Flanders Valley Golf Course — Attraction in Mount Olive

I thought I'd write a current review since most of what I have read about Flanders is 5-8 years old. I don't like saying this, since it's my tax dollars at work here, but Flanders has declined in recent years overall. I would have considered it a 5-star track in the past and it was one of Golf Digest's top 100 public courses, but that was a long time ago. The layouts of both courses (Red/Gold & White/Blue) have remained the same of course, but turf maintenance has declined significantly. Greens are often bumpy, some tees are barren of grass and a couple of years ago lack of thatch removal resulted in the loss of grass on several fairways, which have since been reseeded but is symptomatic of why Flanders isn't what it once was.

Still, both courses remain challenging for all levels of player, especially from the tips . The front nines of each are relatively flat with wide open fairways while the back nines are hillier and require a bit more precision and thought on all shots. You will find that you will pretty much need all the clubs in your bag which is a testament to the architects, Hal Purdy and Rees Jones.

Edit: 10/2017. In the 4 years since I posted the above review, Billy Casper Golf has taken over management of the course and things are vastly improved. Greens and fairways are once again in excellent, almost country club like condition. Another change that was made - they reversed the nines on both courses. The hilly nines are on the front and the flat nines are the back. This is because the starter shed has been converted into an outdoor "Tiki Bar" with beer and barbecued burgers and hotdogs and now when you're finished with your round you have to walk right by and it's hard to resist. Note to management: When you make 1" diameter hotdogs (which are pretty good) you need to put them into nice thick potato bread buns and not the crummy 99 cent/dozen standard buns you're...

The rangers here have the worst attitudes. It's a jam packed round early Friday afternoon and we are waiting for the group in front of us, who are waiting for the group in front of them, etc. We are on the green putting and the rangers come by and park by our carts. While walking off the green the ranger shouts "we're getting really backed up here, you guys gotta pick it up! You gotta play ready golf, can't watch other people putt!!!!" in a rude and aggressive tone, with no previous interactions with the rangers. We explain that we've been waiting for the group in front of us all day and there's nowhere to go. They respond "well you're not waiting now, hurry up, the next group is walking onto the green already!" We find that hard to believe but we move on. We get to the tee box of the next hole and the group in front of us is in the middle of the fairway still. WE CAN'T EVEN TEE OFF YET. No idea what the rangers were talking about and who was "on the green" or why they were so aggressive and confrontational. Of course, they had driven away by then so we couldn't point this out to them. Sorry it was backed up, but it wasn't our fault. This ranger also came from behind us, which is the opposite of what a ranger should do when looking for the hold up. Come from the end of the course so you can see where the gaps are. And don't be so mean and condescending, especially when you're in the wrong. MAYBE if this was a second or third "offense", but this was our first interaction with him. Ranger was a tall, older guy. All Flanders seems to care about is money, money, money. Get as many groups out and then yell at them to play faster. They have done this for years here. Course isn't even in great shape, lots of sandy tee boxes and burnt out fairways. No reason to go back, not even worth the...

I wonder what the grounds crew here really does in the morning besides mow the grass/greens. These tee boxes have not been touched since the season opened in March, it’s pretty despicable that you pay the amount of money that you do, get boned on cart fees, and can’t even have tee boxes to play on without craters in them. This isn’t even the worst box on the course!! The greens are in great shape I have absolutely no complaints there, but these tee boxes? and the concrete/wet sand? cmon guys… on top of that some of these starters need to adjust their attitudes. You have some really nice, great guys and then there’s always a sour apple that seems to be flustered by the totally anticipated crowd that is coming to play. The pro shop is also SUPERRRRR slow there’s always one guy working one register with a line out the door. And almost every time i’ve seen another worker in there standing behind the counter, but not working the register to get people where they need to be WHEN they need to be there. That’s another issue that delays tee times and further stacks groups on top of each other. Maybe a bit more organization/separation of tee times will relieve some of the craziness guys! It’s annoying coming to play here and having to wait most of the time on groups in front while ALSO having a group hit up on you, completely pinched. Some adjustments would do wonders for this course, the employees, and more importantly the people...