Hedingham Offers a Golf Bargain Bonanza

 By Patrick Jones

In a fragile economic environment that ebbs and flows with every breath from Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and sober earnings release from a Fortune 500 behemoth, golfers have not been immune from having to tighten up on their favorite Gross National Product expenditure: greens fees.

But there’s a dose of good financial news out of North Raleigh for budget conscious golfers who want to drive long for show and roll minimum putts for their hard-earned dough. Hedingham Golf Club, a David Postlethwait 18-hole layout that opened in 1991, is offering all-you-can-play deals that seem like steals from Sam’s Club.

Memberships at the semi-private Hedingham currently cost $80 per month with no initiation fee. For golfers looking to pay as they play, you can hand over a Lincoln-Jackson combo ($25) Monday through Thursday through Labor Day and play endless loops until your spouse or boss comes looking for you with a flashlight.

A top-dollar round on the weekend or holiday at Hedingham is a mere $32, which might cover the valet parking tip, grilled cheese sandwich and Heineken at one of those courses behind wrought iron fences and staffed guard gates.

And here’s the consumer’s delight kicker: The aforementioned quoted Hedingham prices also include a cart, fountain drink and hotdog with all the trimmings you can heap on top.

“It’s a real good bargain,” understated Arnold Thompson, Hedingham’s head golf professional since September 2002.

The Hedingham course, which winds through a community of approximately 2,000 homes and townhouses, has been a staple of Triangle public-access golf for over a decade. It has recently undergone some management changes, including being purchased by Fred Smith Co., developer of the Riverwood Golf & Athletic Club, a residential community with 27 holes (also designed by Postlethwait) in Clayton.

The new ownership of Hedingham has made two wise strategic moves guaranteed to please every golfer: dropping prices while improving course conditions.

“The quality of the product for the price that golfers pay to play here is how we differentiate ourselves from the local competition,” said Thompson. “Our course right now is in absolutely phenomenal shape. I’ve had members who have been here since it opened 12 years ago say that they have never seen the course looking better than it looks right now. And our rates, to my knowledge, are the lowest that they have ever been. For the dollars that someone is going to spend to come out here and play, they can’t find a better quality product.”

There are several ongoing enhancements to Hedingham, according to Scott Hammond, the director of amenities for Fred Smith Co., and overseer of both the Hedingham and Riverwood golf facilities.

“We are on a bush planting and tree planting program to delineate the golf course from the neighborhood,” said Hammond.  “That is the biggest thing. We’re putting more money into the golf course to green things up and raise the overall caliber of the course.”

The tee box on No. 6 has been expanded to be about 40 percent larger. A new sand trap has been added to the right side of No. 7, a 431-yard par 4, to “keep it a little more honest, to keep people from cutting the corner so much,” said Hammond.

Playing to a length of 6,604 yards from the back tees, Hedingham is a course that can be docile and attackable for players in control of their games.

“It’s a very playable course that’s not really long,” said Thompson. “We have some nice reachable par 5s, which can allow golfers to get themselves some birdies, which is what everyone is looking for.” 

On the flip side of the ball marker, Hedingham can also be punishing to reverse pivots, flying elbows, lateral hip sways and golfers whose knees knock at the site of white out-of-bounds markers narrowing fairways to the perceived width of a bowling lane.

“No. 1, you have to hit it straight,” said Hammond. “If you don’t hit it straight then you’re not going to score. There are some tight parts to the course. It’s bordered in some parts by houses and other parts by woods, so control is at a premium. If you’re hitting it sideways, it’s not hard to put up a big number because there’s not a lot of forgiveness.

“It’s a fun layout,” he added. “You definitely have the opportunity to score. It’s not exceptionally long, but it’s challenging if you’re not precise.”

One of the most enjoyable holes on the course is No. 16, a par 5 that is potentially reachable in two swings even by players who are not muscling up for a run at the RE/MAX World Long Drive Championships, or are unable to blast a ball through the Raleigh Yellow Pages – or the Four Oaks Yellow Pages for that matter.

“If you can put it out there on top of the hill (about 240 yards), you have a good shot at going for the green,” said Hammond, who considers No. 16 his favorite hole on the course. “But it can also get you in a lot of trouble if you hit a wayward approach.”

Hedingham’s opening hole, a long dogleg left par 4 playing to 432 yards, is a stiff test that can admonish players who don’t arrive early enough to the course to warm up with a bucket of range balls. It has a tight landing area on the drive and then a downhill approach shot over a creek.

The back nine features a balanced mix of three par 3s, 4s and 5s that keep players reaching into their bags and puts proper club selection at a premium.

The course also features an appropriate selection of tee boxes that, if selected correctly, can provide the right challenge for every skill level and lead to an enjoyable round.

What we’re trying to do is provide a good experience in the pro shop, provide the opportunity to have a good round of golf and do so at very reasonable rates,” said Hammond. “That’s what we offer.”