BetterThanMost’s Review of Larkin Golf Club on 4/21/20

The 500 Club

Date: 4/21/20 Tue Afternoon
Overall Rating:

"Worth playing"
Conditions: Good - normal wear/tear
Pace: 3 1/2 Hours
Cost: $33
Username: BetterThanMost
Profile: Frequent Golfer (about once a month)
Handicap: 18.0
Today's Score: 90
See All Reviews by this user

Played Larkin today. They were observing some social distancing rules (max 5 people in the clubhouse at any one time, no pencils on the carts), but at the same time they still had bunker rakes out and divot bottles on the carts. Construction continues along 11, 12 and 15. It’s a shame, as the 12-15 stretch down in the valley used to be a neat little secluded part of the course, but the houses are now encroaching on that. We were sent off the back as they were doing some maintenance on the front. They were topdressing the greens on the front, but the sand didn’t affect the greens at all. Greens were in fairly good shape, not the best I’ve seen around this spring, but certainly acceptable. Fairways were in great shape, as were most teeboxes. A couple of boxes in shady areas were a little thin. The bunkers were probably the worst aspect of the course. The sand was hard packed in most of them. Pace of play was good; our twosome made it around in 3:10.

Comments (1)

CarolinaGolfer
at 6/29/22 3:09pm
Larkin will soon be the only course in the Statesville area with Bent Grass greens.. and this will bring them additional business for sure! … Experienced Golfers prefer Bent Grass greens over Bermuda by like 3 to 1. Visit any 36 hole Golf Resort that has both types and the staff will confirm this to be true. Nice Bent Grass greens have become a patron draw for courses that have them here in NC. The ‘industry’ hype about Bermuda conversion is just that hype, however it’s primarily directed at warm/hot weather Golfing states where their are more courses and where summers are very hot. NC is a borderline area for each of these grasses. Just last month I was speaking with the Head Superintendent of a high-end 36 hole golf resort in the Triad area. They have 18 holes of bents and the same with Bermuda. As he’s been doing this his entire life I ask him… which is easier, which is more costly, and which grass would you use if you built a Golf Course in NC. His answer; ‘Let me respond like this. There are 5 different 36 hole golf facilities in the triad area, every one of them have both grasses, 18 Bent, 18 Bermuda”. “This is because each weather year is different, some years Bent does better than Bermuda, other years it’s reversed”. He also stated.. “Bermuda is not easier to maintain than Bent like many try to convey, and we have to Sand our Bermuda EVERY week from May to September”. Now.. I won’t even get into how weird (frustrating) the roll of the ball can be on anything less than super high-end Bermuda courses around here.