Cyprian Keyes new cart policy

[jdl]

I've played there for quite a while on weekends, even though I have a love/hate relationship with the course. It's got some holes that I just hate, but overall it's a decent course. I play it because it's close and has been a pretty decent deal. Well now that's changed. I've always bought their Keyes Card, which gives you discounted weekday greens fees that you can "upgrade" on the weekend for $10 since I don't play enough there to justify a membership. So I went in yesterday and handed over my voucher and was told, "that'll be $30". WHAT? Oh, new policy, carts are now mandatory before noon on weekends. Well, you can still walk but it will cost you $20. Sigh. I used a cart voucher I had from previous seasons but I'd really rather walk. I guess I'll use up this year's Card, not sure if I'll be back much after that. Also the course is in pretty poor condition given the mild winter. The greens are recovering from the punching they did late last fall. I guess they have to make money somehow....

[Bandy1080]

Cart policy on weekends is pretty standard practice. Frankly surprised they didn't have it in place before.

[steelythefez]

Tons of new members up there this year with their new membership pricing. I think it was 10 to walk and 20 to ride on top of the 800 up front. Seems like they needed the money and are hoping to speed up the pace of play.

[TPG1971]

I never minded the course that much, however there were some brutally long rounds on the weekend. I think what steely said might be true trying to speed up play.

[steelythefez]

I was a member up there for a couple years. Loved the staff and the challenge of the course but when they went to split tees on the weekends it was just terrible. 4.5 hr rounds with a 1.5 hour front.

 

I think they went back to just firing off of #1.

[jdl]

Cart policy on weekends is pretty standard practice. Frankly surprised they didn't have it in place before.

 

Yeah, it was a great deal for me as I like to walk. And I still can, just have to pay $20 more. There are still some courses you can walk on weekend mornings, but they are rare.

 

Regarding pace of play, they've tried a bunch of stuff. 7-8 years ago they went from 10 minute tee times to 9 minute times. It was absolute chaos! 3 groups on just about every hole and 5+ hour rounds. They switched back after a couple of weeks.

 

And I recall the split starting times, too. They were suppose to be using 12 minute tee times with that, but the problem was the starter never enforced it, so they just kept shoving groups out as fast as they could.

 

This past Sunday was really slow due to a frost delay. Not sure why but we were waiting most of the day.

[Mulligan26]

I have no idea where this course is, but a note on split tee starts... it requires a zen mastery of tee sheet management AND two starters with two rangers to make sure people make their turns on time. If there aren't a minimum of 4 outside staff guys it turns into a sh**show. Unless of course, my dad is the starter. He can do 220 rounds by himself with a split tee start.

[Imp]

I have no idea where this course is, but a note on split tee starts... it requires a zen mastery of tee sheet management AND two starters with two rangers to make sure people make their turns on time. If there aren't a minimum of 4 outside staff guys it turns into a sh**show. Unless of course, my dad is the starter. He can do 220 rounds by himself with a split tee start.

1st day of a 2 day tourney this weekend was at Allendale Saturday. (Pinehills Sunday).

 

Allendale did just this, but failed. 1st tee times were starting at 11, 1st group out was actually 11:30 something. They kept throwing in members and 'people making the turn' as they decided to do a split on Front/Back for the morning. The last group to turn from 18 to 1 were 3 yahoos that disappeared from 18 to stock up on more beer at the bar to bring with them and took about 10 min to actually tee off on 1 from the time they came off 18.

 

On the plus side, after 9 holes of watching them play army golf (and while there was a 90 degree rule, they thought it meant "park the cart on the path and walk the 90 degrees to the ball" (IOW, they played it as a cart path only), they were done and gone after 9 holes. We did the back in 2 hours.

 

--kC

[dmagalhaes]

In my opinion, on a weekend morning, golf carts do not speed up play, people speed up play. Now if I'm all alone out on the course with nobody in front of me, then yes I will play faster riding in a cart but in general it makes no difference other than added revenue for the club. I never ride but it would drive me nuts if there were slow groups in front of me and I had to wait 5 minutes to hit a ball it only took me 30 seconds to get too. I also believe that people would question their shot selection and play a more conservative game if they had to walk all over the course because they are spraying it. The fact that you can drive to your ball faster does not guarantee that you will finish your round any faster. Not to mention the damage done to the course from idiots driving up on greens, etc..

[jdl]

Just an update here, the "policy" seems to have gone away as I was able to walk today and only pay the upgrade $10. However they have a new way of causing problems. Last week we found ourselves behind a 5some. This week I thought it was happening again as I saw 3 carts on the 3rd green. But no, it was even worse. On the next hole I saw it wasn't 5 players, but 6! How do you put a 6some out on a course on a weekend morning? Called into the pro shop on the next fairway and they said they would "send someone out to check." So we finally saw the "checker" coming down the 7th fairway and we spoke with him on the 7th tee box. He claimed the 6some was "on pace" and we'd "be waiting anyway" so it wasn't a big deal, but he did have them break up into a 2some and a 4some. I can't believe he really thought it was OK, or that the fact that a 6some was "on pace" with a straight face. Anyway, things got a little better after that, though the course was backed up. Not sure what happened to the 2some, we only saw the 4some after that and they were behind another 4some. Hope this isn't a trend....

[jut111]

Thats brutal. I used to love playing their par 3 course after work when i lived out there for some short game practice. Not a fan of the proper course, target golf to that degree is not my idea of a good time.

[jdl]

I have a bunch of par 3 course coupons that I'd love to use after work. But my commute is south on 495 and getting on to 290 is a nightmare and that usually dissuades me from even thinking about it.