bother. For the price, I'll be back again.

Played Sunday 3/2 after the heavy rains. The good news, course drains very well with the exception of the bunkers, some looked like ponds. The bad news they took advantage of the rain and punched earl... Continue »

Played Sunday 3/2 after the heavy rains. The good news, course drains very well with the exception of the bunkers, some looked like ponds. The bad news they took advantage of the rain and punched early, not a bad idea since it rained a couple of days, I just didn't know about it, ball was bouncing everywhere.

Played Saturday, 2/22, found a great deal for $23 at 11:30, with a pace under 4 hours!, on a Saturday! that is a lot of course for that amount, enjoyed my time more than usual.
This is usually my Sun... Continue »

Played Saturday, 2/22, found a great deal for $23 at 11:30, with a pace under 4 hours!, on a Saturday! that is a lot of course for that amount, enjoyed my time more than usual.
This is usually my Sunday course, Beware that Sundays is the "Men's Club" day to play and the course tends to get packed and pace slows, robbing the course of some of it's enjoyment, obviously Saturday is the day to play here.
I agree with SBogey's review, with much of the conditions. I also agree there are much better courses in the area, but you are going to pay for them, I prefer to play those courses during the week when I can play them much cheaper.
The noise here "IS" the biggest drawback. I was on the 17th T, when a locomotive went by, I had to lean in to less than a foot from my playing partner to here what he was saying, no joke.
T's: over seeded, lush but a bit long-6
Fairways: winter conditions, firm, mostly good lies-5
Rough: inconsistent, lot's of ground squirrel holes, hold on to your beer-4
Sand traps: about an inch of loose sand, firm underneath-5
Greens: lush and thick, a bit long, medium speed-6. a little faster, could be an 8.
Lay out: decent classic lay out that challenges you-6
Cart girl: Nice young lady, Jack $7.
Recommended for the challenge and price on weekends.

Played 2/10/14. Decided to give Shandin a try. It has been at least 6 years since we played here. We probably won't be back for a while if ever. Course is in OK condition but there are a lot of ares w... Continue »

Played 2/10/14. Decided to give Shandin a try. It has been at least 6 years since we played here. We probably won't be back for a while if ever. Course is in OK condition but there are a lot of ares where the fairways were just clumps of grass surrounded by dead grass. The greens were in great shape though a bit slow and fuzzy. They tended not to break even on side hill putts. Bunkers were in very good condition and I was in most of them it seemed. The biggest negative was the extreme noise. The freeway is so close we had a hard time talking even across the cart. On the back 9 you add in the trains and between the noise and the fumes it was down right unpleasant to be out there. The course is narrow and pretty challenging in many ways with some very short easy holes mixed in. I remember this course always had the best conditions in the area and it might be tempting to see how it looks in the summer but with the other nice courses in the area its a long shot.

Played SH Sat. 11/23, twilight time in under 4 hours. Course played tougher than usual with cold wind. Greens are in good condition after aeration and have almost no sign of the fungus issue, that I c... Continue »

Played SH Sat. 11/23, twilight time in under 4 hours. Course played tougher than usual with cold wind. Greens are in good condition after aeration and have almost no sign of the fungus issue, that I complained about in my earlier review. Overall course is in very good shape and one of the better values in the IE.

Played Shandin Hills 10/7. If you have never played SH, I normally would recommend this course for it's low cost value and challenge. This past summer, the course was in close to the best shape that I... Continue »

Played Shandin Hills 10/7. If you have never played SH, I normally would recommend this course for it's low cost value and challenge. This past summer, the course was in close to the best shape that I have seen it, but it started developing fungus issues, like Empire Lakes, the last month or so. Holes 1,7, and 17 are particularly hit hard, where you are likely to have to putt through fungus damage.
The rest of the holes are healing nicely from aeration and should be in good shape in another 7-10 days.
The T's are scoured and being ready for fall maintenance, leaving them a bit muddy and bare.
Pace of play was excellent. No one in front or behind for most of the course.
One other issue is the noise level, both from freeway and train traffic.
Hope they get the fungus issue under control, recommend they patch it right now, while the greens are still healing from aeration.

I was very impressed with the overall condition of the course. The fairways were hit and miss. When there was grass it was very nice, but there were a number of areas which were very thin. Grenens we... Continue »

I was very impressed with the overall condition of the course. The fairways were hit and miss. When there was grass it was very nice, but there were a number of areas which were very thin. Grenens were good, very true, but too slow for my taste.

Staff was great. Since I was first off, pace of play not an issue.