Back Creek Golf Club

Course is great. Narrow fairways, tricky greens. Challenging course in all the best ways. Play here and have fun. Jim in the pro shop is friendly. Despite that I showed up just before the course championship was about to tee off, he let me go off the back and then play the front when it was clear.

Always a pleasure playing at Back Creek. Staff is super friendly and accommodating. Course was in great shape even with the heat we’ve been getting.

Course was decent but over priced. GolfNow pricing was about what course should be priced everyday ($34).

Fairways were soft and cut nicely. Ball sat up very nice. Greens needed some maintenance. A lot of unrepaired ball marks. Greens were slow and seemed to have breaks at cup.

We attempted to play this course on Sunday. It was crisp weather but this did not stop us. A twosome and threesome were ahead of us, both were slow and getting slower. A Ranger on the course could have sped up play, or moved others to back nine. So frustrating, we skipped a hole and left after ninth hole. The cold temperature and slow play made the day a bust.

Course in good shape fairways in great shape hot dogs awesome and people very friendly a little slow play but courses fault 4 knock heads in front of us otherwise a 4.5

Let’s start with the good….

This is a really nice golf course, a 5 star course with the right adjustments. Greens are in excellent condition, sand was actually sand (not rocks), tee boxes were grass (not dirt), and relatively level. Our foursome loved the layout, and overall “feel”. It sorta had a little Wyncote vibe with a few more houses around. The bar service was AWESOME! The food was AWESOME! And the price with what was included, and course conditions, made this a superb value. Based on the course, food, and clubhouse service, made this a worth a 50 min drive.

Now……. here’s the rub.

Starter / Ranger need to chill out…………don’t ruin a groups outing by hounding them unnecessarily.

From the clubhouse to the first tee we noticed one of the carts was so slow we could’ve walked faster. The starter / ranger followed (lurked around) us out to the first tee box, at which point we brought this to his attention. His immediate response was, “they’re all basically slow”. Two of our foursome went to tee up on the blue tees , followed by a comment by the starter “I guess you guys are all single digit handicappers”. “Those are for signal digit handicappers”. We would’ve made the correction on our own, and didn’t need guidance. He then explained the 1st hole was cart path only, and scramble after…..he also mentioned “pace or play” twice on the first box (which I thought was a little unusual). We ALL felt like we were being pushed along before we ever teed off. Pulling up to our approach shots on the first hole, the ranger came out with a new cart to exchange. I guess he noticed how long it took us to get to our drives with the slow cart. Things were going seemingly well until the 5th hole. NOTE; there was NO ONE in the preceding tee box on 2 & 3 when we left the greens, and we were on the green when the threesome(regulars with 3 separate carts) entered the tee box on 4. Shortly after our tee shots on 5, we felt the presence of the ranger again. Get this, the ranger approached us again, and mentioned keeping the “pace of play” up. This was IN THE MIDDLE OF A HOLE, and after ALL four of us reached the green in 3 on a 508 par 5. Was he expecting us to Dustin Johnson it in 2? After mentioning the pace of play in the middle of 5, he told us the group behind us drops off after 6 . Yea, then why in the world would you interrupt a hole to tell us that, when it didn’t matter anyway. We finished 5 upset (needless to say), and plotted along 6 & 7 at OUR pace. Guess what happened at 8??....Yep, you guessed it, a 10 min wait on a par 3 waiting for the group in front of us. This prompted a call by me to the clubhouse, followed shortly by a visit from the manager. He proceeded to tell us where we should be time wise after 7…guess what, we were nearly 10 minutes ahead of pace. He then suggested we were behind based on our tee time….but how about this, he had the time we teed off wrong by nearly 25 minutes. When realizing (egg in face) we were ahead of schedule, he attributed this to the ranger moving us along…(dude, just admit you guys screwed up). The ONLY delays in our round to that point was the starter/ ranger that hounded us. We stopped off for a drink and dog on the turn, and moved to 10. A group came out of the clubhouse and met us at the 10th. They were the group that teed off nearly 30 minutes ahead of us. Imagine, a stop for a drink and dog, and were ahead of the group that started 30 minutes ahead of us. We let them move through, as they were a group of 3…..from that point forward we waited for them. On 12 we were greeted by yet another “ranger”. He asked us if were held up at any point, and we responded, “no” (only to avoid explaining as it would be a waste). His response was a sarcastic “wow” (implying that we were dragging along).

So, a group of 4 played in the middle of a Sunday with a cart exchange, a stop off after 9, and 3 interruptions by management in 4 hours and 15 minutes. Yes, I guess that’s really dragging……(written in a sarcastic tone). I’ve played 72 rounds in 14 months, and this was only the second time pace of play was mentioned to me....let alone being hounded over it. The only other time was when my buddy and I were paired up with a couple of hacks on a cart path only in a swamp.

We visited the pro shop one more time to complain about the additional rangers sarcastic “wow”. The manager sort of led onto why we felt pressured out of the gate….he commented, “ We had an event here earlier and that slowed things down (paraphrased)”. So, to the ranger that didn’t have the sense of putting the 3 regulars in 3 carts ahead of the 4 some that didn’t play there before, and the manager that didn’t adjust for the earlier delays……..your poor planning doesn’t become our emergency. Thanks for ruining what was otherwise a wonderful day.

This was out first time to Back Creek, but it won't be our last. The course was in great shape with the exception of some grass growing in some of the bunkers but overall we couldn't find any issues with the court.

Back Creek has always been a fine facility and golf course. The course conditions on 8/13 were that of the lowest rating. There were huge patches of bare dirt in the fairways, the tees and fairways contained crabgrass, the greens had tons of bare spots and ball marks. The course and restaurant were crowded so there is money coming in. Why has this course gone so badly downhill? I sure hope that they are able to restore it back into acceptable condition as its a great layout.

This year the course has gone downhill. A leasing company has taken over this course as of the start of this year and has no clue on how to run a golf course. Putting so many deals out there to attract as many people to come to the course to continue to run it to the ground. Over booking the course to make it unbearable to play. 15 minutes between shots is common here. Not having a cart 15-20 minutes prior to tee-time is common. No Range balls available is common. I feel sorry for the Superintendent Joe. He has no shot of keeping up with how folks are treating the course and the management group over-booking and providing resources to maintain. No Sand in traps/or course maintained, Tee boxes are a wreck and the greens are diseased with black marks all over them. Total shame to see this course in this condition. With all these super deals this management company is wrecking the club… 1 dollar memberships- pay a dollar a day and play anytime for a dollar, Players club- 29 dollars a month get unlimited range balls play for 20 dollars after twilight for 20 bucks and a beer and sandwich. (This all sounds good- but attracts some shady characters who do not appear to care about anyone or the course) I’ve seen golf carts in the sand, I‘ve seen greens that have been driven on and people running over the flag sticks, signs ran over and demolished garbage all over from people running them over and breaking the holder.

No customer service on the course. No Ranger on course (If there is one, he is out empting garbage cans on course or looking for golf balls), no help getting beginners moving along and keeping a tolerable pace of play. Last several times I played, we all left after 9 holes- we were already past the 2.5 hour mark approaching 3 hours. Could not keep our focus because of the constant delays in between shots. Couple weeks before, we had a 4-some jump in front of us from being in the clubhouse drinking and eating (Which is fine- But not at the expense and time of my group and the rest of the course pace of play) Group was confrontational when we question where they came from- Very uncomfortable situation to say the least. Playing here in 4-4.5 hours? Good luck- Go to Frog Hollow, Chesepeake Bay, White Clay Creek, Odeasa National or Patriots Glen.

This place is always a great track. Only downfall this visit was greens were a little bad.... Hard like putting and landing shots on concrete. Greens need some work. Way way to hard.

I played at Back Creek after not having been there in a few years.The course has only gotten better over time.. The greens have always been firm and fast on the course and they were no different this time around.. The bunkering is beautiful and presents plenty of challenges, They have made changes to both the 8th and 17 holes which are par 3's now over water and tough shots... If you have the game for the black tees, you are looking at a 74.2 course rating which is one of the highest you'l find in a public around here.. Since the course is in the farm land of Middletown the pricing is moderate... You can play in the afternoon for 30-35 dollars which is a steal for this quality of a course.. If located closer to the city, this is a course that would command 80-100 rates,,,The 15th hole a winding dog leg right Par 5 with water everywhere on the left is a real toughie,, It requires a well placed tee shot and lay up shot..into narrow areas,, If you navigate those, you need to stay under the pin with your approach.. The clubhouse is new since I was there last and is very nice,, There is a good practice facility too.. Its only an hour from the Philly burbs and all major roads so the drive is easy,,, Go play here and enjoy,.

Hadn't played in two weeks, after relocation and found this course to be very forgiving and wide-open for driving and letting it fly,lol. The greens were in summerlike condition and lightning fast. The fairways were in great shape and not carthpath. I'll be using this course alot to try and improve my game.