The owners of a destination course just outside the Triangle is combining two of the most popular trends in golf in a new golf facility.
Tobacco Road Golf Club near Sanford announced that it soon will add a 12-hole, par-3 layout, named “The Matchbox” near the 12th and 13th hole of Tobacco Road, the Mike Strantz design that opened in 1998.
Buoyed by the success of the par-3 Cradle course at Pinehurst Resort and emerging 12-hole options across the country. The Matchbox will give golfers an entertaining addition to the Strantz layout.
The Matchbox will be designed by Carlton/Marshall Golf Design and constructed by Mark White, an original shaper of Tobacco Road, according to a Tobacco Road release.
Synthetic turf will be blended into the natural landscape. Developers said the course could open as early as August.
“This is a special piece of property as it contains spoils shaped during construction nearly 30 years ago,” said Mark Stewart, whose family opened Tobacco Road. “The more I’ve walked around this corner of the property through the decades, the more obvious it became that a unique golf experience could be revealed — and we’re excited to share it with Sandhills travelers. Utilizing synthetic turf will enable us to deliver consistent playing conditions while maximizing the shade of the existing tree canopy.”
Some holes will stretch along a pond not in play on Tobacco Road.
“In the design process for Tobacco Road, we talked about Mike building a par-3 over that pond, but it didn’t make the final routing,” Stewart said. “Now we have the opportunity to bring that bit of drama back into play in a different way.”
Developers said opening rates and availability will be released unveils during this spring.
