Royal Oaks Golf Course, Lebanon, PA

Well obviously nobody has reviewed this course in a while. The front 9 holes need some serious work on the tee boxes and the greens. Also the paths to follow to the next hole is confusing since there are not alot of signs to tell you where to go. If you never played here before you will probably get lost.

Fairways are in really good shape, however some of the sandtraps are filled with mortar sand....that means there are rocks and stones in it! ROCKS! REALLY! When i went in to these i moved the ball 90 degress back onto the grass. I am not damaging my clubs! Management definitely needs to spend some money on real bunker sand here. The same people own this course that own Monroe Valley Golf Club, i have never played there but have heard in recent years that it really went down hill also.

Also a seasoned golfer will not find much of a challenge here! most holes are dead straight or just a slight angle to them. The slope of some of the greens is the only challenge here. I had alot more fun playing at "Pine Meadows". Now thats a challenging and well taken care of course.

An interesting course with risk/rewards opportunities. The smarter golfer who chooses to manage the course rather than just bang away will be rewarded with birdy ops. Good practice facility; scenic for the area; not terribly hard but good hole variety - one green is a washout but improving. A good place to tune up and feel good about your game. And always friendly, which has to count for something.

This is a wonderful golf course. Great condition considering the amount of traffic. It has tons of beautiful views of the rolling farmland surrounding it. Beautiful lakes and many unique holes. Apparently there are plans to build a large retirement community on half the course which will no doubt eventually put the remaining 9 hole course out of business too. The whole thought of it just sickens me. Why ruin a beautiful, natural golf course with a 'retirement community'. Doesn't Lebanon already have at least 3 'over 55' retirement communities as it is? Tragic

Top shelf conditions......

I love this course. Everytime I have been here the course is in beautiful shape. The scenery is great and the layout is challenging. Not a driver-wedge layout, you will use every club in the bag. This is the best public golf club in the area. The staff is alway pleasant and eager to help. The gas carts make for a quiet fast moving day and are always immaculate. The clubhouse is not what you would see at the average course, beautiful inside and out with a great merchandise selection. I look forward to every round played here at Royal Oaks. Congrats to the new Super on doing such a great job!

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Interesting Course...

I've played Royal Oaks many times over the years and it always provides for an enjoyable golf outing. The conditions are generally quite good and they use a different type of grass on this course than most courses in the region so that also provides for something a bit different too. I'm not a grass expert, but I think they use bent grass whereby most area courses use rye grasses.

My only main critical comment would be that a few holes seem to have suffered a bit from lack of upkeep. For example, there is a lake on the back 9 with a few holes running along the perimiter. There used to be a nice railroad tie formed wall along the edge of the lake along the holes, but much of this has now caved in or fallen apart... not a huge deal but a bit unsightly and takes away from otherwise beautiful holes.

Also features a very nice all grass practice facility.

Royal Oaks

The Greens were bad and they were recently aerated but overall a very nice course. Lots of sand #2 hole has a sand trap the size of a desert! Medium difficulty very scenic.