Phillip J. Rotella Golf Course, Thiells, NY

The golf carts are equipped with a GPS tracker so if you go off the cart path, the carts stopped moving. You have to continually back up off the fairway to get back on the cart path. This was very annoying. The Sonoma Grille serve good food and great service.

Nice course. Played Rotella on a warm mid-March Sunday. The course was in excellent shape given the fact that this is March.

Rotella has three sets of tees. The longest tees measure about 6,500 yards. White tees, which were fine with this 20+ handicapper, measured about 6,200 yards. There are also red forward tees for the ladies. Rotella is Par 72 for men and features your standard 4 par 5s, 4 par 3s and 10 par 4s. My favorite hole was the 5th - a long downhill par 3.

The course is hilly and there is some water that comes into play, especially on the back nine holes. Some holes are tough, some not so tough. It is a very fair challenge and a nice experience.

The geese think it is a fair challenge and nice experience also. They were not present on this day (still must be vacationing in the South), but thawed goose dung was all over the place on this day.

The course was crowded, but we still were able to play in just over 4 hours. The starter did a great job of spacing the foursomes out and there were rangers present on the course that helped pace of play.

The restaurant and bar works well. The corned beef reuben before the round was good and the local Pearl River made beer after the round was tasty and very cold.

We paid $34 as non-residents of the town for an afternoon round. Carts were another $8 or so per person. Carts are recommended since it is a hilly layout. A pretty good deal. It is cheaper if you live in the town. For this city person, the course is about a 30 mile ride from the George Washington Bridge.

Overall, a nice course and a nice experience.