Course: Cedar Knob

Location: Somers, CT

Date Played: April 2006 (9 holes) Updated 10/7/07 & 4/5/08

Played By: Ross & Jason

Overall Rating: 66

Friendliness of Staff: 9
Guy in pro shop told us to play 9, due to impending rain. Good suggestion. Updated 4/5/08: After having been back several times now, their restaurant staff and executive chef never cease to amaze. With constant smiles on their faces and a friendly attitude, they go out of their way to say hello and ask you how your day is going.

Facilities/Pro Shop: 6
The men’s room was disgusting. Not a lot of options in the pro shop. Nothing caught our eye to make us want to shop. Very small and cramped parking lot on a busy road. Update: Pro shop had full merchandise today with some high end putters on hand.

Quality/Value of Food/Snacks: 9
During the summer, this course has a grill outside. Home made french fries are outstanding. No meal has been bad yet. Update 4/5/08: Executive Chef Colles has now even added Belgian waffles to his ever expanding menu. He even went as far as importing a cast iron waffle maker from Belgium. Great concept!

Fairway Conditions: 6
Still brown, limited growth. 4th hole fairway had 30x5yd ground under repair. OK shape for early April. Update: The fairways are in good shape, but you can see some spotty areas that either have no growth or were once covered in weeds. They definitely do not water the rough as there were a lot of brown, dried areas.

Greens Conditions: 7
Outstanding for early April - solid. Fast greens; require a lot of water in the spring. Update: Score stays the same, but the greens were pretty slow early in the morning. They got better as the day went on, but not as fast as I remember. Once speed was judged, no problem. There is not a lot of damage to the greens and it looks like the golfers are repairing their divot marks. These greens can be tough to read for a good line.

Scenery: 4
Smell of horse shit (cow manure). Some nice views on #4 alongside a construction company (insert sarcasm here). A couple holes border main street. #11 has great views. Update: I finally played #11 and it is definitely a nice, intimidating view down a narrow fairway. Nothing else that is special though.

Difficulty of Course: 5
We only played the front 9, but nothing wowed us. #7 can be tough with a bad tee shot. #9 is very easy (Ross drove the green and Jay was putting for birdie - two easy pars). Update 4/5/08: Overall, this is an easier course, even for short hitters. There are some tougher holes, including #11, but it's easy to post a low round. There isn't too much water and you can't get in to too much trouble.

Value Received: 6
$25 is a fair price to pay for 9 holes with cart in April. A little pricey given course conditions. Updated 4/5/08: Prices have gone up a bit, it's now $54 for 18 holes with a cart. But it's still reasonable considering how nice of a course it is. Surprisingly, there are no ball washers on the course. We're not sure if that is just because its early in the year or if it's year round, but they might want to consider adding them.

Speed of Play/Design of Course: 5
Parking lot was too close to the main road. Traffic was heavy; morons yelling from their cars while trying to putt. Play seemed to move along with average players.

19th Hole: 9
Steelrail and Newcastle on tap. The lady forgot to get Ross a beer. Had a deck of cars on hand for us to play pitch. Waitress pushed us to cash out for shift change. Friendly, always asking if we wanted more. Updated 4/5/08: With incredible staff and the addition of Blue Moon to their really great selection of draft beer, this is one of the 19th holes that we enjoy the most. They now have a nice big screen TV to catch up on the days sports action. You would be missing out if you didn't stop in after your round.

There is no beer cart on the course.

Comments:
Still early in the season. Course will be in great shape in the summer months. Overall, the course is worth playing, but you may want to consider other courses in the area during the spring, seeing though it’s $50 for 18 holes with cart on the weekend. Update: Now I got to play the back 9 and made some adjustments to the scoring. The pro shop was stocked to the brim this time. This is definitely an older course with a reasonable design. The course website could use some updating. They don't give out their street number, so if you're using a GPS, you'll be driving the whole length of Billings Rd. to get to the course.