Clustered Spires Golf Course

Love this course. Well maintained. Open fairways. Smooth greens. Mostly flat. Flashes of character. Great price. They’ve also got a grass driving range. Which takes a little extra work and money. But real golfers appreciate it greatly.
Pro-​shop guy, snack guy, starter, cart girl – all great people. However, the ranger they had was awful. Young kid. Meant well. But wow, just – just bad at his job. I’ve never had a ranger interfere with a round like that. He followed us on-​and-​off throughout the round. Three times asked us to speed up pace (once on the 17^th hole?). And twice hovered over us, from five feet away, during approach shots. My group was solid. Foursome, handicaps from 5 — 20. We were deliberate but efficient. Lost very few balls. And played the round right. The other crazy thing, we never really stalled the group behind us. That was a hacker group with two players topping the ball up the fairway. And when we finished 18, we looked back, and they weren’t even on the tee. We made a five-​minute turn. And finished in ~4hr20m.

The course has a nice layout and looks good, and the price is more than fair, but the place seems to be run by lazy, non-​attentive or, perhaps, ill prepared people. They charge handsomely for range balls and give a bucket of muddy, grass globbed balls. Apparently no one thought to wash them. Little things detract from what it could be and should be.

My go-​to course as a young golfer (6 handicap) on a budget. The course is in great shape for a public course and the price can’t be beat if you go later for their discounted rates or even twilight. Pretty wide-​open and forgiving with fairly large greens. Great course for beginners but you have to play from the tips if you want a challenge! Highly recommend it!

Two separate reviews: one for the golf course, and one for the instruction.
GOLF: 4-​stars.
This is a great little course located in Frederick. The maintenance of the course is generally very good. The fairways are lush, the tee boxes (at least the tips) are solid, and the greens are fast. The bunkers are usually well cared for, even after rains. The course is not too difficult for better golfers, but for mid-​cappers like me (11), it’s fun. There are a couple good holes, including the 240-​yard par 3 16^th, and the 475-​yard par 4 18^th. Most of the par 5s are reachable in two (depending on weather), and the rough is thick; fair but punishing. This is a good solid course, with generally good pace of play. And the price can’t be beat, especially for the condition of the course. Play on Saturday afternoon: 18 holes with cart, $ 40 – 45. Added bonus: grass tee range. I hate mats!
I have two gripes about this place. The first is that the ranger is hardly ever out, and even when he is, doesn’t seem to be effective. Pace of play can be a problem, and it doesn’t seem like anything is done to remedy it. For example, I was there recently, and we are stacked three groups deep on the turn. BUT, the group waiting in front of me was a twosome (one in a cart, and one walking), and playing the hole were THREE MORE TWOSOMES! Combine these groups, especially with a starter sitting on the 1^st/​10^th tee boxes.
Second, the cart girl does not come around nearly often enough. In four rounds at this place, I’ve never seen the cart girl twice in one round. Remedy that.
INSTRUCTION: 5-​stars.
I can’t speak for the entire staff, but if they are anything like Lewis, then they are awesome. Lewis is a younger guy, super-​patient, and had a good knack of using multiple ways to explain a concept or theory that you are having difficulty understanding. This is an under-​rated skill. If you say, «The problem you have is yadda yadda yadda,» and I don’t understand, you repeating that EXACT same thing 3 seconds later isn’t going to give me the Eureka! moment you were hoping I’d have. Since taking lessons with Lewis, I’m consistently shooting 5 – 6 strokes better. My end-​of-​year goal is to shoot low 80s consistently. I’m very close thanks to Lewis. I highly recommend him to anyone.
They also have a nice set-​up called the Vault. It’s an indoor hitting room setup with high speed cameras and a weight-​shifting board that measures the pressure of your weight through the swing. Incredibly useful to see yourself on tape and really visualize the flaws in your swing. And they can burn you DVDs to take home.

A well-​manicured course with not too much trouble for the beginning golfer. You aren’t going to lose many balls here. My wife, a beginner, enjoyed it. It was a bit easy for me, a 4 handicap, even from the tips, but enjoyable enough. There were three or four challenging holes that required some good shot-​making. We played Sunday afternoon for $ 30 a piece. Pace of play was about 4 hours 20, which is good for a public course on a weekend afternoon.

Nice course and always well manicured. $ 60 during the weekend w/​no twilight a little pricey. One of the most forgiving courses around. Customer service just ok.

I’ve golfed here three or four times and each time was great. The course isn’t too hard for a sucky golfer like me and the price for a cart and 18 isn’t too bad either.