Tot Hill Farm Golf Club

Great layout, unlike any other in the area. To get a Strantz course this affordable is great. Course was in great shape. Only complaint is I wish the yardages were more clearly marked in the fairways. I Will be back soon.

Other than it being blazing hot I really enjoyed my round - a few blind shots and a few challenging hole placements but otherwise a great place to golf.

First time playing - great course - fun layout - a few blind spots and a few challenging hole placements - not a fan of holes at the crest or on the up slope - :-)

Most reviews you read of Tot Hill Farm seem to either love the course or hate it with a passion. I played it for the first time yesterday, and thought it was unique, different, and a lot of fun. I had a positive attitude and plenty of balls, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I don't think you should show up expecting to shoot a good score, especially on your first visit. There is just too much to learn about the layout; where you should and shouldn't hit it, where to be aggressive, where the spots are to miss, etc. There are a lot of uphill and downhill shots. You have to constantly think about your yardages. A yardage book or GPS is vital to know where some hidden hazards are. Mike Strantz gives you a lot to look at off the tee, but most of it is meant to distract you from the intended line. There are often wide landing areas beyond the visual distractions that don't come into play. Examples of this are the bunkers and mounds on #7 and the stone wall on #10. You need to trust the info markers on some of the tee boxes regarding carries, because, again, your eyes will play tricks on you. The greens are devilish. One could complain about holes being cut into slopes, but then you realize there are few flat areas on any of the greens. Some of them have multiple tiers and are as much as 50 yards deep. Others have small fingers that effectively make them a much tinier target. #9 and #17 in particular have false fronts that won't hold any kind of shot. The front nine winds it way through a secluded woodlands, while the back nine does play through a housing development. The greens on #9 and #18 are truly perched in the sky, calling for dramatically uphill approach shots. 18 fairway is the widest thing this side of Kapalua.

My only real complaint were the ball marks and footprints on the greens. It seemed like no one was repairing or tamping down either all day.

Overall, I think the course is great, and I will definitely play it again. When I do, I'll definitely bring someone who has never played the course before just to see the look on their face when they step on most of the teeboxes!

You can view my photo gallery from THF here: http://s20.photobucket.com/user/boomgoesthedynamite/library/Tot%20Hill%20Farm

Challenging course for any handicap golfer. Love the look and layout of this course. Makes you work and think about your shoots. Do you go for it or do I lay up.

Not a course for everyone.....a target golf layout. Lots of elevation changes, large greens some with many undulations. Great par 3's! Have a GPS and/or yardage book or you may lose a lot of balls! Similar to Tobacco Road but not as many blind shots.

To start, they had no range balls! Then, on a day where the temperature was over 90 degrees, there was no water on the course! The layout is very interesting, but the greens had not been cut and were painfully slow. Seems like they just unlocked the front door.

Very entertaining layout plays longer than the card reads. It was drizzling and the greens were receptive and a little slower than otherwise. With dry hard greens is should be quite an enjoyable challenge. Top 10 course that you can play in NC

Very nice course. I played with 3 locals, and thank God I did! The elevation changes are insane! Lots of false fronts as you approach the greens. The greens were a little slow, and some of the pin placements were " interesting". Bring your GPS, and a lot of balls.

Usually play the course twice a year but this year the course is in the best condition that I have ever seen. Green good speed round was 4 and half hour long

Way to tricky. Take plenty of golf balls!!

Although it is still winter time and the fairways are dormant. This course is awesome. I love the challenge this course presents. It is a placement of the ball course. Yes, there is lot's of trouble you can get in but, if you can control your golf shots and play yardage golf, this course is great. Yes, some find the greens to be unfair with false fronts and edges, again find the yardage to hit the part of the green that will hold your shot. I have become to really Love this course. I usually play it rather well.

This basically my home course and I play here at least once a week. The staff is extremely friendly and make every concession they can to help you. The course was taken over by new management and there was some down time in a few areas. No beer for awhile but beer is back. The course is being manicured and improvements being made. If you want to play a course in good shape from tee to green all year round, Tot Hill is it. Even when the fairways are dormant, they are good. Plenty of room for tee balls and extreme importance put on the second shot. Not many bail out areas. Greens always roll good, some days faster than others but always roll true. It is a course you probably need to play more than once to fully appreciate. Once you figure it out, you can throw up good numbers.

Course was very wet which could not be helped. Friendly staff. Takes a while to play the course because of the layout. A few tee boxes are aimed at each other which can be a little scary and lots of two way traffic in cart paths. Course is really fun to play. A must play. Tons of elevation changes. Greens are a little slow but if they shaved them course might be too difficult. Great experience.

A bit to severe for my liking?? Actually way to severe! If you're going to Tot Hill Farm for visual amazement by all means visit, if you're going to play a round of golf think twice.

Ample room off the tee but if you miss, you're done.

Greens - visually from a far are stunning, but close up a nightmare. Extreme undulations that if not played exact send your ball motoring away from hole, sometimes up to 100 feet.

Elevation changes that don't match with course, making shots way to difficult. Ex: #4 green is elevated 50 feet above fairway, green is 20 paces deep with extreme drop off in front of green and woods directly behind green.

Par 5's that are no fun - hit a good drive and look at an approach that has to land in a 5 foot square area from 220 yards to hold the green. If you miss you might make triple.

Trust me when I say I enjoy very difficult courses, but they must be fair at the same time.

I'll conclude by saying if you do go, play conservative.

I had been wanting to play Tot Hill for a while now, having played it`s sister course Tobacco Road a few times, but had never made the time to come here from Durham. Now , I am so glad I did. This is Tobacco Road in the mountains. Same blind or semi-blind shots. Same forced carries, and , you need to be on the correct side of the fairway, or you may not know where to go next. It was a lot of fun. It is a tough course if you are hitting it all over, but keep it in play, and you can have a good round on a top notch golf course.

It was wet, but the course seemed to drain very well. It had rained for two solid days a couple of days before we played. The course is in fantastic shape, very challenging, yet wonderful. The scenery is out of this world. I highly recommend this course.

Great day for golf ruined by a starter/ranger that came out twice and told us to pick up pace of play. This occurred even though the group behind us never waited to make ONE shot. In my opinion, if my group is not holding anyone up, it should not matter if we take 8 hours to play. The group behind us never came within one half of a fairway of us and most time were one to one and one half holes behind. Sure put a damper on our day. I never realized you ere expected to complete a round in a specific amount of time. Two members of my group stated they would never go back.

The course was in phenomenal condition. The greens were in great shape smooth and perfect speed. It was great to see the fall colors as well. Love the course! I see it as a work of art. I played it in 2009 prior to moving out of state and it is even better than I remember. I'm back living in the area and will be putting this course on my regular rotation.

Would have been a great day except for being on the cart path for 6 holes, but lots of rain in prior days overruled us. Loved this very scenic course and would have loved to play it under better weather conditions.
This layout is a gem. Due to cart path restrictions, it took us over 5 hours to play, but would do it again. Staff was extremely friendly