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,”…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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 —…
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…