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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…