Blackwood Golf Course

Great value and staff is very helpful and polite. A very nice outing except they have a lot of nates.

Played for the first time 7/2/09, and was generally pleased. Course was in immaculate condition, relatively scenic, and hard to beat the green fees for the area. Agree with a previous comment that, with a few exceptions, the holes lack much variety. But for the mid-handicapper it''s a fun course to play as the track is pretty wide open. Trees here & there on both sides of most fairways, but they''re not forests, so unless you''re right behind a trunk, your wayward drives may still offer a reasonable shot at the green. Think there''s really only one hole (can''t remember which) where a big hook or pull is an automatic lost ball -- can''t recall any holes where a slice is automatically penalized. The main feature of this course are the greens: beautifully maintained, receptive, but deceptively challenging to read. Most greens have a number of subtle undulations, and the pin placements are frequently on the side of, or on top of, these contours. This puts a huge premium not only on correctly reading the breaks (which in some cases aren''t obvious), but on selecting the exact pace. This is clearly a course where familiarity with the greens is an enormous advantage to scoring. First-timers, like myself, may find themselves scratching their heads after a seemingly well struck putt slides by the hole on the side opposite the read. Overall, a nice course which is definitely worth multiple visits, and is more than worth the refreshingly modest cost. Don''t expect much in the way of amenities, though. This is a pretty bare-bones operation, where (again refreshingly) it appears that the revenue is put into course conditioning and maintenance, rather than the other bells & whistles. There are no water coolers, no cart girls, no wall to wall HD TVs. There is a small bar/snack area with the usual hot dogs, beer, and crackers (hint: stay away from the microwaved hamburgers & cheesesteaks!). Also be warned that there are no rain checks -- if you take a chance on the forecast and get washed out after two holes, tough luck...

Fun course after you played it once. 12th 13th and 14th add a lot. Greens and fairways are great. There is a driving range just below the course which they don't advertise and is separate but nice to have.