McCabe Golf Course — Restaurant in Nashville-Davidson

Born and raised in Nashville and played my entire upbringing at Metro golf courses, McCabe being a large portion.

The golf course management has gone so far downhill, I am not sure it's repairable any other way than cleaning house and a new head of Metro parks golf.

They don't care about the product, only getting as many people on the course as possible. 5+ hour rounds are the norm. Groups of 5 followed by a single or twosome is also a regular occurrence.

Recent interaction: Purchase range balls, go get the balls out of the machine... they are caked in dirt/mud. Not exaggerating... literally clumps of mud on balls. 80% of the balls didn't have discernable dimples. Go to the range... they did not move the tees from the previous day. Pure dirt and sand, no grass. I attempted to hit 5-6 balls but it was impossible to practice in the conditions. I then take the balls back to the pro shop to ask for a refund and to provide the reason (dirty balls). They look at me like I'm some ungrateful transplant telling me they don't give refunds for the range. I emphatically show them the balls and describe the hitting area condition. They finally give me the refund and as I'm being handed the receipt, the employee behind the one at the register says, "just remember that for next time". Not "sorry for the dirty balls" or "we didn't have the staff to move the hitting area"... instead a reply that says we don't care and we won't change... take it or leave it.

When I moved away for college and work (before moving back) I found myself bragging about our muni courses to friends in other cities. They were a source of pride. No more. All the golf courses are simply a revenue stream (two Rivers and harpeth being the only ones they pay any extra attention to), which makes the fact that Metro parks (specifically the golf division) consistently operating in the red even more evidence of awful management. They have so much potential only to be wasted by lack of care or concern.

At least get out of the stone ages and go to an online scheduling system with a no show penalty instead of every weekend tee times being "booked" in the first 2 hours the week before only to consistently have large gaps of no shows.

Another complete failure with infrastructure for Nashville....add it...

I am a longtime fan of McCabe golf for its available 27 hole offering, about 10 minutes from my house and a very playable course. Recently, however, my golf buddies and I have selected Harpeth Hills and Ted Rhodes for their more challenging yardage, but also because both are in much better condition than McCabe.

A lot can be blamed on the pandemic, but the abysmal condition of the McCabe courses compared to the others has preexisted COVID 19. My understanding is that McCabe is the busiest of all Metro courses and likely the greatest golf revenue source for Metro Parks as a result. And while all have suffered from a lack grill service, the most obvious differences are on the course. The fairways are in much better shape on the two we now play and the sand traps (which of course I try to avoid) are worse than a child’s neglected sandbox. Fabric shows through in of many them, weeds invade the space and new sand has not been added in years, that I can tell. One person at Harpeth told me that sand traps are one of the most expensive maintenance items on a golf course. I have no idea if that’s true, but it certainly shows up at McCabe.

An ill-conceived priority of Metro Parks occurred when they appropriated new greens for Harpeth, Ted Rhodes and perhaps Two Rivers, leaving out McCabe, Percy Warner and Shelby, as I understand it. The wisdom of such a priority escapes me. Only a misdirected herbicide applied to all 27 greens at McCabe finally resulted in greens that are equivalent to others. Yet, all one had to do is walk McCabe prior to this catastrophe and come to the inescapable conclusion that McCabe should’ve been on that priority list. The busiest Metro course results in the most abuse.

A recent News Channels 5 investigation points the mismanagement of the Metro golf system and the lost opportunities in increasing revenue to Metro Parkland the city. It brings to mind an old adage: “You’ve got spend money to make money”. I understand the city has wide and competing priorities, but recreation here for our growing metropolitan area should not be...

The worst golf experience in my life and I have played around the world. We had two back to back tee times. We had 4 people show up for the first tee time and only one person show for the 2nd tee time behind us. We decided to play together but play best ball just to speed up play. at about our 5th hole the Marshall showed up to speak to what appeared to be his "buddy" playing behind us. The buddy/ Karen was concerned we were playing five and wanted to use whatever status he had to flex. The marshall then comes and approaches us with less than perfect customer service skills in which things escalated quickly...In summary this Marshall should not be speaking to anyone especially when wives are present. To a point he tried to say one of us would have to sit out and not play. We simply refused stating we all paid and had 2 tee times. Eventually the marshal leaves and out of courtesy we allow the "Karen" and his group to play through just to learn they were also playing with 5 but Karen was walking...The karen then proceeds to correct us as we let them play through. I guess special privileges to regulars and their friends running the course. A thank you is in order for showing us what Metro has to offer in my one and will be my only time playing one. The lack of professional speaking skills of the Marshall is a liability...