Carolina Trace CC
Looking back from a green at Carolina Trace Country Club
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Rating Index Rating
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4.5
351 Reviews (351)
5 Stars
199
4 Stars
109
3 Stars
26
2 Stars
9
1 Stars
8
Conditions
4.3
Value
4.2
Layout
4.6
Friendliness
4.6
Pace
4.7
Amenities
4.0
86.4%
Recommend this course
315 out of 351 reviews
Read Reviews
Average Rating
Avg Rating
4.8
13 Reviews (13)
5 Stars
12
4 Stars
0
3 Stars
0
2 Stars
1
1 Stars
0
Conditions
4.5
Value
4.4
Layout
4.7
Pace
4.6
Amenities
3.8
StaffFriendliness
4.7
92.3%
Recommend this course
12 out of 13 reviews
Read Reviews
Average Rating
Avg Rating
4.5
21 Reviews (21)
5 Stars
16
4 Stars
3
3 Stars
0
2 Stars
1
1 Stars
1
Conditions
4.4
Value
4.2
Layout
4.6
Pace
4.7
Amenities
3.9
StaffFriendliness
4.8
85.7%
Recommend this course
18 out of 21 reviews
Read Reviews
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AI summaries based on real golfer reviews
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Course Highlights
The Lakes stands out for its creative layout featuring doglegs, elevation changes, and demanding par threes that require every club in your bag. Friendly staff, excellent pace of play, and well-maintained conditions make this one of the premier courses in the area.

About

Holes 18
Type Private
Par 72
Length 7263 yards
Slope 143
Rating 76.0
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Carolina Trace Country Club - Lake
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Course Details

Year Built 1971
Fairways Bermuda Grass
Greens Mini Verde Bermunda Grass
Golf Season Year round
Architect Robert Trent Jones, Sr. (1971) David Whelchel (2015) Roger Rulewich (1971)

Rentals/Services

Carts Yes - included in green fee
Clubs Yes

Practice/Instruction

Driving Range Yes
Bunker Yes
Teaching Pro Yes
Pitching/Chipping Area Yes
Putting Green Yes

Policies

Metal Spikes Allowed No
Dress code Appropriate golf attire.

Accolades

  • Golf Advisor: Top 25 Courses for Pace of Play in the U.S. (2025 #2)
  • Golf Advisor: Top Courses in North Carolina (2021 #18)
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Reviews

4.5
351 Reviews (351)

What Golfers Are Saying

Course Challenges Include:
Bunkers 8
Water Hazards 8
Elevation Changes 7
This course/club is great for:
Advanced Golfers 6
Locals 6
This Course's Location is:
Worth the Drive 6

Numbers based on reviews tagged with attribute.

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Overall Rating
Recommended
Handicap
Age
Type of Golfer
Gender
Played On
Reviews 20
Handicap 0-4
Skill Advanced
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
First Time Playing

Very nice

The course is very nice. The grass was solid, the greens were true and rolling quite quick. Tee boxes were ok, some patchy and some unlevel. The layout was pretty good, some interesting holes and plenty bland okay spots. The course is called the "lake" course, and there is a large beautiful lake but only maybe four holes are bordering it. That leaves fourteen that aren't. No biggie just seemed to catch us off guard that it took until like hole 15 to see the lake. My only true compliant is that every hole notifies you of whether carts are on path that hole or 90 degrees. We had to switch throughout the round and it wasn't wet. You pay to ride your sorry butt around and then have to walk the fairways. Little gripe.

The largest strike again this course is that Tobacco Road is right down the road and much better. The great thing is we got on here for 30 bucks, third or fourth the price of tobacco.

Conditions Good
Value Good
Layout Good
Friendliness Good
Pace Excellent
Amenities Good
Played On
Reviews 10
Handicap 5-9
Skill Advanced
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing

Grace..

High on Carolina Trace. Lake course. Great course and layout is spectacular. Course is in perfect condition. Pace was great till the very end.

Conditions Excellent
Value Good
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Good
Played On
Reviews 2
Skill Intermediate
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing

Beautiful layout

Thoroughly enjoyed this layout, especially the holes along the lake. Reasonable, but tight fairways. Lots of out of bounds to contend with so focus on accuracy over length. Excellent greens rolled very quick and true -- Champion Bermuda. Will be back.

Conditions Good
Value Excellent
Layout Good
Friendliness Good
Pace Average
Amenities Good
Played On
Reviews 3
Skill Advanced
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing

Great Place

This is one of the best places if you stay in the Pinehurst area and do not mind the drive of 30 minutes. Excellent layout and some of the best par 3 I have seen.

Conditions Good
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Good
Played On
Reviews 1
Skill Advanced
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played

Great Value!!

Course was in really nice condition. Played 18 holes in just over 3 hours. Will go back.

Conditions Good
Value Excellent
Layout Good
Friendliness Good
Pace Excellent
Amenities Good
Played On
Reviews 18
Handicap 10-14
Skill Advanced
Plays A few times a week
3.0
First Time Playing

Not a bad layout but...

Two of us played here for the first time. Course conditions were so-so, greens were a bit bumby. The driving range is super tiny: heck, I've seen backyards wider. Practice bunker is poor. What struck me were the lack of on-course amenities like signage to get you to next hole, drinking water and restrooms. Hard to take a leak when you're surrounded by houses. Don't think I'll be back to the Creek course but I would like to try the Lake course.

Conditions Fair
Value Average
Layout Good
Friendliness Average
Pace Good
Played On
Reviews 31
Handicap 15-19
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played
Windy weather
Used cart

Very nice, even after heavy rains

I enjoy this course all though I don't play it all that often. The layouts are good and the conditions have always been good. It had rained very hard the day before we played so we had to keep the carts on the cart path but other than that, things were very nice. This isn't a 5-star track like a handful of the others in the area, but it's always enjoyable.

Conditions Excellent
Value Good
Layout Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Average
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging
Played On
Reviews 15
Skill Advanced
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
First Time Playing

Fantastic

One of the best golf course I have ever played. Challenging layout and great conditions. A MUST PLAY.

Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Good
Pace Excellent
Amenities Good
Played On
Reviews 1
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played
Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Played On
Reviews 3
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played
Conditions Good
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Good
Played On
Reviews 1
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing

Greens were awesome!

This course was in fantastic shape for the past weeks weather conditions. Fairways green and lush, bunkers were playable and the greens were the best part of the course.

Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Layout Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Good
Played On
Reviews 1
Skill Beginner
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played
Conditions Good
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Good
Pace Good
Amenities Good
Played On
Reviews 1
Handicap 25+
Skill Intermediate
Plays Twice a year
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played
Perfect weather
Used cart

Weather was perfect for a day of golf. It was cart paths only but fairways and greens were in excellent condition. We had a 12:54 tee time and had a walking foursome behind us so we played a leisurely round. Highly recommend.

Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Difficulty Extremely Challenging
Played On
Reviews 4
Skill Advanced
I Recommend This Course
3.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing
Conditions Good
Value Average
Layout Average
Friendliness Fair
Pace Poor
Played On
Reviews 8
Skill Advanced
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing

Beautiful well-maintained course

Looking forward to playing again soon

Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Played On
Reviews 424
Handicap 10-14
Skill Intermediate
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Top 25 Contributor
Previously Played

Great Layout

Second time playing The Lakes course this year. For late fall, the greens were fantastic....faster than they looked. Fairways/rough in good condition. Down side was that many of the sand bunkers hadn't been raked by previous players (yeah, I shouldn't have been in them). Pace of play was really bad....there were too many twosomes playing and several groups were obviously playing from the wrong tees. Trace needs a ranger to help move things along.....we waited at least 20 minutes on each side because of slow play/non-ready golf.

Overall, a great course and will play again.

Conditions Good
Value Good
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Average
Pace Poor
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging
Played On
Reviews 3
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing

Awesome course

Great layout and challenging from all tees

Conditions Good
Value Good
Layout Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Good
Played On
Reviews 5
Handicap 5-9
Skill Intermediate
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
First Time Playing
Excellent weather
Used cart

Awesome!!

This course is fantastic!! Great shape friendly staff, A must play! Very scenic and well worth the drive.

Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Average
Pace Good
Amenities Average
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging
Played On
Reviews 2
Handicap 10-14
Skill Advanced
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played
Good weather
Used cart

Fall round on Lake side Course

This is a great layout and challenging form any set of tees. The fairways had just been over seeded and the course was extremely wet. We were cart path only. The green are as good as any in the area. The course could use more general maintenance. The fairways and bunkers were covered in debris. This made it more difficult to find your ball, even in the fairway. All that being said, I wouldn't hesitate to play here again.

Conditions Average
Value Good
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Good
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging
Played On
Reviews 38
Handicap 5-9
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a month
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing
Good weather
Used cart

BEAUTIFUL COURSE , BUT....

Got to play the Creek Course , although I had a tee time for the Lakes, after pairing up with a threesome. Was told there was a tournament on the Lakes , although Golfnow didn`t mention it. The Creek Course was fun , but the greens were a bit sandy, from being punched I guess. First time here , and didn`t know you don`t come back the clubhouse at the turn. No water anywhere that I saw, and no beverage cart the whole round. Not sure why. Will probably come back, but will bring my own drinks and snacks next time.

Conditions Average
Value Average
Layout Good
Friendliness Good
Pace Good
Amenities Good
Difficulty Moderate
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Golf Packages

Talamore Golf Resort Stay & Play Package

FROM $137 (USD)
SOUTHERN PINES, NC | Enjoy up to 5 nights’ accommodations at the Talamore Golf Resort and up to 4 rounds of golf at your choice of Mid Pines Golf Course, Mid South Course, Tobacco Road Golf Course, and The New Course.

Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club Stay & Play Package

FROM $167 (USD)
SOUTHERN PINES, NC | Enjoy up to 5 nights’ accommodations at the Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club and up to 4 rounds of golf at your choice of Mid Pines Golf Course, Pine Needles Golf Course, Tobacco Road Golf Course, and The New Course.

Mid Pines Inn & Golf Club Stay & Play Package

FROM $167 (USD)
SOUTHERN PINES, NC | Enjoy up to 5 nights’ accommodations at the Mid Pines Inn & Golf Club and up to 4 rounds of golf at your choice of Mid Pines Golf Course, Pine Needles Golf Course, Tobacco Road Golf Course, and The New Course.

Charleston Golf Experience Stay & Play Package

FROM $239 (USD)
CHARLESTON, SC | Enjoy up to 5 nights’ accommodations at the Francis Marion Hotel and up to 4 rounds of golf at your choice of RiverTowne Golf Course, Charleston National Golf Course, Wild Dunes – Harbor Course, Wild Dunes – Links Course, and Stono Ferry Golf Course.

Wild Dunes Resort Stay & Play Package

FROM $369 (USD)
CHARLESTON, SC | Enjoy up to 5 nights’ accommodations at the Wild Dunes Resort and up to 4 rounds of golf at your choice of Wild Dunes – Harbor Course, Wild Dunes – Links Course, RiverTowne Golf Course, and Charleston National Golf Course.
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