In order to stay on top of your golf game, being strategic about how you play each hole is essential. This becomes even more crucial when hazards come into play. Can you avoid the bunkers, water, and trees that cover these great Jackson golf courses? Do you have what it takes to recover when you get in trouble? Here’s your ultimate guide to putting your hazard strategy to the test on Jackson courses.
Cascades Golf Course
If you want the challenge of playing around hazards, Cascades Golf Course should be your first stop. 
This course has quite a few doglegs, plenty of sand traps surrounding the greens, a few ridges that separate the greens, and a LOT of water. In fact, holes 9 and 10 are the only ones that do not have bunkers or water.
Holes 4, 11, 15, 16, and 17 all have water cutting straight through the middle of play, while many of the other holes have water closely surrounding them. For example, hole 14 has water lining the right side. This may not seem too intimidating, but the real challenge on this hole is to navigate the 90-degree dogleg left, while avoiding the entirely tree-lined left side!
With so many unique hazard challenges on each hole of this course, you just need to check it out for yourself.
Hill’s Heart of the Lakes Golf Course
Filled with quite a few bunkers, Hill’s Heart of the Lakes is another great course for navigating hazards.
Many of the greens are closely surrounded by trees and bunkers, meaning accuracy on your approach shot is a necessity! On holes 7 and 17, you’ll have to work around the bunkers guarding the front of the green. There is also no shortage of water on this course. Holes 8 and 16 will both test your ability to cross over water, but hole 16 is the ultimate water hazard challenge. At this hole, you’ll need to hit the ball over a fountain in the pond to get to the green surrounded by trees!
Manageable yet still fairly challenging, this is the course to visit if you’re up to working around hazards.
Calderone Farms Golf Club
With a mix of links-style and traditional holes, the Calderone Farms Golf Club is one of Jackson’s most challenging courses. The sloping, tall grass terrain makes for plenty of opportunities to get stuck, not to mention the plethora of sand traps scattered across each hole. The bunkers lining both sides of the fairway on hole 7 is a perfect example of this. That shot will be sure to test your accuracy.
Tall grass and sand are not the only obstacles, however. Watch out for large ponds on holes 3, 9, and 18 and don’t forget to consider how the wind and hills will sway your shot!
Ella Sharp Park Golf Course
With two of the most challenging holes in Jackson County, the Ella Sharp Park Golf Course will test all skill levels. The course starts off strong with hole 2 being the most difficult of the entire 18. A bunker on the left of the green and water on the right means accuracy is key.
Be sure to watch out for bunkers in the middle of the fairways throughout this course. On holes 6, 8 and 18, players must navigate sand traps in the middle, while also being cautious of water and tricky out-of-bounds areas.
After hole 2, the next most difficult hole on this course and in Jackson is hole 12, which requires a precise shot to avoid the out-of-bounds on the left and large oak trees on that right. Then, your approach shot will be lengthy and hitting up to an elevated and severely sloping green.
A variety of hazards on this course makes it a great one to hone your skills at navigating your shot.
Arbor Hills Golf Club
Bunkers, streams, hills, and other challenges make Arbor Hills another major course for this list.
This course is known for its greens, many of which are surrounded by bunkers and combined with other challenges like slopes and smaller sizes, making them even harder to maneuver. Holes 4 and 5 have streams crossing through them, adding to the difficulty before you reach the green. Getting the ball to the green can be a challenge, especially on hole 9 which features a smaller green, with the parking lot right behind and bunkers on either side.
If you are up for the challenge of bunkers, water, trees and troublesome greens, step up to the tee at Arbor Hills.
Grande Golf Club
The Grande Golf Club is the ultimate challenging course, as most holes have a variety of bunkers, water, trees, curves and out-of-bounds areas that will truly test your skills. Each hole is unique and poses its own kind of challenge.
This course will test you right from the beginning. Four bunkers line the fairway on hole 1 and hole 2 is home to the largest and deepest bunker on the course, with tall grass sitting just beyond the green. You’ll find quite a few bunkers in the middle of the fairways throughout this course, and you’ll need to watch out for water on holes 6, 9, and 10!
If you think you’re a pro when it comes to avoiding the hazards, put your skills to the test at The Grande.
Can you avoid Jackson’s hazards?
Download our free Golf Tips & Secrets Guide to give yourself an edge before you hit the course.
