- "Best of the best"
 First time playing Stonebridge. It has a great mix of hard holes, mostly on the back nine, and plenty of holes to challenge your course management and self control. Similar to a well know TPC course in north Florida, Stonebridge has a card wrecker 17th hole that will challenge the best ball strikers.
Current conditions are perfect all around, The greens are flawless and very fast. The fairways are in great shape with no issues, The is not as high as some courses, it is very possible to get a decent lie on the Bermuda turf. The bunkers have plenty of sand but didn't seemed to be raked the day I played. Thankfully I didn't have to play out of any.
Stonebridge does have some blind shots of the tee and your second shots. Play with someone who knows the course, like I did, and you will save yourself 5-8 strokes on the round.
The staff was super nice. I was greeted by a guy with a cart at my car even before I turned of the ignition. Pro shop was nicely stocked as well.
Play this course if you are in the Monroe area, you won't be disappointed. Read The Review
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- "Great course"
 The course was in great shape. The greens had some pitch mark problems in areas and the greens were a little thin in spots but they rolled well enough. Tee boxes, Fairways and bunkers were in great shape.
Even thought the range has been under construction it is open for weekends for warm ups--No distance markers.
The staff was great. I called earlier in the week and spoke to a very nice woman who offered to put our group of eight in the computer for the $52 rate instead of the rack rate of $64. She didn't have to do that since we already had the tee times. Nice gesture on her part.
They still only have water on the course at two locations so be prepared. It is posted before you get on the course. Read The Review
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- "Great course"
 First Time at Carolina Lakes and I already love this course. The course was nearly perfect. The only issue I had was that the greens were a little shaggy and the fairway grass was going to seed i.e. grass was higher than normal. I am nitpicking here; the course is in fantastic shape tee to green.
Here's a good indicator of the quality of the course conditions; In our group of 10-11 people we had the following NET scores 58, 59, 59, 60, 62 and a few others well below par.
The weather was as benign as can be; 87 degrees, no wind to speak of, 60-65% humidity and medium soft greens after all the recent rain.
The facilities are top notch. beautiful clubhouse, nice grass range, large putting green and a second chipping green.
This is one of the finest tracts of golf in the Charlotte area. Go PLAY! Read The Review
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- "Great course"
 The course is in great shape from tee to green. Pace of play wasn't an issue and the cart girl came around enough times to keep you well hydrated. I can also compliment the lunch special of a quarter pound hot dog and beer for $5.
The greens are in wonderful condition, the fairways and rough have grown in. Keep it in the fairway because the bermuda rough is already at 2-3 inches and it will swallow a ball quickly.
If you never played here before, you need to work on hitting from uneven lies and dramatic elevation changes from the tee box.
The course does have some "ridiculous" holes like Number 8 which has a huge elevation change from the tee box (about 2-3 stories) with a creek around 220 yards from the tee and deep woods surrounding the tee box on both sides. This hole is so hard from the tee that there is a drop area at the bottom of the hill. If you draw the ball too much you end up in the pond on the left side or one of the numerous fairway bunkers just beyond the creek. Forget it if you slice the ball.
Then there's number 10. It's a Par 4 that require a long iron off the tee then your are left with a medium to long iron to the green fronted by a pond.
Don't get me wrong it's a great course and if you can handle the drive from the Charlotte area it's well worth the trip. Read The Review
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- "Average"
 The course has some issues that I don't recall noticing the last time I played here. The rough is a lot of clover and other mixed grasses. The fairways have greened up and are playable. The tee boxes are doing well and most of them have good grass coverage. The bunkers had plenty of sand in them but most weren't raked. Although, that may have been because of the recent rains, it rained the day we played. The Greens were in good shape and rolling smoothly, the best part of the course. They suffered from unfixed ball marks but that didn't affect play at all. The green surrounds were not great on some holes--very thin to no grass in isolated spots. If they were able to correct the issues with the rough grasses and the green surrounds, I'd give this course 3.5 stars. Lastly, Warrior is a nice golf club with a friendly staff and a challenging golf layout. Read The Review
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- "Worth playing"
 If you like The Divide and were afraid to play it, like me, (because of all the bad news on Carolina Trail mgmt), now is your chance to go back, at least for one round. I picked up a single tee time on Clickit for $27 and a 9:50 start, knowing full well I'd go out earlier. I went off at 9:20 with a older twosome (Trail members) that plays the Divide several times a week. It seems like the course is serving mostly members these days, at least on the weekdays.
The course was in really good shape. The fairways were about 80 percent in, the rough still needs to grow a few inches. The tee boxes were good. most of the tees were up, I guess, so the regular tees could finish growing in.
The bunkers had sand, yep I said it...the Divide bunkers actually has sand. I even tested a few myself.
The greens were playable for sure. they were punched about two weeks before I played and only a few green still had the remains of some punch marks.
They cleared a lot of the underbrush out which made it easier to find wayward shots. I was also pleased to see water in the lakes. They were actually full. Nice to see.
One of my playing partners informed me that drainage isn't great so keep that in mind after heavy rains.
The carts no longer offer GPS, it probably been like that for a while.
I reccommend anyone who likes to play this course to get out there in the next 4 to 6 weeks before the Summer heat hits. The greens will probably not do well, so get there before they are lost. Read The Review
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- "Worth playing"
 Emerald Lake is greening up nicely. Overall the course was in decent shape. The fairways were green an relatively weed free. The bunkers were in great shape. plenty of sand and recently raked. The tee boxes were ok on most holes. Once the bermuda gets going they should fill in fine. Now to the bad news--several of the back nine greens are being overtaken by poa. It's not bad and very playable on the front. no real problems there but late in the back nine, I think the starter said 15 and 16 (and a few other holes) had quite a bit of poa, I'd estimate those two greens were 40 to 50 percent. Those greens also has significant ball mark damage that was preventing any straight putts of any length.
On a side note, they still haven't broken ground on the new clubhouse yet. I was told they are hoping to occupy a new one next year. Read The Review
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- "Average"
 I'll start with the good news. The greens are in great shape. There is not a mark on them. The replacement of the greens has worked. More good news, the brush is still way down so it's still easy to find wayward shots.
The fairways are starting to green up but mostly dormant.
The bad news is that pace of play on weekend is still terrible, the bunkers are mostly unplayable because they are mud/dirt/clay for most f them and the tee boxes haven't seen a seed for ages.
I would give the back nine holes, minus #17 three stars, but the front holes are so bad, except for 6, it gets 2 stars.
Carolina Trail should do the same greens at the Divide and restore that course before it's a housing development. Read The Review
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