Manada Golf Club, Grantville, PA

This course is in pretty rough shape, which was surprising given the great turf-building weather we've had this year and the condition of other local courses. Several fairways were nearly grass-less and appeared to be under construction. The greens were riddled with ball marks and many, including the practice green, had burnt-out areas. Some parts of the course were rock hard and others water-logged, despite no significant rainfall in the few weeks leading up to my round. The gentleman in the proshop was extremely polite, professional, and happy to engage in small talk. The gentleman in charge of the carts, however, seemed quite eager to argue with customers. While I did not interact with him directly, within the 15 minutes or so I was on the practice green, I witnessed him tell multiple golfers that they had put their clubs in the wrong cart rather than simply asking them to use the cart he had chosen. I was surprised the employee was willing to put the blame on a customer over such a trivial issue. The woman at the snack bar was a bit terse as well. The course certainly is not in nice enough of shape to warrant any sort of elitism. Thankfully, the weather was beautiful, so not even the 5 1/2 hour round could stop me from having fun with my friends playing the game I love. That said, I will most likely be having that fun at other courses in the future. There are simply too many nicer tracks with friendlier employees for equal or less money in the area.

Just as a reference, I usually play in Monmouth County New Jersey. I like the green courses, as opposed to Arizona, or even Florida. I like the woods, and the hills. There was record rainfall this year, so the course was soggy in spots, but overall, I had a great round. I played in 3 1/2 hours. I was visiting Hershey (this is 10-15 minutes away), and played here instead for less than 1/5 the price of those probably great courses. It was in good shape, not chopped up, and walkable.
For some good details check out the Manada post at www.cheddasbetta.blogspot.com.

Played a day after an inch of rain fell on course. Bad decision. Large portions of the course were water logged. Greens were fine and a medium speed.

Course gets a lot of play as it was busy for a Thursday morning.

Typical of cheap course design, most of the design thought was put into the green complexes not out in the fairways. Only holes 2, 4 and 12 stand out in any way.

Very similar to Monroe Valley. An average course with an above average rate.