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Description

This course south of the Ballantyne area off Hwy 521 and just across the NC-SC border opened in 2007. It runs through a retirement community and offers discounts for residents. With natural streams and several ponds, the course is a challenging but fair championship golf course designed by Golf Course Architect Tim Freeland. It features Bermuda fairways and G2 Bent Grass greens – one of the few public courses in the area still featuring Bent Grass putting surfaces. Five sets of tees allow golfers of all ages and abilities to enjoy the championship layout at Carolina Lakes. The course also includes a sixth "family" tee which turns the layout into a par 55 course, with 17 par 3's and one par 4, sort of a course inside a course.

Notes

The course offers regular memberships and annual pre-paid green fees and cart fees that can significantly reduce the cost the more rounds you buy.

B-Man's Take

I play this course a few times a year and it has been a fixture in my Top 10 list ranking as high as #2. It is truly a gem and lives up to its billing (and price). I would definitely describe the layout as "well-bunkered." Every hole features strategically placed traps and they affect your shot choices. There aren't too many surprises, even for first-time players. Pretty straightforward. The course includes some reachable par 5's and nearly driveable par 4's. I especially liked the 297-yd (from the Whites) par 4 11th hole and the 313-yd par 4 15th hole. Lots of risk and reward opportunities. I found the par 5 6th hole to be pretty difficult, with a creek at the end of the fairway affecting your tee shot, then uphill approaches with plenty of bunkers. Overall, this course is a great treat if you can afford it -- one of the nicest, well-kept courses in the area.

Most Recent Reviews

• 9/11/25 - Review by GolfNiners5

  "Great course"

  Played 9 holes. Play here in a league most Thursdays and conditions are always great. Greens were recently aerated and roll great. This is one of the best courses in the area, staff is amazing, course is consistently in great shape. Only concern is people not fixing ball marks

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• 12/5/24 - Review by fineus

  "Below average"

  Very nice golf course layout! One the best tracks in Charlotte. However, course management continues to neglect course conditions. I can't accept paying one the most expensive green fees in the Charlotte area, when the course is unkept. It's been going on for multiple years and getting noticeably worse. Green fees in proportion to course conditions does not hold up and the logic I use to not play there anymore. I would love to go back and pony up the $ when course conditions match green fee. Hopefully many feel the same and our messages gets heard. Best guess is, it's an internal financial situation with the company that owns this course. But the decision to raise revenue via green fees while not improving course conditions will not work for long. It's a shame they have a jewel in their hands.

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• 9/21/24 - Review by MGOBLUE

  "Great course"

  First time playing here in over a year. Website said the greens had been aerated on 8/29 and it was hard to tell that they had been. They were dew covered at our 8:30 tee time and even after the sun burned off the dew they rolled slow compared to Tega Cay where I play in a Wednesday afternoon golf league. The greens are enormous is size but again, compared to Tega Cay they didn't have as much break to them. I love the layout, but due to the distances between some greens and tees it's not a walkable course. I agree with the B-Man that #'s 13-16 are amazing stretch of holes. Not sure what was up with my game but I shot a 50 on the front and a 38 on the back, with a missed 10' birdie on #16. My partner and I played with 2 members who were great guys and golfers. The round of golf was a gift and at $95 it is definitely out of my price range. I will definitely be back when I can find an affordable rate.

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• 4/24/24 - Review by B-Man

  "Worth playing"

  I am playing in a 9-hole Twilight Golf League every Wednesday here. I've now gotten play both nines. I really enjoy this layout and consider the 4-hole stretch from No. 13 through No. 16 to be one of my favorite in Charlotte public golf. The views from the 13th and 14th greens and the 15th and 16th tees are very cool. With that said, the conditions for late April are just kinda okay. The greens are fine and have rolled pretty true. They are medium speed right now. We are playing after 5:00. So we get the slowest speeds of the day, I'm sure. I didn't see any issues with the putting surfaces. Speaking of the greens, though, they are huge. So you can get some really long putts if you don't hit your approaches to the right section of the green. The course also has hundreds of bunkers and most seemed to be in good shape, though by the end of the day, we encounter some questionable rake jobs. The tee boxes were not so great though. Very chewed up and some were pretty bare. The fairways, green surrounds and rough were hit and miss as well. So like I said, the course feels like it's in average shape right now. My league runs through the end of May. So I've got 5 more weeks to play it and see if conditions improve a notch. One note, I had heard the rates had gotten over $100 here. I'm only paying $39 for 9 on weekdays. So that's about a $78 rate during the week. I checked their online booking engine for tee times next week. Sure enough, the peak rate on Sat/Sun morning - $109! Wow. That's outrageous. I love the layout here and when the conditions are pure, it's one of my top 10 public tracks. But with the average conditions right now (at the start of peak season) and those prices, I'd look elsewhere for your weekend round.

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• 8/26/23 - Review by jscum13

  "Worth playing"

  Teed off at 720 am, unfortunately group at 715 am was so so slow. We had to talk to them and the ranger on course talked to them about pace of play. Ended up being 5 hour round in 100 degree heat. The course tee to green was in great shape, bunkers were very well maintained, but the greens had been punched 5 days prior. Didn't get any warning of that until we saw the starter as we approached the first tee and paying full price hurts when the greens are going to be subpar. Very sandy on most holes. Will probably be real nice in a few weeks. Saw the cart girls 4x on the course which was great and the transfusions inside at the grill hit the spot. I've always loved Carolina Lakes, just an unfortunate group to play behind and the conditions of the greens left a bad taste.

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Updates From the Forum

• 07/18/22 - B-Man replied to "Carolina Lakes"

  Sorry this is late, but I just got some further updates this week. It seems the greens at Carolina Lakes have some kind of disease or fungus and are not in good shape. Given the challenges Bentgrass has with the summer heat already, this is not good news. I'll keep this thread updated as I find out more.
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• 03/23/22 - B-Man replied to "Aerification Dates - 2022"

  Carolina Lakes: 3/21-3/22 and 6/6-6/7 and 8/22-8/23
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• 06/02/11 - DrSchteeve replied to "Carolina Lakes"

  Anybody play recently? Their telephone message on course conditions says that on Memorial Day they were playing the front 9 only, which makes me wonder if something is up.
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• 09/22/10 - wnb5th replied to "Where to play?"

  Carolina Lakes on 521 is a great golf... the nicest around in my humble opinion and over the past 10 years I have played the crap out of every course within 45 miles... edgewater is also great.
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• 05/04/09 - J.D. posted "Course Updates"

  Just some general course updates from a long weekend of a lot of golf...
  
  Springfield is in great shape, but the practice green is rolling a heckuva lot faster than the real greens, so don't be fooled. (There's also a little bumpiness in 2-3 of the back 9 greens.) One more thing -- this course should have a lot more red stakes than what's out there. It amazes me that they spend so much money on course maintenance, but forget to put down $1 stakes. Frustrating.
  
  Carolina Lakes is in great shape, with one exception. NOBODY seems to rake bunkers or fix ball marks here (except me and my playing partners). A shame.
  
  Eagle Chase was in very good shape and a great value. I do think the course is a little gimmicky, though, with nearly EVERY shot on the course factoring in elevation.
  
  One more note -- I've heard amazing things about Edgewater but have not yet played it. Several local golfers are saying "best public course in Charlotte area" so I'll have to check it out soon.
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