Carolina National Golf Club — Local services in St. James

This is my favorite course in the tri-county area that surrounds Willmington. When I play golf I want to feel like I am bonding with nature. To be sure this course does wind its way through a subdivision but you never feel like you are in a residential area. There are actually times when you feel like you are totally secluded in the middle of nowhere. There is so many things I like about this course- but any review has to start with the beauty of the par threes. Two of them have views of the marsh in the background and are just breath taking. The rest of the course is also very pretty and when I played this past weekend was it was in great shape (other than the cart paths). And no course that I've ever seen has been more creative on where they put their tee-boxes. Moving from the men's to the low handicap tee box (blue to the gold)changes each hole dramatically... it doesn't just add distance, it changes the angles of everything. It's like it is a totally different hole... and then if you dare to move to the tips (black tees), again everything changes. .The only other local courses I give a 5 rating to are the Thistle (which is $30 more expensive) Cape Fear National (which has too much construction going on around it and Castle Bay (which is all the way in Hampstead). My only complaint about Carolina National is it's made up of three 9 hole courses. I tend to like courses where you play the same 18 everytime. For instance on of the courses has a beautiful split fairway on a par 4. I was really looking forward to playing it... but I got the other two 9 hole courses. Truth is no matter what I would have gotten, I would have felt like I was missing out on one of my favorite holes. Really the best way to play Carolina National is to play all 27 holes in one outing... which is best accomplished with the cooler weather of the fall. I...

I booked a trip for 6 guys to play Carolina National for a friends bachelor party on 10/20 and 10/21 for 27 holes each day with lunch. Before I get into the negative, the employees (not the Managers or the lady in the pro shop) were very nice including Jessica and Cliff the starter. On Saturday we teed off in 2 groups (5 golfers and 1 guy that rode along) at 9:45 and by the 3rd hole we played as a 5 some and still had to wait every single shot which led to a 3 hr front 9. At the turn we stopped and overheard a loud argument with the kitchen staff.

The 2nd 9 was not any better and we were do lunch at the completion of 18 holes but the grille was closed so only cold food. (as we were placing our order the food and bev manager came out and angrily yelled at the bartender "Cold Food only" which we found very unprofessional.

We played our last 9 and finished just before darkness.

On Sunday we had originally planned the same arrangement but due to the situation on Sat, we only decided on playing 9 holes. Only 4 played and 2 others road along. when we checked in we explained our situation on Sat and the lady did not offer an apology but said "that is what you get when it is cart path only" which for golfers is not the case.

As we played our 9 holes we had a ranger following us constantly sitting in places just watching us even though we were playing at the correct pace. Our reasoning for this is he thought we were trying to have the 2 guys play that did not pay and those guys had no interesting playing at all.

Needless to say I will not go back to this place and would not...

I am a member of Carolina National. Let me start by saying that we have a great golf course layout and a lot of hardworking people who are trying to bring the course back to its original as built condition. That said, there were certain shortcomings in the original amenities, and course conditioning has degraded. A second floor pro shop is always a bad idea. An undersized and ill kept locker room serves no one. A kitchen without proper facilities makes the chefs job near impossible, it is a tribute to him that the food is as good as it is. The restaurant staff is terrific. The courses cart paths are a disgrace, the current operators of the course have documented over 400 places in need of immediate repair. No work is being done and precious little work has been done over the last eight years. The fairways, for this time of year are very good. The sand traps have needed major repairs for years, but are being done at a snails pace. Sink holes are opening in the fairways and go unaddressed for months if not years. The greens have been sanded weekly in an effort to increase their speed, (with great success, they are fast)with no consideration of their ability to hold shots. One cannot hit a bump and run because the approaches are ridiculously soft. Playability is thus an issue. This is all too bad, because if these things were addressed, this course could be one of the premiere courses in the...