Rock Barn Golf and Spa - Jackson Course

About
Rock Barn Golf & Spa offers two championship courses, one designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr. and the other by Tom Jackson. Nestled within the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the golf courses are provided with swiftly moving brooks and sparkling lakes that accent the wooded hills and lush, grassy meadows. The Jackson Course tumbles across picturesque valleys, offering both dramatic elevation changes and beautiful scenery. The layout is shorter and less demanding than the Jones Course but it is a challenge nonetheless. The undulating terrain demands accuracy and perfect ball placement. Fast greens are balanced by generous fairways. Water hazards also come into play. The course starts out intimidatingly with a narrow, uphill par 5 but the rest of the course is not quite as daunting.
Tee | Par | Length | Rating | Slope |
---|---|---|---|---|
Tournament | 71 | 6427 yards | 71.9 | 135 |
Jackson (W) | 71 | 5926 yards | 74.8 | 141 |
Jackson | 71 | 5926 yards | 68.9 | 132 |
Member | 71 | 5433 yards | 66.7 | 126 |
Member (W) | 71 | 5433 yards | 72.2 | 134 |
Club | 71 | 4856 yards | 64.2 | 117 |
Club (W) | 71 | 4856 yards | 68.5 | 127 |
Forward | 71 | 4363 yards | 62.2 | 114 |
Forward (W) | 71 | 4363 yards | 65.8 | 118 |
Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Out | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | In | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Gold M: 71.9/135 | 555 | 341 | 208 | 362 | 424 | 202 | 327 | 506 | 217 | 3142 | 514 | 359 | 400 | 170 | 390 | 398 | 145 | 506 | 403 | 3285 | 6427 |
Blue M: 68.9/132 W: 74.8/141 | 518 | 293 | 173 | 334 | 397 | 173 | 303 | 477 | 188 | 2856 | 491 | 333 | 379 | 143 | 367 | 379 | 129 | 477 | 372 | 3070 | 5926 |
White M: 66.7/126 W: 72.2/134 | 463 | 274 | 146 | 305 | 358 | 149 | 279 | 447 | 173 | 2594 | 467 | 300 | 357 | 122 | 344 | 339 | 115 | 453 | 342 | 2839 | 5433 |
Green M: 64.2/117 W: 68.5/127 | 425 | 243 | 112 | 288 | 316 | 106 | 249 | 422 | 147 | 2308 | 437 | 261 | 335 | 84 | 320 | 260 | 102 | 428 | 321 | 2548 | 4856 |
Red M: 62.2/114 W: 65.8/118 | 282 | 238 | 106 | 283 | 390 | 85 | 244 | 415 | 95 | 2138 | 380 | 223 | 291 | 78 | 288 | 228 | 90 | 374 | 273 | 2225 | 4363 |
Handicap | 1 | 13 | 11 | 17 | 3 | 5 | 15 | 7 | 9 | 6 | 10 | 12 | 18 | 8 | 2 | 16 | 14 | 4 | |||
Par | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 35 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 36 | 71 |
Handicap (W) | 5 | 11 | 17 | 7 | 3 | 13 | 9 | 1 | 15 | 2 | 14 | 10 | 16 | 8 | 6 | 18 | 12 | 4 |
Course Details
Rentals/Services
Practice/Instruction
Policies
Food & Beverage
Bar, RestaurantAvailable Facilities
Clubhouse, Banquet Facilities, SpaAvailable Activities
RidingReviews
Reviewer Photos
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grass growing in traps. Photo submitted by TeeTimeTerry on 08/07/2025
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Photo submitted by TeeTimeTerry on 08/07/2025
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bad Photo submitted by TeeTimeTerry on 08/07/2025
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does this look like a $70 course? Photo submitted by TeeTimeTerry on 08/07/2025
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Photo submitted by TeeTimeTerry on 08/07/2025
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horrible tee boxes Photo submitted by TeeTimeTerry on 08/07/2025
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Photo submitted by Winsam3 on 06/19/2025
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Photo submitted by u000003922969 on 05/13/2025
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Photo submitted by u000003922969 on 05/13/2025
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First hole Photo submitted by tjdemski on 06/29/2023
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Photo submitted by okstatepokes96 on 04/15/2023
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Photo submitted by okstatepokes96 on 04/15/2023
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Photo submitted by Cr8zyboutgolf84 on 03/01/2023
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Photo submitted by Cr8zyboutgolf84 on 03/01/2023
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Photo submitted by Cr8zyboutgolf84 on 03/01/2023
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the kids tees off on the 16th Photo submitted by hoosierdaddy on 10/23/2021
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All you need Photo submitted by uYXTV9348YX on 06/17/2021
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Beautiful par 3 Photo submitted by u000001694190 on 10/14/2020
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Photo submitted by DenisDotson on 08/10/2020
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Photo submitted by DenisDotson on 08/10/2020
Nicest Golf Club in the area.. but
I play quite a bit of Golf, have for many years, and now rotate weekly to various courses! Rock Barn is by far the nicest overall Golf Facility for public play in this portion of the state! Is it priced reasonably? Well, no its about $10 to pricey. Verdict Ridge Golf club is one of its closest competitors for this slice of the golfing market, and Seniors there can play for $15 less than RBarn on weekdays, however the environment, facilities and practice area at Rock Barn are nicer. Surprisingly Rock Barn is never packed/crowded like the aforementioned course, and several other courses in this area! The Bent Grass greens at Rock Barn are a major draw and roll far better than any Bermuda conversion I have ever played. The greens here are worth a few extra bucks for sure. The Jackson course is a nice ‘old school’ layout with lots of elevation changes, huge bunkers, and water and is extremely well maintained. it also has 2 new Restroom/water/ice facilities on the course as well. I actually like the Jackkson far better than the Jones course and it rather odd & inconsistent layout.
Warm Day in the Foothills
Been a few years since we’d played the Jackson Course, but always enjoyed coming up to Hickory area hoping to get a bit of relief from the central piedmont heat. Not sure it was much cooler, but humidity was down. Course was in as good a condition as I could remember, fairways, tees and greens. Not a long course from regular tees , but you use every club. Not very crowded on a Wednesday afternoon, so we moved around in well under 4 hours, even taking our time due to the warm day. Highly recommended if you can get on with a hot deal.
Solid conditions where it mattered
Some burnt out spots on greens and one or two bunkers had liners exposed; lots of pitch marks but I think it’s because they’re fighting the heat with bent greens. None of the conditions impacted play (dead spots on greens were far away from all of the pins etc). Tee box, fairway , and rough conditions were some of the best I’ve seen for public courses.
Great day, great golf. Few areas for improvement
Course layout was great, fairways in good condition. Bunkers in good condition. Greens - beat up and dried out. There were also several kids fishing on the course on the back 9, standing all around where we were hitting - not ideal, not safe. Otherwise really enjoyed the day!
Great Course ; Fair Value
Really enjoyed our round. Fairways and greens were very good. Layout wonderful. Staff very helpful and friendly. We will be back soon!!!
Best greens we have play in Catawba played 18 holes in 3 hours
Great condition… except for….
I’m fairly hard to impress when it comes to golf courses.. and I’ll rarely spend over $65 to play, however I was impressed with this place EXCEPT FOR the areas around #7 Tee Boxes as well as everything to the left of the length of this entire hole! Just plain ugly, snakey, eroded and not maintained! Its so bad as opposed to remainder of their 2 courses it had me scratching my head! The bent grass greens here will definitely keep me coming back here to play! Course fairways grasses were awesome and as good as you’ll find in the area. Nice bunkers and lots of them, my only issue was the fact that they were not consistent in their condition, maintenance and amounts of sand.
All in all.. and enjoyable outing!
Wonderful round!
Played early in a Sunday morning and the course was beautiful- well-maintained and the staff could not have been nicer or more helpful. Play got a little slow on the back 9 but the Marshall worked his magic in a timely manner. Will be back here again soon!
Resort golf at bargain price
Front 9 is far more difficult and a less picturesque than the back. The Back 9 is magnificent and the views make you feel like you are playing a PGA course. Greens are tricky but far once you figure them out. I will play this course again in the near future
Great course
As long as they keep the price at $70 it is well worth it. Great course.
Within the past month the Jackson course has become Horrid! Its like the maintenance crew went on a 3 week vacation!
Course has went downhill badly in the past month! someone needs to be demoted!
Course is Horrible now… many greens have bare spots.. grass growing in sand traps, bare dirt tee boxes, and they haven’t bothered to clean up wind debris from 7 days ago!