Stow Acres Country Club - Stow, Massachusetts

DraMatik G.

Very beautiful place. Shadow Run has a great staff and provides an excellent environment for weddings. The nice outdoor golfing area didn't really interfere with the wedding. Everybody was very cordial and nice. It was a great place to have a wedding. The people who had their wedding there were very happy and satisfied.

Kyle L.

This course needs some serious help. The layout and design is very good, and when it’s maintained well it’s a beautiful place to play. However the conditions seem to be going more and more downhill. The greens are awfully maintained, the fairways and rough are very dry and patchy. It seems like they haven’t watered or seeded some parts at all. The #11 fairway has had puddles of water and mud for months now.
These conditions do not justify the green fees, especially with other great courses in the area.

The people here have been fantastic though.
The head pro Jeff helped me get a bag replaced under warranty and I can’t be thankful enough.

It’s really sad to see what this course is now, especially since I played here growing up. Hopefully there’s better days ahead.

Genesis F.

I was just there for my nieces wedding. It was so sweet, simple and beautiful. The grounds were gorgeous! Food was decent, dessert bar and chocolate strawberries were fabulous! And almost everyone was super friendly and accommodating. It was a beautiful, beautiful experience.

John R.

Full review:

Stow is not the Stow of yesteryear and the description and pictures online are no longer true. Played the back 9 of the South and glad that’s all we did. Conditions get a 2 out of 10. Layout also a 2 out of 10. There are just no signs of love at this facility other than the employees attitudes. They were great.

Tee boxes are what you’d expect at your local muni. Beat up and rundown. Some tees not cut, some with not enough grass to cut. No real fairways, brown patches everywhere, we ended up playing the ball up after seeing 2 holes. The greens are hairy and slow, the bunkers look like the same bunkers from the original layout (they were at least raked) and the areas around the fairway bunkers are dirt patches and overgrown grass/weeds. In fact, there’s plenty of overgrown grass/trees/weeds around the perimeter of just about every hole and you felt claustrophobic. There’s also a handful of holes where fairway ends, then rough, then it begins again or fairway cuts around a hill and the hill has rough. The problem is you can’t tell these things because it all blends together. Nothing was defined. Cart paths need repair. Some areas had actual paths while some areas it was rocks/dirt and mini pot holes and I hate seeing that around greens. It just looks like a facility that has given up. I have no idea what the maintenance budget is but if they want this place to look respectable again, they need to double the budget and hire 20 more laborers to maintain it.

I’ll point out that due to the weather in New England (been very hot and humid), you can tell it’s going through some stress. I also only saw 9 of the 36 holes so maybe there’s signs of life out there somewhere but it’s evident it’s nowhere near the golf facility it once was.

There’s a lot of work that needs to be done at Stow and it’s currently way overpriced for what you get. $89 with a cart on Fridays-Sundays and holidays. We paid $47 for 9 with a cart on a Friday and I don’t think I’d pay $20. Definitely not $45 for 18.

Basically it’s no longer a destination round. I can play 3-4 municipal courses near my house for less and get a better experience so I don’t need to drive to Stow anymore. It’s basically a local muni for the people who live within a few miles of it. It was a sad experience for sure and we won’t be back.

Wanna make a point to say the employees were all very nice, friendly and ready to help. Saw the beverage cart once on the course and that’s fine for 9 holes. The employees are why Stow gets a star.

Barry E.

Showed up to play 18 walking (Nov 17th) and they charges me $69. Tee boxes were all beat up and course was all like concrete. Memo to Stow Acres: YOUR COURSE IS NOT WORTH THAT MUCH. Now that the North will be gone, sadly I will not have a reason to go back after having played there 3-4 times a year for 30+ years. I guess this is what happens when the decisions being made are not about providing good golf but something else. Kind of a sad way to say goodbye to a tract the I always truly enjoyed 😕.

Declan R.

This course was wonderful. Great fairways, forgiving greens, and lovely tee boxes. This course is tough but definitely a course to play. This course is great for families and friends. Very friendly staff and very friendly community. Even if you play a bad round doesn’t mean the course is bad just keep playing and you’ll get better.

Eric S.

My foursome played both the South and North course for the first time over the last month or so, and we all agreed that was enough for us and we'd never be back to Stow Acres.

First issue: We had 6:50am and 7:00am tee times and both rounds ended up over 5 hours in length (with one being closer to 6 hours) due to the slow pace of play of the groups in front of us. The course rangers were too scared to say anything to these groups, letting them back up the course. We had four groups on 18 at one point because of this that the ranger just watched happen.

Second issue: The golf carts are barely functioning at this point. One of the carts we had was a hand-me-down from Nonesuch Country Club, and it could barely operate at all. Every single time you wanted to move, it essentially slowly ramped up and backfired before moving. At one point the group behind us helped push the cart because it wasn't functioning.

Third issue: The conditions of the course are horrific overall. The tee boxes are mostly weeds and completely torn up, but we can live with that. The greens on the other hand were unplayable on some holes. Putting through the complete abyss of dirt and no grass. Some greens didn't even look like they were mowed or rolled in over a week. General maintenance was lacking everywhere.

On the plus side: The bunkers on the North course were in great shape! Some of the better muni sand I have seen.

For $89, there are significantly better options both next door (Butternut) and with numerous other courses in the area. For Stow Acres to be charging that much money (and seemingly full tee sheets), you'd expect to see a better investment in the course across the board. Really disappointing waste of money.

Benchmark T.

Normally would never leave a review like this however my experience today on the phone while trying to book a tee time was a bit silly. Mind you my wife and I play this course 3 to 4 times a week and regularly call in for a tee time after work if indeed there is time available. The folks who normally answer have no problem trying their best to accommodate and if not no sweat!

Today however when calling I. For a tee time, Dianne informed me that now individuals need to book all tee times online, and there as no exception's. Further more when I explained to her I had concerned using a credit card with their system, all she had to say was it’s so easy.

With as much concern in the world there is today with fraud, it should be understandable that a person would have a bit of apprehension with using a third party website to book a tee time.

I would also wonder if this is her individual policy that she’s deciding to enforce on a case by case basis as the majority of players at this course are older. I have trouble believing these folks would be booking all of their tee times online as well.

Other than this experience ALL other times have been great. The gentleman at the desk were attentive, explained any directions to each course, the food was fantastic. Course conditions are great.

I sincerely hope Stow acres is not enforcing an online tee time policy, considering there are so many other great options to play in close proximity.