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Carolina National Golf Club - Bolivia NC

Canadan

Canadan

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Played the Carolina National golf club today. The course has 27 holes, and we played the Ibis and Egret 9s.

I was really unimpressed with the maintenance of the course throughout. The last time I spent time in North Carolina we played Carolina National and I was pretty impressed with it, and it seems like it's a staple on many of my golfing friends lists.

The rough was mostly dormant and dry, and the fairways were relatively hardpan in areas. Much of the immediate rough was basically like hitting on dead hardpan grass which really disappointed me. The bunkers were varying in their quality, with about half being shallow, inch deep before hardpan, and others that were quality and fluffy.

The course design is challenging and I would recommend it to anyone who has a quality GPS unit that can move distances. There were way too many blind shots for my liking off the tee, and bunkers that hide the contours and depth of the greens. I suppose it's a matter of preference, but I just felt like too many times I had to guess at my landing zone.

I took some photos to share as well, hope you enjoy!

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teeboxes look nice, thats about it lol, good luck on today's course!
 
I haven't played there since last summer, but it was in really good shape when I played it. It's definitely a course that you need to play a few times to learn all the landing areas/blind spots. If you are still in the area, Cape Fear National is a great course and in good shape. Check it out!
 
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Bumping an old thread, but I played Carolina National today. Because of the prestige it seems to have in the area, it's always one of the most expensive courses I play while I am down here, however, it's very unlikely that I will ever return for another round.

The greens are truly atrocious. They switched to bermuda a couple of years ago and there is probably more of a moss substance on there than actual "green" grass. There are countless courses in the area, and many of them are 10x better looking around the course, and have plush greens.

What a real disappointment and a complete joke of a pricetag for what it isn't. I'll add a couple photos to show conditions.
 
How long are you in the area (through next weekend)?
 
Ouch dude u guys didn't pay full price at least right?
 
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mikedean441 said:
Ouch dude u guys didn't pay full price at least right?
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We paid 55 which is the local rate thanks to a card we buy every year. The guy ahead of me paid 71. Honestly, I was ready to ask for my money back after I saw the conditions of the practice green. It's probably 15 more than we'll pay at any other course this week.

I feel bad because for many of the guys that are with me, Carolina National would be atop their favourites, however most aren't interested in returning any time soon. Too many decent courses with well maintained fairways and greens to throw away 55 dollars on trash.
 
There seems to be something going on in this area because of the winter/early spring conditions we've had. While the greens at most places are still in good shape and the places that have overseeded for the winter have green fairways, everything else is still brown here for some reason. Even my yard is still brown, which is odd for this time of year.

But those greens look horrible, my goat patch course has better greens than that.
 
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I'd agree it was a tough winter for many, but I've already seen four other greens while here, and none of them look anything look carolina national.

My goal is simply to let THPers know what I wish I knew 24 hours ago. Ugly.
 
Canadan said:
I'd agree it was a tough winter for many, but I've already seen four other greens while here, and none of them look anything look carolina national.

My goal is simply to let THPers know what I wish I knew 24 hours ago. Ugly.
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Thanks for the heads up. I've been telling Jeff/John that I need to get down that way to play a few rounds with him. I guess I know which course to mark off the list.
 
Canadan said:
We'll be heading out on Saturday. I join my dad and a bunch of his buddies each year for golf around Ocean Isle.
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Ah okay, I was going to say that I'd be up for an impromptu outing, but I'm not available at all during the week.
 
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sudseh said:
Ah okay, I was going to say that I'd be up for an impromptu outing, but I'm not available at all during the week.
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Solid idea! Just gives me a good reason to come back..... just not if it's at Carolina national hahahaha
 
That is crazy, Dan. I played there about a month ago and the greens weren't great, but not that bad. I think we paid around $27 with a deal they had going on. Sadly, they aren't the only course in the area where they have made the switch to bermuda and it turned out to be a downgrade. Did they give any explanation as to what was going on?
 
Canadan said:
I'd agree it was a tough winter for many, but I've already seen four other greens while here, and none of them look anything look carolina national.

My goal is simply to let THPers know what I wish I knew 24 hours ago. Ugly.
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Were the other greens Bermuda as well? It could be that the Bermuda is still dormant while other grasses have started to perk up.

Still no justification for charging (near) top dollar. If one is paying 100% green fees it's not unreasonable to expect 100% greens.
 
Yeah I would have had to ask for my money back. That's brutal. Sorry you guys had a bad experience. Nothing worse than awful greens.
 
JohnSinVA said:
Were the other greens Bermuda as well? It could be that the Bermuda is still dormant while other grasses have started to perk up.

Still no justification for charging (near) top dollar. If one is paying 100% green fees it's not unreasonable to expect 100% greens.
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Most courses here have swapped to Bermuda because of the heat, but my home course has TIFF Bermuda and while they're still dormant, they're still smooth and full and roll true. The bare spots all over are the worst. Both courses that I play all of the time have Bermuda fairways and they don't overseed in the winter and with all of the rain, there's huge bare spots in the fairways right now. One course is working hard on getting them back, the other doesn't seem to care.
 
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Jeff Spicoli said:
That is crazy, Dan. I played there about a month ago and the greens weren't great, but not that bad. I think we paid around $27 with a deal they had going on. Sadly, they aren't the only course in the area where they have made the switch to bermuda and it turned out to be a downgrade. Did they give any explanation as to what was going on?
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Nah they didn't say anything about it. There should be sign up in front saying there is only half a golf course out there haha.

Such a shame as its a great course, but their conditions and price have run us off for the next few years.
 
This was one of the courses we played in November this past year and the greens were practically perfect. Fast and true, the best of the greens we played all week. Your pictures are shocking as something awful has happened over the last several months. Quite a shame.
 
WOW those greens look awful. That course used to be in nice shape back when I lived in NC.
 
My guess is they fertilized and it brought everything back . We then had a few real cold days which shocked the bermuda. I am hoping that is the case though I know a lot of courses that are normally in great shape are iffy at best right now
 
I haven't played this course since before they switched the greens to bermuda, but when I played the greens were in awful shape. I thought that was why they were switching to bermuda, because bent is so hard to keep in good shape this far south. Looking at these pictures, it seems the groundskeeper may be the real problem here and not the type of grass. I really liked the layout of the course, but I won't go back until I know it is in good shape.
 
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