The Karakung Golf Course at Cobbs Creek

We played the Karakung course at Cobbs Creek on October 2, 2010. did not expect the quality of a resort course, but what we found was terrible. Several things made this an experience that should not happen to anyone using your site. Here are some of the non-golf things - the homeless people selling golf balls near what should have been the 2nd tee - skate boarders along the 12th hole - crossing a busy city street 3 times during the round without any cross walks - no rest room facilities on the entire course - trash scattered throughout the course especially beer bottles and cans piled in the rough near the areas that were supposed to be tee boxes - the dead rotting smelling large bird near one of the fairways. The condition of the course was the worst I have ever played. Three holes should have been closed because the area between where the hole started and the greens had been flooded recently and were mostly mud, with some patches of weeds. The score card indicated 3 sets of tees. There was only one set of tee markers on each hole. The area where these were located often had no grass at all. When there was grass it was mostly crab grass. The ""rough"" ranged from 6 inch deep grass to weeds to bare dirt. The sand traps had no rakes and look like they had not been maintained in weeks. About 1/2 the greens had large areas of desease that had killed the grass. Many of the greens had ridges left by the mowers or areas that had been missed by the mowers giving the golfer an uneven surface for putting. The fairways that were playable were mostly crab grass. more

I played the Cobbs Creek Golf Course on Thursday, July 31st (2008) for a charity outing. I found the pro shop to be be nicely and courteously staffed. Good variety of food and drinks at the snack bar. Golf carts were in very nice shape. The course itself was probably the nicest municipal course I have played. The tee boxes were rather hard, and bare in some spots. However, given the number of daily rounds played I found it to be in decent shape. The greens played fast and were in very decent shape. The greens also proved challenging in that straight puts were few and far between. The cart paths were in ok shape, but could use some revamping. All in all, I would recommend to anyone who wants a decent place to shoot a round on the cheap. I did spot two pedestrians taking the shortcut across a fairway, but they were not hooligans and were friendly. Pros: Cheap, challenging, convenient, well staffed Cons: tee boxes aren't as soft as others, slightly overplayed more

This is the worst course in the entire Philadelphia area. The city should be ashamed to promote this and any of the city owned courses as a tourist stop. The city needs to sell this course to someone who can bring it back to one of the most well designed and challenging courses in the state of Pennsylvania. This course has so much potential it would be crazy to waste that. Pros: Inexpensive, challenging Cons: horrible conditions, bad area. more

The last reviews I saw were 4 to 5 years old, so I thought I would give an update on the courses. I've played ""The Old Course and Karakung"" and they both still Stink!!!. I've made tee times for 6:00 a.m. and they tell me no problem. There is ""no problem"" for them as they take my money and all the problem are mine. Cons: Staff, Tee Area's, Fairway's, Greens, Golf Paths and anything else to do with a golf course. more

No doubt it has the best layout of any close-in (to Philly) course, but it is, and has been poorly maintained since I first played it more than 20 years ago. It's a crying shame. Pros: Great layout Cons: Poor upkeep more

how could you possibly rate this cow pasture in any top ten of any ranking. Pros: dirt fairways, terrible greens, hard dirt tee boxes Cons: needs complete renov, has pro length more

Whoever voted for this so called golf for # 1 is a complete and utter moron. This course should be called the rock pile and dirt course. There are about two good holes on the course and the rest of it should be blown up and redone. I would never play this course ever again, even though i only live 2 minutes away from there i would rather drive to Maryland and play a real course. Cons: Too Expensive, Bad Maintenance more

I have played there twice and was not impressed. While we were at the proshop paying, some guy ran in and said that a couple of kids stole his cart with his clubs while he was on the green. Sorry, if I have to worry about my clubs, and was not impressed with the course, I will never play there again. Pros: location more

This is a sister course to Merion, but by the shape it's in, you would never know it. Challenging yes, the 600-yard hole is fun. Also challenging to your stamina is chasing down kids stealing golf balls and later selling them... This is a municipal course and the city puts as much care into this course as it does education. Count on a 6 hour round on a busy weekend. Number 1 in the area? Is this in reference to how many people play it or its quality. It is inexpensive and geographically central, but #1? Please! Pros: Long, Inexpensive, Convenient Cons: Over-played, Over-crowded, White trash more

This is one of the worst golf courses that I have ever played....from tee boxes to green!! I live less then 5 miles from this course and I would not waste my time and energy to play this course. I can name about 50 other golf courses in the Philadelphia area that are better then less. People should stop using Cobb's past reputation.....it is not the same course!!! more

Arguably one of the best layouts, in terms of hole variety, I have played at. Short, driveable par 4's, killer long par 4's, Short and long par 5's, scenic par 3's, as well as a few blind shots. The course condition can be suspect since it's a Philly public course - that says it all. Used to have a scenic putting green, but they built a damn cart barn on top of it! Golf courses were meant to be WALKED! more

This course is NOT good. The greens were chopped up, the fairways were not kept well, and the cart roads were horrible. I almost flipped the cart twice due to dangerous conditions. This course is horrible. Not to mention the fact you have to drive through West Philly to get there. Other then the fact that I shot an 88, there isn't anything else positive I can say about this course. Cons: bad conditions, slow play, in the ghetto more

Great layout. new management has done alot to improve however the City of Philadelphia, which owns the course and takes money from the management company that runs the city courses, must step up to the plate and begin to help out the management of this course. When that happens this will be hands down, the best course in the area, bar none. Pros: design, shot value, staff Cons: conditions, city's neglect more

I am reading the previously posted reviews and it's quite apparent that these people haven't played Cobbs recently because it's in tremendous shape. This course has the unfortunate problem of being a MASTERFULLY designed golf course trying to serve the common folk in a blue collar area of a major city with a little budget. With that said, this course will test every shot in your bag and leave you remembering specific holes years after you play it. Which is heck of a lot more than can be said for these boring cow pastures like Kimberton and Pickering that were mentioned in previous e-mails. Not too mention they are twice as pricey. more

PLEASE!!! OK. the course is not in the best of shape. As other reviews have reflected, this is due to years of neglect. However, a new management has taken over & is making progress in correcting this. As to ""being held at gunpoint"" in the ""worst part of the city"" - you gotta be kidding me!!! Play this course for the challenge, for the low fees, and don't be worried about ""gunpoint"", worry about par. Pros: tough, inexpensive Cons: upkeep, upkeep, upkeep more