Gaston Country Club – Played August 2021
- Rankings: None of my four lists
- Location: 3700 Country Club Drive, Gastonia, North Carolina
- Year: 1958
- Original Architect: Ellis Maples
- Additional Work By: Bob Cupp & Kris Spence
- Course Access: Private
- Walking Rules: Carts Available
Score Card Information:
- Gold: 7,042 yards, Par 72, 74.4 Rating/135 Slope
- Blue: 6,615 yards, Par 72, 72.0 Rating/131 Slope
- Green: 6,243 yards, Par 72, 70.5 Rating/127 Slope
- White: 5,880 yards, Par 72, 68.7 Rating/124 Slope
- Red: 5,283 yards, Par 72, 65.8 Rating/116 Slope (Men’s), 71.1 Rating/123 Slope (Women’s)
- Yellow: 4,180 yards, Par 72, 64.0 Rating/110 Slope
I’ve mentioned in some other posts about one of my golf chats setting up a match play bracket. After getting out of the pool play, my next match was set for Gaston Country Club. Thankfully, my club has a reciprocal deal with them, so it was pretty easy to set up.
I had the pleasure of playing against Mike, who is a great guy and a fun hang. He beat me pretty bad, but we had a great time and shared a couple beers after the round.
The history of Gaston Country Club is like many clubs founded in the early 1900s. They had trouble around the Great Depression and the current course location is not where the club started. I have read that story so many times. Gaston’s story is told in more detail here.
A cool thing about Gaston is that they have multiple combo tee sets. This allows you to “drop down” a tee but not significantly shorten the course. It’s a nice feature to have multiple options and keeps the experience fresh each time out. For our round we chose the Blue/Green combo. Let’s get into the tour.
Hole 1 – 481 yards – Par 5
The opening hole at Gaston Country Club is an opportunity to get under par quickly. I can confirm this since I watched Mike stick a hybrid to 15 feet to go one up in our match.
The hole bends slightly right before going over a creek. The bunkers on the right are in play from the tee.
Below is a look at the tee markers at the club.
Hole 2 – 163 yards – Par 3
This hole is a bit pedestrian, but with the uphill slope, club selection is key.
Hole 3 – 392 yards – Par 4
The wide fairway frees you up to rip the driver. The green is an inviting target as well. This is a scoreable hole unless you end up in the greenside bunkers.
Hole 4 – 376 yards – Par 4
This hole feels pretty tight and the trees on the left are dense. The recommended play is as far up the right side as you can go. The approach plays tough to a perched green with some slope.
Hole 5 – 402 yards – Par 4
The slope of this hole makes it play longer than the yardage. Mike and I both had long approach shots here. I also got one of the worst plugged lies in a bunker I’ve ever seen.
Hole 7 – 485 yards – Par 5
I missed photos of the sixth hole as we played through a group. The seventh doglegs left and moves uphill before arriving at a green with drop-offs to the right and rear.
Hole 8 – 175 yards – Par 3
This is a pretty hole, but we had a dastardly pin just over the right bunker. With a large green, your strategy on this hole is dependent on the hole location.
Hole 9 – 395 yards – Par 4
The ninth is a slight bender to the left with the bunker providing a good aiming point. While I don’t have a photo of the green, it’s important not to miss it left.
Hole 10 – 375 yards – Par 4
Here you play to a blind landing area before you see the green surrounded by water on two sides. Mike hit one to a couple feet here, no big deal.
Hole 11 – 141 yards – Par 3
So far the par threes have an uphill theme at Gaston Country Club. This one did provide some variety since it was a bit shorter than the others while featuring and extremely shallow, but wide green.
Hole 12 – 359 yards – Par 4
My eyes light up when the hole moves right to left. I feel I can swing the driver hard. A generous fairway here does nothing to dissuade that notion.
Hole 13 – 513 yards – Par 5
This is one of the prettier holes on the course. After you play out of the chute, you are forced into a decision. To get to the green it takes a very well executed shot over water.
Hole 14 – 158 yards – Par 3
Rejoice, a downhill shot! With a big green, this hole should be a simple par.
Hole 15 – 400 yards – Par 4
It took me two good shots to get home on this green. Of course, Mike had already closed me out when I struck a nice four iron to make an easy par!
Hole 16 – 370 yards – Par 4
Some tree growth on the right pinches this fairway in a bit for my liking. You want to play up the left side for the best approach angle though.
Hole 17 – 362 yards – Par 4
Job one is staying out of the bunkers on the left. I didn’t accomplish this and had to get creative on the approach shot. You can see the green just to the left.
The green has a cool look with the infinity feel behind it.
Hole 18 – 497 yards – Par 5
That’s a lot of water! Gaston Country Club had gotten a lot of rain recently and the ponds were are full capacity. Thankfully, there is room up the left side to play your shots. The water is a factor all the way to the green.
Playing with Mike was the best part of my day, but seeing the course at Gaston was a close second. The greens rolled true and the course played quite well for all the recent rain. I highly recommend checking this place out if you’re in the area.