Dale Hollow Golf Course — Local services in Albany

One of the most beautiful golf courses we have ever played. To get there, we actually took a boat and were then picked up by a shuttle van. Unfortunately, the phones did not work at the marina or the golf course as they said they would , so we had to rely on local people to call others to arrange our ride, even though we had pre-planned with the golf course and said they would be there they would get us. Once we finally arrived, we informed them that their phone wasn't working, but they questioned and treated us as if we were incoherent.We heard other patrons complaining about the same issue.

we were just able to arrive at our tee time on time. Thank God let’s Golf!

Now we meet Rick. We wanted to let them know we were essentially arriving just on time because of the phone and shuttle issues. But The golf marshall, Rick , told us that the problem must be with our phones. He added an extra person to our group, which was not a major issue, though his approach was somewhat questionable to us.

We split our group into a group of two and a group of three, plus the added person, making it a group of four. While my brother was playing the group of 4, Rick the golf marshall approached them on hole 4 and told them they should move up to the forward tees, despite no one pushing them. We're not sure why he did this?

He was -1 through 3 holes hitting his 2nd shot on the par 5 . And he stops him in the middle of a mental game and says hey consider moving up tees.

Why Rick ? Well The other 2 guys were struggling some. But was anyone pushing them? no. so no we were holding no groups? Yes nobody was waiting . But he proceeded to interrupt us and tell him they should move up tees. Lining up for a 2nd shot in the middle of one of his best games and you want to slander us? Slander me ?

Rick then proceeded to approach our other group. The group of two after which we were playing in front of him of my brother , and said, "I think I may have messed up your friend up there by telling him to move up in the middle of the hole "

Well at least you recognize you are acting like a fool.

Rick take a chill pill and relax there was no need for you to treat us this way today and you should know that do...

We had been waiting with great anticipation to play this course because almost all my golf acquaintances had played it.

First, it’s beautiful. Played middle to late October 2023 and the Fall colors make it picturesque.

Second, we played the #3 tees mainly because we had a guy in our group who was not a long hitter off the tees. Having done that it takes the driver out of your hands in a lot of the holes. Hole #1, 6 iron off the tee with only 69 yards to play. If you’re a 240-260 yd driver then a lot of holes have hazards in play.

Third, there was a slow group in front of us. The rangers NEVER addressed any slow play. It took 2 hrs, 50 minutes to play the front nine. The group in front of us realized how slow they were and let us go through. We had another tee time for five hours after our first tee time and almost missed it.

Fourth, the staff was great.

Fifth, the green fees were $55. No senior discounts. That is the highest I’ve had to pay at any of the state park courses. Seems steep. Dale Hollow is billed as the premier state park course. It’s not. Burnside and KY Dam Village are better.

Sixth, and most important to me and our group and the reason for the four star rating. The greenskeeper must have had been in a really bad mood when he placed the pins on the front nine. There is not a level green in this golf course to begin with but the pins were place on slopes, edge of shelfs, just absolutely horrible pin placements. Example, hole #1. All four of our group was on the green in two or regulation. We ALL had bogies because you could not hit anywhere close to the hole without the ball running back off the green. Why would you penalize 12 handicappers by placing the pins in ridiculous positions. The course management and shape was awesome. But the pin placements did not leave average golfers with a chance to score.

Still had a...

Played 18 today. The views were stunning. The course has a lot of elevation changes and features that make for a challenging course. It even has a cemetery on site. -The rangers were really slack on managing pace of play. We waited on two slow playing singles all day long. We sat 5-10 minutes in every hole because that combined with groups arriving late and the rangers did not make them move ahead. This was what I would categorize as a low amount of traffic for such slow play. -The bunkers were in really bad shape too. Most were filled with rocks and gravel. They have just started to let them go and they are a bit of an eyesore. -The “pro-shop” was a bit out of sorts too. Sign said no coolers but the carts didn’t have coolers and when you ordered drinks they didn’t give you a cooler, ice bags or anything. It was 85 degrees outside. I have never seen that before. Then the Marshall who should be looking at pace of play comes around and confiscates coolers that you use to cool down the drinks you bought from them. -no signage or info about cart rules for the day: we had to ask because they never said anything +The greens were well maintained The fairways were in really good shape especially with the amount of rain they had in them +views are second to few wildlife everywhere: we had two deer come to us on the putting green waters and powerades were reasonably priced; beer was about 3.50 per 16oz too pin placement was challenging but not ridiculous for $42 the course conditions minus bunkers were as good as you will see

I’d go back but I will temper my...