@jnf2257 I moved your question to the relevant thread from a standalone post. Welcome!
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Nashville Munis:
Harpeth Hills - fun course but no fun to walk
Ted Rhodes - close to downtown and very walkable front 9. Probably my favorite muni in town when it’s dry
McCabe - nice and easy but consistently the most crowded due to location
Shelby - least favorite Nashville Muni
Pay to play $60+:
Gaylord Springs - good facility and course. I usually play terribly there so I prefer hermitage
Hermitage (2 courses) - president’s is the best public you can get on in Nashville imo. Price tag includes unlimited range balls as well.
Between Nashville and Sweetens:
Old Fort in Murfreesboro
Bear Trace in Winchester - great state park course
West of Nashville:
Montgomery Bell - great state park course
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Similar to the above, I’d rank the munis:
Harpeth Hills
Ted Rhodes
Two River
McCabe
Shelby (actually a Donald Ross design, but terrible conditioning and somewhat sketch)
I’d look into playing Gaylord or Hermitage on a twilight rate. Price would be comparable to the munis during the day. Outside of those, a couple tracks I enjoy are Legacy in Springfield and Twelve Stones in Goodlettsville. Bit of a drive but fun layouts.
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Thanks for all the info. Was actually thinking about a twilight round at Gaylord Springs but nervous about losing daylight in the fall. Looks like their twilight deal is at 3 p.m. Pace of play would need to be great to finish in time but it sounds like it would be worth the risk to get a round in there!
Going to hit up Vinny Links today around 5 - 5:15 if anyone wants to join…Ill have a hat on and a mustard yellow Titleist sunday bag with me.
Man I’d love to in the future, just need a little more heads up.
Yeah the wife just hit me up and asked if it was cool if she went to dinner with friends. That just means more golf in my head so I said sure!
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Played at Gaylord Springs on Saturday and about died from heat exhaustion. Course was in terrific shape. They’ve done some impressive bunker work since my last visit. 
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I am hesitant to say this because I like being able to get tee times out there but Franklin Bridge is in great shape, currently. Played out there this morning and the greens are soooo much better than they were 4 months ago and in a different galaxy than last year. Really impressed with the team they have there and does a great job occupying the tier just below the Gaylord and Hermitage resort level.
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I really need to make it back out there. It just sucks driving like 50min to get there from East Nashville…I used to play there all the time when it was a dump. Always loved the back nine out there…
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Which nine was the back nine? I think they flipped the nines now.
There is also a confirmed rumor (by Brooks the owner) that they are looking to re-do the par 5 that is now number 9. [The hole with the tree in the middle of the fairway where you lay up with like a hybrid etc (very strange hole)]. Management is eventually going to turn that into a par 4 and they are talking about turning the current 7th hole in to a par 5 by moving the tees way back. Not sure the timeline on all of that but it is in the works. This course really is getting better every month.
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Wow that is awesome. I have played both recently and have to be honest their greens are much better than Greystone’s.
I saw they have brand new carts as well. Really great to see all the progress they are making.
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Played Gaylord on Sunday for the first time since they did work on the course and I honestly only noticed a difference on #3 and #16 (Church Pew bunkers). For the most part everything else looked exactly the same to me. I may be alone here but I think Gaylord stinks. Outside of #s 4, 5, 13 and 18 the holes all run together. With almost zero trees it gets insanely hot out there and becomes a hellscape in the summer. The fairways are pretty tight and the rough just gobbles up golf balls. It is exceptionally expensive. The positives are that the conditioning is excellent, the facilities are nice and they happen to have the best clubfitting experience in the Profectus team, on-site.
To me, it is the perfect encapsulation of soulless, resort golf. Pretty bunkering with large fast greens but most of the holes are pretty bland and uninspiring from a design standpoint. Just a ton of straight away par 4s (though I will say they have 3 strategically interesting par 4s in #4, #9, #16 though I wouldn’t say the church pew bunkers made that hole any better, it is still just a 5 iron and GW), par 5s with almost no strategy needed (just hit it as far as you can relatively straight) and the only bright spot is the par 3s are at least a little bit interesting. I would only recommend it to someone if Hermitage, Greystone, Franklin Bridge, Ted Rhodes, Two Rivers and Harpeth Hills were all booked up. Or if a person said, “my company is paying for it and I just want to play a really well maintained golf course and drink and get a sick farmers tan”. Or if I hated that person. If it was $70 on the weekends I would still say it stinks.
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I have a buddy who is a member at Gaylord and is always pushing me to play there. The first time I played out there I thought it was unbelievable but with each subsequent playing my enjoyment has gone down. It’s a fun course which is in awesome shape but I can’t disagree with any of your assessments. The course lacks some soul that the local munis have.
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It does stink. The facilities are good and the conditions are usually pretty good but don’t think it’s worth the price. I’m never looking to drive out there other than to do the corporate tournament thing and I don’t understand how anyone would chose to go there over Hermitage if both were available.
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This is spot on. My company has our annual charity event there so the first few times I went I played for free on a workday so it clouded my perception.
Fun thing we do on the par 3 #13 is to have people pay for an extra tee shot (money goes to charity) and they try to knock the ball on the green by blasting it off the rock wall. If it lands on the green you get a prize. It’s happened a few times. Very fun to take a driver or 3-wood and mash one as hard as you can.
I hate the tee box on #14. It’s basically on the side of a hill.
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It is way too expensive! Agree, it needs to be about $30 less to make it worth it. The conditioning is really good. I literally never have played a full 18 there. I go to the guys at Profectus and they are really awesome. Also, the new driving range is also top notch. I make the trek up there because McCabe range is too crowded and I will be guaranteed a spot. Also short game practice area is great too. Not that I get any better…just smash balls and listen to Trap Draw and NLU podcasts.
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McCabe driving range is like hell on earth to me. I’d rather hit 150 yd and in shots and shag my own balls at Ted Rhodes.
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My group has ended up playing a lot of twilight rounds at Hermitage this year. This year was my first time playing out there. Course is in great shape and I’ve really enjoyed it except for how stacked up it can get in the afternoon, esp on Presidents. Only other issue I have is it’s not super convenient to me here south of town.
This stacked up weekday play has me thinking again about joining a club. I miss that convenience. Only problem is we may be relocating in 2-4 years and I don’t know how I feel about dropping a ton of cash on initiation if we’re going to pack up and leave soon. I’ve never been a member before but I read in a different thread that some clubs will work with you on the initiation fee (better to have a 2 year member than a 0 year member). Anyone had any experience with this?
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