Top 100 Golf
Photo provided by Scotch Hall Preserve
We’re pleased to present the North Carolina Golf Panel’s annual listing of the state’s top 100 courses. The panel, which has ranked courses for more than 20 years, comprises more than 150 professionals, coaches, notable amateur players and business leaders. Everyone’s opinion differs, of course, and we always welcome your feedback.
Along with the top 100, our writers have spotlighted three individuals who are having a major impact on North Carolina golf.
It takes special talent and painstaking attention to detail to restore or renovate a golf course created by a master like Donald Ross. Kris Spence is more than qualified in that regard. He has become the architect of choice when North Carolina clubs want to return their courses as closely as possible to the original.
Kelly Miller has led Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club for 34 years while also establishing a strong record as an elite amateur golfer. The venerable Southern Pines course is said to have been Ross’ favorite to play. But Miller, even with his reverence for the game’s traditions, knows that the desires of younger golfers will help shape the resort’s future.
Zach Peed and his entrepreneurial family are breathing new life into Dormie Club, a critical success when it opened near Pinehurst in 2009. Unfortunately, the high-end course started amid the worst recession in generations, which hammered the golf industry especially hard. After hanging on by a thread for several years, Dormie’s original mission of being a destination course for golf aficionados is being fulfilled by the Nebraska-based publishing family.
Click here for the top 100 list
Click here for the Kris Spence story
Click here for the Kelly Miller story
Click here for the story on Three Triangle College Courses