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…
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…
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,…
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…
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 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,…