The Other Round Ball
In North Carolina, usually thought of as basketball country,
the golf explosion proves the state and the game fit to a tee

Of the 43 courses being built or in the planning stages in North Carolina, 11 are in Brunswick, including The Thistle, right.

By Dave Droschak

North Carolina lures vacationers, retirees and those wanting rid of years of hard winters with its mild climate, beautiful beaches, majestic mountains and — of course — golf. Lots and lots of golf.

More than 100 new golf courses have opened in North Carolina in just the past decade, growing from 474 in 1990 to a staggering 589 at the end of 1999, according to the National Golf Foundation in Jupiter, Fla. That ranks ninth among the 50 states.

And more are on the way.

Twenty-four courses or expansions of existing layouts are expected to be opened in 2000 across the Tar Heel state, with 19 more in the planning stages.

“To outsiders we may be known for basketball, but we in North Carolina consider this the golfing state,” said architect Tom Fazio, considered the best in the business.

“After decades of people seeking paradise in Florida, what they've found in North Carolina is what they're ultimately after, and that's the true four-season climate,” added Kevin Hine, general manager of the River Landing golf course community in Wallace. “There are very few places that have an environment like North Carolina does coupled with the economic growth. It has been a huge attraction for golf course communities and the golf industry in general. We don't see that slowing down much.”

Fazio, who lives in the North Carolina mountains in Hendersonville, has designed more than 120 golf courses, including the famed Shadow Creek in Las Vegas and Black Diamond in Florida.

However, Fazio has done some of his best work the past decade in North Carolina, building Old North State Club in 1992, Pinehurst No. 8 and Forest Creek Golf Club in '96, and redesigning Pinehurst No 4. and Finley Golf Course in Chapel Hill in '99.

“If I was just able to work in the state of North Carolina, with the variety of land, it would be a worthwhile experience,” said Fazio. “This state is kind of an architect's delight.”

Coastal Brunswick County, just across the state line from South Carolina's Grand Strand, has been a leader in the state's golf explosion. Of the 43 courses being built or in the planning stages in North Carolina, 11 are in Brunswick, including The Thistle (right).

“We've got a great climate for it and we're close to the beach. And it doesn't hurt to be right next door to Myrtle Beach,” said Mitzi York of the Brunswick County Visitors Bureau.

York said the area has just started tapping into its golfing resources.

“A lot of times people have played golf in Brunswick County and haven't even realized it,” she said. “We're working on creating our own golf identity of being `North Carolina's Golf Coast.”'

There are more than 100 golf courses along the coastal stretch from Brunswick County to south of Myrtle Beach. Yet developers and architects expect more and more courses as retirees and vacationers flock to the area.

In fact, architect Rick Robbins of Cary is such a fan of the state that he is 50 percent owner of a 54-hole municipal tract under construction in Brunswick County called Ocean Isle Beach Golf Course.

“Obviously, I believe the area has some room for growth or I'm making a serious mistake,” said Robbins.

“I guess I'm like everybody else, I keep saying, `When can it stop?”' added Jack Nance of the Carolinas Golf Association, whose membership has risen every year since 1984.

Fazio and others believe that the coast and mountain areas will be developed more in this decade because of retirees settling in those two spots.

“I believe since we're such a hotbed for golf here, there is going to be continued growth for at least 10 or 15 more years,” said Nance.

A lot of that growth has been associated with golf course real estate.

“A lot of things were contingent in the late '80s on getting financing and when you hit the early '90s that seemed to loosen up a bit,” said Judy Thompson of the National Golf Foundation. “Then it was off and running from there.”

While many developers tried to lure customers in the late '80s with big-name architects, the '90s became an increasingly competitive golf market. That meant players and homeowners wanted more than just a golf course designed by Fazio or Jack Nicklaus.

“The competition has at least doubled if not more in the last decade,” said Hine, whose private course 30 miles north of Wilmington opened in 1996.

“That's where (the growth) started with Nicklaus and Fazio, the marquee golf course architects. Developers thought that was enough,” Hine added. “But over time it has evolved into the customer expecting to have a first-class golf course — and more. They want the total package, they want the social activities, the life experiences, the nature trails, the walking trails, the fitness center. No longer is it purely a golf environment that they're looking for.”

Indeed. A private club with a major real estate development like Old North State in New London — the site of the Atlantic Coast Conference men's golf championship — has a swimming pool, tennis courts and boat docks. And, of course, a Fazio golf course.

Several other trends developed in the 1990s. The golfing public in North Carolina embraced dozens of upscale public courses being built that can cost as much as $75 to play. And expansions and renovations became the vogue.

“That has always been my slant anyway,” architect Mike Strantz said of his upscale public course, Tobacco Road, voted the Best New Course in North Carolina for 1999. “We've always gone at it from the angle that we want to give somebody off the street a place where they can come play and say, `Man, I can't believe I can play a golf course like that.”'

Strantz also believes the paying public wants more variety and more unique golfing experiences. For example, Tobacco Road is built in and around an old sand pit, while the $5 million Tot Hill Farm outside of Asheboro, which will open this spring, features the rocky terrain of the Uwharrie Forest.

At an elevation of 4,700 feet near Asheville, the real-estate driven Mountain Air Country Club is another manifestation of the new golf imperative. In addition to an award-winning course, Mountain Air also offers homeowners swim and tennis facilities, a sumptuous clubhouse, hiking trails and 100-mile views of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Oh, and it has its own landing strip for residents to jet in and out from the highest runway east of the Mississippi River.

Mountain Air, like most golf resorts in North Carolina, had a great year in 1999. Real estate sales were $25.5 million, 20 percent better than even the record-setting pace in 1998. Sold were 101 single-family properties for a total of $8 million and $17.5 million in total multi-familiy units. The gated community, owned and developed by the Banks and Young families, long-time Burnsville residents, was listed among “America's Top 50 Golf Communities” by Luxury Golf Homes magazine, and “100 Best Retirement Communities of the Year 2000” by Where to Retire magazine.

“The last half of the '90s guys started doing some different things, you started hearing some architects like myself that weren't common household names,” said Strantz.

“The first half of the '90s may have been a carry over from the late '70s and '80s, and except a few guys like Pete (Dye) and Tommy (Fazio) you really had cookie-cutter type of golf courses,” he said. “The public has come to want more. They are more discriminating with their golf tastebuds. Maybe the golfing public is becoming more knowledgeable.”

Fazio was the architect of the two most high-profile redesigns of 1999 — Pinehurst No. 4 and the University of North Carolina's Finley Golf Course. But each final product was arrived at differently.

“Our challenge to Tom Fazio was that we wanted to build a brand new golf course. The boundaries were the legal boundaries,” said Pinehurst president Pat Corso. “We told him to change it all if you want.”

Fazio declined, adding only four new holes to the original Donald Ross layout and 180 bunkers. Pinehurst No. 4 is now a championship course able to host United States Golf Association events.

“Tom came back to us and said, `I can't improve what you already have. It's a great routing plan,'” Corso said. “It was important that anybody who came to play No. 2 not look over and see something that was contrived or out of the norm. It's certainly not that.”

Finley, where Davis Love and hundreds of other Carolina golfers mastered the game, was much different, though. Fazio gutted the old course in the $9 million project.

“Certainly there was a lot of pressure,” Fazio said of the Finley redesign. “There are really no absolutes. You have all seen so many new golf courses, and seen old golf courses that have been renovated and everybody has many different opinions on how golf courses should be.”

The bottom line on both redesigns is the courses are better today than they were a decade or two ago.

Notable among the other new courses opening this year is the Tournament Players Club at Wakefield Plantation just north of Raleigh, a Hale Irwin design. The addition of the Wake County course and TPC at Piper Glen in Charlotte will make North Carolina one of only five states with a pair of TPC layouts.

Irwin, a winner of three U.S. Open titles and arguably the best player on the Senior Tour, said he has designed the course as a monument to golf, not himself.

“It will be a pretty picture, but I want people to enjoy golf and not labor with golf,” Irwin said. “I hope people can experience the golf, be challenged, yet find shots they can play. Find shots that are difficult, yet rewarding. I want to help in their emotional highs and lows so they look forward to coming back.”

The U.S. Open will return to North Carolina in 2005, and with it more interest in the game. That indirectly will result in more golf courses being built, experts said.

“The people in North Carolina remind me a lot of Texas,” said PGA Tour pro Steve Elkington, a former champion at the Greater Greensboro Chrysler Classic. “They're really into sports with basketball and car racing. They come out to the golf course and they enjoy themselves when they come out. I've never met so many friendly people in my life — even the state troopers.”

Expect more resorts with hotels like Grandover in Greensboro, which boasts two excellent courses, or mountain retreats like Jefferson Landing, to pop up across the state over the next decade as the golf growth continues.

“North Carolina, to me, the people who live there are crazy about this game. That's why it makes it fun to build courses there,” Strantz said.

And don't forget about Pinehurst, where 42 courses offer a unique experience amidst the tall pines. Plans for the area will include the much anticipated No. 9 and No. 10 courses for Pinehurst Hotel and Country Club.

“What we tell our folks here is there is a lot more competition and we have to be aware of that,” said Caleb Miles, executive director for the Convention and Visitors Bureau for Pinehurst, Southern Pines and Aberdeen.

“We basically used to be able to say, `Sit back and come to us',” Miles said. “Fifteen years ago you could really look on a map and pinpoint three or four places that were actively marketing golf. Now, just in the Southeast there are about 25 markets that are doing that. But golf is about 65 percent of our business. It's our focus, our core. Just about everywhere else golf is second or third on the totem pole. We always put golf first. We feel that's an advantage.”