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Pickens golf club is under new ownership and is having a much overdue new clubhouse built. It’s construction and increased parking lot size along with what should be a good practice Putting green should be ready in a year or two. The course is in average shape, meaning that the tee boxes are over sanded and need to fill in. Although the Fairways are well covered with Bermuda, they didn’t do much leveling when they designed it.. very bumpy. And the greens have many areas that need grass to fill in. We arrived on time for our tee time, but still had to wait 20 minutes behind a log jam at the first hole because of unmanaged starting and course pace of play. Granted, we played on a Saturday, but we left at the seventh hole because we had already been playing for over two hours.
*** Important FYI: holes one through three don’t exist so you start on number four and repeat holes, just playing at different distances.
For the price, it’s decent enough to enjoy on a weekday. I look forward to coming back and trying it again when everything is built and all the holes are being used.

When you check in at the main clubhouse for the two 18 hole courses, you then have to drive 3 to 4 minutes away to get to the “Executive Course”. Because I asked, I was informed that pull carts are no longer available because of theft and that unless you have one with you that you will be carrying your clubs. When you arrive at the nine hole course, there is a very small building that is obviously abandoned, dilapidated, and completely unkept. There are no staff, greeters, or employees at all, unless you count groundskeepers. It wasn’t posted at the GolfNow site but everything but the greens were being punched and left dirt/mud clods all over the course. Would have been nice to know ahead of time so that I could visit in about a month when I’m sure the course will look significantly better and my shoes wouldn’t be compacted with mud. The greens were beautiful and extremely well-kept. However, all the traps were about as poor as they could get. BTW, when you finish nine holes you have a good 200 yard walk on barely maintain paths through the woods and the edge of the road up hills to get back to your car. With a little effort and attention from Chateau Elan to their “Executive Course” building, traps, pull cart security, walking paths/sidewalk, and notification of scheduled course maintenance, this could be an excellent Par 3 gem.

Club house is a little dated, carts are gas powered but have an extremely convenient ball/club washer mounted on the side. (just need to drain the stinky dirty water out of it more often) Putting green is in great shape as well as the driving range. Cart paths are a Clint Eastwood movie...Good Bad and Ugly. Some areas have been well maintained while others are completely nonexistent. Tee boxes are kept nice, fairways are in great shape, bunkers are in much better shape than the last time I was here, and the greens are in great shape as well. They used to have a starter but I haven’t seen one in a few years. We were 20 minutes late teeing off because of groups taking their time. Staff is always friendly and appreciative of veterans. FYI, the 4th green is nothing but slope and is wonderfully frustrating...love the challenge!

Arrowhead Point IS the best course for the money. It is sooooo gorgeous, especially the back 9. Everything is just the way you want it...manicured tee boxes, groomed and well kept bunkers, smooth curbed concrete cart paths, immaculate fairways, forgiving course layout, perfect “carpet like” greens that are unblemished and just challenging enough. Yardage is marked with inground granite markers as well as the cart paths, the rough is wall to wall Bermuda and kept deep and thick enough to keep your ball from going out of bounds but not so deep that it disappears the moment it stops. The best treat of the day is arriving at the 12th green and taking in the envious views of Lake Russell from the varied course elevations for the next 5 holes. Simply put..well worth the trip (for me, 50 minutes) for some of the best golf around.

I’ve played the course several times over the years and agree that it is a nice course, but if I’m looking for a hot deal on the golf now app, Brookstone isn’t even in the ballpark. If anything, they need to reduce their rate on the morning of the hot deal day to something in the teens. Not that I’m cheap, but there are nicer courses that are significantly less costly and in much better shape than Brookstone with far better hot deals.

Great staff, very accommodating! Practice green is perfect and driving range is great. Tee boxes, fairways, and greens were in great shape. Sand traps needed dragging and freshening up. Some new cart paths are partially in and a lot more are needed. Some areas are non-existent. Some small course areas need new dirt w/ grass or landscaping. Pace was great, done in 3 1/2 hours. Just enough water, good looking homes, great course for all levels. Electric Carts have ball and club cleaner.

GolfNow needs to include in course information that you need to plan for an extra 20 minutes of check-in time at the Tulley Gate during your arrival. Pro shop was very understanding and accommodating with my late arrivall. Nice course, great for intermediate players, very forgiving. Greens were kinda ok for wintertime but my gas powered cart constantly had difficulty starting. I’d love to play it in the early summer. GolfNow price was fantastic.

The last time I played the rock was about 12 years ago. Back then, the course was Beautiful and in great shape, there was an actual driving range, the greens were awesome and well kept. Now, is another story. Although the scenery is really great, the staff is wonderful, and the creek winding through the entire course is something that I love...the fairways, tee boxes, and greens need some serious improvement. I hope that it can return to its glory days of natural grandeur as a true golfing destination.