Skybrook Golf Club

$36 (cart included), played on Wednesday, February 2022 at 1:45 PM

Decided to head South and escape the 10 inches of Michigan snow to enjoy 60 degrees, for a few days. Staying North of Charlotte, NC in Huntersville allows you to travel on the highways (77, 485 & 85) to many golf courses and stay out of the daily heavy traffic closer to the downtown Charlotte area. Our courses this week are Skybrook, Rocky River, and Tradition GC that are all within 7 miles of our hotel off 85, which is nice. Winter dormant fairway grass conditions are what we found here (no surprise) and the newly renovated greens in 2019 of "MiniVerde Bermuda" grass, were green, smooth, and rolling 8-9. The many well-placed white grain sand traps were fluffed and in great condition. This 2000 John Lafoy designed layout is hilly with many levels from tee to the raised undulating greens.

With the five (5) tee boxes you can play anywhere from Black 7,009yds / 73.6 / 139 down to Red @ 5,355yds / 65.8 / 119 on this hilly (some water) treelined Par 36/36 layout. I decided on the Blues 3,276 / 3,321yds / 71.7 / 137 as there were only two (2) Par 4's (#6, #9) over 400yds, my new Senior Par 4 maximum yardage with NO 200yd Par 3's. There are houses on this course but are set back behind the trees where they are hidden very well and protected by any errant shots we may throw at them. It was cart path only because of the recent rains, but the carts had GPS so that helped greatly to this first-time golfer here. I will say that no one hole really stands out here, as they all have elevation changes with challenging greens to hit and miss those many traps. Being under new management since 2019, I would have to say the older reviews should be disregarded and put this course on your list to play. I ended up shooting 42/43 w/38putts as hitting the large undulating greens in the wrong place will test your reading abilities. (I failed the test)

I would like to return and play here when things are green and drier, to see how beautiful this layout really is.

$36 (cart included), played on Friday, August 2016 at 3:55 PM

First of all, I'm not sure what happened to the greens but I've never seen greens in worse shape. They were unplayable. It was like they were burned and then driven over. Also, I understand the desire to make a course somewhat difficult, but the rough was worse than US Open roughs. You should not lose your ball completely if your drive slowly rolls into the rough about 2 feet off the fairway. It was unplayable. I hit a huge drive on one par 4 that went through the fairway and into the rough about 80 yards from the pin but before a creek. I couldn't advance the ball more than 30 yards and it took 3 shots out of the rough to get to the green. I have played some of the best courses in the US, but none of them had rough as tall and thick as this. If you're trying to have a course that is enjoyable especially to the average golfers and club members, I'd cut that down more than half and it would still be a deep enough rough. It was ridiculous. Overall, the layout and look of the course is nice, but it is just not playable. I'm a 12 handicap and had 3 holes where I was in the rough within 4 feet of the fairway and could not advance the ball more than 20-30 yards. So, what this means is that if you get in the rough at all, no matter if you have a short iron to the green, you need to pitch it back to the fairway or you will score no better than bogey. This is a ridiculous penalty.

$41 (cart included), played on Friday, July 2012 at 2pm

Started on the back side where greens were horrible and fairways barely acceptable. Front nine was much better but not up to standards for a course that given it's topography and layout could be MUCH better. Disappointing.

$36 (cart included), played on Saturday, August 2009 at 6am

Several greens had a disease which need attention. Tee box and fairways are in good condition.

Had a slight problem with the Ranger as he felt we were playing slow. Originally he based it upon us having a hole open in front of us. Then our time of play showed 12 minutes behind, which was basically caused by the member we were playing with. The guest of the member said they always have problem with speed of play because of the member-s erratic play. After the Ranger threatened to make us skip a hole, because of the pace of play; caused me to triple boggie and double boggie the following holes in our effort to speed up the pace of play. He did acknowledge and expressed his appreciation of our effort to increase speed of play. We never saw a Ranger on the back nine. I spoke with the Pro Shop afterwards to inquire the speed of play for a round. They indicated they prefer 4 hours with 4 hours fifteen being the norm and 4 hours thirty minutes as the slowest pace. We completed the front nine in 2 hours ten minutes and the total round in four hours fifteen. The member played much better on the back nine which allowed us a quicker pace.

It was a good thing we had a discounted rate to play otherwise if we had to pay full value and were harassed for a member-s pace of play I would never consider playing here again.

Would like to see the course conditions in the Fall.

$41 (cart included), played on Friday, August 2007 at 10am

Mountain golf just outside of Charlotte NC. Semi-private with a country club atmosphere. Very professional and pleasant staff. Lot's of elevated tees and greens, so fairly challenging to select the right club on many holes. Well placed bunkers and slopes in the fairways make this a true shot makers type of course, although the average golfer can still make par when playing from the correct tees. Sometimes play is a bit slow and the fairwyas have suffered, like everything else, in this drought, but a truly memorable layout for the avid golfer.