Wow, I am really bummed out by Stonebridge. I even bought a house on the course so that I could walk to the clubhouse, but will spend my time now golfing everywhere but Stonebridge.

1 - I've never seen the course in worse shape, there have been threads on this already, but for those who haven't heard, the t-boxes and fairways are dirt. Greens are OK though.

2 - They plowed the driving range and are pouring foundations. It makes me sick to my stomach to see what was supposed to be a high end golf course nix the driving range. To see the old guys whacking balls into a netting on the first tee is really sad. I realize the almighty dollar wins and a couple dozen houses is worth it to them, but it just has to hurt the course resale value considerably, no? A golf course without a driving range is just pathetic.

3 - After dropping the 48 packs last year they dropped the 24 packs this year. The only bulk-buy option now is non-prime time in 10 packs, and even those you have to use weekdays after 1pm or pay another $15 a pop. The break even point on a membership is about 40-45 full rounds (assuming you mix your play time with prime and non-prime times), which pretty much only puts retirees in play. I really don't think they realized how much business those 24 and 48 packs pulled in for them -- groups picking up 6 each, and then invariably pulling in other people to round out 4-somes.

4 - After years of being one of the most punctual courses in the city, they've now become lax (likely to attract more $$$) and play has gone from a solid 4-4.5 hour round to an average of 5+ the last three times I've played there. Last Saturday I bailed on 16 due to slow play to make a party, something I have not had to do in several years.

5 - After using the poor course conditions as an excuse to charge only $60, they're testing to see if they can actually get $75 a round, but this is at most a $50 course now.

The sad thing is that somewhere a course manager is simply blaming the "bad economy" for the fact the parking lot is rarely more than 1/4 full, when in fact there's a tonne of bad decisions that are going to plow this course into the ground.

Very sad.

- Don