Puttery Charlotte NC Review, Photos & What To Expect
It feels like indoor mini golf spots are popping up everywhere which I love!! Queen City is no exception and with Strike closing, Puttery Charlotte is a welcomed addition to the South End. My husband and I absolutely loved this place during our last visit, so I had to put out a full Puttery Charlotte review with lots of photos. No I’m not being paid to write this. 😋
Puttery Charlotte NC Review : Quick & Condensed
The Puttery Charlotte NC is a newer indoor putt putt course that focuses on themed holes, great cocktails and a comfortablea and fun experience for 21+ only. It was reasonably priced, especially if you plan to play more than one round and aren’t getting TOO many drinks, and didn’t take a huge time commitment.
The mini golf itself was great and so was the service, drinks and food. I enjoyed the atmosphere which really felt like a nightlife experience, but without the music being so loud that we couldn’t talk.
We had a great time on a Sunday evening and didn’t need to wait for anything. I recommend going anytime other than Friday and Saturday night, as it gets super crowded at these times and you won’t get the full experience. All in all Puttery is one of the best things to do for couples in Charlotte NC, as well as groups of friends, backpackers and families.
Full Puttery Charlotte NC Review & What to Expect
If you love games, connection and great cocktails, Puttery Charlotte NC is for you! Puttery has several locations, and we’ve been to a few now. The Charlotte location is relatively new and we thought it held up really well in comparison to the other locations, as well as other options for indoor putt putt Charlotte NC.
I’m a sucker for bars with games and I write about them often on this travel blog, so Puttery was at the top of my list when we visited Charlotte! The concept is great and makes for a perfect end to a day exploring Charlotte, or a fun day/night out for locals. Bars like this let us adults feel like kids again which we all need from time to time. 😁
When to Visit Puttery Charlotte NC
Our advice for your visit to Puttery Charlotte is to avoid Friday and Saturday nights and instead go on a week night or Sunday if you can. Their hours are most days from afternoon until 10:00pm, and on Friday and Saturday they’re open until 1:00am. Make sure to check current hours to be safe since they change often.
It’s important to plan the timing because securing a tee time doesn’t do much in terms of keeping the courses less crowded, and if it’s super crowded the mini golf itself likely won’t be as fun because there will be a lot of standing around and waiting. They do limit the amount of people on each course, and sometimes they inform you there’s a short wait for a course once you get the start of each 9-hole course, but that didn’t seem to make a difference from what we saw. If you’re mainly there to socialize and the actual putt putt isn’t the most important to you, coming on a weekend night would probably be fine.
We ended up originally showing up on a Saturday night, and we sat at the bar to get a cocktail and then left after we saw the courses completely full with people, most of whom were standing around waiting to golf. We showed up Sunday during the day instead and it was a completely different experience with just a few other people playing.
Important: You Must Be 21+ To Play
To keep the cocktail bar vibe, Puttery Charlotte NC is for those that are 21+ only. If you’re looking for indoor putt putt in Charlotte NC that people of all ages and the whole family can enjoy, check out Monster Mini Golf in the area instead.
Parking & Getting There – Puttery Rampart Street Charlotte NC
Puttery Charlotte is located in the South End at 210 Rampart St., right next to Pins Mechanical. In case you want to double up on game night, check out my Pins Mechanical review. There’s a large parking lot at Puttery Charlotte and you shouldn’t have any trouble. If on the off chance you have a hard time parking or come on a very busy night, there’s always street parking closeby.
Another option, which is the best choice if you’ll be indulging in cocktails, is to take the Light Rail to the East / West Blvd station which is right next to Puttery Charlotte. Uber and Lyft are also great options and readily available all throughout Charlotte.
Puttery Charlotte NC Tickets & Pricing
An Unlimited Play ticket will cost each adult $25 each, which is a pretty great deal considering you can play as long as you want on all of the courses. Keep in mind drinks and food can rack up a lot, so as long as you watch what you’re ordering, Puttery can be budget friendly. You can also play one round for $15.
Tickets for Puttery Charlotte can be purchased at their website or at the front desk. They do sell out, so it’s a good idea to reserve in advance if possible. You’ll have to choose between an Unlimited Play pass or a pass for One 9-Hole Course. The Unlimited pass basically just allows you to play both 9-hole courses instead of one.
Each course will probably take you about 30 minutes as long as no one is holding you up or you don’t have a big group. We definitely recommend getting the pass for Unlimited Play unless you’re short on time. We played the Conservatory course, had some drinks and food, and then finished the night with the Library course.
Puttery Charlotte NC Review – How it Works & Game Play
When you walk in, you’ll check in with the front desk and then you have the option to get a drink at the bar. They sometimes have servers which will serve drinks to you on the courses as well as second bars that open on each course, but it seems like that’s only when it’s pretty crowded in our experience. For example, when we went on a Sunday there were no servers on the courses that we saw, which is understandable because we were only playing for 30 ish minutes at a time and could easily get drinks from the bars in between games. I’m sure if we flagged someone down they could have served us.
On a Sunday afternoon they had music playing but it was more of background music and not too loud. When we went on a Saturday night the music was very loud and it could be hard to hear each other, which could get tiring after all. But it definitely added to the fun, lively atmosphere on a Charlotte Saturday night!
They have a lot of cool comfy seating areas in case you want to lounge around with your drink before you play. These areas are great for groups or for a date spot. Since they have so many cozy spots to sit, Puttery Charlotte is on my list of the best things to do in Charlotte NC for couples.
Once you’re ready you can head to the start of the courses to pick up your clubs and balls. There are no scorecards because they use electronic scoring so you can use your hands for sipping cocktails instead. 🍸
Two 9-Hole Courses: The Library & Conservatory
Once you’re ready to play, you get to choose between two different courses which are both themed and 9-holes: The Library and the Conservatory. Each one has it’s own vibe. The Conservatory has a garden / plants theme and is generally less immersive than the Library course. The holes seemed slightly less challenging also, so this is a great course to start out on.
Overall we were both really impressed with the quality of the courses and holes. They weren’t as short as some of the other indoor putt putt places I’ve been to, and they had a decent amount of obstacles and challenging elements.
The Conservatory has a fun (free) photo booth type thing in between a few of the holes which I loved. That’s us!! 👋🏼
The other 9-hole course named The Library is themed as an academic type space with red carpets. The holes are a bit harder and super fun! I think if both courses were as easy as the Conservatory, Puttery wouldn’t get as good reviews. This course gives you a challenge and keeps things interesting. I bet there’s a photo booth on this course also but we must have missed it.
Some obstacles you’ll find on this course: Dinosaur bones, a giant book and a desk – which we thought was the hardest hole out of all of them!
The Unlimited Golf ticket gets you as many rounds as you want, so you may as well go again! You could play best out of 3 with your partner if you both won a round.
The Scoring System at Puttery Charlotte NC
One of our favorite parts about Puttery versus traditional courses was the new electronic scoring system. Although I actually prefer paper in general to using electronics, it’s always kind of a pain to carry around the little scorecard and pencil in my pocket and I end up losing it half the time.
At Puttery they use screens that are at each hole, which you enter your score into before heading to the next hole. The best part of the electronic scoring system is that they have scoreboards up that show you rankings, so you can see how you’re measuring up to other players on that course. My husband got 2nd and I got 9th, not bad!!
Puttery Charlotte NC Review – Great Food & Cocktails
The main draw of Puttery Charlotte NC for most people will be the option to have drinks while you play, which I’m here for! I like that it provides a fun option for nightlife that isn’t just your typical bar. Even better and somewhat surprisingly, the cocktails and food were actually super high quality.
They had a good cocktail menu with some themed drinks, and a great beer and wine selection also.
We loved that they have food so you don’t have to leave early to get a meal in, and they have a great selection of food including classic appetizers, a few salads, burgers, entrees like pasta and even dessert. We recommend the pizza but everything looked great. Check out the Puttery menu ahead of time if you’d like at their website.
Overall, as you can tell by our Puttery Charlotte review, we had a lot of fun and thought it was a unique experience we would do again. We highly recommend it as one of the best things to do in Charlotte NC for couples, families of older adults, friends and even solo travelers. Make sure to check out my travel blog post on all of the options for indoor putt putt Charlotte NC, especially if you want to find a course that kids can join in on also. Happy golfing!
Lauren Kessel
Lauren Kessel is the author of this blog post and the creator of the Inspired Backpacker travel blog. She is a passionate digital nomad, with the mission to make slow travel a more accessible way of life for everyone. Lauren believes travel is an important means of education and more importantly, a way for people of different cultures to come together and understand each other better. She has a BS in Tourism and has planned countless domestic and international trips for herself, her family and friends, having visited over 12 countries and 30 states so far.
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