The famed Pinehurst No. 2 recently reopened to rave reviews following an extensive restoration by designers Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw. No matter, as members of the North Carolina Golf Panel already again had deemed the Donald Ross masterpiece the state’s top course.
The panel’s annual rankings of the Top 100 Courses in the state were released this week in the April issue of Business North Carolina magazine, and also on its website (ncgolfpanel.com), based on voting that was completed last winter. As has been the case since the N.C. Golf Panel was founded in 1995 by noted public relations expert Bill Hensley, No. 2 is No. 1.
Second in the Top 100 for the second consecutive year is Grandfather Golf & Country Club, the immaculately maintained Ellis Maples gem. Third and fourth are two courses with Tom Fazio’s fingerprints: the Old North State in New London, a Fazio original, and Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, a George Cobb original fine-tuned by Fazio. Rounding out the top five is Pine Needles, a Ross classic in Southern Pines.
There was some shifting elsewhere among the top 10 as Charlotte Country Club improved one position to sixth and the Elk River Club in Banner Elk two positions to seventh. Rounding out the top 10 are the Country Club of North Carolina’s Dogwood course, Forest Creek Golf Club’s South course, and Pinehurst No. 4.
Greensboro Country Club’s Farm course, previously unranked, received a complete makeover from British designer Donald Steel, won Best New Course honors and leapt into the Top 100 at No. 37. Also making an impressive debut in the Top 100 is Carolina Golf Club in Charlotte, a 1929 Donald Ross layout reinvigorated by Kris Spence.
The Top 100 Courses list is determined by a scoring system where panelists are asked to consider among these factors: conditioning, routing, design, strategy, memorability, fairness, variety and aesthetics. Thanks to a voting process that’s now completed and tabulated online, we’re able to provide a greater array of specialty category rankings that also are available online at http://www.ncgolfpanel.com/courserankings.cfm.
Contact:
Kevin Brafford, Executive Director
N.C. Golf Panel (336.509.8886)
