Public Course Golfers: Anyone else notice very quiet courses this year?

[LottaBalata]

My home course in central Indiana has been packed, pretty much every day that I have been out.  I've played the last 4 wks in a row??  Its the only course I've played as of yet.

No idea what's going on elsewhere, nearby

[Dave2512]

Packed here, I'm talking unusually busy. A few were totally booked last weekend. The previous weekend I walked off twice in as many days because I can't play golf at a 20 minute per hole pace.I honestly think Golf Now has something to do with it. Unbelievable deals last weekend. I saw some $12.00 18 w/cart specials. I played a course I don't usually play because it's too expensive but they were $28 w/ gps cart. Though a huge factor is it's early so people are getting out to enjoy the warmer temps after lots of sporadic snow in Mar and Apr. But it's been crazy busy. I've had trouble just using the driving range. Had to wait for that today.

[thanw]

Since there seems to be some disagreement about central Oklahoma here is a breakdown of some of my recent rounds:

jimmie austin beautiful weather warm, no wind, weekday: four singles played through at a two hour pace, those were the only golfers I saw all day. was in a twosome, the largest group out there.

earlywine north beautiful weather warm, light breeze, weekday: a few other twosomes, the south course was deserted.

trosper beautiful weather warm, light breeze, weekday: they were steady on a thursday with a mix of twos, threes, and fours. They had a tourney booked for Friday (it rained)

Westwood Norman cold, high wind from the north: we were the only people on the course.

Called for tee time at John Conrad Sunday the first tee time I requested I got. They didn't ask how many were in my group.

[Unkynd]

Thanw, I'm going to be at JC tomorrow too. 10:37 tee time. I called Hefner first and their earliest time was 3:30. Then called lincoln and their earliest time was 12:30. Definitely agree about weekdays though.

[thanw]

Unkynd,

I'll be right behind you. 60F and the wind was howling today (Saturday) and Westwood looked jam packed when I drove by so it it is a tale of weekends/weekdays I guess. Stay out of the trees and have a nice round at JC.

[Unkynd]

After the first 2 holes at JC, it's not that bad.... those first 2 give me hell though.  Have a good one yourself.

[thanw]

Originally Posted by Unkynd

After the first 2 holes at JC, it's not that bad.... those first 2 give me hell though.  Have a good one yourself.

How about those AWACS touch and gos into that north wind eh? My ears are still ringing.

[Unkynd]

Haha, I'm immune to those by now.  I grew up right outside the base and right in the flight path for landings.  Me and a friend started at 10:37 and finished at 2:00.  We had a good pace going until we hit a *S-L-O-W* foursome on #10 that refused to let us play through.

That north wind made for a cooler round than I'd hoped for, but it's better than no golf.  Shot a 91 from the tips... birdied 12, par'd 17 (think it was playing 450ish into the north wind, long par 4)... but had 8's on 1 and 9... all in all a mediocre round?  How'd yours go?

[BostonBrew]

Low 70s and sunny today in Northern Colorado and the golf course was fairly empty. Saturday had a group waiting on every tee box it seemed, but for some reason today not many came out. Overall though, I'd say play is fairly consistent with previous years.

[GaijinGolfer]

Played a really bad par 3 course in a Columbus suburb today.  By bad I mean it looks like they had just planted the grass because there were lots of bare spots, rocks sticking out of the ground and the cart paths were little more than dirt trails where they didnt let the grass grow that had ruts, rocks and werent at all smooth.  Even that course was packed and I ended up getting stuck behind a 3-some of kids who were in no hurry, played several balls, gave themselves mulligans on every shot and all in all were very slow.

Lessons learned: from now on Im just going to stick to playing the Columbus city courses where people understand what golf ettiquette and pace of play are instead of playing these cheap little minis in the middle of nowhere, where people down know to let faster players through and think its OK to take 3 hours to play 9 holes.

[jimmyc]

My local course, north of Chicago has been a ghost town the last two weeks. Although it's great to play in 3 hours or less, they need the business to sustain the facility. I hope things perk up.

Oh, and the weather has been beautiful, so thats not the issue.

[Dave2512]

Totally different this weekend, so busy I couldn't get on the previous weekend and slow last weekend. Only difference was the temp, about 25* cooler. Looks like weather is the factor here. Could have been due to Cinco De Mayo. Lot's of street events people attend here.

[Unkynd]

Hefner South (oklahoma city) was so packed today that I couldn't find a parking spot.   Pretty crazy for a Monday.

[darkhunter139]

It was 70F and sunny here this weekend and the course I went to was pretty dead.  It was kind of weird because this course usually isn't like that.  3 hour round though, can't beat that.

[hacker101]

We just walked of a course that had groups of 5 on an executive par 3 and 4. 3.5 hours on the front 9 got to 13 in 5 hours way to many people playing. So I do not see it here in Los Angeles wish I did.

[Tar Baby]

Cleveland OH here... Play a lot of the munis (metro parks as they are called) and they are packed... Most play only nine holes though.. But been that way at least the last two years I have been here. I find it great as Weget a little socialization with other gofers for 9 holes.. Then get the back nine to ourselves.