Royal Manchester Golf Links

The course was in PERFECT condition, even the greens were softer than normal. Greens were smooth and rolled true. Overall maintenance was great, rough was up a bit but playable. Country club standards.

I absolutely love this course! It's beautiful with the fescue-lined fairways, deep bunkers, and fast undulating greens. The course is in excellent condition from tee boxes to fairways to bunkers to the greens! However, the pace of play was 5.5 hours with 3-4 groups on each hole the entire round--we waited every hole. I called the Pro Shop on #4 tee box and the marshal that did come out just "chatted up" with players and didn't improve the pace. They have 8 minute tee times, which is simply too close together for the challenge of this course. If you can't keep it in the fairway and end up in the fescue, it adds time (the groups in front of us all seemed to be walking on the mounds searching for balls in the fescue)!! I don't think I'll make the 1.5 hour drive from the Baltimore area on a weekend again--if I decide to play, I'll try a weekday. Too many hackers and no marshaling on the weekends--today's round was tiring and not enjoyable. Be warned about slow play!

I've played several rounds here. If you are playing for the first time or play here infrequently it will be pretty challenging. It took me a few rounds to figure out aiming points and favorable tee positions. Driver isn't always the best club off the tee unless you have really precise aim.

I would hesitate to recommend this course for beginners. Unlike other courses in the area, this place plays rather tight and errant hooks and slices will probably land out of bounds. The fescue is super thick and OB balls disappear.

Occasionally, I have had to wait on the tee boxes but normally finish under 4 hours, sometimes just 3 hours (playing single).

The course is in 8-9/10 condition. For a moderately priced public course that is really good. There are a fair amount of unrepaired pitch marks on the greens and just a hand full of bare spots/grass areas that need attention. Overall I was really impressed with the quality of the turf and lush color of the fairways and first cut.

Other notes: driving range is really nice, plays off the grass on the weekends (big plus). Carts do not have gps which I really like. For some reason, there is no place to clean your clubs at the end of the round. All the club cleaning boxes are at the range. There is a bar/restaurant but its not obvious if there is actually food available. Snack selection is kind of lame.

To claim being one of the best courses you would expect better. Pace of play was the worst I ever experienced with no Marshall’s to help move people along. They didn’t have the restaurant open bc they claimed to have an event even though it was lunch time and no one for said event was there. So they only had hotdogs being grilled in the pro shop. They sucked too. Beer cart girl drove by once when we were on the 16th hole on a hot day and they had no water coolers on the course probably bc of COVID. I guess on a 90 degree day they don’t care. The course is well kept on most holes, with the exception of most of the par 3 tee boxes being a sandy mess. A challenging course lay out requiring golfers to be on their game and to hit the ball straight. To me the links at Gettysburg is a much better PA public course in every aspect

Drove an hour from Baltimore to play Royal Manchester. It's set in pretty scenery and one of the better courses in the area. The chipping area itself is worth going a few minutes early to enjoy. Greens are fast with enough break to really add to the fun.

Our tee time was 12:50 on a Saturday -- a bit late given sundown at 5:15pm but I figured 4.5 hours would be OK. No such luck. We were backed up from the outset with 3 groups sitting on the 2nd hole tee box ! That continued through the front nine with at least 2 groups waiting on every tee through the round. Called the club house 3 times on the front for relief and stopped in at the turn. On each occasion I was told that rangers were out, but we never saw a ranger on the course and the pace never improved. The front nine took over 2.5 hours and we lost the light on 15th hole.

I have no problem with golfers having a bad day -- happens to everyone. But a better course should be able to work it out so that not everyone on the course is having a bad day. Courses are doing better financially during the pandemic. Unfortunately they don't seem to be investing some of that profit into adequate staffing.

Perfect day all around. RM is a gem!!! Love playing here!!!!

Second time playing - once again, a wonderful experience. Staff was extremely courteous and very helpful. Course is very fun and even though it started to rain - it was a blast - links style and rain - think Scotland. Best practice facilities in the area. 4 hours even to play on a Sunday and we waited a few times for the foursome in front of us. Only reason it is not 5 stars is the greens have a bunch of old ball marks. Not the staff's fault - c'mon golfers, fix your ball mark plus find 3 more to fix while playing! Will definitely return to this course when in the area.

This was a difficult course to play, but it was still a lot of fun to take on the challenge. Links course that looks wide open but if you are not in the fairway or fist cut of rough, say goodbye to your ball. If you find the fescue, take a drop and move on.

Lots of interesting layouts and, while expensive, is a good course to play once a year for the challenge.

Course is a great layout, and well maintained. Many of the tee boxes were in rough shape, as well as a couple patches on a few greens. However, the greens played excellent and they were mostly in great shape. The fairways were very good, but a touch longer than normal on the edges. I spoke with the operations manager in the pro shop and he said there was an irrigation issue recently that is now resolved and they were letting the fairways grow a little longer since some areas weren't getting as much water as they ideally should.
I played solo, and pace was great on the front 9. A threesome and foursome let me play through and I finished in maybe 1hr 55min. The back was slower and took about 2hr 30min, but it was not the end of the world.
Definitely would recommend this course to anyone. It is a great course, not insanely difficult but you definitely need to be able to control your ball with all the fescue that there is.
The staff here are great, very friendly and professional.

I've played here before and brought friends to play this time. I was embarrassed. This course has gone to crap. Conditions are on par with a low end muni course. Just look at my photos. The tees are absolutely horrid. Very little actual grass. I know that due to COVID the sand bottles aren't out, but maybe the crew could repaid divots at days end?
Very little definition from fairways to the rough. And LOTS of bare patches. I mean LOTS.
There was no starter. Very few direction signs. And white mushrooms all over the fairways, which look like golf balls. Maybe send a kid out in the morning to drive around and wipe out the mushrooms?
Comes down to terrible management.

My first round at Royal Manchester in 2020. A couple of observations. The greens are some of the best in the tri-state area! They run true, a tad fast (which is nice), and are manicured beautifully! I absolutely love these greens. The fairways were in good condition, albeit some are starting to burn out and down to dirt. I suspect the heat has caused this issue. They were mowing while we were there, and the rough is thick and in good shape, but it can be punitive so be careful. We played in about 3.5 hours, which was great, because the course was pretty busy. We were able to get out one tee time earlier, played through a threesome, and then home free for the majority of the round. Never saw anyone! The staff are always accommodating and welcoming. The only thing I didn't like was the sign that stated "masks must be worn on the golf course if you are riding with a non-family member." Really? We're being forced to ride two to a cart, but they think the mask will keep the virus from spreading? The best thing for their customers is allow individual carts, not force people to ride together that should be social distancing! There are touch points in the cart when you share a cart, as well as it was too hot to wear a mask on the course. Management needs to reconsider this policy--it's just stupid! However, I'm not going to let this one questionable policy detract from a beautiful course and a great round.

Solid course must hit it straight, was dried out from hot weather, any ball off in the weeds is gone. Bring an extra sleeve.

I love this course and would rather play here than many country clubs in the area that I have played. This is my favorite course to play in Southcentral PA.
Today, I was a significantly disappointed to pay $40 for this round in the off season and we were given no warning that all the greens had been punched (aerated). I prefer core aeration anyway for best turf results. These greens were punched in very inconsistent patterns too which was interesting. It also made it unusually inconsistent to putt on for this course which it usually is very consistent in quality and speed.
This was the one place in the area among public courses where the greens were repaired by players and not so today. Very poor care shown by those players recently playing there on the greens. For Winter, tees and fairways in good shape. Greens were fuzzy and perhaps due to crowns and the root structure here over fly ash that is best to leave it a little longer. Just inconsistent. Hopefully, it turns around by April.
Also, the exchange with an employee that could not wait the 5 seconds until I tied my last sneaker before I moved my cart out of a parking space beside the vehicle we came in was irksome. This showed his age and sense of self importance over customers. There were plenty of other spaces but he had to have that one. Not impressed with his lack of consideration and patience for a customer. I will say in fairness that he was kind enough to jump start a members car right before that.
Overall, this was the worst experience here by far in the past 4-5 years of coming here. Again, I look forward to a much better environment here in early April.

The only issue with this course is it’s location. It’s very difficult to get to this course,

Once you know the course. It’s a real treat to play. Especially when your long game is firing on all cylinders.
I was blessed to have 55 degree weather on December 28th 2019. Little wind and two single digit golfers to play with..

It was a thrill you experience only now and then. The course can be very hard if you keep missing the fairway .
Understandably the greens were aerated and sanded so the greens were unpredictable but the long lag putts were ok.i think this Course ranks in the top 20 for the mid-Atlantic area.

I am sure you will enjoy the experience

I’ve never felt compelled to write reviews (something I should change), but, that being said, this place deserves it. Clubhouse is great from the exterior, with a lot of parking very close in that it’s a very short walk to your car from the cart return. I play a ton of golf, some private, some public, but in this case it’s kind of useless to use either of those words to describe the pro shop experience, they’re just the best, most professional staff I’ve ever seen really. I’ve been pretty late to hot deal tee times here twice due to traffic and an accident, but both times when I called warning about my time, the person in the shop has been really gracious and flexible. They’re not stuck up or over the top with their gem of a course, and have extremely fair prices.

The course itself is great; architecture-wise, it’s compelling, and the playing surface is really pure. Each hole is pretty unique, besides maybe for 1 and 8, but the green on 8 makes up for it. The course has an engaging flow if that makes sense, it doesn’t just beat you up three holes straight, it kind of gives you a breather. There’s a nice mix of long par 4s with short par 4s, while the par 3s are all fairly pedestrian, even from the tips, you won’t have to hit anything more than 185. The par 5s are pretty epic, they are true par 5s with a mix of penal/strategic/heroic aspects, and the teeshot on #3 alone can expose you.

Unreal course with great people running it.

Absolutely great course even in off season. Fescue lined fairways that were thankfully mowed for the end of the season. Would be brutal in summer for my errant tee shots. Awesome practice area. Surprisingly full on a Wednesday morning in November. Greens were aerated 2 weeks prior and not grown in but they were quick and still rolled pretty true. Course is 1 1/2 hrs from home or would play more often.

I have played at dauphin played at heritage hills, both of those courses are fantastic. But this course I felt like I was at Scotland plus the down pouring rain helped it. Greens were in great condition everything was in great condition. Luckily for us we were the only ones on the course practically so it was stress free. I would recommend on laying up on this course for a lot of the wholes though it was fun but somewhat challenging. Holes placed decent enough that if your offline by 10-20 yards your still fine but if you are a beginners stay away or just come with a lot of balls because the rough is always hungry and never has a full stomach! But besides that the staff was nice let us do nine holes even though it was down pouring at times! THERE IS A REASON THIS PLACEN IS TOP TEN PUBLIC GOLF COURSES IN PA

The course layout and condition were very good. There are several tees so you can choose the degree of challenge you'd like to play.