Alphabetical order vs. by rank of quality?
How are Charlotte CC and Quail Hollow generally viewed by locals? Charlotte CC looks great in the pictures. Obviously Quail Hollow gets a lot of publicity with the PGA tourney.
Niall, my listing above was alphabetical. I would not like to rank them by "quality." Among other things, they are different experiences that are unfair, in my view, to compare. I'm not much of a fan of "rankings."
Here's my "local" take on Charlotte CC and Quail Hollow, which I believe would be typical of my friends. I hope others will chime in. Also, I may be taking some risk of offending friends – I have some who are members of CCC, and others of Quail. Both are outstanding clubs and courses. They are "big" courses and "big" clubs – and both are very expensive and very private.
CCC is an old club that I regard (for those who think this kind of thing important) as the premier social and golf "country club" in Charlotte. The course is outstanding, and has recently hosted USGA Senior Am and Women's Am championships. It could easily provide a fair test for a pro tournament, or even, I would venture, a U.S. Open. However, my sense is that the membership has no interest in going that direction. Also, the compactness and location of the CCC course would present some difficulties in hosting a lot of spectators (whoops, patrons - I just got a window sticker for my car that identifies me as a "patron" of the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail, so I need to be careful about that).
By way of contrast, Quail was developed in the 1970s with the idea of hosting professional tournaments and providing a premier "country club" for, among others, newcomers to the Charlotte area for whom the waiting list to get into CCC would be too long – for example, business executives moving in from out-of-town who wanted to hit the ground golfing and country club entertaining. As you note, Niall, Quail has much greater public exposure because of the pro tournaments it has hosted.
In sum, as I said above, both are outstanding clubs and courses, with outstanding memberships, which I have been privileged to visit as a guest. I am a member of neither.