The golfer guide to Charlotte

Charlotte is a golf town in the specific way that a corporate city is: the deals happen on private courses, the charity tournaments fill the public ones, and the newcomer’s first question is how to get on anything at all. This guide answers that. It covers the clubs in the directory, says plainly which are private, explains where the public golf is (mostly not in the directory yet, and we say why), and covers the cart, the mini golf and the tournaments. Facts about each club come from its own listing or site.

The private clubs

River Run Country Club in Davidson is a private club minutes from Charlotte with an 18-hole championship course, fine dining and events, per its site. It’s the Lake Norman club, and a lot of the north side’s business gets done there. Rock Hill Country Club is members-only, and its site describes the course in one word: Tillinghast. A.W. Tillinghast designed Winged Foot, Baltusrol and Bethpage Black, and a Tillinghast course 30 minutes south of Uptown is a piece of golf history most Charlotte golfers have never played. Our read: if you get an invitation, take it.

Semi-private

Spring Lake Country Club in York, South Carolina, is a semi-private 18 in the rolling hills of the Upstate, with memberships, tournaments, a practice facility, a dining room and a pro shop. Semi-private is the newcomer’s word: members get priority, but the public can book. It’s 45 minutes from Uptown and the drive is prettier than the price suggests.

Where the public courses are

Mecklenburg County and the ring-town governments run the bulk of Charlotte’s public golf, and municipal courses aren’t directory listings, which is why this section is prose instead of links. The county operates several courses inside Charlotte, and Concord, Monroe, Gastonia, Rock Hill and Fort Mill each run or host public tracks. Green fees are a fraction of a private membership, twilight rates after 3 are the value play, and weekday mornings in October are the best golf of the year. Book through the county or town site a week out for a weekend; walk-ons work on weekdays. The resources guides links the government pages. As the privately owned public courses and driving ranges get verified, they’ll appear in the things to do directory.

Mini golf, and the family version

Jocko’s Mini Golf in Kannapolis is an 18-hole putt-putt course with an indoor arcade, open Wednesday through Sunday, with reservations for events by email. A small-town putt-putt is where most Charlotte golfers hit their first ball, and it’s still the best first date under twenty dollars on the north side.

The cart

Golf carts are a lifestyle purchase in the lake towns and the new subdivisions, and two dealers cover it. Limitless Carts in Mooresville sells carts, low-speed vehicles and utility vehicles from Evolution, Epic, Icon and others. C&T Carts in Lancaster is a licensed Evolution dealer with custom builds and 0 percent financing for 48 months, per its site. Check your town’s low-speed-vehicle ordinance before buying; the rules on which streets a cart can use vary block to block around the lake.

Tournaments, and giving back

The charity golf tournament is Charlotte’s fundraising unit of currency, and a lot of the nonprofits in the directory run one. Cancer Services of Gaston County hosts an annual amateur tournament. Cooperative Christian Ministry in Concord runs its Celebrate HOPE tournament. The Angels of ’97 scholarship fund in Huntersville funds scholarships partly through a golf day. Playing in one is the cheapest round of golf at a course you couldn’t otherwise get on, and the money goes somewhere good.

Getting on a course, for the newcomer

Three routes. First, the semi-private and municipal courses, booked online, no introduction needed. Second, the charity tournaments, which put you on private courses a few times a year for the price of a foursome. Third, the club itself: most private clubs run guest days and member-sponsored rounds, and the way in is to know a member, which in Charlotte means going to the tournaments. The ranges are where you meet people; the performance gyms in our fitness guide increasingly train golfers too. And Hyatt Farms Shooting Complex in Polkton is where the sporting-clays crowd, which overlaps the golf crowd almost entirely, goes on the off days.

The clubhouse, for the non-golfer

A private club sells more than golf, and the spouse who doesn’t play should know what’s in the dues: River Run lists fine dining and events; the clubs around the lake run pools, tennis and social calendars that fill a summer for a family. In the ring towns the club is the town’s social center in a way city people don’t expect. River Hills on Lake Wylie is a gated golf community whose association runs the amenities, and the River Hills Women’s Club, started at a luncheon in 1975, is the kind of institution a golf community grows. Ask what the membership includes beyond the tee sheet before you sign.

Season notes

Charlotte golf runs year-round; January mornings are cold but playable and the courses are empty. Spring is pollen and cart-path-only after rain. Summer is a 7 a.m. tee time or a 5 p.m. one. Fall, October especially, is the reason people move here. Bermuda greens go dormant and get painted or overseeded in winter, so don’t judge a course by its December color.

Run a course, a range or a golf shop we haven’t listed? List it. The golf section of the directory is the one we most want to fill.