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I've played some crappy courses in my life but must say I wouldn't do it over again.

Fortunately, there aren't too many courses we feel bad about because...
...after all it is GOLF!

Bear Creek Golf World here in Houston. They have three courses and two of them suck worse than the other. The Executive (they changed its name to "Challenger" and jacked up the green fees some years ago) used to be a decent course but their maintenance sucks. It's a short par 66 with 8 par threes. The green fee on the weekend is $44 last time I checked. It's worth about $10. The President's course is an absolutely wide open course with not a single bunker any more. The first three holes used to have a few bunkers but they did away with them to speed up play. It is so wide open that you can miss an entire fairway and the rough between holes and STILL have a reasonable shot to the green. Not sure about their rate for this course but its usually more than the Executive. The Master's course is a decent layout and not easy. Of the three courses, the Master's is the best. Again, their maintenance leaves a lot to be desired. Their attitude has always disturbed me as well. These folks act like they are doing you a favor when they wait on you.

But their range ball policies really suck. You cannot buy any range balls at the range. You have to walk all the way to back to the clubhouse and pay for the golf balls there. The range gets a lot of use so it's prudent to go check out the range before you decide if you want to wait to wait to hit balls if there is a big crowd. If you decide to hit balls, you then have to walk all the way back to the clubhouse, pay for the balls and walk back to the range. You have to leave your clubs unattended to reserve a spot for you to hit from. Not always desirable depending on where you go. The alternative is to pay for your range balls before you go to the range and pray that there isn't a huge crowd. Since my wife has started playing I have taken her there a couple of times lately, since it is nearby. Both times we have had to hit off of mats. I hate mats! They can make you feel like you're making a decent swing whe

Bear Creek Golf World here in Houston. They have three courses and two of them suck worse than the other. The Executive (they changed its name to "Challenger" and jacked up the green fees some years ago) used to be a decent course but their maintenance sucks. It's a short par 66 with 8 par threes. The green fee on the weekend is $44 last time I checked. It's worth about $10. The President's course is an absolutely wide open course with not a single bunker any more. The first three holes used to have a few bunkers but they did away with them to speed up play. It is so wide open that you can miss an entire fairway and the rough between holes and STILL have a reasonable shot to the green. Not sure about their rate for this course but its usually more than the Executive. The Master's course is a decent layout and not easy. Of the three courses, the Master's is the best. Again, their maintenance leaves a lot to be desired. Their attitude has always disturbed me as well. These n you're actually hitting the ball fat.

The putting green also sucks. It is very fast and has some serious mounds in it. But they only cut two holes in it! The rest of the "holes" are simply the flag sitting on the green. I guess they think that we just want to putt "AT" a flag, not to a hole. These people really piss me off! I don't give them any of my business and haven't for about 15 years. I actively discourage people from playing Bear Creek here in Houston even though it is about ten minutes from my house. It looks like mostly old codgers play there since they seem to have a decent deal for seniors. I have even tried to discourage seniors from playing there. I point them to PineCrest GC at Clay and Gessner which is only a few miles further down Clay Road.

You can play Pine Crest GC for $26 (senior rate) during the week and $43 on weekends. The only negative for Pine Crest is that they don't allow walking and I love to walk. Their maintenance is much better than B

Bear Creek Golf World here in Houston. They have three courses and two of them suck worse than the other. The Executive (they changed its name to "Challenger" and jacked up the green fees some years ago) used to be a decent course but their maintenance sucks. It's a short par 66 with 8 par threes. The green fee on the weekend is $44 last time I checked. It's worth about $10. The President's course is an absolutely wide open course with not a single bunker any more. The first three holes used to have a few bunkers but they did away with them to speed up play. It is so wide open that you can miss an entire fairway and the rough between holes and STILL have a reasonable shot to the green. Not sure about their rate for this course but its usually more than the Executive. The Master's course is a decent layout and not easy. Of the three courses, the Master's is the best. Again, their maintenance leaves a lot to be desired. Their attitude has always disturbed me as well. These ear Creek. The course is firm and fast, has lots of water in play and lots of trees. The greens can also be tough since they have some serious undulation in them.

Stay away from Bear Creek Golf World and if you live in the area, try Houston National or Pine Crest GC.

Torrey Pines North, Bad overpriced muni in a beauitiful setting. Would be a $20 course anywhere else

If only there was a way to warn fellow strackans about courses like these in their areas...

the courses that are run by the Minneapolis parks dept. Are just terrible, overpriced crowded and bad conditions is the never play again trifecta

Killian Greens in South Florida, totally terrible

Two to avoid if you're ever in SE Michigan....

1) Hadley Acres (http://www.ushandicap.com/golf..)... in (appropriately enough) the little town of Hadley, Michigan... calling it a cow pasture is an undeserved compliment... the fairways are close to 5-6" high, let alone the rough... you can tee off and see exactly where you ball go and still get up and not find it... your only hope on this course is the par 3s and you had better hit the green... any hole long enough that you can't drive, forget it, pick your personal limit (10, triple bogey, whatever) and mark it down, unless you feel like approaching 2,000 strokes for the round....

2) Beech Hollow Golf Course (http://www.ushandicap.com/golf..) in Freeland, Michigan near MBS (Midland-Bay City-Saginaw) Airport, up in the Tri-City Area... nice enough course but overpriced and the staff is ruder than hell... my brother Brian (who is legally blind) and I (almost there myself, not to mention hearing-impaired) went there a few years back... they were snarky and condescending, repeatedly alluded that if not for the discount card we had from WNEM/TV5, that we were too poor to play there (and even WITH the discount, we were paying close to $70, so it's not like we were THAT much of bums!!), engaged in a "bait-and-switch" compared to what they quoted over the telephone, looked down at how we were dressed (clean polo/dressy Docker-style shorts, apparently, if you don't wear a $80 shirt and a $60 pair of slacks, you're too low class to exist, in their minds). Needless to say, we called their boss after we left and told them that they needed to train their employees better and that we'd NEVER be back! Even last year, that course was on our TV5 cards again, we did NOT go there. Screw them!

Kennedy Golf Course in Denver makes me sick. The course is played a ton and it really bothers me. The staff is unbelievably rude and care-free, people at McDonald's are more passionate about their job than those idiots at this course are. The idiot designer decided to put it 10 yards next to a highway on the Front 9, and an extremely busy intersection on the Back 9. And let's not forget it's in awful shape. When I'm a millionaire, I'm buying that course and doing a bigger remodeling on that junkyard than Michael Jackson's plastic surgery.

There aren't that many bad courses in Dallas/Ft. Worth, but I will say don't waste your time with Bear Creek (south of the DFW airport). It's not necessarily a bad course, but you won't have fun, trust me. They crammed 36 holes into a property that's suited for only 18 holes. So the holes are impossibly narrow and there is no rough...if you miss the fairway or green, you are in the forest.

Now, I will tell you all day about how amazing the Creeks Course at Indian Creek is...but the other course, the Lakes Course, is a complete waste of time. Seems like it was designed by someone who doesn't play golf. Spend the extra cash and play the Creeks. Trust me on this one.

Barron's Golf Course in Doerun, Ga (Cow Pasture). No kiddin, used to be an old cow pasture! I played it once about 5 years ago. 1 hole it's a par 4, 180 yards, 90degree dogleg 90 yards off the tee box. Must take 60degree wedge of the tee turn right 60degree wedge into the green. There is 100ft. tall pine trees so you can't cut the corner in between the tee box and green at the corner. First time in my life I have ever taken 2 - 60 degree wedges into a par 4. Next hole after that the tee box is in one pasture and there's a narrow gap 200 yds. long and 30 yards wide you must hit through to get to the opening that the green is located in the next pasture. It's where they run power lines through the property. So not only do you have an impossible gap to shoot but you must contend with power poles and lines, there's also stumps in that gap from where they cleared the land for the power lines. There's a hole on the front that is about 550 yards or so long/par 5. I took a Driver/3wood hit the green. Saw my ball on the green, put my club up got in cart and rode to the green. I get there and NO BALL! The whole green was slanted at a 45 degree angle towards a pond just in front of it (no way this can be legal, slant wise). Yes my ball was in the pond. I took my drop chipped up 2 ft. past the hole and it rolled all the way back into the water, I did this 4 times in a row before I picked up cussing like a sailor. It was more like a PUTT-PUTT course than a golf course to me!

Oh, almost forgot. Any course over $100, I don't care what the cart girl looks like! I want to get scr###d, I'll go to Camden and do it the old fashioned way...

Valleybrook in New Jersey has never done much for me. Too many holes are, for lack of a better word, hincky... Goofy dog legs, forced carries, card yardages that don't relate well to reality, I just find it a chore to play here. On the other hand, the pro I take lessons from there, Ed Kramer, is an ace!

John F. Byrne in Philadelphia is a city public course. It's cheap to play, short, almost always packed and almost always with guys who can't hit straight if their lives depend on it. However, it's not their lives that are in jeopardy. The fairways and tee boxes are very close together and errant shots come whistling by on every hole. Somebody yells, "Fore!" and half the course ducks! After 9 holes I wanted to go back to my truck for my hardhat.

Most of the courses I avoid aren't bad courses. I've just outgrown them. There are several courses in my area that make excellent "beginner's" courses. Springfield in Mount Holly, Kresson, Beckett, FDR also in Philly, all are easy, playable, and affordable. FDR has an excellent practice area too. I pick one of these for afternoon practice rounds or when taking a newbie out for a round.