A golf course you play for the first time that features blind tee shots is rarely fun. Mountain courses especially – I am thinking about you, Mount Snow in Vermont – will do some crazy things with your golf ball once it flies over a hill and out of sight.
When I was looking for a golf course to play on my way home to Connecticut from South Carolina about a decade ago, I found that the Neuse Golf Club in Clayton, NC, was not far off my route. I checked out the Neuse ...
Read more: The Neuse
It's hard to think of a golf course that hosted one of the four majors as being "off the beaten cart path." These courses are typically on a golfer's bucket list: Pebble Beach, Winged Foot, Whistling Straits, Oakmont, Bethpage Black, and many more.
Tanglewood, #1 green
So with that as a preamble, how many of you remember Tanglewood? Or have even heard of Tanglewood? Tangle-what? No, Tanglewood, part of Tanglewood Park, a municipal park managed ...
Read more: Tanglewood Championship Course, Clemmons, NC
It’s not a masterpiece. Not a revelation. Not a dump. It’s definitely a unique — my wife mentioned "quirky" — golf course.
If any course meets the definition of "off the beaten cart path," it's Tot Hill Farm, one of Mike Strantz’s seven courses he was able to design before his too-early death of cancer at age 50. I live in north Charlotte, and Tot Hill Farm is in Asheboro, a little more than an hour's drive from us. Asheboro is about 90 ...
Read more: Tot Hill Farm Golf Club
A Tale of Two Nines
Monroe CC, view from the 10th tee
One of the benefits of writing a course review for OTBCP is that there is no requirement or expectation to discuss how well we played the course.
It’s all about the course, as it should be.
Considering that I have not played a round of golf since at least last August, then had knee replacement surgery, and am attempting to incorporate some swing changes as I re-start my golf game in 2020, my expectations for how well I played ...
Read more: Monroe Country Club, Monroe, NC
Looking for a quick nine in the North Carolina mountains? Check out Red Bird Golf Links. This executive course, opened in August 2001, is just east of Cashiers in the Fairfield Sapphire Valley resort complex.
Owner/architect Reid Horne designed a fun layout of six par-3s and three par-4s. The longest par-4 is 220 yards, but all three are doglegs, requiring two shots to reach the green.
Red Bird is quite lush with bent grass tees, greens and fairways. Plus, there's a tee-to-green ...
Read more: Red Bird Golf Links (NC)
Since my buddy David lives two hours away, we meet halfway and tee it up. That's how I came across Lexington Golf Club, just off I-85 in Lexington, NC.
Lexington is a classic design and very enjoyable. Narrow holes, many running parallel to each other. A recent renovation has the greens in excellent shape, while the fairways are still growing in. It's a peaceful setting with lots of ups and downs, but not very long. Can you hit it straight?
I love the fourth green. It sits in a ...
Read more: Lexington Golf Club (NC)
While chasing American forces across the Carolina countryside during the Revolutionary War, British Lord Charles Cornwallis came upon a swath of thick mud. It so reminded him of British pudding that Cornwallis dubbed the area Pudding Ridge.
The name stuck, and 200-plus years later Pudding Ridge Golf Club opened on that very site, just north of Interstate 40 near Mocksville. The course is maintained to high standards; the mud which befuddled Cornwallis is long gone, replaced by 419 ...
Read more: Pudding Ridge (NC)
Quaker Creek Golf Club is a unique course. It wasn’t built to support a housing development; it was built by one man. And, while playable for beginners, it has features typically found on more challenging or resort courses. For these reasons, an excursion to Quaker Creek is well worth it.
Located in Mebane, N.C., 10 miles north of Interstate 40/85 from the Haw River exit, Quaker Creek is a classical layout in a purely pastoral setting. Noted greenskeeper Elmo Cobb (no relation to ...
Read more: Quaker Creek (NC)
Not many par-3 courses are designed by a bona-fide golf architect, which is what makes Iron Play a real treat. This 18-hole course, located north of Greensboro in Summerfield, is the work of noted architect Kris Spence.
Spence, who's known for restoring classic Donald Ross golf courses, definitely gave Iron Play the feel of a Scottish links. The bunkers are punctuated with large grass faces covered in whispy, heather-like vegetation -- definitely not the token "sand traps" of a typical ...
Read more: Iron Play (NC)
That's All
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The only book about golf communities in the last 10 years.
156-page step-by-step guide to finding your dream golf home.
Info on nearly 100 golf communities the author has visited.
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Here is what the experts are saying:
“The book is chocked full of information…applicable to anyone looking for a move to the Southeast regardless of whether they are looking for a golf community or not.” — John LaFoy, golf architect (Linville Ridge CC, CC of Charleston, The Neuse GC)
“Larry has done a tremendous amount of work and anyone — like me — who is looking to search for a golf home now or in a few years needs this book.” — Brad Chambers, golf blogger, ShootingYourAge.com
“Wow! What a thorough piece of work…a must for anyone moving South. This book will help many people.” — Brett Miller, owner and founder of MMA, Inc, a golf industry consultancy
Dreaming of a vacation home on a golf course? How about a forever home a short walk to the first tee? For 15 years, I have helped golfers find their perfect home on the course. If you would like some recommendations that match your preferences for a golf home, please click here, fill out our Golf Home Questionnaire, and I will get back to you in a few days with some ideas. By the way, it’s free. Larry Gavrich, Editor
