My sons and I decided to play golf on Monday, Jan. 2, 2023 largely because of the very mild weather. We further decided to play golf at a course that was located about halfway between us. We selected Inniscronne golf club in Avondale, PA largely because of tee time availability, round cost, and recent positive GolfNow reviews. It turns out the first two discriminators were accurate. The last was not! Recent GolfNow reviews are positive but brief. Recent Yelp reviews are negative and correct.
Inniscrone golf club was once private owned/operated. The course was originally designed by golf course architect Gil Hanse in 1998. Apparently, the course was rated very well by Golfweek back in 2001 as one of the "Top 100 Golf Courses in America". The private club charged up to $50,000 for club membership at that time. Unbelievable! That was a long time ago in golf years and times have certainly changed; not for the better for Inniscrone golf club (see below). Inniscrone golf club is currently owned by London Grove Township and has been operated by the Heathland Hospitality Group; a Food and Beverage consultant; since 2011. Healthland's core business portfolio does not include managing other golf clubs/courses. I can see why this is so.
Upon arrival to the course, players have to "fetch" their own golf cart from the cart barn. We had to reselect a cart after finding the first cart had a flat tire. Not starting well.
Check-in was quick and easy. We had prior purchased online a GolfNow "hot deal" round of golf.
There are 5 levels of play. The overall strokes par for the course is 70 due to two less par 5's. The course is generally quite wide on most holes with just a few narrow and challenging holes. Pace of play was good largely due to the 15 minute separation of tee times.
We experienced several significant problems during our round that were either nature's fault or the fault of Inniscrone Maintenance. First, the course was VERY VERY wet due to some rain the day prior. The significantly wet tee boxes, fairways, and greens made for poor play. This course does not drain well compared to other golf courses. Several of the holes are permanently marked "cart path only" due to the poor drainage. Second, we noticed the smell of sewer gas at various locations around the course. We suspect underground sewer piping and sewer vent stations from nearby housing located around the perimeter of the entire course may be the cause for the bad smell. Third; and most importantly; the greens bunkers and greens were in very poor condition. The greens bunkers had not been power raked for some time and were hard pan in places. Many of the greens were littered with tree limbs and leaves debris which should have been removed early in the morning by Maintenance. Even worse were the green's surfaces. The greens were not recently cut and rolled as they should have been by Maintenance. The greens were EXTREMELY soft and spongy. This doesn't just happen after rain; rather due to lack of routinely rolling. As such, putting on the greens was like putting on shag carpeting. Putted ball roll was hoppy, often short, and not true by direction. We frequently three-putted. Absolutely terrible!
Many of the course's original bunkers no longer have any sand. Rather, these sand vacated bunkers are now filled in with grass/hard pan mix. Very poor conditions for control chipping onto the green!
Cart access to the par 3 Hole #5 green is worrisome and not safe. The asphalt cart path leading down the steep incline to the green is partially covered in wet green moss. Our cart spun nearly 180 degrees around as we slid down the cart path. Fortunately, we were able to halt the sliding cart after a 10 ft. slide. The moss should be removed asap before a serious cart injury occurs.
There may have been only three employees in total working during our entire round of play. The check-in person, the snack bar person, and the cart attendant. Labor cost savings were in-place.
Lastly, judging the current "dated" condition of the once nicely appointed clubhouse interior and exterior, little money is being spent by London Grove Township on maintenance and beautification of the clubhouse. The large clubhouse is now only utilized to provide bathrooms use and a small snack bar. This is unfortunate and a bit depressing.
In summary, we can't recommend Inniscrone golf club at this time. We recommend you play elsewhere for a better round of golf; even if that requires you drive 30 - 60 minutes to another golf course in the PA/DE/NJ area. Don't take the risk playing Inniscrone golf club as you will likely regret your decision. We certainly did. read more
