McConnell Golf again dominates North Carolina Golf Panel’s Top 100 courses for 2017. Old North State Club is No. 4 in the state, Raleigh Country Club No. 1 in the Triangle and McConnell’s popular Sedgefield Dye Course in Greensboro one of the year’s biggest climbers.
RALEIGH, N.C. (April 2017) – McConnell Golf ‘s attention to quality is a primary factor in the golf courses and clubs that bear the company’s name consistently ranking among the best of state. In 2017, as they do year in and year out, McConnell Golf courses dominated state rankings.
Now in its second decade of existence, McConnell Golf continues to expand its impressive stable of clubs not only around the Carolinas, but also Knoxville, Tenn., with the purchase of Holston Hills Country Club, the highly regarded Donald Ross-designed golf course and a fixture in Golfweek’s Best Classic Courses. McConnell Golf owns four Ross-designed golf courses and continues to reaffirm its commitment to acquiring golf courses designed by the industry’s greatest legends, including Pete Dye, Tom Fazio, Arnold Palmer, Greg Norman and others.
In North Carolina’s prestigious Top 100, McConnell Golf’s Old North State Club in New London, N.C., was ranked No. 4 in the Tar Heel State, trailing only Pinehurst No. 2, Grandfather Mountain and a new entrant, Mountaintop Golf and Lake Club.
Meanwhile, Sedgefield Country Club’s Ross Course in Greensboro, home of the PGA Tour’s Wyndham Championship, remained in the No. 13 spot in the state and No. 2 in the Triad.
Close behind is Raleigh Country Club at No. 20 in the state – and once again, No. 1 in the Triangle – while the Fazio-designed gem at Treyburn Country Club in Durham (No. 34) again earned a prominent spot among North Carolina’s finest.
Not to be outdone, McConnell’s popular Sedgefield Dye Course made one of the year’s biggest jumps, up to No. 52 from No. 61 in 2016. Close behind is another recent McConnell Golf purchase, Country Club of Asheville, which again ranked No. 62 but is expected to jump considerably following a major renovation spearheaded by Ross-specialist Richard Mandell of Pinehurst.
Finally, the Hale Irwin-designed Tournament Players Club at Wakefield Plantation in Raleigh, home of the Web.com Tour’s Rex Hospital Open, stood at No. 73 demonstrating how strong golf is in North Carolina.
The North Carolina Golf Panel is comprised of golf media including some of the top daily newspapers in the state, as well as golf club professionals, noted amateurs, college golf coaches and business leaders. Each year, the Panel provides a well-researched list of the top golf courses in the state.
The Top 100 is determined by a scoring system where panelists consider among these factors: routing, design, strategy, memorability, fairness, variety and aesthetics. The Panel’s 2017 rankings are detailed in the April issue of Business North Carolina magazine and at NCGolfPanel.com.
Members of the Panel also voted on the top dozen courses in six regions of the state and ranked the top five courses per region in three specialty categories: Most Fun Courses to Play, Best Courses for Senior Men and Best Courses for Senior Women. In addition, the Panel ranked the Top 50 You Can Play, a listing of the best courses open to the public.
Sedgefield Ross and Old North State Club rated among the “Most Fun Courses to Play in the Triad.”
ABOUT MCCONNELL GOLF
McConnell Golf (McConnellGolf.com) memberships include privileges at a dozen 18-hole, private golf courses plus one nine-hole course throughout the Carolinas and Tennessee. McConnell Golf’s stable of prestigious clubs includes Raleigh Country Club and TPC Wakefield Plantation in Raleigh, NC, Sedgefield Country Club Ross Course and Dye Course in Greensboro, NC, Providence Country Club in Charlotte, NC, Old North State Club in New London, NC, Treyburn Country Club in Durham, NC, Brook Valley Country Club in Greenville, NC, Country Club of Asheville (NC), The Reserve Golf Club in Pawleys Island, SC, Musgrove Mill Golf Club in Clinton, SC and Holston Hills Country Club in Knoxville, TN. McConnell Golf also operates the 27-hole public Raleigh Golf Association and manages the Grande Dunes Members Club and Ocean Club in Myrtle Beach for LStar Development.
Contact:
Martin Armes (919) 608-7260, martinarmes@nc.rr.com
Brad King (336) 306-9219, king@bradkingcommunications.com
