Journey to 2000 Golf Courses Played

The Corona-virus has hit us all hard this year. We have all been doing our best to figure out how to deal with this pandemic. I chose to deal with the situation by checking out as many new public golf courses within three hours' drive of my house as I possibly could. The courses were specifically public because pretty much all private courses, including the one where I work, were not allowing any guest play during the height of the quarantine. My exploration focused on three specific areas- NC Mountains, Myrtle Beach, and greater Charlotte.

NC MOUNTAINS

While I have no realistic goal of playing the over 600 golf courses in NC, I would like to play every golf course in the mountains of North Carolina before I move away. I worked in the mountains last summer and absolutely loved everything about the experience. I have been slowly chipping away at mountain courses over the years and obviously played a significant number last summer, but I still have about 20 courses left to play before I can say that I have played them all.

Brushy Mountain

Located right off State Highway 64 in Taylorsville between Lenoir and Statesville is one of the most enjoyable hidden gems I have played in the state of NC. Brushy Mountain was designed by William B. Lewis and opened its doors in 1964. Even though the course has removed and reduced bunkers over the years, the routing is still something to be seen. It makes great use of the very undulating property and makes for a really fun round of golf!

Brushy Mountain, Par four 14th Hole looking back towards the tee

Brushy Mountain, Par three 15th green in background with 14th green in foreground

Cedar Rock

Cedar Rock is located just northeast of Lenoir and was once rated as one of the 100 Greatest Courses in the country by Golf Digest in the 1970's. Designed by Ellis Maples, the king of NC golf design, Cedar Rock illustrates what Ellis did so well. He built a course that is restrained in its use of bunkers and relies on the property to create challenge. The front nine goes up and down the mountain while the back nine is laid in flatter ground.

Cedar Rock, Par four 5th Hole

Cedar Rock, Par four 12th Hole

Hemlock

Walnut Cove is where the sub-6000 yard Hemlock golf courses can be found. Another 1960's creation, this one by Orell Robertson, Hemlock relies on its small greens and tight fairways. It is surprisingly challenging for a 5700 yard course.

Hemlock, Par three 4th Hole

Hemlock, Par three 11th Hole

Lake Hickory

My wife and I played the nine-hole Town course at Lake Hickory Country Club last year, so we were very excited to play the twenty-seven hole Catawba Springs course this year. Located just north of Hickory, the course features three nines, Dogwood, Sulphur Springs, and Fox Run. All designed by William Byrd in the 1960's.

Catawba Springs, Par four 4th Hole on the Sulphur Springs Nine

Catawba Springs, Par four 8th Hole on the Sulphur Springs Nine

Pilot Knob Park Golf Course

Located in the shadow of Pilot Mountain State Park, the golf course at Pilot Knob was designed by Gene Hamm. The views of Pilot Mountain are spectacular and the routing flows gently up and down the hills, providing a strong test with dramatic changes in elevation.

Pilot Knob Park, Par three 2nd Hole

Pilot Knob Park, Par four 7th Hole

Stonewall

Stonewall golf course in Germanton is the definition of a quirky golf course. Case in point, the par three 8th hole, where I will use the pictures below to tell the story of one of the most unique holes I have ever played.

So you see this sign and you're thinking, this shouldn't be too hard. The shot might not be hard but getting yourself to the green will be.

Only 85 yards and a beautiful drop shot at that. This hole should be a piece of cake. Only problem is:

This is your view from the tee. That's right, it's a BLIND drop shot, 85 yard par three!

Once you hit your short wedge shot down the hill, the fun really begins, because you might end up lying face down in the forest if you're not careful. The cart path down is so steep and slippery that the owner specifically tells you about it when you check in. He warns you very clearly to not lock up your brakes as you will skid and likely fall out of the cart and into the gorge. I saw him during my round and while discussing the 8th hole he said they've had to call the ambulance "several" times!!!

Looking back up from the green at one of the wildest par threes I have ever seen!

MYRTLE BEACH AREA

I started taking trips to the Myrtle Beach area with my father way back in the early 90's. With at one time over 100 courses in a 50 mile long area from Pawleys Island to Southport, Myrtle Beach has long claimed to be the Home of Golf. I have made sporadic trips to the area over the years with my wife and some occasional buddy trips ,but I was still lacking some of the top-ranked courses in Myrtle from the list Golf Digest did that ranked the top 50 courses in the area. I resolved to do something about that during the virus.

Arcadian Shores

Arcadian Shores is a 1974 Rees Jones design that was at one time in the Golf Digest top 100. What is really exciting and unique about the course is what you see below:

Arcadian Shores is the only course I have played where you can quite literally get Bojangles on the third tee box and Chicken and Waffles on the 7th Tee Box. This might be the one course where I wouldn't mind a bit of a backup on each tee!

Arcadian Shores, Par three 8th Hole

Crow Creek

A late-comer to the Myrtle Beach golf scene, Crow Creek opened in the year 2000 and was designed by Rick Robbins. The Crow theme is very strong throughout the course.

Crow Creek Par three 6th Hole

Crow Creek, Par three 8th Hole

Pine Lakes

Nicknamed the Granddaddy, Pine Lakes was the first course built in the Myrtle Beach area. It opened in 1927 and was designed by Robert White, the first President of the PGA of America.

Pine Lakes, Par three 2nd Hole

Prestwick

One of only two Pete & P.B. Dye designs in the greater Myrtle Beach area, Prestwick is everything you love or hate about the Dyes. Severe greens that require precision, lots of visual intimidation, and at its heart a very good course.

Preswick, Par three 5th Hole

Prestwick, Par four 9th Hole

Surf Club

One of the earliest courses to arrive in Myrtle Beach, the Surf Club is a 1960 George Cobb design. Surf is one of the few mostly private courses in the area.

Surf Club, Par three 6th Hole

Surf Club, Par three 18th Hole

Thistle

One of the few twenty-seven hole courses in the area, Thistle was designed by local architect Tim Cate and has a Scottish theme in its clubhouse and course presentation. The nines are named Cameron, MacKay, and Stewart.

Thistle, Cameron Nine, Par four 1st Hole

Thistle, Cameron Nine, Par three 4th Hole

The Witch

One of many Dan Maples designed courses in the area, The Witch is one of Dan's best. The front nine is mostly in a swamp and will give you plenty of opportunities to interact with Alligators.

The Witch, Par three 7th Hole

The Witch, Par three 14th Hole

CHARLOTTE/GREENSBORO AREA

When I needed a break from spending long hours in the car I made relatively short drives to courses in the local area that I had yet to play. I was pleasantly surprised by what I found.

Deep Springs

Deep Springs is located in Stoneville and is yet another very solid Ellis Maples design from the 1970's.

Deep Springs, Par four 14th Hole

Deep Springs, Par five 18th Hole

Glen Oaks

The Town of Maiden is where Glen Oaks Country Club lies. A 1967 Bill McRee design with a solid course that has one of the more unique routings I have played. To get to the first tee you drive across two fairways. To get to the par-three fifth hole you drive backwards down the entire par-five 6th hole.

Glen Oaks, Par three 8th Hole

Lincoln

Peter Tufts of the Pinehurst Tufts family designed the back nine of Lincoln in the 1940's. The front nine was added in the last twenty years. The result is one of the more unique routings in North Carolina. After you play the first two holes, you take a tunnel under Highway 321 and emerge in the forest to play holes three through nine. The return trip back to the clubhouse and the 10th hole is over a mile.

Lincoln, Par four 10th Hole

Pudding Ridge

A 1994 design, Pudding Ridge gets its name from of all things, the Revolutionary War. On February 6, 1781, English General Cornwallis traversed this site. Tradition has it that the consistency of the mud so reminded him of English pudding, that he named the hill Pudding Ridge, a name that has survived for over two hundred years.

Pudding Ridge, Par three 7th Hole

Tanglewood Park

Many years after playing the Championship course at Tanglewood Park in Clemmons, I finally made it out to play the Reynolds course. Both courses were designed by Robert Trent Jones. The Reynolds has the much more interesting piece of property, and with a proper renovation that I'm sure will never happen, it could be one of the best public courses in the state.

Tanglewood Park Reynolds Course, Par three 8th Hole

Tanglewood Park Reynolds Course, Par Four 10th Hole

Revival at the Crescent

The Revival is a 1994 John Fought design with some interesting topography, but is also in desperate need of a chainsaw in places.

Revival at the Crescent, Par four 9th Hole

Before things became crazy with the virus, I was fortunate enough to make my semi-annual trip to Central Florida. This time, the focus was on some courses in the Orlando and Tampa area with a side trip to one of the more uniquely bad courses I have played.

The trip began just outside Orlando at the Nick Faldo and Steve Smyers designed Club at Bella Collina in Montverde, Florida. This was my first Nick Faldo design and I was pleasantly surprised by the course. The aerial reminded of me of a very typical Smyers course with big and bold bunkers but, when I was on the ground, the course had solid greens, and a very good mix of holes.

Bella Collina, Par four 1st Hole with 6th green on far right

Bella Collina, Par three 11th Hole

Day two of the trip began at Streamsong and the Tom Doak designed Blue course. I always treasure the opportunity to play my second favorite golf course in the state of Florida. We teed off right at sunrise which allowed me to get a very cool picture of the 5th Hole:

Sunrise at Streamsong

After our round at Streamsong and a very satisfying "brunch" at Waffle House, we headed to Lakeland to play the newly renovated Links at Sandpiper.

Side note: One of the things I miss most during this virus quarantine is going to Waffle House. I love sitting at the counter and watching my favorite foods being made. The smells are amazing. You better believe I'll be at Waffle House as soon as restaurants open!

The Links at Sandpiper recently undertook a renovation that involved the last five holes across the entrance road. The renovation was done to make room for some housing going up on the original 18th hole.

Links at Sandpiper, Par four 9th Hole

Links at Sandpiper, Par three 15th Hole

The front nine was pretty solid and we were all enjoying the course, but then we crossed the road and played the last five holes. Our experience went from "this is pretty nice" to "WTF!" Before I get deep into this rant, let me say that I completely understand when golf courses have to take land to build houses. You must do whatever you can to survive in this very difficult time and I get that, but if you are going to do something like this, perhaps you should at least seek out some advice from people who have done it before.

I understand if you can't afford a real architect, but don't let your desire to keep a par 72 golf course turn your golf course into probably the dumbest closing stretch in Florida. The closing five holes feature two Par fives, two par fours and a par three. The property available could have easily become three very good par fours and two par threes but that would make the par 70 or below so instead we get two par 5's with severe internal OB, a "driveable" par four with OB so tight you can be OB 20 feet off the green, and one decent par 3. They also built a pond for no apparent reason where there is no place to drop the ball so they included this:

Links of Sandpiper, WTF????

I spent the third day of the trip playing some resort courses around Orlando. First up was the New Course at Grand Cypress Resort designed by Jack Nicklaus to be a tribute to the Old Course at St. Andrews. I was happy to see that they understood the principles of the ground game that are so important in Scotland and were able to incorporate them successfully in this design.

New Course at Grand Cypress, Par four 9th Hole

New Course at Grand Cypress, 18th green at sunrise

Up next on my Orlando Resort tour was Reunion Resort. Reunion features courses designed by Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, and Tom Watson. The Watson course and it's 200+ plus bunkers was first up on my itinerary.

Reunion Resort, Watson Course, Par four 11th Hole

Reunion Resort, Watson Course, Par three 12th Hole

After my round on the Watson, the amazing staff at Reunion got me right back out on the Palmer course.

Reunion Resort, Palmer Course, Par four 7th Hole

Reunion Resort, Palmer Course, Par three 16th Hole

Day four of the trip featured golf in the Tampa area. I began at sunrise on the Tom Fazio designed Hunter's Green Country Club. This early Fazio design features a solid collection of holes with bunkering that isn't quite as bold as what we would see from Fazio later in his design career.

Hunter's Green, Par three 7th Hole

Hunter's Green, Par five 12th Hole

Before I headed to the course that was the main reason for my visit to Tampa, I squeezed in nine holes at Pebble Creek Golf course, a 1967 Bill Amick design.

Pebble Creek, Par three 6th Hole

Finally I ended the day in Tampa at a course I have been trying to play for a very long time: Palma Ceia Golf & Country Club. The original course at Palma Ceia was designed by Tom Bendelow with changes later made by Donald Ross. I had a tee time at the course in 2014 but a new job forced me to cancel the trip. I have been haunted by the missed opportunity ever since and it was great to finally play this gem of a golf course with a very strong set of par threes.

Palma Ceia, Par three 4th Hole

Palma Ceia, Par three 13th Hole

Palma Ceia, Par three 17th Hole

On my drive home from Florida, I stopped in at Sea Island Resort to check out the recently renovated Retreat Course. I played the Seaside course fourteen years ago and hadn't had a chance to return to the resort to check out the other two courses. I am now anxious to get back to see what Davis Love III and his design team did with the Plantation course after seeing his great work at the Retreat course.