Wild Oaks Golf Club, Salem, NJ

Played this course today and found it in poor condition. All the greens but one were in good shape. However the tee boxes were torn up and the fairways and rough had great quantities of crabgrass. I will not return.

I played this course because it seemed like all the ratings were fairly high, and the value was there.

While I'm not going to trash the place, I think the course was in pretty poor condition. The tee boxes were torn up, and the spots that weren't had a lot of crab grass.

Same goes for the fairways, I have played a few courses for the same price which had better maintenance.

The irony is that I had a handful of moments with maintenance crews. The first time I was putting on the first green, and the guy was mowing around a nearby bunker. He came up to my green, and had the lawn mower idling until I finished and then started mowing around the green... not thrilled but I guess it's good to see they are actually doing something to maintain it.

Then about 6 holes later a different guy is cutting around the green after I hit a drive down the fairway. He's 160 yards away, and it takes him 2 minutes to realize I was waiting to hit my ball in his direction.

Then AGAIN, a maintenance worker was doing a teebox as I was driving up to the tee.

Thank god the course was empty, but you would think these guys could better choose their spots given the lack of people.

Another disappointment was that I was supposed to get free range balls through my deal at GolfNow, but there was no range to be found.

If you can play for $20 or under it's worth a look, but I wouldn't pay more.

A hidden gem. Before I talk about the course itself I must mention the ambiance of this place. It has an extremely laid back feel, kind of in the middle of nowhere, with the most friendly staff you can find anywhere. Many of my reviews I don't even mention the staff just because they aren't great or terrible, but this was the exception. It reminded me a lot like the courses I find in the Lancaster Pennsylvania area, one of my favorite locations to find new golf courses. That being said, the course itself was better than average with some interesting holes especially on the yellow oaks 9. (There are 3--9 holes). The maintainance was great and the greens were slow and true, just how I like them..lol. The scenery was nice, but again, moreso because of the feeling of being away from population. They have logo balls for the logo ball lover like myself, a huge plus. And the value is ridiculous...$21 to walk on a Friday peek hours, CAN NOT BEAT IT. Overall rating, an A and it's a must play.