How do You Write a Great Golf Review?

I am asked this a lot.  And being the Director of Community on Greenskeeper.org in addition to the Editor-in-Chief of this blog I would like to think I know a thing or three about what it takes to write a great golf review.  In fact as I was reviewing our current FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section of our forums, I realized I never really addressed this question here on our GK Blog.  So here it is.  Here is my take on what you need to know when you write a fantastic golf course review.

5 Easy Steps to Write Great Golf Course Reviews

I have taken the liberty of breaking down a really well written golf course review into five parts.  This is my criteria whenever I write a golf course review.

1.  How were the conditions of the Greens?  This is central.  You don’t count it until the ball goes in the hole.  A great golf course always starts on the greens.  50% of your shots during your round will in and around the greens so conditions here better be pretty darn good.  Ask yourself, how was the pace?  How was the direction of the putts?  Did your putt stay on-line or did you hit every divot on the way to the hole?  How are the conditions of the green complexes (bunkers included.) Be as descriptive as possible.  Nothing beats being able to describe your experience on the putting surface to other golfers.
2. How are the conditions of the fairways?  How was the rough?  How were the fairway bunkers?  Were the bunkers well stocked with sand?  What kind of sand?  Was it compacted sand or fluffy sand?  The rough was thick or cut to the same height as the fairway?  Did your ball sink into the rough when your ball came to rest?  How penalizing what making your shots out of the rough compared to on the fairway?  Letting us know how you felt the conditions of the fairways are just as important as the green complexes but honestly, if you hit into a hazard, don’t expect perfect conditions.  They are hazards after all; you’re not suppose to hit there.  Did a lot of hazards come into play off the tee?
3. How were the conditions of the tee boxes?  Were they level?  Do they rotate the tee boxes well?  Less wear on the tee means the golf course operator regularly move the tees.  This is a good thing.  Were the tees level?  Were the tee boxes a trek just to get to?
4. How was the service?  Anything of note from the staff?  How was your starter?  How were the people in the snack shop/restaurant?  How many times did you see a refreshment cart if any during your round.
5. Finally add your own color commentary.  Be as descriptive as possible.  Here you can add Pace of Play (PoP).  Have fun describing your experiences — good and bad.  Remember a lot of our golf course operators use Greenskeeper to actually gauge how their service performs.  Did the course fit your style of play?  Do you think the course played fair?  Help other golfers decide where to play next by helping their envision what their round would be like if they were to play the course you’re reviewing.

Consider these five aspects of a golf course and be as descriptive as possible.  As mentioned at Greenskeeper.org we help other golfers decide where to play their next round of golf.  You come for our aeration alerts but you stay because our golf course reviews are spot on and give as much information as possible; allowing other avid golfers to make informed decisions where to spend their hard earned money on a round of golf.

Think of it this way.  When I first found this site over ten years ago, I wanted a site that could tell me about all the golf course maintenance alerts so I wouldn’t have to suffer another round of golf on aerated greens.  It still is a big secret for some golf course operators.  Those that understand why they do what they do, like our whole online golf community at Greenskeeper.org, want to be given the best and current information available.

At Greenskeeper.org we fulfill that need over and over again.  Help us help others by writing a golf course review for the golf course you just played.  Help other golfers make informed choices.

Thanks for your time and I’ll see you on the links!