I was considering a couple courses for my afternoon round but didn’t bother making a tee time, as I had some options. Honey Run was on my way home and I had heard good things about the course. So, after some lunch I called them up. I was told that if I could get there within a half hour then it was wide open. I high-tailed it over to the course and things worked out perfectly!

Honey Run is a few miles west of downtown York, close to where the countryside meets the city. The course is set in a community that was built in the early 70’s and features two contrasting nines. The front nine plays through the trees, circling a group of homes and isn’t anything too special.

The back nine offers a more secluded setting as it is out in the farmland and plays around two or three large homes. It is more open and on a higher part of the property, so the views are nicer! Overall, the course has a little bit of everything including a creek, a couple ponds and some elevation change.

Ed Ault, the designer of Honey Run, has done plenty of other work in the Mid-Atlantic. I’m quite familiar with his name from Ault, Clark and Associates, which is a design company that has handled numerous other projects in the area. Honey Run was designed before the existing firm was created, so the course appears to have been designed by Ault himself.

You should know by now that I love a course that allows me to find wayward shots! I wouldn’t let my pictures of the wooded holes on the front nine scare you, there is actually quite a bit of room to find the ball. You may just have to advance it 100 yards, but you should be able to scramble for a par or bogey after a wild one. If you can find a way to play from the fairways you could have a good day as the greens are large and don’t have much undulation.

Unless you are a low handicap, I doubt that Honey Run will be “too easy” for you. You are going to end up with some uneven lies and I thought the slope in the fairways was just enough to be a challenge, without being too severe. There are lots of large bunkers at Honey Run, but as a whole they were flat and not very deep. For reference, I played the blue tees which are 72.8/134/6797.

As I alluded to, the front nine didn’t have many awesome holes. However, you could randomly pick any hole on the back nine and chances are, it is a decent one. The 10th and the 17th were my favorites! The 10th, a 412 yard par-4, is the #3 handicap. It plays from an elevated tee down to a fairway that gets pinched by trees. The approach is one of the prettiest on the course as the green is framed by bunkers, a creek and trees.

The 17th isn’t far from the 10th and I liked it because of its elevation drop down to the green and view of the creek. It was close to a full club downhill. It is 176 yards and the green is narrower, so an accurate mid-iron is needed.

The maintenance at Honey Run was good and my only gripe is that the tee boxes were sloped! Everything was full and lush. The fairways were a bit long but nothing that affected play. The greens were receptive and a medium speed.

I paid $30 and made it around in 3 hours 15 minutes, although I did play the back nine out of order. I zipped around most of the front nine, but then encountered two groups shouting at each other on the 10th hole. Weird. Thankfully, I was able to skip past them! Honey Run won’t blow you away, but it is an acceptable mid-tier course that is worth the green fee if you are in the area.

Course Pictures (click any picture to scroll through the gallery):