Hawk’s Tail of Greenfield — Local services in Greenfield

Hopefully this can serve as a quick and unbiased review:

I came here in March of 2024, so keep that in mind when it comes to conditions.

Layout: FUN!! *Even the "boring" holes are challenging enough because of length and fairway tightness, so you'll never be complacent. A lot of tee shots on course that allow you to either go for it or lay up, risk reward is a plenty here. There's a par 5 and par 4 that encourage laying up, but if you send driver on the right line youll have insanely good looks at birdie and eagle, but if you bottle it you'll be lucky to make bogey. So for what it is its a 5/5 layout.

Conditions: Really damn good for time of year *Only disappointment would be the bunkers, just very wet, and the sand trapper wasn't run that morning from the looks of it. I had to play them as hazards because of how hard/wet the sand was. But again, its early March, that's expected often times. Greens rolled easily the best of any public course this time of year, incredibly impressed. Overall 4/5

Pace of play: VERY slow because of one group I cant blame the course for this. As early as it is in the year, most places don't have martials. We actually came here this day because every course within an hour drive of where i lived (Plainfield) was COMEPLETELY booked out. So it was likely that slow play would occur. It was one group holding up about 8 groups (i promise thats no exaggeration). If you could imagine, the group holding everyone up was also screaming in the middle of the fairway, not even in celebration or screaming "FORE." Just sort of yelling for the hell of it. They screamed in the middle of my back swing on a par 3 about 50 yards from me in the fairway behind me. Cant blame the course here, but we almost didnt finish our round before the sun went down. About a 5+ hour round, so unfortunately 4 out of 5 in that department.

Staff/Facilities: Wonderful *Staff and facilities were wonderful. They have 2 simulators, full bar and chill room, good pro shop, good bathrooms, nice putting green thats big enough for some small chips, a driving range (driving range was only 250 to a small net though, so if you carry it 270/280 you might not be able to hit driver/3 wood) and a really kind staff across the board. 5/5 there, MAYBE 4.5/5 if you care about the distance of the range.

Overall i would come back here again, price is a LITTLE steep for bunker quality and not enforcing pace of play, but Im giving them the benefit of the doubt considering the time of year, and considering how booked out everyone...

202106 update - Used driving range several times recently. Noticed younger, more friendly courteous front desk staff than before, so this is good - so far. But it seems the driving range marked tee area is smaller than before, less capacity? The driving range ball dispenser / shed is no longer used, and so the buckets are hand-filled behind the counter and I'll say the large buckets more times than not are NOT full as was before. I've been there have noticed not as busy/course players / parking lot but not sure why as it seems the golfers are a tad more friendly and courteous than prior years - a good shift, and noticeably some generally younger players? Something's changed here, haven't figured it out yet. Would be nice to know if there are any course changes/improvements - maybe posted on a bulletin board I haven't seen yet?

Earlier: As a parent and player, have been at Hawks Tail GC for school events and private play for many years. I understand the GC is under new ownership (Royal Hylands GC owners now) and I've been for driving range but don't recollect course play since the switch. I do notice a shift in clubhouse front desk workers to be younger and a little more polite (prior owners had stodgy and somewhat friendly to adults but my kids really felt unwelcome by those persons so if they had a choice they'd play elsewhere). As for the driving range, it's a big problem because if it rains or early spring/wet, they refuse to open it because it's got a creek/lowlands and balls get buried. The prior owner debated regrading but never did. What good is a driving range if it's closed 2 months into the season and if it rains don't bother? The prior owner also closed it like 3 PM on Sundays so they could 'prepare for Monday'. What good is that for weekend players? I am not sure this practice has changed with the new owners but you should call ahead if the driving range is your interest. The driveway is in the path of at least one tee box (you could get hit) which don't know why the design had to be this way. The golf carts are fairly new. The course is ok, a few fairways may be a little narrow but playable if you're not a duffer. The players are mostly courteous and not so busy they're hitting on you, but have had a few impatient go around you if there's a gap. Have used the snack bar a few times. Place did have indoor simulators, tried a couple times but not recently. This place has a lot of potential with forward, open thinking but time will tell with...

For a course that cares a lot about it's holes they don't cater too much to a newer, slower player so if this is you I wouldn't recommend going. I got pulled aside more than 4 times to be told how slow I was and I either needed to pick up the pace or move to the back 9. And then they forced me to the back 9 in the middle squaring up for a fairway iron shot. I get they were having a private tournament but shouldn't you not let new players pick a tee time from the jump? I don't know like I said I'm new. However I do give it a better review than 1 or 2 because I could tell some of the staff were really concerned about my experience and felt bad that we were in that situation and offered some sort of compensation, to which was unclear, and they do have a nice and spacious club house. But my point is I didn't get to enjoy these things because I almost wasn't welcome as a new player on...