eric, if that's a major criteria for you, I don't think the clubcorp deal is for you.
it sounds like you're more of an early morning, weekend golfer. it's going to be packed (or at least busy) at those peak times regardless of whether you are at a public or private course.
The benefits for me as a YEX member is that I get access to many, many courses here in DFW and cart fee only on some great courses outside of DFW. It's nice to be able to play several courses that usually are in better shape than most public places in addition to rounds that don't take near as long (I consider a deathly slow round to be 4 hours). I'd say my average round is probably around 3.5 hours. Also, all of the courses have unlimited range usage, so it's nice to get in practice (putting, range, short game areas) and not be hit with "bucket of balls" fees each time. While I'm not a fan of Brookhaven, their practice facility (range, short game area) is really great. Most of the other courses I have been to have pretty nice practice facilities too (unfortunately, if I had to rank them, Stonebridge is at the lower end of practice facilities, though the 27 holes and player friendly layout makes it one of the better courses IMO).
On top of that, you will find that evenings (at least at Stonebridge) 7 days a week are nearly empty. It's not unusual for me to tee off at 5 pm (weekday or weekend) and finish nine holes between one hour to 1.5 hours. It's very empty in the evenings and allows me both a speedy 9 or 18 holes (playing that fast, it's easy to get in 18 holes in the evening). Also, I can take my 4.5 yr old with me and there are ZERO issues. It's pretty standard for me, my wife, and the little one to go play 9 holes around 6 pm nearly every Saturday and Sunday and never run into another person on the course.
