Bill Roberts Golf Course

Great course and very nice staff other than Doug Smith, the director who approached us and told us we were holding up the entire course and everyone was upset and he was close to making us skip a few holes ahead but we should “still have fun”. We didn’t see anyone behind us so we were already confused and a call to the office confirmed that he made it up and we were just fine. That was weird, Doug! Other than that, great time!

I want to share a great experience that I had as a person from out of state. I dropped by since I had some time to kill waiting for my flight at Helena Regional Airport. The staff treated me professionally, making sure. I had everything that I needed from providing a Veterans Discount on the bucket pricing for the driving range.

To start off...This was my first time playing Bill Roberts. The pro shop is pretty nice. The golf course is in fine condition. The greens show that they are loved by the maintenance crew but not by some of the players. Some people just cannot stoop to fix the ball marks. Come on people, we can do better. Now for the point of my review. They schedule their tee times way too close together. Today, Wednesday, July 30 2025, they had a 6 minute interval between times. It didn't matter if it was a single, a twosome, a threesome or a foursome. It was 6 minutes. The following is from the GCMA (Golf Club Managers Assoc.) “When play is in two-balls an interval of at least eight minutes is recommended,” states the manual. That goes up to at least 10 minutes when three-balls are going out and 11 and 12 minutes for fourballs. “A good guide is that the starting interval should not be shorter than the time it should take to play the quickest hole on the course, and this becomes particularly relevant when that hole features early in the round.” Starting intervals need to be sufficiently wide for there to be any chance of achieving good pace of play and flow around the course. Today, after the third hole is was very evident that things were going to be slow. We got to the tee box and two groups were waiting and it was that way as far as you can see. I do not cast blame on the young kids on the desk in the clubhouse. They are doing what they are told. And doing it quite well, I might add. It is an administrative issue. I know what they are doing. They are trying to cram as many people through the doors to increase revenue. The downside is that people get pissed, leave the course, and do not return because of the pace of play is so slow. It will be a cold day in hell before I play this course again.