[Sean_A]

I have been heading down to the parts of the Carolinas now for several years.  When I first went it didn't impress me all that much.  However, as I continued to visit, with each trip I have become more enamoured with the golf in both States.  Carolina, incidentally, that is what most Brits call the area (the north/south distinction is ignored), is outstanding in its variety of courses.  From Golden Age archies to ultra modern works, low cost publics to high end privates, from mountain golf to lowland and seaside gems and from Joe Six Pack Mrytle Beach to hyper resort expensive.  Not only that, but there are genuinely interesting and attractive towns/cities near many of the golfing shrines AND for much of the year the weather is divine. 

I have longed believed England to be the best golfing area (of decent size) in the world and it is still probablly true.  The country has it all for the interested visitor in terms of golf, cities/towns/villages, history and beauty, but the Carolinas is something apart and quite special in its own way.  Here is hoping I can make it down for the Dixie Cup this year and long may the very fine gentleman of Carolina continue to organize this great event in the many exceptional golfing areas these states have to offer. 

For those that share my enthusiasm, what are a few of your favourite (not best) courses in Carolina and why?

Ciao     

 

[JC Jones]

The Aiken Golf Club - fantastic routing and nothing but pure fun.
Carolina Golf Club - great course and a great, golf centered, club

[jonathan_becker]

Sean,

The Carolina coast is always a state of mind thing with me as I could almost play any course down there and enjoy myself.  It's a very unique setting to the world and even if I'm playing poorly I know there's always fresh shrimp to stuff my face with after the round.

One of my (not best) favorites is the DeBordieu Club north of Georgetown, SC.  It's secluded, not very crowded, and offers a wonderful low country setting to play golf.  It's a Dye design that's very similar to Harbourtown, but not quite as tight.  The back 9 is great in that some shots have to be worked but the finishing holes "open up" with fewer trees and are routed near the marshlands.

[Brad Tufts]

I'm most certainly an unabashed lover of the Carolinas, golf and otherwise.

If only some of those Golden-Agers had snuck in a few more seaside layouts (esp. in NC) before (necessary) enviro laws were drawn...

[Cory Lewis]

As a new resident of NC as of last week, I am excited about the prospect of discovering more hidden gems in the Tarheel State.  One sort of hidden gem I played this week was the Farm course at Greensboro Country Club.  It's had a very high profile re-do by Donald Steel recently, but I found the course to be very playable and loved the angles off the tee and the multitude of options around the green.

[JC Jones]

As a new resident of NC as of last week, I am excited about the prospect of discovering more hidden gems in the Tarheel State.  One sort of hidden gem I played this week was the Farm course at Greensboro Country Club.  It's had a very high profile re-do by Donald Steel recently, but I found the course to be very playable and loved the angles off the tee and the multitude of options around the green.

As a resident of the Tarheel state for 3 weeks, let me welcome you. 

[David_Tepper]

Never been to the Carolina's (for golf) myself, but I know a few Brits who speak very highly of the Country Club of North Carolina.

[John Moore II]

I would say that the Carolinas are the best area for publicly accessible golf. Hard to compete with Long Island in overall quality. But on the 2009 Golf Digest Top 100 public list, there were 16 courses from NC and SC. Now, I might disagree with at least one of those, but either way, there is a great volume of quality public golf in the Carolinas. Add to that some of the high quality mountain layouts that didn't make the list and then the private layouts and you have an incredible volume of high quality golf.

[PCCraig]

Geez there are so many great golf options in both States...it's easier when you break them into North and South Reminds me of when I was in the Pinehurst area and asked a gentleman I was paired with where he went to school to which he said "Carolina"... I said "which one??"...and he looks at me and goes "son, around HERE, there's only ONE Carolina" Oh.

From the one's I've played and can think of right now, there are many great options, and I agree with Sean in that the wide ranging environments make the area very unique for building different kinds of golf courses.

Pinehurst Area (Gently rolling, sandy soil):
#2
Pine Needles
Mid Pines
Southern Pines
Tobacco Road
Forest Creek - North and South

Ashville Area ("Mountain" golf):
Bright's Creek - Very underrated Fazio course.

Charleston, SC:
Yeamans Hall
CC of Charleston

Kiawah Area ("Low Country"):
Briar's Creek
Kiwah - Ocean
Kiawah - River
Kiawah Cassique

Then you have Hilton Head, Aiken, etc... etc... to choose from. The only downside can be the weather, which is pretty cool in the winters and really really hot in the summers.

[Tommy Williamsen]

Sean, I agree that CAROLINA is a great goliging area.  I have probably played 50 courses in the two states. Let me give you my short list of favorites in no special order:

Musgrove Mill GC  here is my write up  http://golfclubatlas.com/in-my-opinion/musgrove-mill
Palmetto
Yeaman's Hall
Tobacco Road
Raleigh CC
I'll leave out Pinehursts they are all well known
Diamond Creek
Long Cove
HarborTown (shot 79 with Arnold Palmer)
Haig Point
Grandfather
Quail Hollow
Charlotte
Long Cove
Old Tabby Links
Secession
Treyburn
The Ocean Course
Cassique (a surprise pick for me)
The Dunes Golf and Beach  Club
True Blue
Caledonia
I'm sure I have left some out. 

[Jay Kirkpatrick]

Lifelong resident of NC here...

My favorites are Old Town (i could play OTC every day of my life and be perfectly happy), CCNC-Dogwood, and Cape Fear CC.

[Chris Buie]

It is still surprising to me that with the huge amount of golf in NC there is still not one good seaside links course.  Not one.  Not to my knowledge.  They certainly had the chance to build an impressive links on Bald Head Island but that didn't come off GCA proper.  I would love for Mr. Doak and Mr. Keiser to take an interest in the coast.  There are some other archies that could do it really well too, I'm sure.  Camp Lejeune has a large amount of seaside area.  Maybe we should dispatch former Marine and GCA star Mac Plumart to persuade them of the merits of having a course on the coast there.  PTSD therapy perhaps.  I was kind of joking about that but actually it might be a viable idea.  Perpetual war takes a toll.  I play with some of the guys from next door at Ft. Bragg (and their continually visiting peers from Hereford) regularly.  Tough lads all around but people can start to reach diminishing returns when so much is being asked of them.
Mr. Arble inquired about our favorite course.  For me, I'd have to say that would be Grandfather G&CC.  There are better designs about although that one is very good IMO.  Why?  Describing a particular appeal is something that eludes adequate articulation.  Let's just say it's truly majestic.

Mr. Jones and Mr. Lewis - Welcome to NC.  Sorry it's absurdly hot for your arrival.  Make your tee times as early in the morning as possible this time of year.  Day before yesterday the heat index was 110 degrees. 

[Bruce Wellmon]

Lifelong resident of NC/SC

Secession in Beaufort SC
Palmetto and Sage Valley in Aiken, SC
Yeaman's in Charleston ( and The Ocean Course)
Camden CC (SC)
The Dune's Club in Myrtle
Musgrove Mill (SC)
CC Spartanburg (SC)                    (Kris Spence)
Cape Fear in Wilmington               (Kris Spence)
Mimosa Hills in Morganton NC         (Kris Spence)
Sedgefield in Greensboro, NC         (Kris Spence)
Forsyth CC in Winston Salem, NC    (Kris Spence)
Carolina GC in Charlotte                  (Kris Spence)
Gaston CC (Gastonia, NC)               (Kris Spence)      
Old Town in Winston Salem
CC Salisbury (NC)
Biltmore Forest in Asheville NC
Charlotte CC

I'm sure I'm missing MANY worthy courses....................

[John Moore II]

Chris Buie-What about The Ocean Course? Perhaps not exactly a links course, but certainly it is a seaside course.

[Chris Buie]

John, I was talking about NC. 

[John Moore II]

John, I was talking about NC. 

Indeed you were. Perhaps I should get better at reading comprehension.     As far as NC goes, I think the islands have a lot to do with that. But even there, you have Nags Head and a couple of other courses that could be said to have been build on links/dunesland. Plus, you have to remember that many of the beach areas at National Parks. The Hatteras area has been a park since 1937, the Kill Devil Hill area since 1933, Cape Lookout since 1966, Pea Island Refuge since 1937, Jockey's Ridge as a state park since 1975, much of the land near the mouth of the Cape Fear River on the ocean has been parkland since the mid-1970's and I could go on. Much of the NC coast is either state or federally owned.

[Cory Lewis]

Mr. Jones and Mr. Lewis - Welcome to NC.  Sorry it's absurdly hot for your arrival.  Make your tee times as early in the morning as possible this time of year.  Day before yesterday the heat index was 110 degrees. 

Chris,

Great advice, which I have taken to heart, as I've been lucky enough to be out at 7 am three times this week at Southern Pines!  This heat is amazing!  When I finished yesterday the temperature was only 91, at 9 am!

[Chris Buie]

If any of the NC courses built on the ocean are really good I would be elated.  I have never been told that such and such is a great course.  I've played some that were ok but nothing to write home about.  I think I would have heard about it if there were any really good ones.  Maybe just one of the mediocre designs could be redone properly.  With all that coastline and a large population of golfers prowling about the state there should be at least one really good links course in NC.  To my knowledge that is not the case which is why I suggested that we dispatch Mr. Plumart to rectify this sorry state of affairs.

[John Moore II]

If any of the NC courses built on the ocean are really good I would be elated.  I have never been told that such and such is a great course.  I've played some that were ok but nothing to write home about.  I think I would have heard about it if there were any really good ones.  Maybe just one of the mediocre designs could be redone properly.  With all that coastline and a large population of golfers prowling about the state there should be at least one really good links course in NC.  To my knowledge that is not the case which is why I suggested that we dispatch Mr. Plumart to rectify this sorry state of affairs.

Only problem is, as I mentioned before, is that the vast majority of the remaining open land on the ocean is state/national park land. From Beaufort Inlet going east and up the coast all the way to the Virginia border, if it isn't developed, its either park land or too narrow to be viably made into anything. Given the highway, that area is pretty much out of the question. Going further south, Bear Island and Browns Island are part of Hammocks Beach State Park, the next island down is part of Camp Lejeune USMC, then is the fully developed Topsail Island, Figure 8 island is developed, Wrightsville Beach is developed, Masonboro Island is part of a Coastal Marine Estuary, then you get into Carolina Beach and Fort Fisher. Then you have golf courses on Bald Head Island, Oak Island, both of them going down very close to the ocean. After that, the rest of the islands are developed. So.....

[Chris Buie]

Yeah, I know all that John.  Still, I'm sure there is a way.  If not a new course then a redesign.  Bald Head would be my candidate.  Have a look at it on Google Maps.  Not really the time economically - one day perhaps.  It could and should happen somewhere on the NC coast. 
As some have pointed out both NC and SC (which I visit yearly and find charming) hold formidable places in the golfing firmament.  I'm not ready to put it as an equal of the tops quite yet though.  But it is great and I never get bored playing here. 

[John Moore II]

Yeah, I know all that John.  Still, I'm sure there is a way.  If not a new course then a redesign.  Bald Head would be my candidate.  Have a look at it on Google Maps.  Not really the time economically - one day perhaps.  It could and should happen somewhere on the NC coast. 
As some have pointed out both NC and SC (which I visit yearly and find charming) hold formidable places in the golfing firmament.  I'm not ready to put it as an equal of the tops quite yet though.  But it is great and I never get bored playing here. 

I did notice Bald Head. Unless it were possible to convince the state government to build a state park golf course somewhere, the east end of Bald Head is really the ONLY place it would be possible to build a golf course on the NCOBX.

[Eric Smith]

Robert Cupp Course @ Palmetto Hall
Hilton Head Island, SC

You don't really hear much about this golf course on here, but I would bet that if a GCA group were to get out and spend a day there, most would come away saying that it was certainly different than other area golf courses and that it was definitely FUN to play.

Highlights

1.
A nice medium length par 4 opener with a huge fairway to start you off on the right foot.

3.
Blind tee shot that creates doubt for the golfer, when in fact what is out there is a massively wide fairway. The second shot is all carry over wetlands to a semi blind green that looks to be barely a sliver beyond the bulkhead, when in fact it too is a rather large putting surface that slopes away from you and feeds hot or long approaches into a giant rear bunker. If you end up in here, then you're left having to blast out back towards the wetland!  A lot of drama at 3.

8.
Short par 3 with a cool false front built up fairly steeply with a severe front to back and R2L sloping green. Last time I played it my buddy made a hole in one here.  Of course we never saw it go in.  You don't see any of the green from the tee here!

9.
This par 4 is the longest on the island and it is a beast if into the wind.  A great challenge nonetheless.  A long double plateau green that is also very difficult to get it up and down from all sides.

11.
Reachable par 4 with a teeny tiny green and a huge bunker blocking the center of the green.  I typically play a 3 iron then SW here as driver always seems to find that damn bunker.

13. and 14.
Dye-like diagonal carry hazards off of the tee -- water at 13 and a lot of steep faced bunkers at 14.

Cupp has two really fun par 5's (6 & 10) that entice the gambler to attempt heroic second shots around and over water.  Really all four of the P5's here are solid.

18.
Par 4 where the final full shot is an approx. 150 yard carry over water to a three tiered green tucked into an amphitheater in front of the beautiful clubhouse.  Many have had their hopes sunk here. Your's truly is one of them!  

The Cupp course has an abundance of width off of the tee (save for the tight tee shot at 7 ), which is refreshing when playing on the island.

All in all, Cupp is a golf course that I want to see most anytime I head down there with a group of gamblers golfers and I would highly recommend it to any of you to check it out if in the area.

[Mac Plumart]

Chris...

as an FYI, I am working with some of the top brass at Camp Lejeune to develop a "unique" course.  Remember a few days ago Forrest Richardon talked about the lack of anything new on the golf course.  Well, I've got the answer.  You put one hole in the line of fire on a mortar range, one on an artillery range...so on and so forth.  Prior to you tee shot, the landscape looks one way.  As you hit, the mortar rounds/artie rounds are fired.  Voila, new bunkers prior to your shot landing.  Kind of new and unique...maybe some won't "get" it...it might be polarizing like Tobacco Road...but it might catch on.  

[A.G._Crockett]

It is still surprising to me that with the huge amount of golf in NC there is still not one good seaside links course.  Not one.  Not to my knowledge.  They certainly had the chance to build an impressive links on Bald Head Island but that didn't come off GCA proper.  I would love for Mr. Doak and Mr. Keiser to take an interest in the coast.  There are some other archies that could do it really well too, I'm sure.  Camp Lejeune has a large amount of seaside area.  Maybe we should dispatch former Marine and GCA star Mac Plumart to persuade them of the merits of having a course on the coast there.  PTSD therapy perhaps.  I was kind of joking about that but actually it might be a viable idea.  Perpetual war takes a toll.  I play with some of the guys from next door at Ft. Bragg (and their continually visiting peers from Hereford) regularly.  Tough lads all around but people can start to reach diminishing returns when so much is being asked of them.
Mr. Arble inquired about our favorite course.  For me, I'd have to say that would be Grandfather G&CC.  There are better designs about although that one is very good IMO.  Why?  Describing a particular appeal is something that eludes adequate articulation.  Let's just say it's truly majestic.

Mr. Jones and Mr. Lewis - Welcome to NC.  Sorry it's absurdly hot for your arrival.  Make your tee times as early in the morning as possible this time of year.  Day before yesterday the heat index was 110 degrees.  

Chris,
The land and climate on the NC coast aren't for true links courses.  In a humid subtropical climate with bermuda grasses, you can't build the type of courses that you find in the British Isles or in the Pacific NW here.  Firm and fast conditions, for instance, are just almost impossible to achieve.  It just doesn't work. 

As mentioned earlier in the thread, though we all look longingly at the Outer Banks for golf courses, it isn't possible.  They are too shifting, too fragile, and too narrow for golf courses, and it isn't links land anyway.  If there is any true links land on the NC coast, I'm not aware of it, but it certainly wouldn't be the Banks. 

A good example would be Cape Fear Country Club.  The course is probably only about 5 miles or so from the ocean, and on reasonably sandy soil and is a Ross design.  Though it is a great golf course, it in no way resembles a true links, even after Kris Spence's loving and faithful renovation a few years ago.

IMO, the correct view is that there aren't many, if any, true and outstanding links courses outside of areas with a marine west coast climate and true linksland.  NC has neither.

[Chris Buie]

Mac, I knew you would end up designing a distinctive course after all.  You'll be the Strantz of the 21st century!  Kevlar golf bags optional.
John, I was looking up courses to play for my summer trip to SC and I remember coming across two SC state parks that had courses.  Can't remember if they were close to the sea.  It would be a hard sell to do that in NC.
Mr. Crockett thanks for the education.  I am sure you are correct.  I am an enthusiast not an expert.  The coast of the Carolinas is to me somewhat like the windmills were to Don Quixote.  I can't help but picture courses on some of the seaside land I've seen.  Still and all, I'll continue to hold out my delusional hope for a great seaside course in NC - as close to links as possible, if you please.

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