I finished up at Ballyhack and still had enough daylight for some more golf. I didn’t have enough time for another 18-hole round somewhere new, but thankfully there are a couple 9-hole courses in the area I haven’t played!
One of those unplayed courses for me was Brookside Par 3 in Roanoke. It took me about 15 minutes to get across town to Brookside. The course occupies about a block of land and has street parking only, which was a bit odd. It wasn’t busy and I ended up parking by some nearby condos.
Also, what was a bit odd was that when I walked around to the small proshop I found a sign on the door which said to call a phone number as the staff was out on the course. I called the number and a few minutes later was all checked in after a friendly interaction with the gentleman running the course. I’ve played a lot of golf over the years and calling to get into the proshop was a first for me!
Brookside is a short nine hole course – almost pitch and putt status. As its name indicates it is all par-3’s and most of them are around 100 yards. The longest par-3 is only 130 yards and the course tops out at 840 yards.
Most of the holes play back and forth until you get to the 7th. Then the last three holes play along the perimeter of the property and close to a road. I’d say these are the best holes as a creek flows pretty close to them and they are more wooded than the others. There isn’t a ton to the design here, just short par-3’s with tiny greens and no bunkers.
The green fee was $10 and the conditions were about what you’d expect for that price. The tees are all mats and I always find it tricky trying to clip a wedge off a mat! I finally got the hang of it and found a few greens towards the end of my round. The ball seemed to sit down in the rough and the greens were fuzzy and slow.
While the design at Brookside is very simple and compact it turned out to be an enjoyable walk. Honestly, I think you’d struggle not to enjoy your time here. There are even some lights for late evening rounds. With the right friends or family I’d certainly recommend a round at Brookside Par-3!
Course Pictures (click any picture to scroll through the gallery):