North Carolina's Dream 18
Passion for great golf is simply part of the culture and fabric of life in North Carolina. And with so many superb courses and such an abundant variety of terrain, arguments routinely erupt over which courses and holes are the best. Certain destinations are more or less consensus top picks, but with hundreds of public-access courses, all of them with something good or even excellent to offer, choosing a top 20 can be almost impossible.
Below is one golfer's "Dream 18." The list is sequential and limited to resort and daily-fee courses. It's not necessarily a list of the toughest or the most picturesque, but is simply a bold attempt to construct a playable and even memorable course boasting strategic variety. While there are some tough and long holes below, a good score on this track requires application of the brain and a precise short game. From the tips, the course below could host an amateur event, yet from the appropriate tees it will be a lot of fun, which, is particularly important in North Carolina - especially when golf is about to happen.
Note: Yardages are from the "Blue" or regular tees, not the tips.
1. Pinehurst Resort and Country Club Course No. 4
Pinehurst. A short dogleg to the right that looks like an easy opener at just 337 yards. A long iron or fairway wood is safest off the tee, but the pot bunkers at the corner of the fairway must be avoided on this Tom Fazio re-design (that will co-host the U.S. Amateur in 2008 with Pinehurst No. 2). It's just a short iron or wedge to the putting surface, but the slopes around this green are so severe that a game of golf can soon become a game of pinball as the ball spins from one side of the green to the other. It's a birdie opportunity on paper but a dangerous hole in reality.
2. Charlotte National
Indian Trail. Just on the southern edge of Charlotte's pullulating suburbs lies this unassuming course that's very quietly one of the better designs in the area. The 2nd, a 525-yard par-5, is a great strategic test that provides plenty of options simply by following the natural contours of the land. There's a pond with a ball magnet to the right of the fairway, yet, position 'A' off the tee is 10 yards left of this hazard. The fairway slopes downhill to this shallow green, making pitching and short approach shots particularly tricky.
3. Linville Country Club
Linville. A famous Donald Ross par-4, lengthy at close to 475 yards, but a good drive to the right side of the sloping fairway produces extra roll and distance in the altitude. Still, most approach this Ross green with a long iron or fairway wood. The simple green complex sits on top of a small knoll among the stately firs and trout-laden streams. (By the way, here are just a couple of the accolades Linville has garnered: Golf Digest has placed it 19th among the "Top 75 Affordable Golf Courses" and Golf Magazine has ranked it 25th in the category of the "Top 100 Courses you can play in the U.S.")
4. Cleghorn Plantation
Rutherfordton. Routed through magnificent hardwood woodlands, Cleghorn is a difficult, muscular, hilly and picturesque George Cobb test. This par-5 at a sensible 521 yards is one of the few breathers. The bold will reach the green in two, but a drive and a lay-up leaves just a wedge to a green that easily can yield a birdie.
5. Pine Needles
Southern Pines. Pine Needles recently received an extensive restoration that returned much of the course to its original Donald Ross form. From the top tees, this hole is 211 yards to a large green with a small landing area. Pine Needles' much photographed 3rd gets all the publicity, but the 5th is the best short hole on the course. Consider the wind when choosing your club as this area often features swirling winds. Pine Needles will host the U.S. Women's Open in 2007 for the third time and is widely regarded by every golf publication as one of the finest courses in the Carolinas.
6. Oak Hollow
High Point. The back tee on this 400-yard par-4 sits on a pod in the middle of the expansive lake that borders the entire left side of the hole and much of the course. The green is kidney-shaped and two-tiered. Who on earth could have designed this one? The answer: the young Pete Dye, just getting into the course architecture after leaving the life insurance business, making heads turn with his sleeper-faced bunkers, elevated fairways and wild shaping. The course is a magnificent (and inexpensive) example of early Dye.
7. Tanglewood Park (Championship)
Clemmons. Robert Trent Jones, who knew a thing or two about great golf, called this public course one of the best in his expansive portfolio. The 7th, which can stretch to 243 yards, normally plays to the 200 yard range from the mere mortal tees - downhill to a narrow green, with bunkers right and left and water precariously close on the left down a steep bank. During the 1974 PGA Championship held here, every pro must have been delighted with a three. The Championship Course at Tanglewood represents one of the best golf values in the U.S. - a country club course at a muni price.
8. Nags Head Golf Links
Nags Head. Wedged between the Atlantic Ocean and Roanoke Sound, Nags Head Golf Links is spectacularly reminiscent of the Scottish experience, especially when the wind is up. The dogleg 8th, at just 341 yards offers plenty of options off the tee. The big hitter could even have a go at the green, but the locals will often lay up just short of the wetlands, leaving a wedge to the green - or a five-iron depending on the intensity of the gale.
9. Bald Head Island. Southport. After the relative shelter of the first seven holes on this George Cobb classic "vacation" course, the 8th and 9th play directly into the prevailing wind. The former is a sensible par-3 but the latter is an Ancient Mariner hole: water, water everywhere around the narrow fairway almost the entire length of this 410-yard par-4. Probably one of the few holes in North Carolina golf where, on a windy day, a touring professional would be delighted with a bogey.
10. Apple Valley
Lake Lure. Every golf course needs a bit of controversy and there's plenty here on this 403-yard par-4 designed by Dan Maples. The hole might look routine on the scorecard but there's a massive pine in the middle of the fairway about 180 yards from the green.
11. University of North Carolina - Finley Golf Course
Chapel Hill. A rock-solid par-4 on this recently re-designed Tom Fazio test that's one of the finest university facilities in the country. It's 407 yards and favors a right-to-left shot to a large, well-bunkered hourglass green that plays smaller than it looks. There are no secrets or gimmicks here: the hole requires two good strikes and two good putts.
12. Mid-Pines
Southern Pines. The most underrated of the par-4s at this Donald Ross classic. It's just 360 yards and the fairway is extremely wide, but anything to the right side produces an awkward angle to a narrow and fast green that slopes like a ski run from back to front. The best drive hugs the left side of the fairway perilously close to the pines. An easy hole after a well-placed tee shot, but almost impossible to par otherwise.
13. Piney Point Golf Club
Norwood. Tucked away in the farming community of Norwood, just south of Albermarle, half way between Charlotte and Pinehurst, Piney Point is a well-run, mature, and unassuming course laid out on some excellent land bordering Lake Tillery. Thirteen is a quirky par-4, a 90-degree dog-leg with the bend coming about 175 yards uphill from the tee. The right-hander needs to hit a draw or keep it straight while avoiding the trees and steep slope at the corner. From the fairway, it's an iron semi-blind downhill to a two-tier green set in a small glade.
14. Ballantyne Resort
Charlotte. This hole is an exciting and reachable par-5 that provides plenty of options. Serious trouble right keeps most to the left creating an unsatisfactory angle to the green, which is seemingly perched on a cliff with water protecting the entire right side. The wedge approach, often off a precarious downhill lie is no picnic but if well-executed, can lead to a birdie on this putter-friendly green.
15. Charlotte Golf Links
Charlotte. Charlotte's 15th is a textbook example of a superb short par-4. The prudent play is a fairway wood to the fat of the fairway, and then a wedge that will hold this small "buried elephant" green. But a number go for the green from the tee, yet end up with a six or worse. No bunkers and just some tall grass to the right of the fairway, but that's enough.
16. Oyster Bay Golf Links
Oyster Bay. Just north of the South Carolina line, Oyster Bay's 16th is a brutal but beautiful par-4: 450 yards with water down the entire right side of the hole. If there's even a hint of a headwind, few will reach the green in two on what's essentially an easy par-5 on this Dan Maples design.
17. Grove Park Inn Resort and Spa
Asheville. If you've been playing the regular tees thus far, head for the tips on this hole as Kris Spence, in his recent and successful restoration of this early Donald Ross course added some epic terraced tees that stretch this par-3 to more than 200 yards. The narrow green sits spectacularly at the foot of the massive Sammons Wing, guaranteeing that someone will be watching you putt or, more likely, chip.
18. Pinehurst Resort #2
Pinehurst. Architecture aficionados might not cite this hole as the best on North Carolina's finest and most famous course. The green complex on this 382-yard par-4, with its subtle swales and steep drop-offs at the back is textbook Pinehurst Donald Ross, but, more importantly, this is where Payne Stewart so spectacularly won the 1999 U.S. Open and this alone makes it the state's best closing hole.
