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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…