Seven Oaks Golf Club, Hamilton

I’ve never seen such forgiving reviews. Traditionally a 5. But let’s be honest. In its current condition, it’s a 2 at best. Re-sodded and patchy greens abound. They rolled better than I expected, but I got lucky all day not having to putt through a sea of spotty areas. As a person who has to travel 2 hours to play a round there, I don’t play it often, but wow. What a difference. Here are my traditional pet peeves. If you’ve never played there before, getting from one tee box to the next is SUPER confusing because there are no cart paths or signs. I also don’t think they should let carts get as close to the greens as they do. Many holes have no signs steering the carts from nearing the greens so matted down paths have formed around the greens. On the flip side. Pace of play is excellent. Staff are very nice. The new clubhouse is beautiful. Didn’t try the food, but we finished at 5:30 and I was surprised to see it empty on a Friday evening, Looking forward to going back in a year to see how the course improvements take hold.

I purchased gift certificates for my dad for a round for two and while I can see why this course is a very highly rated collegiate course, it was not the case on this occasion. When my dad booked tee times, he was advised there might be some holes under construction still... no big deal we thought. I get that courses undergo construction and upgrades; however I don't feel the complete level of 'under construction' was accurately described to us. I'll start by saying that the fairways were in great shape. Unfortunately there were many other issues. Most of the greens had pock marks/bare spots and seemed as though they could have been watered more. There were a couple of tee boxes that looked as though they hadn't been watered at all this season. Areas around the newly laid sod were matted. On hole 13 there was a construction crew with heavy equipment actively working on the bunkers at the dog leg... we spent a few minutes deciding on whether not the hole was closed or not (having not been advised)... we played it and the workers stopped working and got behind the equipment while we hit our 2nd shots. On top of that, most of the greens had been sanded in the morning, so it was almost like putting on the beach. This wasn't mentioned to us either. We will definitely give this course another shot in 2023 because you can see its potential. Very fair layout and many different lengths for various skill levels. We just wish we had known how under construction the course really was.

The food is delicious (great menu, lots of choices), full bar, the staff is fun and friendly, reservations accepted, lovely area!

Lots of updates and changes to the course going on. I suspect it will be 5 star when complete. The club house is new and excellent, the staff are good people and very helpful. It's definitely worth playing a round.

I found this course when planning a drive from Albany to Rochester and wanted a place to stop and play along the way. Seven Oaks was quite a hidden gem. Great layout and the greens were fantastic - running quick and in great shape. It was really windy on the day we played, which can make at least a couple of the par 4's really tough. As an alum of a competitive Patriot League school, I'll forgive the fact that it is the Colgate University course, and just hope to find a reason to play again.