Finley Golf Club — Local services in Chapel Hill

Positive: facilities, greens, environment and air quality

Negative: a dinosaur

I visited this golf course around 1:30 PM on a Monday afternoon. My friend had made the reservation, and I was responsible for bringing the golf clubs. It was our very first time at this course, and unfortunately, the experience started off on a very unpleasant note.

We had deliberately booked the latest possible tee time to avoid delaying any players behind us — there were no players scheduled after us. My friend urged us to begin hole 1 promptly, as we had planned to play 18 holes and didn’t want to keep the staff too late. There were three of us in total, and the friend who made the reservation clearly stated he would walk alongside the cart rather than ride, so we only needed one golf cart.

However, out of nowhere, an old man in a course vehicle drove straight up to us without introducing himself or explaining anything. In a bossy tone, he simply barked, “Follow me. You need to go to the club office. Everyone must have their own golf bag.” I replied, “We already have one set.” He insisted, “No, everybody should have his own bag.” We followed him back to the club office, where things got even worse. The front desk staff told us we had to rent two more sets of golf clubs and another golf cart — because “each cart can only carry three people.” At this point, our friend (who had made the booking) came in and explained that he was walking, not riding, so we only needed one cart. He also clarified that we didn't need extra clubs, as only one of us would be playing — the other two were just observing and learning. But since I had already spoken to the front desk and they were insistent, I ended up reluctantly renting an extra set of clubs anyway.

Only later did we realize why that old guy had forced us into this — he had just assumed that all three of us were going to play 18 holes. In reality, only I was playing; the other two were new to golf and came just to observe. Even though only I would be playing, my friend still booked and paid for two players to be fair to the club.

After this mess, we started playing. We finished the front 9 and went back to the club office to use the restroom and hydrate, because it was scorching hot. As we drove toward hole 10, the same old guy jumped out of his cart and blocked our path, ordering us to “Stop! You cannot take a break. You must play all 18 holes continuously, or you’ll interfere with others.”

At that point, I was completely fed up. I simply said, “OK,” turned to my friend and said, “Let’s go.” This was beyond ridiculous. – First, only one of us was actually playing, so there’s no way we were behind schedule. – Second, we had the final tee time of the day — there was literally no one after us to interfere with. – Third, it was sweltering, and we were close to heat exhaustion — and somehow, stopping for a quick break and water is forbidden?

What kind of golf course treats its guests like this? We came to enjoy the game, not to be harassed and micromanaged like slaves.

This place has no respect for first-time guests, no sense of hospitality, and absolutely no flexibility or...

I dont know what these chumps are talking about, but UNC Finley is an outdated course that got a makeover ten some-odd years ago. As such courses go, it is awkward to play, the front nine is very easy (I shot 32 and 33 the last two times out and most times i play its no different, as is per usual with most one day professionals) and the back is just plain boring. It is a touted layout because it is connected to UNC. Almost no water on the course ever comes into play unless your a 20ish handicap. Even on number 9, it takes a shot sliced 30 yards off target with 6-7 iron or an overkill by 30 yards to hit the drink. 10 and 11 are poorly designed. the Play on these holes is a 3 iron off the tee and a 3 wood into the green (its about 450 yards but doglegs so massively and with the oddest amount of slope). someone probably thought it looked different back in the day, but different almost never implies a good hole. Im surprised they havent scrapped this hole. Its a joke. When qualifying for the team here, i had to start on the rather bs hole. imagine that kind of play at 830 in the morning.

On the back, the holes are all 450 par fours with something to carry about 250 out so you beat a drive out there and hit a 7 iron into the green and make maybe 2 putts per round. I will say, the greens roll very true; Finley got it right with the greens. As opposed to Davis Love's ( Jordan Lake course - which doesnt have the finances to keep the greens cut and rolling anything lower than a 5) Finley has very nice green complexes.

Bottom line, most of the time people who love dean smith and roy williams or who know someone who went to carolina or have been "fans" for a while maybe stopping by the walmart on the way to the course --this type often leaves the course with rave reviews. If you're used to playing on goat tracks this is a step in the right direction. Staff is arrogant ( I cant figure this one out; then again, i would be too if i were a 70 year old cart boy ) Food is all premade and full of MSG and other preservatives (think ball park food). If you're in the area, i suggest go play dukes course. The range is made of actual grass (finley you hit off of mats - keeping the range expenses low so you can pay the 50 year olds with careers at finley when simple college kids would do a speedier, cheaper job and do it perhaps better). Finley also offers ZERO...

The course is decent and the grounds are taken care of pretty well. That's about where the good experience stops. My friend was running late so I told them I would pay for the whole cart and he would join us on hole 2 or 3 when he got there. Well when he got there they tried to make him pay for the cart saying that each person has to pay to ride. Even though I had already fully paid for the cart for both of us and he told them this so he decided to walk. The marshal was kind enough to give him a ride out to us on the green of hole one and we continued.

By hole 7 we noticed marshal had started to follow us. As we were approaching the 8th green, the marshal stopped us to tell us we were 1 minute behind pace and that we would have to pick up the pace. In my 15+ years of golfing, I've never been told to pick up the pace on a course nor have a seen a marshal follow a group that is 1 minute behind pace. I was shocked and offended that he felt the need to follow 4 grown adults around who weren't drinking nor playing a slow pace. I always play ready ball and never spend more than a minute looking for my ball before dropping and continuing play.

We finally lost the Marshall by the 10th green when he realized we weren't actually playing slow and maybe it was because we teed off 10 minutes later than our scheduled tee time. We ended up finishing in just over 4 hours, well ahead of pace but also pretty annoyed that we were rushed earlier in the round.

I'm not normally one to complain and I contemplated writing a review for a month before finally deciding other people need to know. The greens are nice and fast. The course is pretty well taken care of. Could have better practice facilities but all in all it was fine. My issue was with the staff over charging my friend and harassing our pace of play when we weren't even behind. For the amount they charge I expected more. I am new to the area and will gladly check out other courses before trying finley again. Hope you all have a better experience. The only reason they got 2 stars instead of one was due to the quality of the greens. Nothing technically difficult but they were taken...