Moor Downs Golf Course Review – Waukesha, Wisconsin

Moor Downs Golf Course is one of the 3 golf courses belonging to the Waukesha Country golf system. Originally built in 1915 as a high-end golf course for a nearby Moore Bath Hotel and Spa.

I was first interested in the course because of the after twilight pricing and it was located near downtown Waukesha! It is a golf course essentially in the middle of a neighborhood and sits next to an ongoing historic battle. To read more about the history of the Grand View Health Resort and the surrounding land that is now the golf course, you can read all about it here!

To dive deep into a review of the golf course itself, scroll on down!

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Contents

The Clubhouse

The clubhouse has kept its old charm throughout the decades and hasn’t been updated interior-wise. It is located feet away from the holes and is easy to get to when you follow the posted golf course signs through the neighborhood.  They have plenty of tables with chairs, apparel, and all the other standard things you would expect to buy. The space is quite big which would be nice if you’re interested in hosting some type of outing.

You will find parking right by the clubhouse and additionally, parking is found across by hole one and two if you follow your GPS to get there.

They have a little outside patio that can be used to relax after a round or use it before to sit and let the footgolfers get a head start on you.

A men’s and women’s bathroom/locker room is located inside the clubhouse. No bathrooms are located through the course but there is a water station, and a drink vending machine with water, Gatorade and soda you can purchase with cash for $2 in the middle of the round.

Quirky Course

I find this whole golf course to be a bit quirky for a few of the following reasons.

9 Hole Max Golfing

They advertise prices for 9 or 18 holes but it is only a 9 hole course. Yes, you can play it twice to technically play 18 but you are playing the same 9 holes.

Fun Fact: Traditionally golf was meant to be played with 22-25 holes.

Play Alongside Children’s Footgolf

To be fair, it is just a general footgolf game, but the only individuals I have seen play are children 18 and younger. While I am all for getting children out into the real world and playing sports, I think it is goofy and impractical to have golf and footgolf SHARE the same course. The women’s tees are literally the same exact spot as the footgolf kickoff starting point and their holes run with the golfing holes.

My first time there, I kept confusing the stupid footgolf holes for the real golfing holes, which really put a damper on my score and is frustrating to the max. For newbies, orange flags are for footgolf, and all other flags are the golf holes.

The second time I played at the course, there was an actual team of 8 footgolf players teeing off behind us. Not only were they extremely loud the whole time, but they kept kicking their ball before I was through my hole. There were a few times I almost got hit by their soccer ball as I was going to swing my seven iron and at one point all of them kicked their ball ahead of my golf ball which forced me to pick up and continue to the next hole.

Personally, I feel that if you are going to allow golf and footgolf to be played on the same course, then the golfers should be getting a more significant discount and the overall prices should be lowered. For this reason alone, I am hesitant to go back.

Timing-wise it is a nightmare to have both at the same time. Footgolf is just mathematically a faster-paced game, and it just doesn’t work to have both on the same course. I feel like each should have specified times to be played throughout the day or they need to space out when they send people to the first hole better. It doesn’t help there are only nine holes which means there isn’t a back 9 to send different groups out to.

Additionally, if you are going to allow children to play footgolf alongside adults golfing, then they should be aware of standard golf rules, volume control needs to be put in place to accommodate the overall atmosphere. I understand its an all ages course, but there are times and places for screaming. Furthermore, when golfers ask the footgolfers to pass and play through, they should know what that is, and abide by the rule. We asked the group behind us to pass, and they said no, which means we played the last five holes with eight kids kicking their balls alongside us. That was SUPER fun, insert eye roll here.

I know I sound like a naggy older adult, but I’m only 30 and feel like I was super laid back about the whole situation. I sort of cringe when I read the above paragraphs and don’t know at what point I got so old, but I feel like it is something that other golfers would want to take note and be informed about before deciding to tee off here.

Course Layout

The course layout is a bit quirky as well. After the second hole, you have to walk on a sidewalk around a building to get to the third hole. Once you get to the third hole you are a little confused on which is the right ending hole unless you have a scorecard. For this reason, I suggest grabbing a scorecard so you know exactly where you need to be aiming. With the footgolf, there are a lot of holes with a lot of flags in a small space and it looks a bit overwhelming.

A few of the holes require a small walk up and down hills to get to the next tee box. Overall, not the most structured golf layout. They could get a golf architect in there to reconfigure the layout to flow more smoothly. But who am I to tell a golf course how to play, I’m just a voice from the peanut gallery at the end of the day.

Hours

I don’t know if I’m blind or…They seem to have no posted hours anywhere. When you use google maps to get here it says they close at 5 but I have teed off after that time and have stayed till dark so I’m positive they are open late. There are no clear posted hours on the door of the clubhouse and the hours online are inaccurate as well.

I know if you rent a cart they like it back by 8 but if you use a pushcart you can come back whenever you want, even if its dark. Perhaps a rule of thumb is to go by the sunset time?


Amenities

This course allows you to carry, use a golf cart or push your clubs with a pushcart through the course.

There is no cart attendant also referred to as a cart girl, but they do have a variety of beer you can buy from the clubhouse. There is also a side service window where they sell smalls snacks from.


Pricing

Waukesha County Resident Waukesha County SR/JR & Veteran Non Resident
Course Open thru May 5 
Daily – Early Spring 18 Holes $15.00 $15.00 $15.00
Daily – Early Spring 9 Holes $11.25 $10.75 $12.25
May 6 thru September 2    
Daily 18 Holes $16.00 $15.00 $18.00
Daily 9 Holes $12.50 $11.25 $13.50
Twilight (Daily after 5:30 p.m.) 9 Holes $10.25 $10.25 $11.25
Early Bird (Daily, prior to 8 a.m.) 9 Holes $10.00 $10.00 $10.00
18 Holes 9 Holes
Golf Carts (per player) $11.00 $7.50
Early Bird Golf Carts (per player) X $5.00
Push Carts $6.00 $3.25

The Holes

Most of the holes a par 3 or 4 and there is one par 5! The holes themselves are really fun to play. There are some hazards such as trees, rivers, ponds and sand bunkers throughout the course. I like that the treeline isn’t too thick in diameter so in most cases you will be able to find your ball.

It is a hilly course, with holes going both up and down which makes it a different type of course to play. Most courses have a hills but this has back to back up and then down hills. Great course to come and get practice shots in! They also have some L shaped holes, which makes it enjoyable to practice iron strategy for nonstraight shooting types of holes.

Just remember not to aim for the footgolf flags or you will screw your game up! Colors are hard to see from a distance so make sure you use the scorecard the first time you go in order to clearly identify where the golfing holes are. They don’t show footgolf holes on the scorecard, just an FYI if you were planning on trying to look and compare.


Upkeep

The overall upkeep of the course is high-grade. The only complaint is the tee boxes are a bit beat up from kids wearing their soccer spikes on them to kick off for their footgolf. Thank god they don’t go on the actual putting greens!

Golf carts and pushcarts are kept clean and are in great condition. They put the golf carts in a garage overnight so they can be kept in top-notch form.

 

 

 

 

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Final Thoughts

This is an overall excellent course to come and shoot a quick round. You typically won’t have to schedule a tee time and you can come and walk right on. For a small 9 hole course, you get everything more extravagant courses offer as far as hazards go in a mini version.

I suggest coming to this course and using it as a practice round. It can be a great time to pull out that new club you have been wanting to use or try out that new swing you just researched on youtube.

Just a few short miles to nearby downtown Waukesha with plenty of places to grab some food or drink afterward!


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