Tenison Park Golf Course — Attraction in Dallas

If I could rate Tenison Park less than 1 star I would. My rating has nothing to do with the course itself. Both the Highland and Glen courses are decent tracks, and courses any level of golfer can enjoy. My review comes from the experience I had with a group of colleagues from work during a golf outing. Never in our time playing golf and playing many courses have we ever been treated with the disrespect, contempt and unprofessional behavior we experienced from some of the staff at Tenison Park.

First off the woman who was the course attendant was mean, rude, contemptuous and simply a poor choice of staff to put in place on a course to be selling drinks and snacks to people. She was quite possibly the poorest example of a customer service representative I have ever encountered. In our first encounter with her she immediately told our group she was calling the clubhouse because we were not following the "cart-path-only rule" which no one in our party was informed of upon checking in at the clubhouse that morning. It turned out there was no cart-path-only or 90-degree rule that day. She offered nothing to us and scoffed when no one wanted to buy anything. We were 3 holes in. We didn't need anything at that point. We encountered her again a few holes later where she proceeded to reach into one of our carts and grab a beer can from one of our party and pour it out, stating something to the effect of, "If you want to drink, buy something from us." Then proceeded to visually search our carts as she drove by each one. After that she passed us up on her next rounds, except on one occasion where she stopped and inspected our carts again. We were fine with her passing us up after that. We were not going to buy anything from her anyway after the experiences we'd had with her.

The other experience we had with course staff was on the 10th hole with the Marshall. We were a group of 8 playing as two foursomes in a four-man, best-ball scramble and the lead group had waited for the other to catch up on the 10th green, since at the turn on the Glen Course you are no where near the club house so most people just continue playing through instead of stopping at the turn before continuing. So, there are 8 of us standing around or on the 10th green when the Marshall pulls up and without introducing himself or speaking to anyone, jumps out of his cart and proceeds to start yelling at us like we were a bunch kids and demands, "I want four of you to leave this hole right now and move on to the next! Right now! No course in America will allow a group of 8 to play together!" He never gave us a chance to explain what was going on he just drove up, acted completely unprofessional and down right tried to intimidate us with his language and actions. After unsuccessfully trying to explain the situation to him, (he didn't care what we had to say anyway), we complied with his request, however unprofessionally it may have been delivered to us, and moved on.

Up to that point we had been having a great time, but after the encounter with the Marshall it pretty much ruined the day for most of us. We played through and I went in the clubhouse to speak to the manager when we finished. However, there was no manager available. When I asked if there was a manager I could speak to the gentleman at the counter replied, “Well, not really.” I told the guys at the desk about our experience and that we would not be back but I don't think they...

Location and the driving range is all this place has going for it. I have been going to the course for years and am completely fed-up with the raised price and lack of care going into it. $55+ tax for a course not maintained for the price you pay for it. The most I would pay to play a course like this...30? maybe. The proximity to downtown is probably the only reason people play this course. Cedar Crest does a better job at maintaining for nearly half the price.

O yeah, it is also illegal in the State of Texas to require a minimum purchase amount on purchases below $5.00. Never going to this place again. And yes, I already reported you to the State Attorney General's Office. Good Luck.

Tenison Highlands Driving range built into a constant cross wind, so not able to tell how well you're hitting it. Staff always very friendly and helpful.

Putting green. Nothing like what is out on the course. Very inconsistent from day to day. Nothing is done on any of the cups when they are cut, to make the the raised ground from the freshly cut cup is leveled back to the rest of the green. Cups are always domed. Resulting in puts that never go in the cup. Probably the only consistency between the practice putting green and course green.

Chipping green. NO hittable grass around it. Very barren no matter the time of year. Bunkers are always fluff. Whether it is in the practice are or on the course. Never packed properly or at all.

Tee Boxes. Just like the chipping green area. Hardly any grass. Probably the better part of the course.

Fairway/Rough. Cannot tell the difference between the two. Whether it is Spring, Summer, or Fall. No grassline to depict whether you hit a fairway or rough. Even when you are in the rough. It's very barren, no grass. Only chewed up dirt. Even then, the grass is so short, its barely possible to hit any type of shot off of it. Ground very hard due to lack of watering.

Greens. Never seen any cut on weekends. Play Saturday, only to come back on Sunday to see the greens still haven't been cut. And every cup cut on the course is raised and very visibly domed. None put like a true green. Puts more like shag carpet.

Markers. No designation of Yellow/Red hazard lines on the course. Whether by water or other hazards. Nothing is marked properly or at all. Lots of un-marked ground under repair. Some areas small, some very large.

Do not see marshal's out on the course to monitor the pace of play. Very common to send out people too many people in a group early just because they know somebody that works there. Slow play is very expected with the lack of marshal presence. Many times you see people taking at least 20 minutes to complete even the easier of par 4's.

Tenison Glen -

It appears what money is left over from poorly maintaining the Highlands is put into this course. It's fine that it has no bunkers. It is a very old school classic layout. It is the more challenging of the two and more fun. More worth your money playing Glen than Highlands if you had to choose between the two.

Paying this much money, you would expect to see a good presence as to how your money is spent on this course. But I just can't see it anymore. Not sure I saw it...

I have been coming out to this course for many years. Yes, these people in the shop can be a little hard on you but they are doing their job. All they are doing is hosting the course and are enforcing the rules. I see many comments on the bottom here that complain about their beer being poured out because they aren't allowed to bring it to the course. That is a TABC rule. Very strict regulation that the golf course has to follow. If they don't pour it out in front of you the course can be shut down by TABC. Do not ask why, it is a rule. Just DO NOT bring your own alcoholic beverages!

Another complaint is that the people working inside the shop were very rude and gave away your tee time to someone else. That is not their fault, that is the fault of the golfer. When you schedule a tee time, it is the golfers responsibility to come in early to check out. It is common sense. You as the golfer is setting up an appointment to come in and play.

1.When you make an appointment to anything, you don't arrive 10 or 15 minutes late. And sometimes the course is very, very, very busy. Even I have decided to out during the week as a single to get on the course and it is all of the sudden very busy! You shouldn't fuss and complain to the guy at the check out desk because its literally not there fault that people decided to come on out and play on a nice day. So, what they will do is put you on a walk up list and tell you that they will call you up if they see an opening on the tee sheet. They do their best to satisfy everyone.

You cannot bring your own coolers! They provide coolers to rent inside the golf shops cafe. You just have to deposit $20 (cash only) and when you are done using the cooler, you return it and you get your $20 back. Easy.

Range balls are across the street from the facility. The golf balls aren't suppose to be taken out of the range facility and are only for hitting in the range only.

When you are checking out with them and they ask for your phone number, don't be surprised. They will not give your number to any telemarketers. They only keep your phone number incase you loose a club or any item you may leave, they will be able to contact you through their system.

Don't leave your golf cart in the parking lot. It is very disrespectful to the cart guys. And you are also reliable for that cart. If for some reason you leave it in the parking lot and someone runs the cart over or even steals it, you will have to pay for that cart. And it isn't cheap. Trust me, I had to pay for one myself and it wasn't pleasant...

Hope this makes your...