Sandpiper Bay Golf & Country Club - Piper Nine

This is the third time playing this course, and man, what a disappointment. This used to be one of my favorite courses, but between the lack of friendly people, and course conditions, I can’t recommend going here.

I will give an honest and fair review. I had made a reservation for me and my 15 year old son for 4:02, 18 holes. My father-in-law and wife came to watch my son play,(who is much better than me), but not play, so we rented two carts. We got there around 3:30 or so, and putted and chipped until our tee time. Our carts were late getting there, but no big deal on our end.

We were instructed to start on Sand. However, when we finished our 9, no one told us what course to go to next, so we went to Bay. No one told us when to bring the carts in, but I know in NC they don’t like to stay too late, so my son and I played a scramble on the back 9 on Bay. We were not the last ones in, but finished around 7:50 or so. Courses recommend 4.5 hours or less, so we were done in good time.I gave the cart guy a $10 tip when we got back, and said we would bring the carts right back after emptying our carts. We were almost finished, when he came out and told my wife, “I don’t have time to wait, I need to get out of here. I need to take this cart.” Okay, fine…but I still had mine, and was getting the trash out of it. I immediately took the cart back to him. Pretty rude of him, but he may have had a hard day.

The woman checking us in was not much better with customer service either.

Onto the courses. I had remembered this course as being in great shape last year. Not so much this year.

Sand Course- 1 out of 5. The fairways were not cut, and it was like hitting into short rough. The greens had been aerated, so putting was tough. I am not criticizing the aeration; totally understand it needs to be done sometime. The fairways were the issue. It is that fine grass, and when allowed to grow, it can swallow up a ball.

Bay Course- 3 out of 5. Fairways seemed to be fine n better shape, and the greens were better. It was a more fair course. Seemed better kept.

It must have been Piper and Bay I played the last 2 years for me to have a good memory of this course. Sand was horrible, Bay was acceptable/pretty good.

Between the shape of the one course, and the unfriendly nature of the employees, I cannot recommend going here. I had high hopes playing there this year, but to be honest, that is our last time.

Cart paths are horrible. Roots have grown under the paths and they have not done anything to fix them. The cart attendants were rude and even dragged bags across the asphalt to load them.

Course layout was decent, just seems they could invest some money to make it nicer. It probably used to be a nice course.

Unfortunately due to the drought the course was pretty dry only allowing carts in the rough on the path side. That said we had a great day. The course is mostly wide open with some water hazards. Some greens had some chunky spots but not the worst I’ve seen.

Overall I think it was fine for our value. We would play agin.

Starter was very friendly and made us welcome for first time playing there.

This was a nice course as far as the layout and condition. However, the cart paths are horrible. My friend joked that the green fees should include a chiropractic visit. :-)

I enjoyed the round. It was a bit slow, but overall was very enjoyable.

Customer service is a 3 out of 10, and I’m being generous!

Do better Sand Piper Bay, you are not the only option for golf, here in Sunset Beach NC!

The course was in good shape except for the cart paths. Over the years tree roots have made the paths extremely bumpy and hard to drive on. The greens were true and in good condition along with the fairways when you finally reached them. As a senior golfer I found the length of drive required to reach the fairway was too long. If hey just mowed a little way further back the course would be much more playable

Played Sandpiper for the first time today. Played the Bay and Sand 9s and would rate them as average. The tees and fairways were ok. But weren’t cut super tight. And the greens looked slow and grainy. But they rolled ok. The Bay 9 was the more challenging of the 2. A lot of water. Maybe water on every hole. And several forced carries. But most of them were manageable. And most of the water was on the side. The Sand side was much more player friendly and scoreable. On both sides the par 3s and par 5s tended to be rather long. And the par 4s shorter. It wasn’t spectacular but the price was decent and I enjoyed it enough I’d like to go back and see the Piper 9. And yes. As several other reviews mentioned. The cart paths were pretty rough.

Sandpiper Bay Golf and Country Club is a very good and enjoyable golf course. But they desperately need to repair the golf cart pathways. This has needed to be done for years, so be ready for a rough and bumpy ride if you stay on the pathways.

Everything was great. Only complaint is the cart paths need lots of work! Bunkers could use some better sand too.

First time playing this course, enjoyed it.

Looking forward to going back again.

Have played this course several times; enjoy the layout. Course conditions average, but greens fees are much higher than other courses that are in better condition. Better values out there.