Hillcrest Golf Club — Restaurant in Durango

I usually don't make reviews on these types of things. (Why I have zero reviews), but we had the day ruined by a staff member today. It's bugging me so I decided to post this.

Myself and 3 of my friends had a 3:00pm tee time. We decided to play a 4 man scramble to have some fun and make life easier on some of our friends that are newer to golf. No problems, we had a couple groups in front of us so we waited a few minutes between holes but we were enjoying each other's company since some of us are not local and catching up.

We finished on pace of what 9 holes usually takes. Maybe a little behind because the groups in front of us were a little slow it was just after 5pm.

When we went to the 10th hole the group in front of us was waiting for the group in front of them. We decided to play individual and not scramble anymore so we could take our time and help out our friends that were newer to golf like I said before.

We were still on pace of play but no longer had to wait for the groups ahead of us but the players in front of us were still on the same hole.

We have had a good time up to this point but at hole 16 we had a employee of the course pull up to us and tell us many things (I will list out) and never introduced himself wasn't nice ext.

1.He pulls up tells us that we are currently at 2 hours and 45 minutes pushing 3 hours for the back nine it was 6:50pm. We had finished the front nine at 5 and didn't start the back 9 right away because of people in front of us.

He started bashing our new friends golf skills saying after double par that we need to pick up and made rude remarks that I will mention in a second (My friend was already picking up and playing near me). We also still had people in front of us. Hillcrest is a public course that is the most beginner friendly in town. This guy bashing a new golfer isn't very customer service like. My friend wasn't double par once, and even beat some of us on a couple holes. We were not playing multiple balls.

He kept adding things that didn't need to be added. The conversation could have literally gone like this. Hi my name is "so and so" you might be a little behind play. Would you be okay with picking up this hole so we can keep everything moving smoothly? Thanks again hopefully you guys are having some fun today. Thanks again. It was literally the polar opposite of that no introduction, no reason. Just basically saying to us you suck. He said, "next time you come it's probably a good idea for your skill level to move up a few tee boxes" I'm not great at golf but at this point of the day I've hit 2 birdies and multiple pars from the blue tees. So no thanks I will keep playing from the blues. I paid to play and I'm on pace. Thanks

4.He pulled up to our other 2 friends and told them that you guys look like pros and that the kart behind you, isn't very good. That comment did not need to be made.

We decided to pick up on 16 at the very end to respect the employee. We played 17, on the heels of the people in front of us. Hole 18 guess what, we had to wait for the group in front of us. We were pissed to say the least. How are we playing slow when the group in front is literally on the same fairway. The employee didn't talk to the groups in front of us playing slow for the first 15 holes and just decided to pick on the group of 4 that had a newer player. I think its worth to add, that the group behind didn't have 4 people so they were going to naturally play faster. Never once asked us to play through and never were waiting for us to tee off.

The vibe and good times were just completely gone the guy ruined our time that the 4 of us get together a couple times a year. I myself work in customer service and have respect for this type of work, but this was not even close to him doing his job or providing customer service. Golf is a gentleman's sport and this guy was anything but that, he was rude, never introduced himself and bashed new players in the game, and didn't talk to the source of slow play.

Nice course, but maybe try...

The course is beautiful, the price is fair, we had a blast playing with the two guys we were matched with, and 99% of the staff is fantastic. But this is a 3-star review because of two people: a rude ranger and pro shop attendant (perhaps the manager?). At the 6th hole, a ranger told us we weren't keeping pace and needed to hurry it up. We said we would but that we were surprised because we were on about a 2-hour pace (we finished in 2hrs, 10min). We also explained that we had to wait on the 4th tee for a while due to a posted sign that says you can't tee off until the 5th green is clear. His response was a sarcastic, "Did you wait 20 minutes? Because you're 20 minutes off pace." He then shadowed us the rest of the hole and condescendingly told us he would "help us" get on pace -- he did this by pointing out my ball to me (which I saw before he did) and then wouldn't move until I approached my ball. After we finished our round, I decided to ask what the pace is and share our negative experience with the ranger. I was told pace is 2 hours and when I explained we finished in 2h 10m and that the ranger was rude to our group, I was met with an exasperated, annoyed explanation that we were too far behind and that we needed to keep up with the group in front of us. Nothing in response to the rudeness of their ranger; no acknowledgement that we were actually on pace. The purpose of keeping pace is to prevent the golf course from getting backed up -- the people behind us never caught us and often weren't on the tee by the time we were putting. We weren't holding anyone up and 2hrs is a fast pace quite frankly. I've been golfing for over 20 years and I've never experienced such a blatant disregard for the customer. If you disagree with me, fine, but at least be courteous and take the feedback. It's not okay for your staff to make sarcastic or condescending remarks to your customers. Or at least it shouldn't be.

With that said, everyone else was wonderful and the...

Beautiful course, great lesson with Pete who was not involved in this fiasco in any way but the course personnel were the RUDEST we have EVER encountered on a golf course anywhere in this country and we have played throughout the country. A barefoot man playing in the group behind us claimed he was a Marshall on the course and scolded us on the approach to the 4th hole, 50 minutes into the round and said we were “15 minutes behind”. Per card posted in the cart, pace is 2 hours and 12 minutes. Do the math, we were ahead of pace. Literally a minute later, an on-duty Marshall told us we needed to “ move it, we are very busy and you’re way behind.” I pointed out the posted pace and the current elapsed time, he became very agitated and pulled out a paper and berated me that he was “ by the book”. Sheet of paper could have been a cookie recipe for all I know. The 2 other people in our group were very good golfers- one a 3 handicap. We teed off at 1:20 and finished our round (9 holes) under pace despite waiting for the group in front of us on holes 7, 8 and 9. We then ordered drinks, loaded our clubs into our car ourselves and I was in the pro shop at 3:20 to speak with management. The “ manager” asked for an “opportunity to investigate and make it right”. Never heard from him, it’s been a week. Recommend playing elsewhere because you will NOT be made to feel welcome here. Incidentally, we live on a golf course that hosts many qualifying tournaments and we play regularly. Anyone who treated a member or guest on our course in this way at our club would be asked to leave and not allowed back. Shame on...