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1.6
118 Reviews (118)
5 Stars
11
4 Stars
51
3 Stars
25
2 Stars
10
1 Stars
21
Conditions
1.5
Value
1.7
Layout
1.8
Friendliness
1.8
Pace
1.7
Amenities
1.7
19.0%
Recommend this course
77 out of 118 reviews
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About

Holes 18
Type Public
Par 72
Length 6504 yards
Slope 140
Rating 73.4

3 Lakes Golf Course originally opened in 1923 under the name Alcoma Golf Course. Along with the name change, it also opened its doors to the public and has since become a local favorite. It's known as one of the best values for your money in the area, offering country club-style golf at public rates. The layout was designed by Emil Loeffler, who designed two other courses in Pittsburgh – Highland Country Club and Shannopin Country Club. The course sprawls across more than 150 acres of gently rolling terrain, providing rolling fairways and undulating greens. The classic layout is tough but fair. You'll be tested with a variety of different lies and the holes have plenty of diversity as well, ranging from some that are on the shorter side to others that are monstrous.

Course Details

Year Built 1923
Golf Season Year round
Architect Emil Loeffler (1923) John McGlynn Ferdinand Garbin (1984)

Rentals/Services

Carts Yes - $15
Clubs Yes

Practice/Instruction

Driving Range Yes
Golf School Academy Yes
Teaching Pro Yes

Policies

Metal Spikes Allowed No
Walking Allowed Yes

Food & Beverage

Bar, Snacks, Grill

Available Facilities

Clubhouse, Banquet Facilities, Lockers, Locker Rooms

Reviews

1.6
118 Reviews (118)

What Golfers Are Saying

The 19th Hole is Great For:
Drinks 9
Course Challenges Include:
Elevation Changes 16
Bunkers 9
Undulating Greens 8
This course/club is great for:
Locals 11
Advanced Golfers 6
This Course's Location is:
In the 'Burbs 10
Convenient to the City 8

Numbers based on reviews tagged with attribute.

Advanced Filters
Overall Rating
Recommended
Handicap
Age
Type of Golfer
Gender
Played On
Reviews 1
Skill Intermediate
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played

Great Course

The course keeps improving. They are adding a driving range. Greens are in good condition. Really nice course.

Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Friendliness Good
Pace Good
Amenities Average
Played On
Reviews 3
Handicap 15-19
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
3.0
Previously Played
Excellent weather
Used cart

OK - but watch the price

The course overall is OK, some quirky holes. The sand traps do not drain well and looks like they need fresher sand - luckily, was not in any. They changed hole 5 from years ago - a blind tee shot to a hard dog-leg right and the new part is a very thin strip with a hill on the right with half long grass and drop-off on the left - who ever dreamt of this hole is plain wrong. The set up on the new par 3 is odd too, since trees on the right come into play all the way up. The front of the green on #7 is a patch work of sod that is bumpy if you have to putt through it. There are some back and forth fairways, so people will be in your line of fire on occasion. They are excavating an area, and the bulldozer sound was constant for many holes. Looks like they let the grass grow a few days too long as the rough was shaggy.

Conditions Average
Value Average
Friendliness Good
Pace Average
Amenities Good
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging
Played On
Reviews 3
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
2.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played

The new par 5

The new par5 is not worth the money spent it will slow play up and no reason for it should have kept it the way it was and spent the money on putting sand in the bunkers and fixing some of the greens I always enjoyed playing at three lakes but I was very disappointed Playing there on monday

Conditions Poor
Value Good
Friendliness Good
Pace Excellent
Amenities Average
Played On
Reviews 1
Handicap 10-14
Skill Intermediate
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
First Time Playing
Good weather
Used cart

Good Course for the money close to the city

The course was in excellent shape. We had a brief delay for rain, but the course drained well and the rest of the round was rain free. The only problem we had was they put another twosome out on hole number 10 just before we were to make the turn, and we waited every shot after. Still finished 18 holes in 3.5 hours.

Conditions Good
Value Excellent
Friendliness Average
Pace Average
Amenities Good
Difficulty Moderate
Played On
Reviews 2
Handicap 5-9
Skill Intermediate
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played
Average weather
Used cart

3 Lakes is one of my favorites

At peak times there seems to be too many carts and golfers packed on the course than there should be. This leads to 5+ hour rounds regardless of how you play. Other than that I love this course. I try to get as many febuary, march, april rounds as possible as there are few people out. I feel theres a good mix of lengths and angles in the general layout. Par 3's from the tips range from 150, 262(downhill), 186 yards. The greens are pretty much perfect right now and even if you can't drive 250 yards you will have a good amount of 120-160 yards approach shots. Very enjoyable at the right times.

Conditions Good
Value Average
Friendliness Average
Pace Fair
Amenities Average
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging
Played On
Reviews 3
Handicap Don't know
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a month
I Recommend This Course
4.0
First Time Playing
Fair weather
Used cart

The back 9 is better...

I wasn't so sure about this course when we started... the first 9 is very narrow and a lot of the time everyone was ending up on each other's fairways going the wrong direction.

I was happy when we made the turn and started playing the back nice. Despite the rainy weather, we still enjoyed the course.

Conditions Good
Value Good
Friendliness Good
Pace Good
Amenities Good
Difficulty Moderate
Played On
Reviews 1
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing

Very nice

Great challenging course. Will def go back. Greens and fairways in excellent condition

Conditions Excellent
Value Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Played On
Reviews 3
Handicap 15-19
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a month
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played
Excellent weather
Used cart

Was great to get out and play

The greens were great a little fast and firm, the coarse was in great shape.

Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Difficulty Moderate
Played On
Reviews 4
Handicap Don't know
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a month
I Recommend This Course
3.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing
Good weather
Used cart

Tim E Boro

Good course, on the course is always good! Close to home, only took me 20 min. to get there .great for me to get a game in.

Conditions Average
Value Average
Friendliness Good
Pace Average
Amenities Good
Difficulty Moderate
Played On
Reviews 14
Handicap 20-24
Skill Intermediate
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played
Average weather
Used cart

3 Lakes

Still a nice, and challenging course.
Undulating fairways a challenge.

Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Excellent
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging
Played On
Reviews 1
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
1.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played

Disappointing

Really hoped they made improvement over 3 years since i was there, but arrived to find nothing has changed. Standing water in what I guess you'd call bunkers, more like gravel yards. Tee boxes overgrown and uneven. Major drainage issues through holes 5 and 6. You won't be finding me at this course again.

Conditions Poor
Value Poor
Friendliness Poor
Pace Fair
Amenities Poor
Played On
Reviews 5
Handicap 20-24
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
First Time Playing
Excellent weather
Used cart

H2O

First timer asking the about the course basically got "follow the path answer". The course itself was great if you like it a little hilly. Tee boxes, fairways and greens were in excellent shape with standing water in the bunkers though. Cart paths are in need of repair with a little attention to drainage issues that appear to be the main cause but that is irrelevant to the course itself.

Would liked to have been told that there is no drinking H2O on the course. Bummer. Thank goodness it was a weekday and was able to finish in just over 3 hours.

Conditions Good
Value Average
Friendliness Fair
Pace Excellent
Amenities Good
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging
Played On
Reviews 14
Handicap 15-19
Skill Intermediate
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played
Excellent weather
Used cart

Greens

Some variation in speed but rolled well and held incoming shots.

Conditions Good
Value Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Average
Amenities Good
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging
Played On
Reviews 1
Skill Intermediate
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Previously Played

Big turn around from last year

3 lakes have improved tremendously from last year's almost unplayable conditions. I remember playing there last year, not allowed to drive the cart on 70% of the fairways because they were too BURNT. Not wet, completely BURNT.

After seeing many positive reviews this year I decided to try playing, playing 9 holes in the evening. Going to the first tee, I was completely overjoyed with what I saw. Lush, full, and VERY green fairways and greens. My buddy and I was paired up with another twosome, and we teed off approximately 15 minutes past our tee time as the course was packed and there was two very slow groups ahead of us.

Every single fairway on the front 9 was PERFECT. Half of the tee boxes were in very good condition. Still trying to figure out why the bunkers had standing water in them, we hadn't had rain in at least 3 days. The greens were soft, pretty easy to hold, but had patches that seemed to be some sort of disease, they need to do some spraying. Almost looks like someone drove a cart around on #6 green as it was pretty beat up, might come back in a few weeks.

They took out a lot of trees and some bunkers, possibly re doing them. A lot of work being done to this course. Not sure if they got new owners, saw the light that they were doing a terrible job of maintaining their course last year or what, but things are looking great for 3 lakes!!

I'm excited to want to play here again and highly recommend it, as long as you are OKAY going a round without having a flat lie in the fairway as it is still extremely slopped everywhere.

Conditions Good
Value Fair
Friendliness Average
Pace Average
Amenities Good
Played On
Reviews 24
Handicap 15-19
Skill Intermediate
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Previously Played
Excellent weather
Used cart

lot better

Played here more than a year ago, Course has greatly improved and we enjoyed our round immensely. Would definitely go back

Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Average
Amenities Excellent
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging
Played On
Reviews 8
Handicap 5-9
Skill Advanced
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Previously Played

Good value

Played this course twice this week, both times after heavy rain. Even when a little wet, the course was in good shape: fairways very nice and good tee boxes. Greens nice too, play them on a dry day and could see them being pretty quick. For $20, its definitely worth driving 40 minutes to play.

Conditions Good
Value Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Average
Played On
Reviews 5
Handicap 10-14
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
3.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played

True rolling greens and well cut holes enhance the play

I played this course on Sunday afternoon on Father's Day, with my son. The fairways were well cut and defined, although a number of the bunkers were in disrepair. Course was a bit soggy after the heavy rain on Friday but they did a good job with the greens, they held shots but were not slow and ran true. I especially liked the tee box variations, a set of silver tees were a welcome relief for someone who does not hit the ball a long way. On that day they put in 15 inch holes on each green, in addition to the regular size holes, there was even a 15 inch hole on the practice green! I applaud the management for their willingness to be to innovative. The regular holes were well cut and they used full size, deep, white inserts which were a welcome touch. Staff was very friendly and polite. But $3.75 for a small hot dog seems a bit much!

Conditions Average
Value Average
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Average
Played On
Reviews 1
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a month
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing
Excellent weather
Used cart

Nice Course, I'd go here again

The weather was great and course was fun so I had an excellent time. It was crowded but not horrible. No one should be in a rush to play golf, if you are in a hurry and don't like hanging out with the people you are with, don't go. The marshal came around quite a bit but he was very nice. The course had nice variety and was challenging but not frustrating. I only play a few times a year and I only lost one ball.

Conditions Good
Value Good
Friendliness Good
Pace Good
Amenities Good
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging
Played On
Reviews 2
Skill Beginner
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing

Rolling hills, fun layout

Great course, especially for the cost. Well maintained green, friendly staff, (relatively) open fairways,! A much needed enjoyable course in the Pgh area, and a great change of pace from grandview. Only 20 minutes from shadyside.

Conditions Good
Value Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Good
Played On
Reviews 3
Handicap 10-14
Skill Advanced
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played
Excellent weather
Used cart

Nice track

Was very impressed by the course condition. For a public facility I thought the course was well maintained and was a nice test of golf. Had good lies in the fairways and the greens rolled true. Will continue to play as long as the fee stays the same.

Conditions Good
Value Good
Friendliness Good
Pace Average
Amenities Average
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging
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