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Description

Daily fee public course designed by Arnold Palmer and located off the popular Birkdale exit 25 of I-77, north of uptown Charlotte. Located on 200 acres of rolling terrain, carved between tall pines and natural streams, Birkdale is a challenging 7,013 yard, par 72 course made up of Bermuda fairways and new Ultradwarf Bermudagrass greens (2021), offering a true test of golf skills.

Notes

Birkdale came under new management in April 2014 -- keep that in mind when looking at older reviews. The course offers memberships and they get you reciprocal playing privileges at all the other Pinnacle Golf Properties courses in town -- The Divide, Tradition, Highland Creek, Skybrook, Tega Cay and Waterford. The course underwent a significant renovation in the summer of 2021 which included the conversion to Bermudagrass greens.

B-Man's Take

Years ago, I played here once or twice a season, then hardly at all as the course recovered from mismanagement. PGP has done a great job these past five years or so getting the course back to playable conditions and better value for your money -- including a complete renovation of the greens to convert them to Ultradwarf Bermudagrass in 2021. The course has many challenging holes with some tough carries over trouble. Many holes have doglegs and a couple of short par 4's are almost drive-able. The par 3 holes are all pretty tough. Watch out for the 569yd par 5 5th hole where your 3rd shot must carry water to reach sucker pins in the front right corner. And good luck on the 436yd par 4 18th hole, which also has a tough carry over water and bunkers to a sloped green. This course has a great layout and would be a favorite of mine if the conditions were consistently good to match the price. It is getting back there finally. So check it out and post a review!

Links

Most Recent Reviews

• 12/4/22 - Review by Hunter

  "Below average"

  I heard they are closing for 8 months for a sewer project, hopefully they use that time to fix the issues. The greens are newer Bermuda and were fine (but fast and hard, I like those, some may not). None of the bunkers were playable. Full of mud/water etc. To be fair they might be purposely neglecting them since they will be unused for 8 months, but the price should reflect that. I love this course design and remember when it used to be top notch. Hope it comes back.

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• 12/2/21 - Review by KirklandSpecial

  "Great course"

  The new bigger greens are taking nicely. They roll true and with the reduced tree coverage around the greens and fairway, the course is in great shape. I’ve played 3 of the tee boxes and love the different course from each distance. Pace of play has been solid. 4 hour, even a sub 4 hour round! Really looking forward to how this course plays in the spring.

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• 11/19/20 - Review by MGOBLUE

  "Worth playing"

  Another course I used to play but haven't in over 10 years. I really like the layout , the driving range and the practice area. The staff was very friendly. The fairways were in good shape , the greens were fast but had quite a few ball marks and the bunkers were still dealing with the after effects of hurricane Eta 8 days later. Some were still muddy while others were badly eroded. Will like to see this course with the new greens next year but will hate the idea of losing the driving range and turning #9 into a par 3.

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• 9/10/20 - Review by Jonny

  "Average"

  Arnie would probably not be real happy with the condition of his course today. I was able to snag a $35 deal with the GolfNow app and got on for a 130p tee time. I got paired with a guy named Clint who had just retired and moved from California to Denver NC. He had played before & we're about the same age so it worked out good. He was able to offer some guidance on how the course plays. I'm sure when this course was first built in 1997 it was considered a premiere course. Not so much today as the years have not been kind. The tee boxes are good, the fairways are good but the greens were in very poor condition. There were bare spots, un-repaired divots and ragged patches. The front nine was much worse than the back. I really didn't care for the layout and design of this course. Way too many green side bunkers and the green design and pin placement made it very difficult at times. The are observing COVID guidelines. The Staff was nice, the Starter was great, the check-in was smooth and easy and the facilities seemed OK. There is a driving range and a small practice putting green area. The carts were clean and in good condition. On one of the holes on the front nine, balls that are hit from the driving range and are off-line come into the fairway which is very frustrating. I doubt I play this course again. I was disappointed since I had heard so many great things about the course when it first opened.

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• 7/25/20 - Review by B-Man

  "Great course"

  Birkdale is in very good shape. Greens are doing just fine in the summer heat and rolled with good speed. Lots of ball marks to fix, but most were fresh and not causing permanent pock marks. Tees and fairways were all good. About the only issue I had was with some of the rough just off the fairway and nowhere near out of play. To the right of #8 fairway really penalized me with tall grass and weeds when I was maybe 5 feet off the fairway for my 3rd shot into the par 5. Right of #9 fairway gets you into a net or an area of rough loaded with driving range balls. This hole will likely be altered next year when they take out the driving range to develop that land. Overall, this course is worth playing right now - which is great news for a course I've been down on in recent years due to poor maintenance. $59 after 1:00 on a weekend is a bit pricey compared to other courses in similar or better shape, but not far off market price these days. Arnie's Tavern is open and they have tables outside overlooking the 18th green -- which is a great spot to relax before or after your round.

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Updates From the Forum

• 05/03/23 - B-Man posted "The 10 Best Golf Courses in the Lake Norman Area"

  I wrote this article for The Best of Lake Norman Podcast and will be on the show later this month to talk about it. I rank the 10 best golf courses in the Lake Norman, public and private. This article serves as a preview to my Top 10 list for Axios Charlotte of the Top 10 Public Golf Courses in the Charlotte area, which is coming out later this month. Spoiler Alert: 3 of the courses on the Lake Norman list also make the Charlotte Top 10 list. Here's the article: 10 Best Lake Norman Golf Courses (Public and Private)
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• 12/26/22 - B-Man posted "Birkdale Closing for 8 Months"

  In case you missed the news, Birkdale Golf Club is closing for 8+ months while the redevelopment project begins construction. It should re-open late summer 2023 with a new par 3 9th hole and no driving range (!). I'll keep you posted on updates as I get them. Birkdale Golf Club will be closed beginning December 8, 2022
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• 06/15/21 - KirklandSpecial posted "Birkdale CLOSED until August"

  Appears the new greens are going in at Birkdale. Walked up to practice and they said everything is dead and closed until some time in August.
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• 04/15/21 - B-Man posted "3 Courses To Be Renovated This Year"

  Just got some very interesting and exciting news... three Charlotte-area courses will be getting new Bermuda greens this year:
  
  Harry L. Jones Sr. Course (formerly Renaissance Park)
  Tradition Golf Club
  Birkdale Golf Club
  
  Exact timing is not set yet but I should be able to confirm dates within a week or two. These will likely be summer to early Fall projects, similar to the renovation of The Divide last year.
  
  The Harry Jones renovation is one step in a long-range master plan that sounds amazing. I can't share details just yet but what I've heard so far sounds really cool!
  
  Stay tuned!
  View this thread

• 06/17/20 - B-Man posted "Birkdale Re-Development Update"

  Saw this a few days ago giving a slight update on Re-Development at Birkdale, confirming that the current driving range and practice area (which is a nice one) will go away. The article notes that development work could begin by year's end.
  
  "The driving range is right where the expansion project is, so the range, along with its high protective fence, will disappear” said Principal Town Planner David Peete. Peete noted, however, that the owner could build a new driving range in the future, though that’s not currently in the plans."
  
  Birkdale Moves a Step Closer to a Mulligan
  View this thread