The Ridge Golf Course

Golfer report, April 2024:My first visit. Visually appealing entrance. parking lot surface in smooth condition. The rolling hills, the rock outcroppings, the trees, the ponds just seem to be in harmony and balance. Pretty.Entered the well maintained building pro shop to pay for my round. Meet a cheerful and helpful employee. Green fee on Tuesday @12 Noon is $57 with golf cart. Golf cart is in average condition. Tires going bald, a small rip in the seat cover, not dirty but doesn't shine. Pretty average green fee compared to many other local golf courses of this caliber.I didn't hit a warm up bucket of balls on the range so no comment on the quality of the balls and mats.Practice putting green, the sloping one behind the building, is fast and challenging. I soon come to learn that it's a accurate prediction how the golf course greens will play.Meet my 3 buddies for the next 4.5 hours. Delightful group of guys. And off we go. We play from the white tees.The terrain is beautiful. The fairways are in very good shape. Lots of visual interest. Plenty of strategically placed sand traps. And these putting greens! Rolley-polley and fast! There wasn't a flat one. I three putted almost all of them.Pace of play was somewhat slow, 4.5 hours. The group in front of us did dawdle. My index is 13.5. I scored well above an 84 here, closer to a 94. Hopefully with many return visits I'll learn to play the course better.After the round I explored the bar / restaurant / convention room areas. The big room was set up for a dinner event. The table linens were good quality as was the plates, glassware and silverware. The settings were sparkly clean. Someone told me that the food is tasty and reasonably priced. He encouraged me to come for the monthly Italian dinner night event. Said the the food is delicious and the atmosphere is festive. My wife and I plan to attend.Long review, my apology. Summary: Excellent value golf course. 5 stars.

No bathroom in the "bridal suite"- you have to walk past the side of the bar that was open to the public/ lunch in your robe to a public bathroom.At least 5 golfers pulled on the door handles.Bar tender was not friendly and crabby.Grooms suite was so hot and no AC. No privacy at all. The coordinator did not make sure the beer promised in the service was provided. Public constantly trying to enter bridal, bridal area exposed to the public- we had to ask for them to relock a door. Screen did not provide enough privacy for people to get ready - it was like being in a fish bowlIncluded alcohol of champagne and beer had to be requested, the "coordinator" did not offer it at any point and only when asked and only 1 bottle out of 2 was provided.The coordinator promised to save horderves for the bridal party on the wedding day and when we asked, she responded with, "oh, really." She didn't even offer to ask the kitchen. Outdoor chairs were set up right before the ceremony and several golf carts drove by. DON'T buy their "Oh, everyone will be far away on the 9th hole"

It had been 10 years since I had played here. Didn't really remember the course all that well. Just knew it was hard and nice. Bingo! That was very accurate. Except my shots.......not so accurate. LolIt is so easy to lose balls on this course. But it is for sure nice. Greens were fast too. But I beat my buddy so I was pleased. We enjoyed our lunch afterwards in the restaurant. Will I come back? Sure. But it will probably be another 10 years. Lol

Let me start off by saying I have been golfing at the Ridge since it opened in 1999. It was my favorite place to play. Very challenging but in immaculate shape. I have been part of the mens club on and off since it opened.I even held my retirement party/ golf outing here in 2015. It was in great shape. I just played there Thursday morning and have been playing on average 4 times a month for the past year and a half. The course has been in horrible shape and has just gotten worse. I paid $600 for my membership for the year which gives me a discounted green fee during the week. The fairways are a swamp, the bunkers are either full of water or like hitting out of concrete and the greens are not playable. The mats on the driving range are so bad you cant even hit off them without your club skipping into the ball. They are hard as a rock and most of them are warped. Do not bother paying for a token to hit balls. So to give you an example of the horrible conditions, I was playing number 10 and hit my approach shot which fell short about 15 yards from the green. I saw it land but could not find it. It was soaking wet. I finally found it buried 2 inches into the fairway. This is almost every fairway. You do not get any roll out of your drives either and in fact your ball plugs and sometimes comes backwards a foot or two. In November 2022 they punched the greens. They have never recovered. Most of the other courses I played punched their greens in October and had since recovered. The entire winter they were so bad. Approximately 2 months ago they tried to repair the greens by putting grooves in them. When you putt the ball it will start tracking towards the hole and then suddenly jump to the left or right. Some greens are worse then others. A good example was on number 8. My buddy had a birdie putt 6 feet away from the hole. He hit the putt, it was tracking and right before the hole the ball hopped and kicked to the left. Im sorry but this is unacceptable when we are in August and the greens should be immaculate. The game is just not fun when the greens are like this. Whatever the greenskeeper is doing is just not working and he should be fired!!! He obviously doesn't know what he is doing. To pay $82-$94 a round you should be playing a pristine golf course. I just played Darkhorse and it is in immaculate shape. Great fairways, good rolling greens, pristine bunkers and its even cheaper to play. I was told by management that The Ridge has 9 employees to maintain the grounds. Most golf courses have 12-15. Well apparently they need to hire more people to maintain the Ridge. If your charging $82-$94 a round and your completely booked 7 days a week then you can afford to pay an additional 3-6 individuals. My buddy complained about the conditions and he was told by a pro shop employee that it is a process to get the course in better shape. I'm sorry but a process should not take a year. If it is a process do not charge the highest rates around for green fees. If your heading to Auburn for golf just do yourself a favor and just keep on driving north another 12 miles and play a fantastic course. I do want to say the bar and grill gets an outstanding 5 stars. The food is outstanding. The drinks are amazing. They have the best bloody Marys I have ever had made by Shannon and Staci. The service is outstanding. The staff there in the bar and grill are very friendly and professional. Debi Best is the food and beverage manager and she definitely runs a tight ship. She lives up to her last name for sure because she is the BEST!!! In closing, I will miss the Ridge and the people. I will come back if the playing conditions improve dramatically (unless management bans me for life for this review). LOL!!! I just do not see that happening for awhile. I hope anyone reading this review helps them not waste their hard earned money. (Please see attached photos)

Fairness follow up. Played in a pre-paid event yesterday at The Ridge. I must admit the place has done a 180 since 2 months ago. Less water in fairways and greens rolling pretty good. I was very critical on my last post but felt it necessary based on the non feed back I was getting from a few folks on course conditions. To that, I applaud the staff and management for turning things around! In addition, the Food and Bev crew continue to be 5 stars! The Ridge does have great food, and with the employees in the bar you are guaranteed to enjoy yourself!

I've been coming here since I was a kid and have had an amazing time. The food and golf course have been exceptional and been a pleasure to be at.

Played early this morning. The course is in the worst condition I can remember. I understand it's been difficult with all the hot weather we've been having, but to charge a Senior Rate of $65 bucks early on a Thursday morning given the poor course condition should be embarrassing to the staff. I won't be back in the near future.

We have been having lunch here for a few years about one Sunday a month. The service was always good and it was never crowded so it was nice and quiet. We came with our usual group of eight and were given a small menu with only a handful of items to choose from. We asked about this and were told that it was the menu now being given to parties of 8 or more as the kitchen could not cope with large parties who ordered different items. Reading the new "menu" one of our group with excellent eye sight was able to read the extremely small print at the bottom of the menu beneath the menu border stating that a 22% tip would be added for groups of 8 or more. In all the times we have been there, it has never been crowded to an extent that the servers could not cope. Our food always came out on time, regardless of what was ordered. The waiter should have brought that to our attention, as this was a new "rule" rather than it being hidden in the art work. While we were there today, there were two other tables with two people dining. We do not appreciate being limited to just a handful of items, or being told what tip we will be charged as this should be our decision, based on the service. There are many other restaurants in Auburn who are happy to accommodate our group with their regular menus and no added tip, so we will not be returning nor recommending the restaurant to friends.

played there today not well kept fairways are decent then the good full blow wet ‍ not a single drop of water in the containers bunkers condition greens were fast and good everything snaps at the hole but tough look yhe need help for sure

Not too happy with The Ridge. I tried to use my 10 Round Punch Card today to take my sons golfing and was informed that there is apparently a new condition to using the card. (There are several conditions listed on the back.) The prepaid card is only good for the card holder's round of golf. You can't treat a friend or family and use your card. In addition to the printed conditions on the back of the card, this is another condition. I didn't think that was quite right.