Operation 36 developed at Keith Hills has been sold to Golf Genius
Golf Genius Software has acquired Operation 36 Golf, developers of a beginner golf development program with a unique…
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Country Club of North Carolina’s first teaching professional has strong military ties
By David Droschak The scorecard from Joe Steadman’s Player Ability Test hangs proudly in his office near the practice…
Unique holiday gifts for the golfer
By David Droschak Where has 2021 gone? It’s hard to believe that the two best holidays of the year…
Eastern Alamance’s Mathews wins second 3-A prep championship
By Eddie Southards Emily Mathews shows no signs of slowing down in the women’s high school 3-A state…
Clutch Ketchum; Reagan senior closes prep career with remarkable round for state title
By David Droschak Was it the best six-month span of women’s prep golf in North Carolina history? That…
Promising Pfeiffer: Former prep coach takes over Division III program
By David Droschak It’s an understatement to say Chris Jones is accustomed to starting golf programs from scratch. Within the…
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Operation 36 developed at Keith Hills has been sold to Golf Genius
Golf Genius Software has acquired Operation 36 Golf, developers of a beginner golf development program with a unique coaching model that is driving the goal of “1,000,000 Golfers Created”. Operation 36 provides a proprietary software platform and teaching curriculum now in use by nearly 600 golf facilities in 14 countries, and will operate as a…
Country Club of North Carolina’s first teaching professional has strong military ties
By David Droschak The scorecard from Joe Steadman’s Player Ability Test hangs proudly in his office near the practice facility at the Country Club of North Carolina. The private club’s first teaching professional remembers the day well, logging 36 holes for the first time in his playing days that had included many relaxed rounds with his Fort Bragg buddies. …
Unique holiday gifts for the golfer
By David Droschak Where has 2021 gone? It’s hard to believe that the two best holidays of the year in my opinion – Thanksgiving and Christmas – are bearing down on us. Shopping for your favorite golfer — whether it’s your spouse, sister or brother, father or mother, uncle or aunt — could be the most challenging in recent time, so I’m here to…
Eastern Alamance’s Mathews wins second 3-A prep championship
By Eddie Southards Emily Mathews shows no signs of slowing down in the women’s high school 3-A state golf championship. The Eastern Alamance junior won her second 3-A title in a span of five months with a victory at Foxfire Resort & Golf outside of Pinehurst. She won the first one in May at nearby Beacon Ridge when…
Clutch Ketchum; Reagan senior closes prep career with remarkable round for state title
By David Droschak Was it the best six-month span of women’s prep golf in North Carolina history? That fact would be hard to argue after Reagan High School captured its second 4-A state title in 2021, riding a final-round 65 from senior star Morgan Ketchum to tack on yet another record scoring day. Ketchum, who will play college golf at…
Promising Pfeiffer: Former prep coach takes over Division III program
By David Droschak It’s an understatement to say Chris Jones is accustomed to starting golf programs from scratch. Within the last 15 years alone, Jones has launched Northern Guilford High School’s golf teams (2007) and the university programs at Johnson & Wales (2019) in Charlotte. And in late September, Jones took the head coaching job at Pfeiffer University…
Former NBA champion exchanges 3-pointers for 3-footers
By David Droschak In some ways, J.R. Smith’s life has come full circle. Once a teenager in a man’s world as a high school player drafted in the NBA first round, the two-time world champion now finds himself as a 30-something guy, surrounded by a group of much younger, college teammates. Smith, 36, who played…
Woodlake Country Club to reopen in late 2022
By David Droschak Kris Spence will stop you in your tracks if you try to label his recent work at Woodlake Country Club as an impending renovation or restoration. The Greensboro-based golf course architect has a much more fitting description of the project. “This is a resurrection from the dead, this thing was gone,” Spence…
Varner’s victory is helping today’s youth
By David Droschak Harold Varner III has come close but has yet to win on the PGA Tour. He finished second this past season at the RBC Heritage and played in the final pairing at the 2019 PGA Championship before carding a disappointing 81. Varner, now 31, no longer dwells on the close calls, or pays much…
Reagan sophomore Macy Pate shoots 57
By David Droschak Macy Pate was seeking warmer weather and the ability to work on her golf game on a full-time basis when her family moved from the North Carolina mountains to Winston-Salem last August. The 15-year-old Pate, a fierce competitor, was also looking for players to push her and challenge a skill set that…
Raising the Canopy: Southern Pines Golf Club renovation latest Franz masterpiece
By David Droschak The first lunch meeting in February 2012 between Pine Needles Resort president Kelly Miller and golf course architect Kyle Franz hit on a wide range of topics. At one point, Southern Pines Golf Club came up, and Franz sat up in his chair. Franz had played the 115-year-old course numerous times while…
No small accomplishment for Smalley at Wyndham Championship
By Brad King Alex Smalley didn’t quite play his way into the six-man playoff to determine the 2021 Wyndham Championship, eventually won by Kevin Kisner. Nevertheless, the former Duke star captured plenty of attention along the way. Playing on his home course at Sedgefield Country Club, the 24-year-old Smalley carded three rounds in the 60s,…
Widening His Horizons: Jason Widener gearing up for senior circuit
By David Droschak Few golfers – outside of Tiger Woods – have had a more successful junior career than Jason Widener. The former Greensboro native won over 50 junior tournaments, including the U.S. Junior Amateur, was the No. 1 ranked junior player in the country for two years in the late 1980s and became one…
Thicker Skin: Expect longer rough to add new test to Wyndham Championship contenders
By David Droschak Going low has been the rule at the Wyndham Championship since moving to Sedgefield Country Club rather than the exception, with winning scores regularly at 20-under-par or better. The last five Greensboro winners have broken that barrier with Brandt Snedeker firing an opening round 59 in 2018 and last year’s champion Jim…
Young Guns: U.S. Junior Amateur first in a series of USGA championships in Sandhills
By David Droschak The list of champions from prestigious tournaments staged at the Country Club of North Carolina in Pinehurst dating to the early 1970s is beyond impressive. That list includes Jack Nicklaus, Ben Crenshaw, Hal Sutton and current club member and PGA Tour star Webb Simpson. Is the next winner at the 73rd U.S.…
Lessons Learned: Dona Lerner, Kathy Bounds have changed thousands of young lives
By David Droschak Spend more than five minutes with Dona Lerner and Kathy Bounds and its evident there is a true division of labor in the well-oiled machine that is the Dona Lerner Golf Academy. Lerner is the face of the business while Bounds is the worker bee. The common ground is a love for…
Mountain Masterpiece: Champion Hills synonymous with four-season golf, elevated lifestyle
By David Droschak Hall of fame golf course architect Tom Fazio loves to rattle off his favorite features of mountain golf in North Carolina — hills, terrain, elevation, framing, definition, trees, natural streams, waterfalls. “All of these things come with the territory and then it’s just a matter of how you fit it in, how…
The Jackson Five: Pinecrest wins fifth team title since 2013 behind prep star Van Paris
By David Droschak Jackson Van Paris has been one of the nation’s top junior golfers the last few years, accustomed to handling pressure situations. So, heading to the 18th hole at Pinehurst No. 2, needing a par on one of the hardest holes on the course to secure the North Carolina 4-A high school men’s…
Reagan Reigns: Freshman Macy Pate shines; Pfafftown school wins second women’s 4-A team crown
By David Droschak Reaching the top in golf often requires tremendous sacrifices, including long hours on the practice range, a never-ending focus on fundamentals, mental toughness and course management, just to name a few. Macy Pate added one more item to the mix this past year. The Reagan High School freshman and her family…
Fazio’s design at High Hampton first new golf course in North Carolina in five years
By David Droschak Considering his stellar work across North Carolina, it’s only fitting that favorite son Tom Fazio would be behind the design work of the first golf course to open in the state in five years. The “new” High Hampton was unveiled in late May to its members, and will start taking resort play…
Crazy Like A Fox: McConnell Golf expands yet again into southwestern Virginia
By David Droschak So how has John McConnell systemically assembled a successful private golf course portfolio across four Southeastern states while many in the industry scoffed at his notion of a “regional golf network?” Already with more than a dozen top-notch layouts designed by the likes of Dye, Fazio, Palmer, Norman and Ross, McConnell has…
Migliaccio’s Mulligan: Wake Forest star re-imaging her future
By Kurt Dusterberg Emilia Migliaccio can pinpoint exactly when she began second-guessing her dream. The Wake Forest senior, one of the top-ranked amateurs in the world, was on top of her game on the final holes of the North & South Women’s Amateur at Pinehurst last summer. “I birdied the last three holes to finish…
Behind the Scenes: Volunteer veteran Richard Lawson invaluable resource for Pinehurst-area championships
By David Droschak Richard Lawson has led a life that is beyond interesting and intriguing. He spent the “working portion” of his career as a government contractor designing and executing United States missile defense systems. The last two decades, Lawson has been the “behind the scenes” engine to help fuel Pinehurst-area volunteers for such high-profile…
Champion Hills Fitness and Wellness Center Ranked Top 50 in United States by Club + Resort Business
The Fitness and Wellness Center at Champion Hills — one of Western North Carolina’s premier golf communities — has been ranked among the Top 50 in the United State by Club+Resort Business, coming in at No. 44 on the inaugural list. A leading trade publication based in Cleveland, C+RB covers the operations and management…
Primland Resort unveils new wine room
Primland, a boutique resort nestled amid 12,000 Blue Ridge Mountain acres in southwesternVirginia, has unveiled its latest amenity – a stunning wine cellar. The newest dining venue at the resort is the Schlumberger Wine Cellar, located in The Lodge. An intimate space, the cellar was designed by Parisian architect Didier Benderli of Kerylos Interiors, featuring walls paneled with wormy…
Where they are playing Triangle/Area Collegians 2021
This listing of players from Triangle area high schools was gathered from college web sites and other sources. Please report any omissions to Steve Williams at 336-280-3722 or triadgolf@mac.com. Triangle Golf Today will follow the accomplishments of these players throughout the 2021 campaign with our collegiate checklist and other features. SENIORS (fifth year…
NC D1 Women’s Golf Team Ranking
1 Duke University 2 Wake Forest Univ. 3 UNC Chapel Hill 4 East Carolina U. 5 Campbell University 6 NC State 7 UNC Wilmington 8 High Point University 9 Elon University 10 UNC Greensboro 11 Gardner-Webb U. 12 Appalachian State U. 13 Western Carolina U. 14 UNC Asheville 15 Presbyterian College Charlotte University* NC A&T* *…
NC D1 Men’s Golf Team Ranking
1 Wake Forest Univ. 2 UNC Chapel Hill 3 NC State 4 Charlotte University 5 Duke University 6 UNC Wilmington 7 Campbell University 8 Appalachian State U. 9 UNC Greensboro 10 East Carolina U. 11 High Point University 12 Davidson College 13 Elon University 14 Western Carolina U. 15 Gardner-Webb U. 16 Presbyterian College 17 NC…
Another Ross renovation under way in North Carolina Sandhills
By David Droschak With no new golf course construction across North Carolina since 2016, those of us who like “fresh experiences” have been relegated to playing restorations, renovations or the re-imagining of some of the state’s top layouts in recent years, including Tanglewood, Raleigh Country Club, Jefferson Landing and Pine Needles Resort. The latest project…
NC Golf Council formation would help shine spotlight on the game’s economic impact
By David Droschak Few states have as many golf assets as North Carolina. The question is: Are we doing enough to promote and cultivate that investment? While the economic impact of golf in North Carolina soars past an estimated $5 billion a year, State Rep. Jon Hardister believes more can be done to enhance the…
Opportunity Knocks
Peggy Kirk Bell Girls Tour has successfully opened doors for female junior golfers for 15 years By David Droschak Emily Brooks recalls her first Peggy Kirk Bell event at Bermuda Run more than a decade ago as a tournament that was played in sloppy, wet conditions as her scores ballooned to well over par. As…
2021 U.S. Junior Amateur Volunteer Opportunities Now Available In Pinehurst
Online volunteer registration for the 73rd U.S. Junior Amateur Championship at the Country Club of North Carolina in Pinehurst is now available. The championship, conducted by the United States Golf Association, will be played July 19-24. More than 600 volunteers are needed to fill positions on 13 committees, including scorers, marshals, and standard bearers, and…
Pro Golfer Harold Varner III Partners With Country Club of North Carolina in Pinehurst
PGA Tour golfer and former East Carolina University star Harold Varner III has become the first Country Club of North Carolina ambassador. The new initiative from the 36-hole private club in Pinehurst seeks to align with a limited number of individuals with North Carolina roots who have distinguished themselves professionally along with service to the…
Pinehurst Resort Club Pro Captures Another PGA Carolinas Section Player of the Year Honors
By David Droschak Can it be that Kelly Mitchum is getting better with age? The veteran, award-winning Pinehurst Resort teaching instructor who will turn 50 in April, captured the PGA Carolinas Section player of the year honors in 2020 with a scoring average of 69.00. It is the eighth time Mitchum has won the award…
Former LPGA Futures Tour golfer Jameshia Levister is the new assistant golf coach at North Carolina Central University in Durham.
Levister’s position was established through a Tara VanDerveer Fund for the Advancement of Women in Coaching grant from the Women’s Sports Foundation (WSF). North Carolina Central is one of 10 universities and colleges across the country to receive this year’s Women’s Sports Foundation grants, which were designated for female coaching fellows across all three NCAA…
Triangle Golf Today moves online only in 2021
For more than two decades we’ve been the ones reporting on the news, not creating it. But we have some big news to report regarding Triangle Golf Today. After 21 years, this Holiday Issue will be the last printed issue of Triangle Golf Today with “North Carolina No. 1 Source For Golf News” converting to…
Raleigh Country Club re-opens with expansive views
By David Droschak John McConnell has spent upwards of $100 million over the years compiling one of the nation’s most impressive private club portfolios. A good portion of that cash has been spent on the company’s anchor facility – Raleigh Country Club – from its $7 million rescue from bankruptcy in 2003 to a bunker…
Walk This Way: Fashionable shoemaker brings a slice of Italy to United States
By David Droschak Duca Del Cosma, the pioneer of the spikeless golf shoe and regarded as a world trendsetter in fashion golf footwear for two decades, has been knocking on doors in the United States and across golf-rich states such as North Carolina and South Carolina. Now headquartered in The Netherlands, Duca Del Cosma entered…
Elite Instruction: Traditions Golf Academy launches in Sandhills
By Peter Stilwell When John Elmore presented his vision to create a competitive golf academy he had a simple goal in mind — develop an academy that combines superior academics, world-class golf training, state-of-the-art strength and conditioning, comprehensive sports psychology coupled with one of the finest golf facilities in the Sandhills area. That vision from…
Rolex player of the year headed to Duke men’s golf program
By Brad King After listening to current Ohio State freshman golfer Maxwell Moldovan deliver his 2019 Rolex Player of the Year acceptance speech late last year, Duke University men’s golf commit Kelly Chinn turned to his father, Colin. “I want to be the guy making that speech next year,” Chinn told his dad. The senior…
Home Grown – UNC Greensboro builds winning program with North Carolina talent
By David Droschak One could argue that North Carolina-bred talent on the PGA Tour has never been deeper with the likes of Webb Simpson, Brendon Todd, Harold Varner III, Bill Haas, Doc Redman and Chesson Hadley. That fact is not lost on UNC-Greensboro men’s golf coach Terrance Stewart, whose 10-man roster is filled exclusively with…
BUYERS GUIDE: Walk This Way: A nationwide demand for walking-engineered golf gear growing
As September rolls into the fall golfing season across North Carolina it’s never too early to start thinking about holiday gifting for the golfer in your life. Triad Golf Today/Triangle Golf Today editor David Droschak is here to help you make that buying decision just a bit easier by providing information on products worth considering. …
North Carolina resort offering “Back to the Mountains Special”
Rumbling Bald, an award-winning golf resort on stunning Lake Lure, is offering a “Back to the Mountains Special” through June 26 with 20 percent off its studio, villa and vacation home lodging and no resort fee. Golf groups can pair accommodations with golf rounds on Bald Mountain Golf Course and nearby Cleghorn Golf and Sports…
Duke’s Dan Brooks elected to the Carolinas Golf Hall of Fame
By David Droschak When legendary Duke men’s golf coach Rod Myers passed away in 2007, Duke athletic director Joe Alleva offered women’s coach Dan Brooks the position, a seemingly nice plum for a job well done over the years with the school’s successful female golfers. “I turned it down immediately,” Brooks said. “I felt like…
Triangle Women In Golf (TWIG) KIDZ Program
By David Droshak Sports can be full cynicism these days, and golf is not immune. There are cheating scandals, slow play controversies, on course rages, and on and on. So, when a feel-good story comes along embrace it. The following is one of those feel-good stories right in our own backyard. Tyler Spriggs swung her…
Operation 36 Golf: North Carolina-based firm making a world-wide name for itself
By Brad King Longtime Raleigh teaching professional Jimmy Hamilton said the addition of Operation 36 Golf at The Golf Academy at Wildwood Green Golf Club, where he serves as director of instruction, has been a win-win-win for course ownership, staff and the golfers themselves. A Garner, N.C.-based, on-course development model and coaching program, Operation 36…
Architect Kyle Franz readies to add Southern Pines Elks Golf Club to list of Sandhills successes
By David Droschak With dozens of Donald Ross-designed golf courses scattered across the state of North Carolina from Asheville to Wilmington, golf enthusiasts have debated for decades the best of the best. One Ross course that has often flown under the radar has been the Southern Pines Elks Golf Club, especially over the last decade…
The Great Debate: Is overseeding or turf paint best for winter conditions?
By David Droschak There are a few certainties in life – death, taxes and frost — turning the bermudagrass fairways of North Carolina’s wonderful golf courses a sad shade of tan every winter. When I first came to the Tar Heel state from the Great White North I wondered why “all the grass had died.”…
ClubCorp acquires Brier Creek and Hasentree
ClubCorp, already a major player in the Triangle, has increased its presence dramatically by acquiring Brier Creek Country Club in Raleigh and Hasentree in Wake Forest from Toll Golf. Brier Creek, an Arnold Palmer design, is located near Raleigh-Durham International Airport and features an 18-hole private golf course, tennis courts, pool with waterslide and kid-friendly…
A Perfect Package: A look inside one of the state’s most successful golf merchandising operations
By David Droschak There was quite a buzz surrounding the opening of Arnold Palmer’s only college golf course design in the world. But I’m not sure if folks lined up more than 100 deep a decade ago in the dark at 6:30 a.m. jockeying for position at Lonnie Poole Golf Club. That’s what will take…
Pinecrest Peaks: Seniors Kenzel, Hirtle spark Patriots to second 4-A title in four seasons
By David Droschak It was hard for Jaclyn Kenzel to imagine winning the 4-A women’s high school golf championship two months ago. Kenzel and her family had just returned from a two-week vacation to the Cayman Islands and the future college bio-medical engineering major was focused on academics heading into the school year. The Pinecrest…
Falls Village celebrates 20th anniversary with significant upgrades
By David Droschak More than 90,000 cars a week now cruise past the entrance to Falls Village Golf Club north of Raleigh-Durham International Airport, something that is not lost on head professional John Montgomery. “Our locale is just incredible,” Montgomery said as the public course carved out of prime Durham County forest along Highway 98…
Last design of legendary architect getting facelift
By David Droschak Donald Ross personally handpicked the property that would become Raleigh Country Club, but the legendary architect wasn’t around to see the course’s completion, passing away in April 1948. His two most trusted “generals” – Ellis Maples and J.B. McGovern – finished off the work at the private club that is considered one…
North Carolina boasts three female amateur in world’s top 25
By Kurt Dusterberg For as far back as Emilia Migliaccio can remember, Jennifer Chang and Gina Kim were part of her own golf story. “I was still slicing my drives and sculling my chips at the time,” Migliaccio says with a laugh. “I had just started golf and they were a lot better than I…
Stylish clothes with a noble cause
By Brad King Three years ago, Scott Petinga — a cancer survivor and, at the time, a divorced father of three young girls — decided to take up golf as a healthy outlet to spend quality time with his family. “I wanted to make sure the time I spent with my daughters was well served, so…
ACC schools passed Wyndham Championship winner
By Brad King During an illustrious career at Hickory High School, 2019 Wyndham Championship winner J.T. Poston earned all-state honors three times and was conference player of the year all four seasons. Poston was a key member of the 2009 state champion golf team as a sophomore and captured the state individual title twice. He…
Drive Shack lands second location in Triangle
By David Droschak Those of us close to the golf world know our proverbial dimpled planet has been rapidly evolving, especially across North Carolina. One of the fastest growing states with some of the nation’s most attractive places to live have driven private country clubs to provide much more than a pristine 18-hole golfing experience…
Pinehurst Resort staging more history at 119th U.S. Amateur
By David Droschak Few places embrace history like Pinehurst Resort. And the historic golf venue is preparing to add yet another piece of lore to its annals. Just five years after making history by hosting back-to-back U.S. Opens for the men and women on Pinehurst No. 2, the iconic resort and the USGA are once…
Tournament Time: Summer offers wide range of tournament competition
By Brad King School is out around the state. Which means summertime is … extremely busy for competitive golfers. The Carolinas Golf Association (CGA) alone conducts more than 300 amateur events for men, women, juniors and seniors throughout the calendar year. When the summer months roll around, the action really ramps up. The CGA championship…
Wyndham Championship and Grandover Resort enjoy “perfect” relationship
By Brad King and Len Ziehm The Wyndham Championship returned to Sedgefield Country Club in 2008. Explaining the move back after more than three decades at Forest Oaks Country Club, southeast of Greensboro, tournament officials cited several key factors: the appeal of Sedgefield’s freshly restored, Donald Ross-designed golf course and its location closer to the…
Dan’s Dynasty: Brooks leads Duke women to seventh national title.
By David Droschak At least a small piece of Duke’s seven national titles in women’s golf under coach Dan Brooks can be attributed by Lyman Gallup. Who the heck is Lyman Gallup, you may ask? You won’t find Gallup in any women’s golf media guides nor is he the father of any of the stars…
Migliaccio emerges as college star at Wake Forest
By Kurt Dusterberg To say Emilia Migliaccio enjoyed a successful sophomore year at Wake Forest would be far too modest. The 20-year old won the Atlantic Coast Conference individual championship, earned first-team All-American honors and led her team within an eyelash of the NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championship. The Cary native is unassuming when…
Jenny Chang continues her climb in golf
Former North Carolina prep star Jenny Chang, who set a state record with four straight 4-A individual titles, is well on her way to accomplishing her goal of playing professional golf. The sophomore at Southern Cal, one of college golf’s powerhouse programs, was once again named a first-team All-American and recently made the cut at the…
GlobalGolf’s grand scale: A value proposition worth investing in
By David Droschak The entrance of GlobalGolf looks like something out of a “Men in Black” movie set – a stark and sterile lobby with a large silver logo and one TV that can be mesmerizing. Looks can be deceiving. On the TV screen is a running tally of GlobalGolf’s business day. When I left…
Overflowing with talent: Broughton’s Fountain runs away with 4-A state title
By David Droschak The Fountain name has been synonymous with golf talent in Raleigh for much of the last decade. First there was Richard Fountain, who went to Davidson and won a Southern Conference individual title. Then Preyer Fountain played golf at the University of North Carolina the last four years. Up next is…
Clayton’s Hooks puts on putting display to capture 3-A state title
By Eddie Southards Brady Hooks used the magic he found in a borrowed putter to help him win the men’s 3-A state high school golf championship. The Clayton senior poured in one long par-saving putt after another in the final round to shoot even par for the 36-hole tournament at Foxfire Resort and Golf Club.…
Standing the test of time: High Meadows getting face-lift this spring
By David Droschak For more than a half century, High Meadows Golf & Country Club has remained untouched, standing the test of time as one of the more playable and serene settings in the North Carolina mountains, attracting dozens of members from the Triangle area. Few courses these days – especially with all of the…
Fitness and fun for juniors at Wakefield Plantation
By Brad King Mastering fundamentals has long been at the core of junior golf, followed closely by making the sport appealing to kids. But the pros at Wakefield Plantation are taking things to the next level with technology, fitness and contagious enthusiasm. In so doing, they have not only doubled the size of the program…
Alluring: Rumbling Bald offers a cool place to hang out, take in 36 holes
By David Droschak It’s fitting golf course architect Dan Maples spent some quality time with his legendary father Ellis Maples during the designing of Apple Valley at Rumbling Bald Resort, considering generations of families have for decades enjoyed special moments at the mountain retreat along with its splendid scenery and countless recreational offerings. The elder…
No mystery in Migliaccio’s golf game
By Kurt Dusterberg Emilia Migliaccio is riding a charter bus with her Wake Forest teammates, heading to Charlotte Douglas International Airport. While the rest of the team relaxes ahead of a flight to the Dominican Republic for a tournament, she is chatting away on her cell phone. “At least the bus is kind of loud,”…
The Franz Footprint – Upstart architect stars in the Sandhills
By David Droschak At 28 years old and the golf world still reeling from the Great Recession, fresh-faced architect Kyle Franz made a bold prediction after having a hand in the bunkering work at Pinehurst No. 2. “I did an interview in the summer of 2010 right after we finished Pinehurst No. 2 and one…
Gillam keys Wake Forest victory at Seminole Intercollegiate
By STEVE WILLIAMS Despite averaging a solid 72 in 11 events as a freshman, Parker Gillam found himself on the outside looking in during the fall portion of Wake Forest’s schedule. The sophomore from Cary appeared as an extra individual in two of the Demon Deacons’ four events but that’s all. However, he made his…
Former USGA president Jim Hyler named to Carolinas Golf Hall of Fame
By David Droschak Payne Stewart’s dramatic winning putt on the final hole of the 1999 U.S. Open galvanized the world of golf 20 years ago this summer and to this day remains one of the game’s most iconic moments. Stewart’s clutch putt played out in front of tens of thousands of fans huddled around the…
Architect George Cobb honored for work across Carolinas
By David Droschak The owner of Linville Ridge Country Club talked to anyone who would listen about the great job architect George Cobb had done in creating the 16th hole, a dramatic par-3 that showcases an elevation drop equivalent to an 11-story building and a 50-mile view of the glorious Blue Ridge Mountains off in…
Agronomist trendsetter Bob Farren latest Hall of Fame inductee from famed Sandhills resort
By David Droschak Bob Farren has never won a championship, never hoisted a trophy for a global photo op or sank a clutch putt for hundreds of thousands of dollars. In fact, many causal golfers may have never even heard of his name, let alone know his title at one of golf’s most glorious venues.…
Area Insider: Hanse’s courses at Pinehurst have become hugely popular
Just how popular has Pinehurst No. 4 become in just a few weeks since reopening under the design of red-hot golf course architect Gil Hanse? Well, in November and December, the course was sold out 23 days … and filling up quickly as word of the “new” Pinehurst Resort layout spreads across the international golfing…
Holly Springs freshman Maria Atwood finishes tied for fourth in NCHSAA 4A
Reagan High School edges out Pinecrest for 4A state championship By David Droschak Sasha Hayes was a multi-sport star growing up in the Triad area, with figure skating and golf emerging as her competitive loves as she entered her teen years. Then it was time for another life altering decision – breaking away from home…
Rockingham County ties state record with fourth straight 3-A title
By Eddie Southards A new addition to the team and clutch scoring in the final round led the Rockingham County women to their fourth straight 3-A state golf championship. “It’s an outstanding accomplishment,” said Rockingham County coach Mike Williams. “I’ve just been lucky the last four years to have a bunch of girls who go…
Richard Mandell stays busy during challenging industry times
By Brad King Pinehurst-based golf course architect Richard Mandell has too much on his plate these days to stress about the challenges facing his industry. Despite new course construction plummeting during in the past decade, Mandell has remained a busy man. Since forming his company, Richard Mandell Golf Architecture in 1992, he has worked on…
Quail Ridge: Rising from the ashes
By David Droschak So just how did Quail Ridge Golf Club return to form after the previously dilapidated course had zero takers at auction? A call from the Coca-Cola man, of course. But this success story really has nothing to do with soda pop at all, other than a phone call between friends that set…
Kris Spence so much more than a Ross restorer
By Brad King Golf course architect Kris Spence faced a standing room only crowd of 400-plus gathered in Providence Country Club’s Grand Ballroom in early January for a presentation of the club’s upcoming golf course renovation. Tall and broad-shouldered with auburn hair and a chiseled countenance, Spence was dressed in a dark suit and a…
Self-proclaimed “Country Girl” chasing LPGA dream
By Steve Huffman Think the life of a touring golf professional is glamorous? Then, please, step back and consider a week in the life of Lori Beth Adams. In early August, the 26-year-old Adams, a graduate of Western Alamance High School and UNC Wilmington, competed in the Firekeepers Casino Challenge, a Symetra Tour event played…
From Pebble Beach to Pinehurst
The U.S. Amateur torch has been passed from one famous resort to another in August By David Droschak It’s a great time to be among the world’s best amateur players, considering the recent venues for the U.S. Amateur Championship. The proverbial torch was passed in mid August from Pebble Beach to Pinehurst as the Sandhills…
Harold Varner returns to Wyndham Championship hoping to continue his bourgeoning success.
By Brad King If Harold Varner III needed validation that he has become one of North Carolina’s favorite sons, he earned it during the final round of last year’s Wyndham Championship. On a hot and humid Sunday afternoon at Greensboro’s Sedgefield Country Club, the mantle was passed to Varner from his playing partner, Davis Love…
The world’s largest manufacturer of golf grips has called North Carolina home since 1969
By Brad King Most golf professionals will tell you that the grip is the foundation for a golfer’s swing. North Carolina-based Golf Pride Grips is recognized globally as the No. 1 choice in grips among touring and club professionals, recreational players, competitive amateur golfers, club manufacturers — such as Callaway, PING, Taylor Made, Titleist, etc. —…
Ellis Maples: Accomplished architect wore every hat in golf
By Brad King In the world of golf course architecture, Ellis Maples may not be as prolific or renowned as fellow North Carolinians Donald Ross or Tom Fazio. But Maples is unquestionably the centerpiece of North Carolina’s first family of golf course design, construction and maintenance. Maples was born in Pinehurst in 1909. His father,…
Raleigh native Lewellen takes over Wake Forest women’s golf program
By Steve Huffman Raleigh native and three-time ACC coach of the year Kim Lewellen says it was tough leaving the University of Virginia to take over the Wake Forest women’s golf program. Ultimately, she said, the fact that she’d be replacing Dianne Dailey, who recently retired after 30 years at Wake Forest, factored greatly into…
Donald Ross: My work will tell my story
By Brad King His story began 700 miles from the Arctic Circle on the east coast of Scotland in Dornoch, north of the Highlands and fast by the sea. But the Scottish immigrant who arrived in America at the turn of the century and became one of North Carolina’s greatest ambassadors did not come directly…
U.S. Kids Golf Academy: A living golf lab that never slows down
By Peter Stilwell The U.S. Kids Golf Foundation took its mission to heart three years ago and purchased the Longleaf Golf & Country Club in Southern Pines. Its goal was to help kids have fun learning the lifelong game of golf and to encourage family interaction that builds lasting memories. The group is making great…
Belmont Lake excited to enjoy “summer conditions.”
By David Droschak There hasn’t been this much excitement at Belmont Lake Golf Club in Rocky Mount since the golf course opened in 2007. In what has been a time of angst over the last few years heading into the hot, humid summer months of July, August and September, the golfing public and the club’s…
The state’s greatest golf course architects: Tom Fazio
(Editor’s Note: With one of the nation’s richest golfing histories, North Carolina’s portfolio of courses from the mountains to the coast is unmatched in its variety, topography and strategy. So, who do we credit for some of these golfing jewels? Well, the golf course architects, of course. The first in a series of insights on…
Broughton’s Back: Fountain leads Caps to third team title in last six years
By David Droschak It was quite an early part of May for Raleigh Broughton. In less than a week span, the Capitals won the school’s ninth 4-A men’s golf championship in the last 21 years and watched alumnus Webb Simpson capture The Players Championship on the PGA Tour. Broughton and Pinecrest have battled for…
Triangle teen Bhatia wins prestigious Junior Invitational
By Kurt Dusterberg Akshay Bhatia wasn’t at his best when he won the prestigious Junior Invitational in April, but he took another step in his development as one of the top junior golfers in the United States. Bhatia overcame seven bogeys for a third-round 76, good for a one-stroke victory at Sage Valley Golf Club…
Swing Right is Triangle’s first mobile golf club repair service
By David Droschak Growing up in Myrtle Beach three decades ago was reason enough for Martin Barrier III to get hooked on the great game of golf. More than 100 golf courses dotted the Grand Strand at the time. What also was a huge part of the golf scene along the popular South Carolina golf…
Cary-based Stitch Golf stylishly making its industry mark
By Brad King Perhaps the biggest buzz at this year’s PGA Merchandise Show was generated by Cary-based Stitch Golf. Of course, to even be mentioned in the PGA Show’s “best of” category in Orlando is impressive, considering that more than 1,000 exhibiting companies and brands display their wares to 40,000-plus industry professionals from some 90…
Lakeshore’s swan song
By David Droschak Officially located within the Durham city limits, Lakeshore has always been known as the golf course of Research Triangle Park. But there was really nothing high-tech about the public layout built from scratch in the early 1960s by Marvin Utley, his father and grandfather. The 18-hole course measured just 5,719 yards from…
Will2Golf website connecting the dots for junior golfers and their parents
By David Droschak The numbers associated these days with junior golf are mindboggling for parents and the game’s rising talents. If there is any question that this portion of the game has reached the “big time” check out these numbers: There are more than 600 tours and associations scattered across the U.S. A staggering 12,000…
U.S. Women’s Open returns to Southern Pines resort in 2022
By David Droschak Kyle Franz remembers skipping high school study hall to watch the 1996 U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles. Fast forward more than two decades later and the rising star in the golf course architecture world will once again be focusing on the Southern Pines resort course. This time, however, Franz will be…
North Carolina-based entrepreneurs design unique and functional product
By Brad King Scott Patten says the idea originally germinated with his father, Dean, a retired engineer who spends most days of the week playing golf in their hometown of Apex. As part of his retirement gift, the elder Patten received a golf rangefinder that he often found himself misplacing during a round. Eventually he…
Randy’s Golf Outlet and Driving Range relocated to I-85
Renowned club fitter Randy McGinnis has moved locations and has taken over I-85 Range in Mebane near Tanger Outlets. McGinnis had leased a driving range and club fitting business for 15 years about 7 miles away, but the property had been cut in half a few years ago by one of the range’s owners, prompting…
Nichols chooses Triangle over roller coaster golf career
By Kurt Dusterberg Josh Nichols had a plan. From the time he was in high school he wanted to fine-tune his golf game in college, qualify for the PGA Tour and make some noise with the top players in the world. “I wanted to be like all the guys you see on TV, they’re 21…
Hadley returns to PGA Tour with new attitude
By David Droschak With the snap of his fingers – his trademark celebration after a birdie — Chesson Hadley is back on the PGA Tour. If it was only that easy for the former Raleigh prep star and 2010 Atlantic Coast Conference champion. The 6-foot-4 Hadley seemingly had it all after winning PGA Tour Rookie…
Pittsboro Northwood sophomore finishes second for second straight year in 3-A championship
By Eddie Southards Katharina Floyd has knocked on the door two years in a row with a chance to win the 3-A state golf championship. But the sophomore from Pittsboro Northwood tied for second place for the second straight year in the tournament held at Foxfire Resort and Golf Club in Jackson Springs. Floyd shot…
Is Chang North Carolina’s greatest prep golfer ever?
Athens Drive senior wins fourth straight 4-A championship By David Droschak Jennifer Chang chuckles when she looks back at her freshmen photos as a young teenage golfer at Athens Drive High School in Raleigh. “It’s hard to imagine that was me,” she said. At the time, Chang was a talented junior player, but few knew…
Pinehurst Resort rock’n golf with opening of The Cradle
By Dave Droschak Pinehurst Resort’s new 9-hole short course – measuring a total of 789 yards — has opened. Designed by golf architect Gil Hanse, The Cradle features holes ranging from 56 to 127 yards each. Mere steps from the resort clubhouse, it is the same area where, in 1898, Dr. Leroy Culver carved the…
Hanse joins list of prestigious Pinehurst golf course architects
By Brad King Golf course architect Gil Hanse and partner Jim Wagner are performing design work at Pinehurst No. 4, along with the resort’s new short course, which opened Sept. 30. Hanse’s firm was selected in 2011 to design the golf course in Brazil that hosted the return of golf in last summer’s Olympic Games.…
McPhaul gearing up for success as new N.C. State coach
BY TIM PEELER Press McPhaul remembers the end of his freshman season at North Carolina State, and not fondly. His confidence was shot. His golf game was crap. He just wanted to go home to Sanford and not come back. A bit disconsolate, McPhaul stopped by head coach Richard Sykes’ office late in the spring…
Harvey’s list of accomplishments keeps growing
Kernersville golfer ties father with 8th CGA title By David Droschak Scott Harvey was playing a practice round at the 2017 U.S. Open with Jordan Spieth, Jim Furyk and Steve Stricker when he was reminded exactly what he is – an amateur golfer from North Carolina with a full time job. As the co-owner…
UNC coach Andrew DiBitetto: Attaching the learning curve
By Kurt Dusterberg Andrew DiBitetto is in an unlikely situation, coaching a major Division I golf program at the age of 31. He’s on the young side, but he’s well prepared to be the head coach at University of North Carolina, a position he earned in July after the dismissal of Andrew Sapp. He may…
Beating the heat: Area courses upgrading greens with Bermuda
By David Droschak Whether you subscribe to the theory of global warming or just the luck of the summer weather draw, the dog days of August across central North Carolina have been getting hotter and hotter much of the last decade. The intense heat and accompanying humidity have played havoc on bent grass greens…
Summer Escape: Converted brickyard one of Western North Carolina’s pristine getaways
By Keith Jarrett For a half-century, Etowah Valley Golf & Resort has provided quality play for more than a million rounds and lodging for tens of thousands for visitors. And as the 27-hole layout in Henderson County celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, there are current and future plans to ensure those numbers of golfers…
Harvick Pro-Am starts Wyndham week
By Brad King Golf and auto racing, at first glance, seem an unlikely pairing. Two sports that some don’t even consider to be sports, one involving taking your life in your own hands driving high rates of speed around a track; the other trying to use as few a swings as possible with a stick…
Massei move South leads to development
By David Droschak Jack Massei began playing golf with his older brother Luke Massei on a 9-hole course carved into a New Hampshire mountainside. “My brother and I would play all summer, or as long as the course was open, and it wasn’t open for long,” said the rising senior at Green Hope High School…
Natalie Petersen embraces golf’s individual pressures
By Kurt Dusterberg Natalie Petersen was hoping to finish her junior golf career with a flourish. She was well on her way after winning her first two matches at the North Carolina Junior Girls Championships in June. But when she stepped to the tee for her third match, something felt wrong. “I pulled out my…
Inaugural Junior Hickory Fall Classic set for early October
Seth Lomison had a fulfilling junior career. Now, the 20-year-old from Reidsville figures it’s time to start giving back to the game. Lomison, who works for the Tarheel Golf Foundation, is launching the inaugural Junior Hickory Fall Classic, where juniors can learn how to play with old hickory clubs of yesteryear in a competitive setting.…
Rumbling Bald Resort a rock solid vacation choice
By Keith Jarrett When the devastating effects of the Party Rock Fire hit Lake Lure and surrounding areas last fall, homeowners at Rumbling Bald Resort were among those forced to evacuate. Golf was the last item on anyone’s mind as the wildfire eventually spread through thousands of acres of this picturesque community, set in the…
Bhatia, 15, measures his game against the pros
By Kurt Dusterberg Akshay Bhatia’s golf game is good enough that he can get out on the course with PGA and Web.com touring pros like Carl Pettersson, Carter Jenkins and Chris Wilson at TPC Wakefield Plantation. “It’s pretty cool because it’s not every day you can play with a guy from the web.com tour or…
Migliaccio on the road again … teeing it up
By Kurt Dusterberg Emilia Migliaccio is accustomed to the routine of an elite junior golfer. One weekend she’s in Texas, the next in New York. And the life suits her to a tee. “I love traveling and living out of a suitcase,” she says. “It’s a good thing, since I want to go on the…
North Carolina place to be for PGA Tour golf in August
State hosts PGA Championship, Wyndham in consecutive weeks By David Droschak If you love golf and love the state of North Carolina, then you will love the month of August here. For the first time ever, North Carolina will host PGA Tour events in consecutive weeks with the PGA Championship set for Aug. 10-13…
Scotch Hall Preserve: Arnold Palmer course offers lasting memories
By David Droschak Much like the late Arnold Palmer did for so many years, Scotch Hall Preserve is extending a handshake to all golfers. Known as much for its bite as its beauty on bluffs overlooking the expansive Albemarle Sound, the management and ownership team at the Palmer signature design have undertaken a softening of…
Hardy has cooked up a pretty good golf game over the years
Durham golfer in his 90s still going strong By Kurt Dusterberg Ray Hardy is living the good life. He’s retired, in good health and playing a lot of golf. On a good day, he breaks 80 at Umstead Pines Golf Club in Durham. Hardy plays with a group of regulars, so he never has trouble…
Rex Hospital Open turns 30 in style
By Brad King Since 1990, the main highway to the PGA Tour has undergone more name changes than a Hollywood starlet. As tour sponsors for professional golf’s feeding ground have come and gone, what debuted as the Ben Hogan Tour quickly became the Nike Tour, then the Buy.com Tour, then the Nationwide Tour and for…
Pinecrest captures third straight 4-A golf crown
Coach’s son wins individual title By David Droschak It’s difficult to say which made Pinecrest High School men’s golf coach Lynne Beechler prouder – winning a third straight 4-A prep championship or seeing her son mobbed by teammates on the 18th green following his individual championship. “I have been so fortunate to have been…
Lee County senior falls one shot shy of 3-A title
By Eddie Southards Dalton Mauldin came to the last hole of his high school golf career with a chance to win the state high school 3-A individual title. But a wayward approach shot proved costly for the Lee County senior, who finished in a tie for second place. Mauldin shot 73-72 for a 1-over 145…
Statewide organizations report spike in participation
By Brad King No need to squint to find something or someone discussing the decline of golf. Rounds are down, they say. Courses are closing. The game can’t attract millennials because it’s slow and takes too long. Everywhere you look it’s doom-and-gloom. Tiger Woods is now raising young kids and yet again nursing a bad…
Wotnosky hopes swing change will pay dividends in 2017
By John Brasier Haeley Wotnosky likes to travel, but she didn’t want to spend her Fourth of July in Vermont last summer. Luckily for her, she was talked into the trip by her mother and some friends. As it turned out, Wotnosky put on a fireworks show of her own on the trip, shooting a…
Lonnie Poole adds player development coordinator
Lonnie Poole Golf Course is known for its unique design on the rolling hills near downtown Raleigh. Now, N.C. State’s golf layout is getting noticed for its focus on player development. “The course has been growing its golf staff over the past year, adding Daniel Spurling, our player development coordinator, to our team of PGA…
Being in contention not good enough for Garewal in 2017
By John Brasier Most players with Viraj Garewal’s credentials would have waded through stacks of college offers and committed to a top-flight golf program long before the spring of their second year of high school. But not Garewal, who had a stellar 2016 record despite winning only once. The senior at Panther Creek High had…
New York Furniture Expo
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2017-2018 USA Wine events
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Sykes retiring after 46 years of fun in the sun
By David Droschak If you’re around Richard Sykes for five minutes and don’t crack a smile or double over laughing then you probably don’t have a pulse. It’s open for debate whether Sykes saw more one-putts or fired off more one-liners in his 46 years as men’s golf coach at North Carolina State. What is…
Peggy Kirk Bell Girls Golf Tour celebrates 10 years with Katherine Perry Hamski getting LPGA Card
By Steve Huffman Katherine Perry Hamski remembers trying to play tournament golf as a young girl and finding it painfully obvious the directors had no idea what to do with the handful of females who signed on. There were tournaments galore for junior boys. But for junior girls? Uh, no. Do we pair the girls…
Bell’s impact on golf? Simply immeasurable
By Stuart Hall When Peggy Kirk Bell first met golf at age 17, how the wondrous, intertwining 78-year journey would unfold must have been unfathomable. In 1938, the idea of a young woman becoming a golf instructor or a touring professional or even a savvy business negotiator was likely as much wishful thinking as practical because…
Emily Hawkins wins CGA Girls’ Player of the Year and commits to Campbell
Emily Hawkins of Lexington was at her best with the pressure on in 2016. Hawkins won the Carolinas Golf Association’s two biggest girls’ titles, claiming the North Carolina Junior Girls’ Championship and the Carolinas Junior Girls. In September, she beat a national field in the AJGA Girls’ Championship at Furman University Golf Club. “I had…
Simson has another senior moment with latest CGA honor
–By David Droschak Paul Simson will turn 66 years old in May yet shows no signs of hanging the golf clubs in the garage quite yet. The Raleigh native accepted his eighth Senior Men’s Player of the Year award in February from the Carolinas Golf Association after winning two CGA championships in 2016 to push…
Legendary Looper: Pinehurst Resort Caddie Willie McRae Enters Carolinas Hall of Fame
By Kurt Dusterberg Willie McRae sits comfortably on the veranda at Pinehurst Resort, looking out over a golf course he knows better than anyone who has ever lived. That might sound like an overstatement, until you consider that he is in his 73rd year caddying at Pinehurst No. 2. When a man’s career endures longer…
SkyTrak puts golfers on a fast track
By STUART HALL Ten days is all Mike Thompson needed to receive the first return from his investment in a new SkyTrak launch monitor. Playing in a Virginia State Golf Association’s Senior Open qualifier, on a Meadowbrook Country Club course he had never seen before last year, Thompson, of Richmond, Va., fired a 67 to…
Cha-Chang: Athens Drive junior Jenny Chang wins third straight 4-A championship
Pinecrest matches men’s team; finally breaks through with women’s title By David Droschak The comparisons are natural, since Triangle-area prep stars Jenny Chang and Gina Kim have parents of Asian descent, are high school juniors, each have multiple state championships – and each spends hours upon hours practicing ball striking, putting and their short games.…
Chapel Hill’s Kim shines again in 3-A state championships
By Eddie Southards Gina Kim is a nationally ranked junior golfer who follows a different path than many of her contemporaries. The Chapel Hill junior still enjoys playing high school golf. Kim proved it by winning the women’s 3-A state individual title for the second straight year. She shot 69-72 for a 3-under total at Longleaf…
Country Club of North Carolina’s Dogwood Course opens this fall after $4.5 million renovation
By David Droschak Under normal circumstances, it would have been a major downer for the re-opening of the Dogwood Course at the Country Club of North Carolina to transpire in the middle of Tropical Storm Hermine. But with a major directive to transform the Ellis Maples classic into a firmer playing experience for the private…
Golf Travel USA: Nemacolin Woodlands adding second Pete Dye layout
Southwestern Pennsylvania resort perfect fall getaway By David Droschak Joe Hardy turns 94 years old in January, and God willing, the founder and CEO of 84 Lumber will get to witness another remarkable accomplishment at his 2,000-acre resort in the scenic mountains of Southwestern Pennsylvania. What’s the ageless Hardy have up his sleeve this time…
Ryan Gerard moves to the top ranks of junior golfers
By Kurt Dusterberg Ryan Gerard’s earliest golf memories aren’t actually his own recollections. His father, Bob, tells the story of how Ryan, not yet 2 years old, used to tool around the practice green with a toddler-size putter at Wildwood Green Golf Club. Ryan would putt for a while, and then watch the golfers tee…
Triangle area trio misses out on Augusta National date
By STUART HALL Griffin Ching fully understood that two points was the difference of a chip rolling an extra foot or two. That, however, could not mask the disappointment of finishing second at the Drive, Chip and Putt Championship’s regional qualifier at Pinehurst Resort & Country Club’s No. 2 Course in early September. “It was…
Tournament Highlights for August
Men’s North & South Championship Tim Conover of Holly Springs survived a do-or-die playoff just to make the match play field and then posted a series of stunning victories to capture the 116th Men’s North & South Amateur Championship at Pinehurst No. 2. Seven players ended 36 holes of medal play at 151 and…
Family First
Private clubs across Triangle embracing shifting trends By Brad King A challenging economy, along with fierce competition and changing lifestyles have made attracting and retaining members at private clubs around the Triangle and the country increasingly difficult. As social institutions operating in the lifestyle industry, private clubs require facilities and programs suited to the times.…
Showing the Way: Compass Pointe first course to open in North Carolina in six years
By David Droschak If there was any place ripe for a new golf course in North Carolina it’s the Brunswick County town of Leland. Ten miles south of Wilmington, Leland’s population has grown from 1,938 in the year 2000 to an estimated 17,924, making it the nation’s fastest growing area in terms of percentage of…
Wildwood Green culture cultivating junior success
By STUART HALL Little about Wildwood Green Golf Club is outwardly remarkable. The clubhouse has the look of a two-story home built in the mid-1980s. The 6,473-yard course is stitched tightly through an adjoining neighborhood. The no-frills practice range is a narrow swath of land that features high-rise netting along the right side to keep…
Dream Course: Gina Kim’s path seems headed to a stellar future
By David Droschak If there was ever a “can’t miss” golf prospect it’s Gina Kim. The rising junior at Chapel Hill High School has skill and talent – and maybe even more importantly – the desire and drive to become the best. The 16-year-old Kim is the No. 1 female junior golfer in North Carolina,…
Primo Primland: Resort’s Highland Course celebrates 10th anniversary
By DAVID DROSCHAK As Primland Resort executives and golf architect Donald Steel settled on a piece of land for a new golf course on top of the mountain of the 12,000-acre property, there was what now seems like a silly concern. Especially since most golfers who have logged a round at the award-winning Highland Course…
Twin-State Girls Championship: Celebrating 50 years of memories
By Steve Hanf At 28 years old, Maggie Watts has grown up in a world with opportunities for females to experience the game of golf. “I grew up in a time that women’s golf and junior girls golf was always included in the overall golf picture,” said Watts, the director of women’s golf with the…
Roaring Good Time
A tiny mountain hamlet in an Allegheny County gap packs plenty of punch with a trio of world-class golf courses By Brad King The hamlet of Roaring Gap in Allegheny County consists of a gas station, a post office … and a trio of heralded golf developments with unique, centerpiece mountain layouts all within a…
Tranquil Treyburn: The Triangle’s Countryside Gem
By David Droschak Predicting real estate growth is far from an exact science. With the Research Triangle Park situated virtually equal distance from Durham and Raleigh, who knew more than 25 years ago that Wake County would become the king of bedroom communities and that its counterpart to the west would be playing catch-up ever…
NCHSAA 3-A Triangle’s Patrick Stephenson captures individual title
By Eddie Southards Patrick Stephenson closed out the final round of his high school golf career with a flourish to capture the state 3-A individual championship. The senior from South Johnston birdied three out of four holes late in the second round at the Country Club of Whispering Pines to shoot 2-under-par and win by…
NCHSAA 2-A Triangle’s Alfieri ended career on a roll
Adam Alfieri finished his senior year of high school golf on quite a roll. The Carrboro standout won the Mid-State 2-A Conference individual title, placed sixth in the Mideast Regional and capped it off with a top-10 effort in the 2-A state championship at Foxfire Resort’s Gray Fox Course. Alfieri, who missed his junior season…
NCHSAA 1-A State Triangle Teams
Franklin Academy in Wake Forest placed second in the Mideast Regional with four golfers finishing in the top 10, but didn’t fare so well at the 1-A state high school championship at Longleaf Golf and Country Club. The Patriots placed seventh – 64 shots behind winner Mount Airy. Grant Lewis was the only player to…
NCSHSAA 4-A Holding Them At Bae
Wake Forest signee rallies team with “dream finish” Few high school golfers will ever get to live a script like the one that played out over the final few holes of the North Carolina Men’s 4-A Golf Championship. It was truly a dream finish for Pinecrest senior Eric Bae, who will play college golf at…
Pinehurst No. 8: Just you and the golf course
Resort’s Centennial Course celebrates 20th anniversary By DAVID DROSCHAK A lot has happened since Pinehurst Resort honored its 100th anniversary two decades ago with the opening of its eighth golf layout – also known as the Centennial Course. Pinehurst brass Robert Dedman Sr. and Don Padgett Sr. are no longer with us, neither is golfing…
Chapel Hill resident Emily Brooks: Golf’s cover girl
By Kurt Dusterberg Emily Brooks would like to become a household name in golf circles. In the meantime, she has the most famous silhouette in the sport. Brooks is a senior at Elon University, and much to her surprise, her image adorns the 2016 United States Golf Association rule book. “My dad and my grandfather…
Dream Maker: Thompson’s victory at Rex Hospital Open proves Web.com event can make or break pro career
By BRAD KING Despite having already captured two previous Rex Hospital Opens, Kyle Thompson admitted he was a desperate man fighting for survival as he headed into last year’s Web.com Tour event at Raleigh’s TPC Wakefield Plantation. Thompson entered the 2015 tournament on a past champion’s exemption. His name was nowhere to be found on…
Brooks wins No. 125 as Duke is once again No. 1
By DAVID DROSCHAK Dan Brooks chuckles some when asked about his early days as Duke’s women’s golf coach. “I actually came into this not wanting to be a coach, I wanted to be a teacher, and my ego was huge and I wanted to be THE teacher,” said Brooks, who has now coached the ultra…
The ClubCorp network – private golf’s consummate package
By DAVID DROSCHAK With more than 300 private clubs scattered across the world – and its fair share in the Triangle and the state of North Carolina (and still growing each year) – tackling a story on the far-reaching affect of ClubCorp’s network can be a bit overwhelming. Sure, the firm has golf clubs in…
N.C. juniors beat state rivals
North Carolina’s juniors won bragging rights over their rivals from South Carolina and Georgia in the 8th annual Carolinas-Georgia Junior Championship. The event features the top 20 boys and top 10 girls from each of the three states, and is annually played in mid-January at Mount Vintage Plantation Golf Club in North Augusta, S.C. A…
Golf Reality: Virtual is here to stay
By STUART HALL Last summer, as Jordan Spieth turned his attention toward preparation for the Open Championship, the third leg of his Grand Slam pursuit, his approach raised a few eyebrows. Though Spieth had played St. Andrews’ Old Course only once — in 2011 prior to the Walker Cup as an amateur — he chose not to…
Schmid leaves Carolinas PGA Section in solid state
Part 1 of 2 part series on the Carolinas PGA By DAVID DROSCHAK Golf has a way of pulling you back in. Ron Schmid, a former golf pro at Duke University Golf Club for more than a decade, believed the game was in his rear view mirror heading into the 1990s. He was sailing along…
Bermudagrass greens revolution
By BRAD KING When he was contemplating converting the green complexes at historic Pine Needles resort in Southern Pines from bentgrass to an ultra-dwarf strand of bermudagrass, Kelly Miller didn’t have to look far for a good sampling — just across Midland Road, in fact, to the Mid Pines Inn & Golf Club. Miller, the longtime…
Abbot blazes his own golfing trail
Part 2 of 2 part series on the Carolinas PGA By Kurt Dusterberg Jeff Abbot began his working life in a conventional way. Upon college graduation from Notre Dame, he moved to Cincinnati and went to work for Deloitte & Touche, embracing the life of a CPA. “But I realized I didn’t want to be…
Easy Ed Blue Blood Teaching Legend Headed to Carolinas PGA Hall of Fame
By STUART HALL Scott Verner and Ed Ibarguen first met through mutual friends at the University of North Carolina in the early 1970s, and quickly formed a friendship, each with a passion for playing music. Over a holiday weekend in Ibarguen’s room on the 7th floor of UNC’s Morrison Dorm, the new friends met for…
Cardinal Gibbons leaves rest of 4A teams green with envy; wins team title going away
Chang repeats as 4-A state champ; keeps Athens Drive streak alive DAVID DROSCHAK It didn’t take the Cardinal Gibbons Crusaders long to become the cream of the crop of 4-A women’s golf in North Carolina. Cardinal Gibbons, a thriving private Catholic school near PNC Arena in Raleigh, moved up a classification this season and quickly…
Kim conquers: Chapel Hill sophomore captures state 3A title
By STEVE WILLIAMS Check off a couple more boxes on Gina Kim’s to-do list. Only a couple months into her sophomore year at Chapel Hill High School, Kim had an October to remember. Early in the month, she verbally committed to Duke’s perennially potent women’s golf program and then she capped it Oct. 27 by…
Equipment Update: Ironing out your game for 2016
By Robert Kimball Some people would argue that golfers are the easiest people to buy presents for because you can never go wrong. Sure, we like the “hole-of-the-day” desk calendar and the occasional sweater vest, but what really gets us going is new equipment. One look at the money spent by golf equipment firms on…
Altered Course; Altered Lives
N.C. State Twins Win $100,000 Top Prize in Golf Channel Reality Competition By David Droschak Identical twins Anthony and Nick Capra have taken an unconventional golfing path since their Davie County High School days, so it’s ironic the two were able to navigate their way to the top of Golf Channel’s new reality series…
Junior Golf Notes
Sanford’s Siranon Shoomee heads into fall season on a roll By David Droschak Siranon Shoomee, a senior from Sanford shot rounds of 69 and 70 to capture the 2015 Joe Cheves Junior girls championship by two shots at Mimosa Hills Golf Club in Morganton. Shoomee, who shot the only sub-70 round of the tournament, has…
A Triangle Tradition: SAS Championship celebrates 15 years of success
By Kurt Dusterberg A lot can change over the course of 15 years. Just ask Jeff Kleiber, the SAS Championship tournament director. “In 2001, it really was just a golf tournament, with a limited time to get that one off the ground,” Kleiber said. “It was an early-summer commitment for an event that was three…
Local Golf Pro Brad Clayton offers a non-judgmental golfing inspiration for military warriors
By KURT DUSTERBERG Every few weeks, Brad Clayton gets his buddies together for a golf weekend. The men play some golf, then settle into an evening of corn hole and a cookout. When the sun sets, it’s time for a little “bucket golf” on a driving range, using glow balls. As the evening winds down,…
Ball Flights … Reconnecting North Carolina’s proud military to the game of golf
By DAVID DROSCHAK The ultimate gated communities – North Carolina’s six military golf courses – offer up quite a bucket list for those who would like to check off the box of unique golfing experiences. Ever start a round with an F-15 fighter jet taking off in clear sight? Now is your chance … More…
Patriot Golf Day dedicated to helping our service veterans
By Robert KimballGolfers are special people. While they play an endlessly frustrating and sometimes seemingly hopeless game, they as a group always seem to believe in giving back. Not only to the game itself, but also via charitable giving to those in daily life who struggle and are in need of assistance. It would be…
Cary’s Massei captures North Carolina Junior Championship
By Marc Pruitt N.C. Junior Boys’ Championship Salisbury, June 23-26 • Jack Massei of Cary defeated Jonathan Brightwell of Mint Hill 3 and 2 to win the North Carolina Junior Boys’ Championship at the Country Club of Salisbury. The 15-year-old Massei, a rising sophomore at Green Hope High School, made birdies on the first and…
Carter Jenkins: Driving Toward Greatness
By DAVID DROSCHAK No telling what athletic path Carter Jenkins would have taken had he suited up behind home plate as an aspiring baseball youth a decade ago. “I wanted to catch, but the coach’s son also wanted to catch, so unfortunately that stuck me in left field. That wasn’t a whole lot of fun,”…
North Carolina’s “golfing storyteller” passes away at 97
By HOWARD WARD John Derr couldn’t have planned it better. The 97-year-old Derr died at his home in Pinehurst on June 6, the victim of a heart attack while watching American Pharoah become the first thoroughbred in 37 years to win the Triple Crown. Derr’s daughter, Marguerite “Cricket” Gentry, found him in his chair, the…
Superintendents: A winter(kill) to remember … or forget … across Triangle
By STUART HALL Golf course superintendents are a savvy lot, often able to adapt to the ever-changing variables that weather creates on course conditions. Even on the topic of winterkill, they are able to explain how and why it happens, but the mystery lies in when it will happen. “That’s the magical question,” said Tim…
Down East: Celebrating a centennial birthday in style
By DAVID DROSCHAK Golf has certainly gotten ultra complicated over the last decade, let alone the last century. From computerized swing analysis to oversized drivers to balls flying farther to signature architectural designs to extravagant maintenance budgets, the sport has taken its share of twists and turns – and hits from critics. But a humble…
College Recruiting: A video and plan to reach out to college coaches
By Kurt Dusterberg When Brandi Jackson began pursuing a college golf career, the recruiting landscape looked nothing like it does today. “I think every bit of our recruiting was handwritten, putting letters in the mail,” says Jackson, who enjoyed a successful career at Furman University. “After your (high school) junior year, college coaches would make…
Bae, Martin propel Pinehurst to 4-A state championship
By DAVID DROSCHAK Eric Bae’s golfing life has been somewhat complicated up to this point. Born in South Korea, he came to the United States as a 6-year-old, was later adopted by his uncle — a former PGA Tour caddie for Mr. 59 Al Geiberger — and then groomed to actively compete on the junior…
Mike Hicks in new venture
Former Payne Stewart caddie Mike Hicks is six months into his new venture for Cary-based Caddies on Course – and loving every second. Hosted by top Tour caddies such as Hicks and providing a unique peek into the world of professional golf, Caddies on Course offers a variety of programs to help plan a perfect…
Folds of Honor: A golfing tribute like no other
By Kurt Dusterberg If you’ve played a round of golf over Labor Day weekend in recent years you’ve probably come across a charitable cause that is close to the heart of the Carolinas PGA. With more than 175 clubs and courses participating, the Carolinas’ section led the United States in fundraising for the Folds of…
Down East: McConnell brings Brook Valley back to life
By DAVID DROSCHAK All of John McConnell’s previous private club purchases across the Carolinas came as “financial saves,” but Brook Valley Country Club in Greenville added a different twist to that equation. The late Carlton Taylor was an original Brook Valley investor who McConnell knew from working together at Burroughs Corp. Taylor (who died in 2010) bought the club…
Wolfpack, Marsh eyeing the next step at ACC Championship
By STUART HALL As Page Marsh played her way through the golfing ranks, her father always said, “The harder you work, the luckier you get.” Those words still resonate with Marsh, who is in her 15th season as N.C. State’s women’s golf coach. The process of building the Wolfpack into a nationally-competitive program has not…
Professional Spotlight: Former ECU golfer on verge of breakout season
By DAVID DROSCHAK Harold Varner III tends to see white on the golf course – as in the ball heading into the hole. And while he includes Tiger Woods in his dream foursome with Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer, that selection is based on talent, not race. The former East Carolina star acknowledges he can’t…
Down East golf: Belmont Lake ready for watershed year
By DAVID DROSCHAK Golf course architect David Johnson weaved his way around briar patches and battled through thick woods and wetlands, suddenly emerging into an open field on a tract of land in Rocky Mount the Ford family had asked him to check out for a possible golf course layout. On first impression — the…
McConnell Golf: Latest two “saves” come at Asheville, Greenville clubs
By DAVID DROSCHAK In baseball vernacular John McConnell would be a combination of star relievers Mariano Rivera, Goose Gossage and Dennis Eckersley. The Raleigh golf executive has been fast and aggressive — seemingly coming out of the left field bullpen at times – to compile an impressive portfolio of private golf course “saves” across North…
Belmont Lake Golf Club sees growing membership
Few, if any, golf clubs across North Carolina can boast of a 500 percent increase in membership over the last 18 months. But that’s exactly what Belmont Lake Golf Club in Rocky Mount has accomplished since being purchased by the Halle Building Group in April 2013. While 158 may not seem like a large number,…
Bunker Mentality: Lonnie Poole completes major sand restoration
By Stuart Hall In mid-May, rain started falling midway through the first round of the NCAA East Regional Championship at Lonnie Poole Golf Course on North Carolina State’s Centennial Campus. Enough rain fell that play was eventually suspended. All total, there was 4.8 inches of precipitation, which was more than enough to wash out the…
Back-to-back titles: Shoomee goes low in 3A states
By STEVE WILLIAMS Siranon Shoomee picked a great time for her best round ever. The junior from Lee County High School fired a 5-under-par 67 at Longleaf Golf and Country Club to pull away from Gina Kim, the state’s No. 1 ranked player, to capture her second straight 3A state golf championship. Shoomee, known…
Jennifer Chang keeps Athens Drive streak alive in 4A
By EDDIE SOUTHARDS Jennifer Chang is not an imposing figure – until you put a golf club in her hand. That is when the freshman at Athens Drive High School, who just turned 15, wears braces and stands only 5-foot-4, can be intimidating. Chang shot 74-70 to win the girls’ state 4A state golf…
Cardinal Gibbons runs away to 3A championship
By STEVE WILLIAMS Clear some space in the crowded Cardinal Gibbons trophy case for girls golf. The Crusaders, who have collected close to 50 state titles since joining the North Carolina High School Association in 2005, finally got one in girls golf by dominating a 10-team 3A field on two beautiful late October days at…
Green Hope reaches top of 4A class
By EDDIE SOUTHARDS After two near misses, Green Hope finally rose to the top to win its first girls’ state 4A golf championship. The Falcons put together two solid rounds at Pinehurst No. 1 to claim the team title after finishing third and second the previous two years. They did it behind senior Meghan…
Pashley takes over Pinehurst Resort reigns during upswing
By DAVID DROSCHAK Tom Pashley has seemingly done it all at Pinehurst, from cooking omelets to raking bunkers to working the overnight shift as part of the audit team during his stint in the mid 1990s as part of the resort’s first-ever Manager in Development Program. So, even though some of the names have changed…
Droschak: Changing to Miura irons after a quarter century
Triangle Golf Today editor’s bag now sporting “world’s finest forged irons” By DAVID DROSCHAK When Golf Etc owner Joel Iacovelli informed me an average wedge lasts about 40 rounds before the grooves start diminishing I cringed. Why such a reaction? Well, believe it or not, I’ve been playing the same irons for 26 years. That’s…
McGirt grinds to PGA Tour success
By Stuart Hall Danny Stewart first met William McGirt in 2003 following a round at the Azalea Invitational at Country Club of Charleston (S.C), where Stewart is director of instruction. McGirt asked if Stewart could watch him hit a few shots on the practice range. Stewart recalls McGirt hitting balls until dark took over. The…
Greening up: Four more area courses switch putting surfaces this summer
By Stuart Hall Tami Bright was sitting in her Heritage Golf Club office three days after the reopening of the course’s putting greens following a nearly two-month renovation when a member stopped in her doorway. The brief conversation served as a litmus test for whether the renovation was well received. “It’s good to be back…
Brooks taking new confidence into junior season at Elon
Copyright 2014 USGA/Steven Gibbons By Kurt Dusterberg It has been quite a summer for Emily Brooks. A rising junior at Elon, Brooks first qualified for the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship, then turned around and earned a spot in the U.S. Women’s Amateur. Not so long ago Brooks didn’t have the confidence to find…
Raleigh’s Redman shines at U.S. Junior Amateur
Carolinas Girls’ Championship Jessica Spicer of Bahama captured the Carolinas Girls’ Championship at Hope Valley Country Club by 8 strokes over Jessica Kittelberger of Raleigh. U.S. Junior Amateur THE WOODLANDS, Texas • July 21-26 – Doc Redman of Raleigh, Eric Bae of Cary, and Alex Smalley of Wake Forest qualified for the U.S. Junior Amateur held at…
Sounding Off: Unique seascape experience awaits golfers on OBX
By David Droschak Few places change on a daily basis like the Outer Banks. Guarded to the east by the mighty Atlantic and to the west by a series of picturesque sounds, hurricanes, winter storms, sand dunes and wind have combined to form a magical landscape. The golf at Nags Head Golf Links and sister…
Carolina Trace in Sanford sold
Carolina Trace County Club in Sanford has been acquired by Texas-based Escalante Golf, a boutique owner and operator of high-end golf clubs across the country. Carolina Trace Country Club, opened in 1972, is the centerpiece of the 1,600-home Carolina Trace Community. The club features two layouts designed by acclaimed golf course architect, Robert Trent Jones Sr.…
Carolinas Golf Course Superintendents raise most money
The Carolinas Golf Course Superintendents Association was the forefather of the national Rounds 4 Research fundraising program to benefit turfgrass studies, so it comes as little surprise that the CGCSA led the way in June’s online auction. The association raised more than $35,000 of the $115,500 national total. “We are very excited to raise $35,000…
The doubleheader aftermath: Pinehurst No. 2 on the wild side
BY TIM PEELER Danesha Seth Carley knows not every golf course can undertake an $11 million restoration the way Pinehurst No. 2 did for its unprecedented doubleheader U.S. Opens. The resort paid architects Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw a lot to take the course back to Donald Ross’ original vision when it opened in 1907…
Instructor Spotlight: Ream’s experience complement Prestonwood’s high-tech tools
By Kurt Dusterberg Tom Ream’s work area is full of tools and workbench drawers, but even at first glance, it’s clear that he’s got something different going on in his space. For starters, his setup opens onto the driving range at Prestonwood Country Club in Cary. His modified garage is actually a learning center, where…
Green renovations begin at Heritage Club along with other courses
After weighing the pros and cons for more than a year, Heritage Golf Club in Wake Forest is joining the growing list of North Carolina courses switching to Bermuda greens. The project began in late June and is expected to be completed Sept. 1. Temporary greens were cut over a two-week period so play will…
Brendon Todd joins spotlight of Triangle’s professional stars
By STUART HALL Since before Brendon Todd and Webb Simpson were teenagers, their golf paths have routinely crossed. Todd recalls their initial meeting as junior golfers at Hedingham Golf Club in Raleigh, and Simpson beat him in the final round. For Simpson, the specifics of the first time have faded, but there was a tournament…
U.S. Men’s and Women’s Open Preview
Complete U.S. Open Coverage Will another Open bloom for Rose? Wake Forest grad, Bill Coore, instrumental in restoring Pinehurst #2 Pinehurst #2 presents Women’s Open a “Top 10” Course “Homer” Simpson? Can local knowledge make Webb a two-time Open Champion
Pinehurst Resort acquires National Golf Club
Named Pinehurst No. 9, course will be available immediately to members, early July to resort guests VILLAGE OF PINEHURST, N.C. (June 2, 2014) – Pinehurst Resort & Country Club today announced it has completed the acquisition of National Golf Club under terms finalized with current club owners, the Robinette family. The Jack Nicklaus Signature Design…
Instructor Spotlight: Meditation and movement with former Duke star Jason Widener
By Kurt Dusterberg When Jason Widener was a teenager, golf came easily. He won the USGA’s Junior Amateur championship in 1988, and followed it up by signing with Duke University, where he won medalist honors at the ACC Championship as a freshman in 1990. Then everything changed. “Three quarters of the way through my freshman…
Raleigh Broughton captures 11th state golf title
By DAVID DROSCHAK Anderson Marlowe was trying to keep his 59th birthday quiet, but you’ll have to forgive his Raleigh Broughton golf team for letting loose some as the coach was presented the 4-A state championship trophy. Marlowe was serenaded with a rousing rendition of “Happy Birthday” by a group of ecstatic prep golfers and…
Let the bidding begin: Rounds 4 Research a good bet
By STUART HALL On a winter night in December 2008, Tim Kreger was conducting a fundraiser to benefit the golf team at his alma mater, Clemson University. At night’s end there was a tee time to play Prestwick Country Club in Myrtle Beach, S.C., still available. Kreger did not want to see a free round…
Rex Hospital Open: Two decades of nail-biting finishes
By Stuart Hall Chesson Hadley was born into this world at Rex Hospital. He grew up playing golf in Raleigh. So when he won the Web.com Tour’s Rex Hospital Open last spring the victory represented a win-win proposition for both parties. For Hadley, the win helped launch him to this year’s rookie season on the…
Keeton lands dream job at The Golf Academy
By DAVID DROSCHAK It’s the 50th anniversary of The Beatles coming to America, so it’s fitting Tony Keeton appears to have finally found his way. After migrating from England to the United States in 1997 to play golf at Campbell University, and then bouncing around local clubs such as Lochmere, The Neuse and Johnston County…
Simson selected to U.S. team for inaugural Concession Cup
By DAVID DROSCHAK Renowned amateur golfer Paul Simson of Raleigh has won more than 400 tournaments, from casual member-guest events to the grandest of stages. The 62-year-old Simson will get to enjoy another career highlight the first week of May as part of the United States team competing in the inaugural Concession Cup, the newly…
Add yoga classes to your everyday life
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Corporate identity: core design principles
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Hottest driver has put head size trend in reverse
By STUART HALL The claims by equipment manufacturers are as enticing as those of a carnival barker. Their product will produce more distance, reduce spin rate, improve ball control and help shape shots. In general, your game can only improve, so just step right up. The claims are mixed with technical terms like launch angle,…
Forever Connected: Payne and Pinehurst No. 2
By DAVID DROSCHAK Certain victors and venues in sports are forever connected. There is Babe Ruth and The House That Ruth Built, Bobby Jones and Augusta National, and a legendary University of North Carolina hoops coach and the Dean Dome. As the U.S. Open Championship approaches this June – for the third time in the…
Instructor Spotlight: Dona Lerner’s new direction
By Kurt Dusterberg For more than a decade, Dona Lerner made her name as a golf instructor at The Preserve at Jordan Lake Golf Club outside of Pittsboro. That was her comfort zone, until she asked herself a question. “There’s a time when you say: ‘Am I complacent? Am I making the effort to touch…
Exchanging the batting cage for the practice range
Former Holly Springs baseball player turns to collegiate golf By Kurt Dusterberg Wes Conover grew up with athletic genes on both sides of his family. His father played small-college basketball and his grandfather starred at Syracuse. So Wes followed suit on the court at Holly Springs High School. On his mother’s side, he had four…
Duke’s Roster Mirrors Global Scope of Women’s Golf
By Stuart Hall Dan Brooks arrived at Duke University in 1984 as a young coach taking over a 10-year-old program and knowing only one way to recruit. While the women’s golf landscape has evolved over the last 30 years, Brooks’ recruiting philosophy has not. Considering he is collegiate women’s golf’s winningest coach and has led…
Can anyone catch Georgia Tech at Old North State Club?
By Stuart Hall Whether Duke’s men’s golf team is playing a tournament round or practicing on the range in mid-March, each day is an integral part of a process leading to a larger goal. A few miles away, North Carolina calls that same progression “Play for May,” a simple reminder that the end game is…
Two Triangle juniors headed to The Masters to compete in skills competition
Akshay Bhatia, Jack Massei only North Carolina qualifiers By DAVID DROSCHAK Sonny Bhatia made some recent promises to his son as incentive. One was a round with a caddie at Pinehurst No. 2. The other was a trip to The Masters. “I made him this stupid promise that I would get him to The Masters,…
Finally, the Carolinas Golf Association will get to build its own building, not just an office but also a museum.
The 105-year-old association was started in Charleston, S.C.; has been relatively nomadic: Pinehurst, N.C.; Clemmons, N.C.; Seven Lakes, N.C.; and, now, on the Pine Needles property in Southern Pines, N.C. The CGA purchased an existing building in the Seven Lakers village in 1991 and quickly outgrew out, expanding from a four-person staff to 14 in…
Warm winter weekend
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St. James Plantation: Doing it the Wright Way
By DAVID DROSCHAK Golf course communities hit the accelerator button in the 1990s as North Carolina became a focal point for the booming retirement and second-home market. Couples flocked to these communities, lured by over-the-top promises of lavish amenities and lifestyles. When the economic crash came in 2008, however, many of these developer promises had…
Late charge lifts Emilia Migliaccio to 4-A state title
By CHRISTIAN WORSTELL With nine holes to play in the 4-A state golf championship, Emilia Migliaccio found herself at a crossroads. She could’ve hung her head and just gone through the motions. Or she could’ve done what she did next. Proving that the moment was not too big for the 14-year-old freshman from Athens Drive,…
Lee County’s Shoomee shows the way in 3-A title
By EDDIE SOUTHARDS Coach Doc Snyder has struggled to find enough players for the girls’ golf program at Lee County High School. But he has found one gem, namely a pearl, in sophomore Siranon Shoomee, who won the 3-A state individual title at Foxfire Resort and Golf Club in late October. Shoomee goes by the…
A solution to your putting woes
By Jay Allred Most golfers walk into a golf shop, pick up a putter and start trying to see if they can make a few putts from 10 feet to decide if the flat stick fits their game. In a few months they are in search of another putter, but Edel Golf is trying to…
Finishing touches applied to Lonnie Poole Golf Course
By STUART HALL Chip Watson hasn’t tired of listening to praise golfers have for Lonnie Poole Golf Course. At times, though, the general manager of the North Carolina State University layout became weary of the first impressions and last words. “When you rode up here, the first thing you saw was the trailer [as the…
SwingPals: Kids that need something more than a sport
By Kurt Dusterberg When PGA professional Doug Hodges created SwingPals four years ago he wanted to use the game of golf and all its virtues to help kids reach their potential. But he didn’t just test the tenets of the game on the sport’s usual clientele. Instead, he took golf where the values were needed…
Former UNC coach back in the swing of things
John Inman played 14 events on Champions Tour in 2013 By DAVID DROSCHAK Two-time PGA Tour winner and former University of North Carolina men’s golf coach John Inman thought his days of competitive golf were numbered after an uneventful run on the Web.com in 2011 and an even less stellar attempt at Champions Tour Q-School…
Eric Bae fires final-round 63, wins TYGA state title
By MARC PRUITT TYGA State Championship BUIES CREEK, Oct. 12-13 ● Eric Bae of Cary fired a 9-under 63 in the final round to capture the TYGA State Championship by eight shots at Keith Hills Country Club. Bae, a sophomore at Raleigh Athens Drive, finished with a two day total of 11-under par 133. Bae,…
Mental Training: Playing Reward Golf
By Seth Kaplan I often say to my golfers, “You go for the reward, you get the reward!” However, too often competitive juniors, collegiate players, and pros do not trust in their shotmaking abilities, especially when they have opportunities to score. For example, let’s say you are 100 yards out and the pin is in…
PGA Junior League a hit with new approach to team competition
By STUART HALL From the front, the team-issued golf shirts looked typically routine – button, collars, logo on the chest. But emblazoned on the back were numbers, which brought a few mixed reactions from players. The symbolism, though, was not lost on Colby Jackson. This summer, Jackson, 13, was a member of River Ridge Golf Club’s…
Big I state champ climbs to top of state rankings
By MARC PRUITT The daunting task of stepping into the halls of Athens Drive High School for the first time didn’t faze incoming freshman Emilia Migliaccio. “Honestly, I’m a little more nervous standing over a 5-foot, downhill, left-to-right putt for par than starting high school,” she said. “I’ve experienced plenty of pressure situations on the…
Highly decorated, never duplicated Tobacco Road receives world ranking
By DAVID DROSCHAK When the Pinehurst/Southern Pines/Aberdeen Area Convention and Visitors Bureau proclaimed itself the “Home of American Golf” neighboring Lee County wasn’t necessarily in the equation. After all, Sanford was once “The Brick Capital of the World” and very little high-end golf existed. But if there was ever a game changer it was Tobacco…
Keith Hills Golf Club an enticing Triangle alternative
Campbell University course to celebrate 40th anniversary in 2014 By STUART HALL The two weathered silos standing sentinel by the eighth green of Keith Hills Golf Club’s White Course are as much a conversational design element as they are confounding. The silos, remnants of an old dairy farm that were used to store grain, have…
Mike Hicks opens instruction center at Mill Creek
Former caddy for Payne Stewart shifting golf careers By DAVID DROSCHAK Mike Hicks has read thousands of left-to-right putts on the PGA Tour during his 33 years as a caddy, toted the bag for major champions Payne Stewart and Justin Leonard, traveled the globe, and witnessed professional golf’s psychological pressures up close and personal. A…
Mental conditioning a growing segment of the golf game
By Stuart Hall Golf history is abundantly filled with victories claimed as a result of another golfer’s failures. Few can forget Rory McIlroy’s final round at the Masters two years ago. He began the day with a four-stroke lead, but starting with the 10th hole, made triple bogey-bogey-double bogey en route to an 80 as…
Reg Jones: Overseeing the overlooked at the 2014 U.S. Opens
By Christian Worstell In the heart of the village of Pinehurst is a quaint little sandwich shop. On a Tuesday afternoon, locals and out-of-towners flood the atmosphere with talk of golf, specifically next year’s U.S. Open to be held at Pinehurst No. 2. Through a narrow side door and up a set of creaky wooden…
Golf course real estate moving the meter again
By Kurt Dusterberg Knocked flat by the Great Recession, the retirement and second home golf course real estate market across the Triangle and North Carolina is finally coming back to life. For proof, look no further than St. James Plantation, the 6,000-acre golf and marina community near Southport, which has attracted approximately $50 million in…
Raleigh-based McConnell Golf producing young talent
The McConnell Golf Junior Scholarship is an innovative program designed to offer instruction, practice and playing opportunities to young golfers that may not have the financial means to practice at first-class facilities. Certain criteria needs to be met, including level of talent, need and commitment to the sport – as well as his proven dedication and…
Myrtle Beach courses riding wave of change to ultradwarf bermudagrass greens
By JOHN BRASIER No more than a decade ago, replacing healthy bentgrass greens with bermudagrass putting surfaces would have been unpopular and bad for business for elite golf courses along Myrtle Beach’s Grand Strand. “Everybody wanted to play bentgrass greens,” said Max Morgan, vice president of agronomy for National Golf Management’s 22 Myrtle Beach-area courses.…
Campbell instructor David Orr on team of U.S. Open winner Justin Rose
By DAVID DROSCHAK Putting and short-game instructor David Orr had a nice list of clientele from his humble and somewhat secluded home base in small town Buies Creek that included PGA Tour players Charlie Wi, Roberto Castro, Troy Matteson and North Carolina’s Neal Lancaster. So it was exciting last June when he received a call…
Professional Spotlight: Lochmere’s Ben Hynson
Ben Hynson sits in Lochmere Golf Club’s grill room on a Thursday morning, relaxed and looking refreshed. Around him golfers pass en route to tee times; a staff member wonders aloud if mats should be used on the practice range; and a nearby table of men debates whatever comes to mind. For more than 25…
Focus shifts to Pinehurst Resort for historic U.S. Opens
By DAVID DROSCHAK Few golf courses stir up emotions for Webb Simpson like Pinehurst No. 2. His family owns a home in the area, he’s a huge fan of Donald Ross layouts and as a youngster was a standard barrier for Tom Watson’s group during the 1999 U.S. Open. Simpson was dejected when he failed…
Wolfpack golf course receives prestigious environmental honor
Lonnie Poole Golf Course has become a certified Audubon International Signature Golf Sanctuary and member of the organization’s Signature Program. Charles Peacock, a professor in North Carolina State’s crop science department, emphasizes that the Signature Program is an elite Audubon International category. Peacock, who has worked for the past 15 years with close to 200…
Griffin turns in another remarkable state tournament performance
By DAVID DROSCHAK Ben Griffin is two years older, more than two inches taller and now a two-time state champion after posting two sub-70 rounds in his latest remarkable golfing foray around one of Pinehurst Resort’s courses. Griffin, who caught everybody’s attention as a diminutive baby-faced 15-year-old freshmen when he won the 2011 4-A championship…
Pinecrest wins second state title in six seasons in dramatic fashion
By DAVID DROSCHAK The Martins have been in the spotlight for more than a decade now, two brothers from the Pinehurst area who began dominating U.S. Kids Golf World Championships at a young age, then progressing into highly ranked junior players. Back in the day, they went by Zachary and Joshua. Now, they have surged…
Kyle Franz: Young architect making his mark in the Sandhills
By DAVID DROSCHAK Kyle Franz has worked as an understudy for some of the top architects in the business – Tom Doak, Bill Coore, Ben Crenshaw and Gil Hanse – and on some of the best projects – the Pinehurst No. 2 restoration and currently the 2016 Olympic course in Rio de Janeiro – prior…
Skills Challenge: A creative way for golfers to identify strengths – or weaknesses
By Stuart Hall For all of Augusta National Golf Club’s abounding azaleas, magnolias and acres of immaculate grass, one of this year’s more popular spots among the patrons was a wooded area of pine straw needles roughly 35 yards right of the par-4 10th hole’s fairway landing area. It’s where a year earlier, left-hander Bubba…
Camels riding wave of tournament success with international flavor
By Kurt Dusterberg The Campbell women’s golf team does a lot of things well. The Camels rank in the top 10 nationally in par-3 scoring. They’re No. 3 in eagles. Birdies? They have more than any school in the country. But what they do best lately is win. In March, Campbell’s team total of 870…
Mid Pines Resort the latest in Sandhills throwback mode
Facing greens that were last redone in the 1960s and some brutal North Carolina summers, Pine Needles and Mid Pines Resort president Kelly Miller knew he had to pull the trigger sooner than later on his struggling putting surfaces at Mid Pines. Miller met young architect Kyle Franz a few years ago while he was…
Duke sets school record in capturing 2013 ACC Championship
By DAVID DROSCHAK Jamie Green couldn’t even text his family or friends to relay the news that his Duke Blue Devils won the 2013 Atlantic Coast Conference Men’s Golf Championship in dramatic fashion. Torrential rain over the final nine holes fried the coach’s cell phone. But there were plenty of high-fives and hugs to go…
Studio photography secrets
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ACC Men’s Golf Championship celebrates 60 years this spring
BY JOHN DELL When North Carolina State golfer Albin Choi tells somebody where he’s from he usually waits for the next question. “Immediately they will say, ‘Do you like hockey?’” Choi said. “And my response is, ‘of course I like hockey.”’ Choi, a junior who has lived in Toronto most of his life, loves sticks…
Duncan leading Duke charge in ACC women’s golf
BY JOHN DELL After owning the ACC Women’s Golf Championships for more than a decade, the Duke Blue Devils had a three-year lull. That all changed last spring when the Blue Devils won their 17th ACC title and 16th under coach Dan Brooks at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro. Brooks wouldn’t say that it was…
The Sandhills: Where golf is a way of life
By STUART HALL In Steve Johnson’s 30-plus years of working in the golf industry, only once in his travels has he found a place as unique a golf destination as Pinehurst. “The first time I went to St. Andrews I was struck by how alike the two places are,” said Johnson, regional general manager for…
Prestonwood’s Junior Golf Program: A stepping stone to college and beyond
By John Dell Trying to figure out where former junior golfers from Prestonwood Country Club have landed in college is not easy. The roster is a big one of former and current college golfers who excelled thanks in large part to getting their start in Prestonwood’s junior program. The sprawling facility in Cary, which has 54…
Tires meet Turf: Pinehurst Resort to host first-ever Concours event in May
May is prime golfing season in Pinehurst as emerald green fairways emerge and temperatures creep into the 80s. But for the first time in its rich history “tires meets turf” as Pinehurst Resort will host the inaugural Pinehurst Concours d’Elegance. More than 100 of the world’s most beautiful vehicles from some of the most celebrated…
2012 N.C. All-State Boys’ and Girls’ Golf Teams Announced
The Tarheel Youth Golf Association and the Carolinas Golf Association have named 30 boys and 30 girls to the 2012 N.C. All-State Golf Teams honoring those junior golfers who have had the most success in amateur and junior golf events at the local, state, regional and national levels over the past 12 months. 2012 N.C.…
North Carolina 2013 college golf signees
Girls Sarah Bae, Raleigh, NC High Point Sarah Bertram, Concord, NC Gardner-Webb Hannah Craver, Winston-Salem, NC Appalachian State Evelyn Dole, Raleigh, NC Virginia Marley Felthousen, Powell’s Point, NC Converse Bethany Galloway, Charlotte, NC Western Carolina Allea Hawkins, Hendersonville, NC USC-Upstate Katherine Lail, Taylorsville, NC Mars Hill Allyson Markiewicz, Charlotte, NC Wofford Lucia Polo, Greensboro, NC…
Unpretentious Pine Crest Inn celebrating 100 years of golfing folklore
By DAVID DROSCHAK The stories may have been exaggerated over the years, the truth stretched a bit here and there, but Pine Crest Inn’s assessment of 45,000 drinks poured annually to golfing foursomes is likely right on target. Regarded as one of the nation’s best 19th holes, the historic inn begins a year-long celebration this…
Cardinal Gibbons takes third in 3-A states
Cardinal Gibbons posted another third-place finish in the 3-A state high school girls’ golf tournament, this time at Longleaf Golf and Country Club in Southern Pines. The Crusaders, led by Caroline O’Neil’s ninth-place effort, shot 270 and 269 on two cold, windy days on the par-71 course and ended 33 shots off the pace of…
Sarah Bae closes high school career with elusive title
By EDDIE SOUTHARDS Sarah Bae walked off the 18th green at Pinehurst No. 6 in tears for the second straight year. Only this time, they were tears of joy. The Raleigh Athens Drive senior won the girls’ 4-A state high school golf championship in dramatic fashion. Bae sank a 20-foot birdie putt on the second…
UNC Finley’s $4 million clubhouse renovation completed
UNC Finley’s major clubhouse renovation project is complete, with plenty of Carolina Blue paint and cool Tar Heel fixtures adorning the walls. The 9,500 square-foot facility opened Sept. 13. One of the highlights is the A.E. Finley Memorabilia Room, which is dedicated to Finley, who was instrumental in the funding of the original golf course…
N.C. State breaks ground on new clubhouse at Lonnie Poole Golf Course
By DAVID DROSCHAK It’s probably no accident North Carolina State men’s golf team hasn’t won an outright ACC championship in 59 years. Yearning for a golf course to call its own for decades, the university finally funded Lonnie Poole Golf Club. And while the Arnold Palmer Design Co. layout has won numerous accolades as one…
Catherine Ashworth: A solid golfing bet
By Kurt Dusterberg When Catherine Ashworth was a little girl her dad would take her out while he played a few holes in the evenings. “I would strap her car seat on the golf cart and play a little bit, maybe three to five holes a couple nights a week,” Steve Ashworth explained. Before long,…
SAS Championship connects on and off the links
By Kurt Dusterberg SAS Championship officials hope to connect with more than just the golf crowd. Maintaining community involvement at the Champions Tour tournament the first week of October is critical to the mission. “This event continues to have a very solid foundation in the community,” said tournament director Jeff Kleiber. “We’re trying to expand…
Knohles: Under the radar no longer
Former Green Hope golfer on professional fast track By Stuart Hall At an early-season practice in 2006, Green Hope High School golf coach David Allen dismissed his players for the evening by suggesting they work on putting at least once a week. A suggested drill was making 100 consecutive 4-footers. With that advice Ben Kohles…
PGA Tour teacher hired at Old Chatham Golf Club
Renowned PGA Tour teaching professional Patrick Kelley is making the move from instruction full time on the PGA Tour to having his players come to him at Old Chatham Golf Club. Kelley has taught several professional clients, including David Mathis, Brad Fritsch, Michael Putnam, Andrew Putnam and Justin Walters, who have won a combined eight…
Pinehurst to convert No. 1 greens to Bermuda
Pinehurst Resort announced that it is converting the greens on Pinehurst No. 1 to heat-resistant Bermuda grass, which will enhance play throughout the year and particularly during the heat of summer. The project, which began in July and is scheduled to be finished in September 2012, also includes construction of a new par-3 and small…
Webb Simpson returns a major champion
By David Droschak Two wins, both groundbreaking in the PGA Tour career of one James Frederick Webb Simpson. But in terms of confidence, what a difference a year makes. Last August at Sedgefield Country Club, the former Wake Forest University All-American was grinding on Tour, and in his own words, “pressing” for that initial victory.…
Small-Town Santee: Simplicity in a complex golf world
By DAVID DROSCHAK The population of Santee in the South Carolina Lowcountry has grown by 30 percent in the last decade, but still doesn’t top 1,000 folks. You won’t find a Ruth’s Chris Steak House or Grand Hyatt Hotel, or any swank resorts to rival those in well-known Palmetto State golfing destinations Charleston, Hilton Head…
Rediscovering a Johnston Country classic
By DAVID DROSCHAK The 75th anniversary of the Country Club of Johnston County was met with little fanfare in 2011. The Smithfield club was in the process of being sold, a search was on for a new general manager and membership had dipped to alarming lows. In short, the 1936 Ellis Maples classic was at…
Raleigh’s Courtney McKim wins N.C. Women’s Am
MORGANTON – Courtney McKim, a member of the University of Alabama golf team that won the NCAA Championship in May, added an individual title to her 2012 collection when she won the North Carolina Women’s Amateur on June 14. McKim, who was a state high school champion at Wakefield High School in Raleigh, won the…
Hillandale: Century-old Durham icon getting facelift
By KURT DUSTERBERG As the director of golf at Hillandale Golf Course, Karl Kimball often surveys the course and asks: “What will this look like 20 years from now?” In recent years, he didn’t like the answers. With that in mind, the Durham landmark is taking a break this summer. The 101-year old course is…
Webb Simpson wins U.S. Open returns to Wyndham Championship
Simpson’s Open victory resonates across Tar Heel state Webb Simpson may have claimed his U.S. Open victory in California — three time zones away — but his first major championship was ultra popular across the state of North Carolina. In particular, longtime Wyndham Championship tournament director Mark Brazil was rooting for the Raleigh native since…
Broughton freshmen lead state title charge
By DAVID DROSCHAK High school golf at inner city school Raleigh Broughton comes with a bit of added pressure since alumni include PGA Tour star Webb Simpson and former two-time Ryder Cup player Scott Hoch, along with nine state championships for the school off of St. Mary’s Street. The Purple and Gold has also watched…
Pinehurst No. 9 on the horizon?
The routing for a ninth Pinehurst Resort golf course has been completed on the site of the former Pit Golf Links, but it’s unlikely construction on a new layout will begin within the next two years. Resort president Don Padgett II told Triangle Golf Today architect Bill Coore, part of the team along with Ben…
Choi latest N.C. State find north of the border
By Kurt Dusterberg Albin Choi grew up in Toronto – hockey country. And while he loves Canada’s native sport, he knew he wasn’t cut out for a career on the ice. “I wasn’t big enough to skate as well as the other guys did,” he said. So when other Canadian kids were lacing up skates,…
Travel USA: Mystical Golf a memorable Myrtle Beach trip
By David Droschak Mystical Golf president and CEO Claude Pardue insists there was no magical formula, no inside trade secrets, that allowed him to survive, heck, even prosper, during the recent golf course contraction in Myrtle Beach. As some noted courses disappeared into economic despair, Pardue’s three layouts, with their catchy names, memorable logos, unique…
The Mental Minute
As a performance coach I have had many conversations with students who think confidence is built through hours of practice and multiple repetitions. They believe they must fix problems in their swing and get it “right” before they’re able to see results. They want to see results before they believe in their ability. Though I…
Short Game Principles ….
by David Orr One common trait of players who seem to possess “short game wizardry” is how consistently they strike both the ball and the ground. The wonderful “acoustics” of solid contact! Where the ball is struck first and second, the sole of the club being “thumped” against the ground. There is no greater feeling…
North Carolina College Golf Signings
Class of 2012 Girls Will Attend Taylor Allison, Elizabeth City, NC Western Carolina Laura Bird, Maxton, NC UNC-Pembroke Emily Brooks, Chapel Hill, NC Elon Lily Crane, Jamestown, NC UNC-Greensboro Madalyn Davis, Marion, NC Appalachian Mary Katherine Donovan, Wilmington, NC Gardner-Webb Lane Gakeler, Greensboro, NC East Carolina Mary-Katelyn Holanek, Cary, NC Campbell Mariah Hopkins, Greensboro, NC…
A golf trip of note: Cutter Creek offers world-class golf in Eastern North Carolina
By DAVID DROSCHAK Timing is often crucial in business. Cam McRae is living proof. McRae had just turned 30 when he bought the Eastern North Carolina rights for a little-known chicken-and-biscuit franchise. He took a calculated risk, packed up his wife and two young children and left his hometown of Charlotte to open his first…
Andrews helps Georgia Tech to fourth straight ACC men’s championship
Wake’s Lee Bedford finishes second individually By DAVID DROSCHAK Bo Andrews knew he was joining a winning golf program in Atlanta a few years ago after a stellar prep career at Raleigh Ravenscroft. However, he may not have banked on this much success. The sophomore was one of four Georgia Tech underclassmen who finished seventh…
Duke back on top in ACC women’s golf
By HEATHER ANGELL Atlantic Coast Conference women’s golf power Duke, without a league title since 2008, was able to recapture its conference dominance in April. Coming off a loss in a playoff the week before at the Bryan National Collegiate, the Blue Devils led wire-to-wire to beat defending champion North Carolina by 10 shots at…
Golfers enjoying softer, more gentle Lonnie Poole
By DAVID DROSCHAK If you’ve flipped a club or two in disgust at Lonnie Poole Golf Course you’re not alone. In just a few short years since opening, North Carolina State’s layout has earned a reputation as one of the most difficult tests of golf in the state. At 7,358 yards from the “Competition” tees,…
The Remake Takes: Pinehurst No. 2 Restoration A Hit
By David Droschak To use baseball vernacular, Pinehurst Resort “hit one out of the park” with its restoration of the famed No. 2 course. Play on the world-renowned Donald Ross design increased by 10 percent last year after it re-opened in March as the architectural team of Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore created a reverse…
Wil-Mar Golf Club “hangs its hat” on family tree
By Kurt Dusterberg When Fran Wilkerson says Wil-Mar Golf Club is a family business, it’s a bit of an understatement. Most of her family tree has played a role in operating one of the oldest-run golf courses in Raleigh. Wilkerson is the woman who runs the golf operation and gives the lessons, but she will…
Legacy Golf Links re-opens with final piece of the renovation puzzle
By David Droschak Staying on top of the competitive golf business in the North Carolina Sandhills takes time, commitment and money. Fall behind ever so slightly and another golf course – figuratively a driver and chip shot away – is ready to steal your golfers. With that in mind, the closing of Legacy Golf Links…
Northwood’s steady climb ends as state runner-up
By STEVE WILLIAMS SOUTHERN PINES – Northwood’s girls golf program will be forever indebted to Emily Brooks and Maggie Denny. “This team was actually started because of those two,” said Chargers coach Karen Crisp. “Northwood did not have a team before they came along so it just speaks wonders for what they’ve done.” The Chargers…
Expanding Golf Etc. lands in Triangle market
By David Droschak From his early years as a cart boy working his way through college to his most recent position as head pro at his hometown golf course in Roxbury, N.Y., 38-year-old Joel Iacovelli dreamed of owning his own business. So how did Iacovelli manage to make it from a tiny town in the…
Athens Drive rallies yet again for 4-A title
By Eddie Southards Coming from behind is familiar territory in high school state tournaments for 4-A women’s power Athens Drive. The Jaguars, a runner-up in 2010, carded a two-day total of 481 at Pinehurst No. 6 to beat Reagan of Forsyth County by 10 shots en route to their third state title in four years.…
Legendary golf instructor Peggy Kirk Bell celebrates birthday milestone
By David Droschak The confident words emanating from 90-year-old Peggy Kirk Bell ring just as true as they have for decades of legendary instruction of what we all consider one of the more complex tasks in sports – perfecting the golf swing. “Keep it simple,” Mrs. Bell says. “I don’t think it’s hard to teach…
Traditional Golf Properties adds Falls Village to expanding North Carolina portfolio
By David Droschak After spending the better part of its existence in flux after a failed land development project didn’t produce any dirt movement, Falls Village Golf Club is about to come to life in a big way. The public layout located off Highway 98 in Durham was purchased by Virginia-based Traditional Golf Properties in…
Prestonwood’s grand scale
By DAVID DROSCHAK Spend a few minutes on the grounds of Prestonwood Country Club and its grand scale, its attention to detail, its positive vibe, are palpable – offering up a leisure lifestyle that’s ultra appealing. Read More
Falls Village Golf Club Is Latest Acquisition For Traditional Golf Properties
Expands Portfolio to 16 Courses with 3 in Raleigh-Durham Market Durham, NC – October 19, 2011 – Traditional Golf Properties and a team of investors acquired Falls Village Golf Club in Durham, NC yesterday, expanding their cluster in the Raleigh-Durham market to three golf courses. Traditional Golf Management, based in Williamsburg, VA will be…
Golfing no longer foreign to Sarah Bae
By KURT DUSTERBERG Five years ago, golf was a foreign concept to Sarah Bae. So was speaking English. When she left South Korea for the United States at age 12, Bae met her first challenge – the language barrier – head on. “I had to adapt and learn to communicate,” she says with the no-big-deal…
Junior Golf Results
Dylan Harris wins AJGA title in final junior event Dylan Harris closed out his junior career in style. The Southern Pines resident led from start to finish while winning the American Junior Golf Association’s Webb Simpson Junior Championship at the Tanglewood Park Championship Course in Clemmons. A closing 69 on Aug. 18 followed rounds of…
First Tee forecaddie program pace-setter for Lonnie Poole Golf Club
By DAVID DROSCHAK Lonnie Poole Golf Course opened to great fanfare in late 2009. The North Carolina State University community, which had waited so long for a golf course to call its own, flocked to the Arnold Palmer Design Co. layout. And Lonnie Poole was voted the Best New Public Course in North Carolina. All…
Fall Escape: Tee it up in North Carolina Wine Country
By David Droschak As we inch further away from the summer solstice, kids have returned to school and beach vacations are in the rear-view mirror, our attention turns to weekend golf getaways. Packing a lot into a little box is often difficult; or just finding a unique place to relax, somewhere distinct yet with variety,…
Jack Fields: Pinehurst’s Next Great Hope
By David Droschak Here’s a quiz. Who is the greatest golfer to come out of the Pinehurst area? Or has there ever been one? Harvie Ward doesn’t count. He was born in Tarboro. If you guessed Billy Joe Patton, well, that would be wrong, too. Patton, who finished third in the 1954 Masters, was from…
The Club at 12 Oaks on solid footing
By David Droschak If there’s a golf course development in the Triangle on the verge of something special it has to be The Club at 12 Oaks. The private club located in Holly Springs was opened just prior to the 2008 economic recession and had a difficult beginning, but has since re-launched its brand South…
Two courses make Rumbling Bald great mountain getaway
By KEITH JARRETT The options for fun and entertainment at Rumbling Bald Resort on Lake Lure stretch as far and wide as the blue waters which surround this golf and vacation destination. Start with 36 holes: the Apple Valley and Bald Mountain championship courses that offer two distinctly different layouts but similar feels for challenge,…
Construction set to begin on Finley Golf Course clubhouse
By Kurt Dusterberg The University of North Carolina’s Finley Golf Course has had its makeover. Now it’s time for the clubhouse to receive a facelift. “It’s certainly showing its age at this time,” said Johnny Cake, the director of golf at UNC. The original clubhouse was built along with the course in 1949 by Raleigh…
Sapp returns to take over Tar Heel men’s golf program
By KURT DUSTERBERG Andrew Sapp could count on one repetitive question from recruits and their parents as golf coach at the University of Michigan. “What do you guys do in the winter?” Sapp recites. “I can’t tell you how many players I’ve lost out on at Michigan who wanted to go farther south.” Problem solved.…
Travel North Carolina: Gaming and Golf in the Tar Heel State
By David Droschak Harrah’s Cherokee Casino is growing faster than a spinning slot machine reel. The resort destination bordering the Great Smoky Mountains National Park has a new luxury hotel that towers over the town of Cherokee, it recently opened a pair of 1,900-square-foot high roller suites on the 21st floor and a Ruth’s Chris…
The Boss wins the state’s top prize in 4-A golf
Complete High School Coverage By David Droschak It’s understandable that Ben Griffin relates better to Justin Bieber than Justin Rose. North Carolina’s new 4-A individual golf champion turned 15 years old just five days before stunning a talented field at Pinehurst No. 6, a group of golfers that included Grayson Murray (who is headed to…
Stewart breaks CGA color barrier with senior victory
By Kurt Dusterberg For Angela Stewart, golf was a last-resort sport. “I got too old to play softball,” she said with a laugh. Year after year, Stewart was a regular on the rec league ball fields of Greenville, N.C. When she tore her ACL at 38, it was time to leave the diamond life behind.…
Mental Minute
What do you do after you hit a disappointing shot? If you are like most golfers, you’ll try to figure out what went wrong. After a few disappointments you may even start to get mad at yourself, and the downward spiral begins. Do you spend as much time focusing on and enjoying the good shots? Probably not.…
A putting pilgrimage to The Creek
By KURT DUSTERBERG For many of us, working on our golf game means a trip to the driving range. You pull out the BIG STICK, rip a few to the other end of the range, and feel like you’re in good form. David Orr is here to tell you what you probably already know, deep…
Dormie Club: A throwback course where “less is more”
By David Droschak Developers of the newest golf course in the Sandhills joke that “one foot of dirt” was moved to build Dormie Club. While that’s a slight exaggeration and virtually unheard of in today’s “bulldozer age” of golf course design, Dormie Club’s natural setting really is a throwback layout in the ilk of British…
Travel North Carolina: High Hampton offers a smorgasbord of family fun
By JAY ALLRED For close to a century, High Hampton Inn & Country Club, surrounded by the eternal beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Cashiers, has been hosting generation-after-generation of golfers and vacationers who return to rejuvenate their souls and reconnect amidst the 1,400-acre playground. This rustic resort is, arguably, one of America’s top…
Tar Heels capture school’s first ACC team crown in 19 years
By David Droschak Cheyenne Woods was facing the exact same scenario as a year ago, tied for the lead after shooting the same scores, on the same golf course, with the same goal at stake – the ACC Women’s Individual Golf Championship. This time around, the niece of Tiger Woods was determined not to let…
Pit Golf Links to remain closed for the year
VILLAGE OF PINEHURST, N.C. (March 14, 2011) – PCC Realty LLC, which is controlled by the owners of Pinehurst Resort, today announced that it will not reopen the newly-acquired Pit Golf Links at least for the remainder of 2011. After an extensive review, PPC officials determined that in lieu of current economic conditions and the required…
A blast from the past: Pinehurst No. 2 reopens with more sand, wire grass and additional drama
By David Droschak The work is complete …. Now the reviews start. In what some have described as a bold move after two successful U.S. Opens and a unique USGA double-header on the horizon in 2014, Pinehurst Resort is ready to unveil the throwback design of its classic No. 2 course to the golfing public.…
Tee to Green Apex named Top 100 Clubfitter
By Kurt Dusterberg When your golf game goes south, sometimes you don’t want take responsibility for all those double bogeys. It’s not me, you rationalize. It’s my equipment. And you might be right. As technology has advanced, so has the business of custom fitting golf clubs. Tee to Green Practice Range and Golf Shop in…
Koury’s dreams of grandeur: Greensboro’s Grandover Resort
By DAVID DROSCHAK It has been 13 years since the passing of real estate mogul Joseph Koury, but Mo Milani can rattle off stories about the early development of Grandover Resort on demand, offering vivid details of long walks the two shared, covering every piece of dirt, every plan, and every idea for the…
Boyd loses five-year battle with leukemia
Bob Boyd, one of the most accomplished golfers in the history of the Carolinas PGA Section, recently lost his five-year battle with leukemia. He was 55. Nicknamed “Big Pro” and playing out of Wilmington, Boyd won 26 individual and 20 team major Section championships, and was named Carolinas PGA Section Player of the Year a…
Renowned Donald Ross design becomes McConnell Golf’s seventh course in Carolinas
McConnell Golf, LLC has announced the purchase of its seventh premier golf club in the Carolinas, Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, N.C., a renowned Donald Ross design and site of PGA TOUR’s Wyndham Championship. Sedgefield CC’s membership debated the possible sale throughout most of 2010, and after considering all options decided that the sale to…
Mental Minute
We ended last season by posing the question: Is seeing believing, or is believing seeing? Let me start this golf year in the same vein: If you are serious about improving your game, regardless of your mechanical skills, you must find a way to be comfortable with uncertainty. The need to get a certain result…
2010 North Carolina All State Boys and Girls Team
2010 North Carolina All State Boys Team West End, NC—30 boys have been named to the 2010 N.C. Boys’ All-State Golf Teams by the Carolinas Golf Association and the Tarheel Youth Golf Association honoring those junior golfers who have had the most success in amateur and junior golf events at the local, state, regional and…
Sarah Bae and Davis Womble Named N.C. Junior Players of the Year
N.C. junior golf’s best honored by the Carolinas Golf Association and the Tarheel Youth Golf Association West End, NC—Sarah Bae of Cary and Davis Womble of High Point have been named the 2010 N.C. Junior Players of the Year by the Tarheel Youth Golf Association (TYGA) and the Carolinas Golf Association (CGA). The N.C.…
Pinehurst No. 2 Closing until March 2011
Pinehurst No. 2, the site of the U.S. Open and U.S. Women’s Open in consecutive weeks in 2014, will close in the winter as the final stages of the course’s restoration project are completed. The famed course, designed by legendary architect Donald Ross, will close Nov. 16 and reopen sometime in March 2011, Pinehurst officials…
Junior Notes: Day’s Time: Victory at Cheves Invitational caps great year for Raleigh junior
Wilson Day has had a tremendous year by any measuring stick. Top-10s in some of the biggest junior tournaments around, along with a tie for eighth in the Carolinas Amateur highlight his 2010 accomplishments. But he didn’t have a victory until September when he won the Joe Cheves Junior Invitational with an amazing comeback that…
NCHSAA Championship: Northwood climbs to fourth
By STEVE WILLIAMS Pittsboro Northwood has made another step forward in establishing its position among the best 3-A teams in the state. The Chargers finished eighth with an all-freshman lineup in 2008, moved up to fifth in 2009 and climbed another notch to fourth this time around. They will have their sights set on challenging…
Athens Drive settles for second in NCHSAA 4-A
By STEVE HANF Tony Alcon watched his Athens Drive girls soar to new heights the last two years. The Jaguars flew so high, in fact, that the coach could only marvel at the depths of despair experienced at the N.C. High School Athletic Association 4-A Championship on Nov. 1. “To be heartbroken over a second-place…
Mental Minute
With the days getting shorter and the golf season coming to a close, now is the perfect time to reflect on this year and plan for 2011. What worked well this year? What did not? And what is your game plan to work on your mental and emotional game during the offseason? Good golf shots…
Rumbling Bald Resort on Lake Lure
Play two of North Carolina’s most beautiful golf courses in the Blue Ridge Mountains at Rumbling Bald Resort on Lake Lure. Visit us online to book an affordable stay & play package for a perfect golf vacation any time of the year. Play 18 spectacular holes, stay the night and play a different 18-hole course…
Chapel Hill freshman building on summer success
By Carter Cheves Talk to most young accomplished golfers today, and they’ll tell you they had golf clubs in their hands as toddlers, whacking around the yard, sometimes the house, and going to the driving range with a parent at a very early age. Chapel Hill’s Benjamin Griffin is one of those golfers who started…
Fall Escape: Mount Mitchell’s beauty factor ramped up in the fall
By David Droschak Celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Blue Ridge Parkway wouldn’t be complete without paying homage to one of the truly great public golf courses in the state of North Carolina. Mount Mitchell Golf Club in Yancey County is just a five-minute drive from the National Scenic Byway, sitting in a “valley”…
Champions Tour marks 10th year at Prestonwood
By Kurt Dusterberg In the world of professional tournament golf, longevity can be elusive. That’s why this year’s 10th anniversary of the SAS Championship at Prestonwood Country Club in Cary is a meaningful milestone. “The biggest challenge is how to take a very good event and try to grow it and make it even better…
LPGA, Crooked Creek team up to help fight cancer
A charity golf tournament held at Crooked Creek Golf Club in mid August to help fund cancer research raised more than $10,000. The inaugural Kay Yow WBCA Cancer Fund LPGA Pro-Am drew 31 LPGA or Futures Tour pros, along with 155 players. That group included Ashley Prange, a former University of North Carolina star golfer…
Summer Escape: Scenic golf along North Carolina’s Albemarle Sound
By David Droschak Golf course architects are handed varying degrees of landscapes in which to build and design layouts – some good, some challenging and then some that are quite simply spectacular settings. The Sound at Albemarle Plantation in Hertford would fall under the latter category with its panoramic views of the expansive water, cypress…
Benny Dean: Working a driving range from all angles
Like so many driving range facilities, Falls Golf Complex has a folksy feeling. A red sign on the front door says, “Come On In!” Regulars know the lay of the land, and they sometimes recognize fellow customers who are better known for sports other than golf. “Eric Cole comes in here pretty regularly,” says owner…
Personal wedges latest creation by Vokey
By Stuart Hall In a gentlemanly gesture, your buddy picks up the wedge you left on the green’s fringe. As he is about to hand it over, he notices something unique about the 56-degree Vokey wedge. Whoa. This is not just any Vokey wedge, but a customized and personalized Vokey wedge. Titleist recently introduced a…
Snowdon perfecting the three Rs of used golf balls – recover, restore and resell
By David Droschak The most sinking feeling in all of golf is watching a perfectly good ball – maybe one you’ve hit just a few times – dive head-first into a lake, never to be found. Think again. There’s a better than even chance your Titleist, Callaway or Nike will not only be recovered, but…
Junior Golf Notebook
Taelor Rubin captures Twin States Junior title BLYTHEWOOD, S.C. – Taelor Rubin of Raleigh led wire-to-wire and claimed her first Carolinas Golf Association junior title when she won the 44th Twin State Junior Girls Championship. Rubin, a rising senior at Cary Academy, fired a 2-under-par 70 and grabbed a one-shot lead in the opening round…
Mental Minute
Mental Minute Outcome Goals (OG) Vs Intention Goals (IG), know the difference, your game depends on it! OGs help you develop a long-term vision for your game. They should not be used for a particular round of golf. OGs raise anxiety because the outcome you seek is often out of your comfort zone. Setting OGs…
Summer Escape: Olde Mill’s generational restoration a winning combination
By David Droschak There’s something special about a son following in his father’s footsteps, or in the case of the Maples family its love affair with a special Virginia mountain retreat that now runs three generations deep. Dan Maples remembers vividly his first job after graduating from the University of Georgia in landscape architecture, how…
Golf and Duke a perfect combination for new Croasdaile pro
By Kurt Dusterberg When Rob Nelson arrived at Croasdaile Country Club, he was ready for a new experience. As it turns out, life beyond the golf course has some perks, too. Nelson took over at the beginning of March as the head golf professional at the private Durham club, replacing Cole Huckabee, who oversaw the…
Boulders, wetlands and a whole lot of fun at River Ridge
You have to dig a little deeper and do some extra research to uncover Chuck Smith’s name when it comes to Triangle golf course design, but his architectural influence and land planning expertise reaches from Clayton to Durham, with numerous stops in between. Smith’s resume “officially” lists just three golf courses – including River Ridge…
Sarah Bae captures North and South Junior title
Sarah Bae has been on a steady climb in the state’s junior golf ranks for the last couple of years. After helping Athens Drive High School to the state 4-A team championship last fall as a freshman, Bae has continued her strong play, garnering four victories this year. She won the Peggy Kirk Bell event…
Katherine Perry captures N.C. Junior
Katherine Perry is closing out an amazing run in junior golf on top. Perry, who will be a freshman at North Carolina this fall, added to her long list of junior achievements on June 25 by winning the N.C. Junior Girls Championship at Forest Oaks Country Club. She capped a three-day run of five match…
Mental Minute
Outcome Goals (OG) Vs Intention Goals (IG), know the difference, your game depends on it! OGs help you develop a long-term vision for your game. They should not be used for a particular round of golf. OGs raise anxiety because the outcome you seek is often out of your comfort zone. Setting OGs for a…
A wise decision for Cary Academy’s Taelor Rubin
By CARTER CHEVES It’s hard to imagine someone at the age of 12 at a crossroads in their life, but Taelor Rubin was once there. When she was cut from her seventh-grade soccer team, she was initially devastated, but turns out she was also very resilient, albeit in a new direction. “When I…
Travel USA: Raven Three Peaks offers eye-opening golf experience
By DAVID DROSCHAK Colorado has always been on my short-list of “must-visit” golf states. After having already picked off Arizona, California, Florida, and Hawaii — and of course North Carolina and South Carolina — I was anxious for my trip to Denver last summer to tackle some top-notch Rocky Mountain golf. The visit began with…
Siler City County Club: A short drive from Triangle
When Mark and Lori Davis got ready to leave behind big-city living, their choice to settle in Siler City seemed like a no-brainer. When golfers yearn for a respite from crowded clubhouses and clogged fairways during the weekend, Siler City Country Club might just be the perfect escape as well. “I’ve absolutely had a blast…
North Carolina 2010 High School Golf Chamionships
4-A Championship NCISAA 3-A Championship 2-A Championship
Tar Heel Golf Foundation: Golf’s rare overnight success story
By KURT DUSTERBERG Like so many great ideas, the Tar Heel Golf Foundation was created to fill a need. Today, just 18 months into its operation, junior golfers across North Carolina are reaping year-round benefits. The non-profit organization operates the Tarheel Junior Golf Tour and Tarheel Future Stars Series, a slate of events that provides…
Heritage Golf Club a perfect fit in Wake Forest
By DAVID DROSCHAK We’ve grown accustomed to golf industry rhetoric promising playable courses and timely rounds, only to be faced with a half-dozen lost Titleists and over-crowded layouts, prompting repeated calls to the wife pleading our innocence as 18 holes stretches into a fifth hour. Having headed to The Heritage Golf Club in Wake Forest…
Masterpiece Makeover: Pinehurst No. 2 turns back the clock
Even a course as revered and respected as Pinehurst No. 2 failed to escape the golfing excesses of the 1990s, when the universal theme was large expansive layouts with plenty of green grass. Well, that’s all about to change at the famed Donald Ross layout over the next 12 months as the architectural team of…
Cape Fear National Opens For Public Play
Tim Cate has quickly become the golf architect of choice along the southern North Carolina coast. Cate’s most recent design, Cape Fear National atBrunswick Forest, located about five miles south of Wilmington off U.S. Highway 17 South, had its ribbon-cutting ceremony in mid-April and opened for public play. It costs $75 for local golfers, which…
Teaching Spotlight: The enthusiasm and passion of Donna Lerner
By DAVID DROSCHAK Golf requires unwavering patience and practice. It takes a special person, one with a vision for teaching and a passion for the sport, to deal on a daily basis with kids and teen-agers, whose minds tend to wonder and concentration becomes an ongoing challenge in a game that’s based as much on…
Junior Golf Notes
A spot in the Nationwide Tour’s Rex Hospital Open on May 20-23 will be awarded to the winner of the Rex Hospital Junior Invitational. The junior event, presented for the first time by the Tarheel Golf Foundation, will be played May 15-16 with the first round at the Lonnie Poole Golf Course and the second…
The Mental Minute
Hitting great golf shots and playing in the zone requires the ability to move from thinking to doing. This most often occurs when you have a relaxed and positive mind-set. To ensure that this is the case you must be careful of what you are thinking. Limiting Thoughts (LT) such as, “I always struggle on…
Riverwood Golf and Athletic Club: The Triangle’s complete package
A downward turn in the economy had people digging deeper into the coupon pile, driving a few extra miles to save 10 cents a gallon on gas and begging for bargains during the Christmas holidays. And with rounds of golf leveling off in the Triangle during cost cutting times, more than a few eyebrows were…
Southern Escape: Casinos and golf courses co-exist in the Deep South
By David Droschak The last time North Carolinians were captivated by the state of Mississippi was during Hurricane Katrina, which blew away lavish casinos, leveled homes and basically stunned a region along the Gulf of Mexico that over the last decade had begun carving a unique golfing travel destination niche. Often overshadowed along the…
Canada latest international talent pipeline for Wolfpack
North Carolina State’s golf team has been invaded by a rampaging bunch of Canadians, an Ontario trio that is tearing up the Lonnie Poole Golf Course on the back lot of the school’s Centennial Campus. One of them, NCAA champion Matt Hill, is well-known to local fans, since he had perhaps the greatest season…
Driving Force: Bruce Hallenbeck’s amateur tours attract huge following in Triangle
Who needs the PGA Tour? For a dozen years, amateur golfers in the Triangle have played their own tour, without having to travel to such outposts as Verona, N.Y., Humble, Texas, and Quad Cities. Instead, the eGolf Amateur Golf Tour takes golfers to Greensboro and Pinehurst, to Clemmons and Raleigh and many…
More honors for Knox, Perry as they wind down junior careers
Andy Knox of Cary earned player of the year honors and was one of two North Carolina players to make the All-Carolinas team for 2009. The announcement was made in December, just a few days after Knox was also named to the Carolinas Golf Association’s All-State team. Knox, who will play collegiately at UNC Greensboro,…
Mizuno optimizes shaft fitting with new device
For a golfer to be told that a stiff club shaft no longer suits his swing can be a humbling experience. After all, stiff shafts are often equated with power and distance. “It’s an ego thing,” said Chris Sweeney, 45, territory sales manager for Mizuno, who was encouraged to switch from playing a Dynamic Gold…
College Checklist and ACC Championship Preview
ACC Men’s Championship ACC Women’s Championship Triangle College Checklist