Type:

Semi-Private

Rates:

Weekday $37, Weekend $49

Greens Turf Type:

Bentgrass

Practice Area:

Full practice area with driving range, chipping green and putting green

Description

Golf at Deer Brook provides you with a country atmosphere, set among the rolling landscape and natural seclusion of northern Cleveland County. Deer Brook is located in Shelby, NC about an hour's drive due west of Charlotte via I-85 and US 74. Opened in 1999, the club prides itself on having no "gimmicks" on its natural layout and serving all levels of golfers from amateur to pro. The clubhouse restaurant, Mulligan's, serves a full lunch and dinner menu with steak, salmon, chicken, pork chops, pasta and salads.

Notes

The club offers affordable memberships ranging from $85 to $140 per month plus cart fees. The course does not provide online booking for tee times, either through their web site or the popular booking sites. So you will have to call to get your tee time.

B-Man's Take

Finally played (March 2022) this hidden gem in Shelby and came away very impressed. This course has some beautiful stretches of holes on both the front and back 9's. I love courses that have elevated tees or greens where you can see 3 or 4 holes from one vantage point. Deer Brook has several spots like this on both nines, notably #1 green, #3 tee / #6 green, #11 green, #12 green, and #14 green / #17 fairway. I also like courses that finish right in front of the clubhouse so your buddies in other groups can watch you play 18 (and win or lose your bet!). This course is reasonably priced and has a nice big clubhouse with a restaurant and covered outdoor patio bar. The layout feels wide open off the tee with a few exceptions (#2, #8 and #10 have narrow landing areas with trouble on one or both sides). The greens can be difficult due to tiers and slopes, especially if the Bentgrass is rolling quick. The round starts with a nearly drivable par 4 as the second half of the fairway runs down towards the green. Holes 3-6 take you downhill, uphill, downhill, downhill. The front 9 closes with a tough dogleg right with a pond guarding the approach on the left. #10 is a tough par 5 with that narrow landing area off the tee, then all uphill to a tricky tiered green. Speaking of tiered greens, watch for right-side pins on #11. There is a small perch on that side where anything short or left of the perch rolls down to a swale on the left half of the green. And if you play it safe on your approach by aiming for the left side, don't overdo it! There's a bunker and water guarding the left side. Speaking of water, it comes into play on 3 of the last 5 holes, including the long par 3 #14, the risk-reward par 5 #17 and the difficult closing par 4 #18. All in all, this is a scenic, very challenging course and it is a definite must-play when you can make the trip out to Shelby.

Tee	Par	Yardage	Rating	Slope
Championship (Gold)	72	6950	73.7	136
Mens (White)	72	6426	70.9	133
Other (Black)	72	5825	68.4	125
Senior (Green)	72	5034	64.6	110
Ladies (Green)	72	5034	69.4	121

View the complete scorecard for this course

Links

Facebook Page - This is the official Facebook page for the golf club

Most Recent Reviews

• 10/17/26 - Review by Mike

  "Great course"

  They recently replaced their greens and they roll like it. A fair amount of tiered greens. They rolled fast as new Bermuda does. They're also new, so they're still quite firm and will be for a little while. I'd consider it a plus since they roll predictably and true. Though, you need to have good speed control. I did not for most of the day. I forgot they had just replaced them during the summer otherwise I would have made EXTRA sure to remember that. :) The course itself is very scenic, was well kept and showed that the grounds/greens keepers are doing their jobs well. It's a reasonably challenging course from the back. I felt the front 9 was fairly straight forward. #10 is definitely narrow and requires a well placed drive. #14 gives you an option to avoid hitting directly over the water on the forward tees, but if you're playing White or Gold, you're going directly over the water most of the way. To play the green reliably on #17 you'll want to be past the sand on the left. Do that and the 2nd shot becomes reachable. Though, if you want a closer shot, there's plenty of room for a layup down the fairway. #18 is most difficult at approach with the water protecting the front of the green. Sadly, I was hitting into the sun and it threw me off and I hooked it a bit... Into the water. Oops. :) Anyway, I was happy with the course and will play it again. Definitely was one of the better stops recently. Online Tee Times are bookable now, too.

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• 5/18/26 - Review by golferdude

  "Average"

  This course typically has great maintenance with really good greens but they are letting them die to resurface....wish I would have known before driving 65 mins. Greens were crusty, mostly dead and extremely hard with most shots running over the back of the green. Other areas like fairways needed mown. Definitely the worst condition I ever seen for this track. Course will reopen in August after new greens come in.

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• 8/30/25 - Review by lakergunner

  "Worth playing"

  The course is really a great option and a really nice layout and track. This course would be over 100 dollars if it was in Charlotte. My only complaint is that the greens were not in the best of shape but was told they are completely changing their greens soon.

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• 2/2/25 - Review by Rickle

  "Worth playing"

  Winter conditions. They lost the greens at end of summer because of the surrounding water supply but it’s always a good course everyone should test out YouTube.com/@mattywesside_golf

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• 5/11/24 - Review by TSain

  "Best of the best"

  Course was in immaculate shape!! We play there quite often and love the layout. Greens are firm and fast. Fairways are in amazing shape. We actually played 27 holes and ate at mulligans restaurant inside the clubhouse after we finished. Great food. Only thing that I don’t like about the course are the tough greens. There’s not a straight putt on the whole course. One of the toughest finishing holes around.

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