I played a very well run public course in Lehigh Valley Pennsylvania this weekend called Green Pond CC, as a friend of mine wanted to do a practice round there for an upcoming amateur tournament. So we drove an hour and a half from NYC.
The track and layout are designed to pleasantly favor reasonably quick play – next tees adjacent to previous greens, second cut rough does not hide the golf ball, the longer par fours are “second shot” holes etc. And the maintenance team does a great job to support that.
Quite impressively, the greens supervisor has maintained 18 greens with all smooth and healthy bent grass, and as such the greens play very well. Many courses in the Northeast would be envious of the grass quality of the greens. Similarly, the bunkers are quite good, and the tees are all in fine shape. It is a parkland course, so for me there are way too many trees, but that is always the case in the US. The driving range is also fun because there are grass tees, which is unusual for public golf. And the staff is friendly and knowledgeable.
The most important point I can make however is that the course is as walkable as any parkland course on planet earth which is heavenly especially in a nice time of year such as now. And that is the disappointment unfortunately – my threesome was the ONLY walking match while we were there! The rest – young, old, boys and girls - were all riding around a fundamentally walking golf course in obnoxious motorized carts – a real shame, and I doubt they know what they are missing in terms of enjoyment of the game of golf. It is fascinating and annoying that US club golf imitates the PGA tour habits in some respects e.g. slow play, stroke play etc., but it never occurs to these golfers to walk a round of 18 and get to appreciate the game, the course and your partners.