By JAY ALLRED

The past few weeks have been the most turbulent in the history of golf in the Triad.

Future Vantage Championships have been cancelled and the future of a Senior Tour event in the Triad is up in the air. This comes just months after the last Crosby was played. Greater Greensboro Chrysler Classic Tournament Director Dick Baker and the Greensboro Jaycees came to an agreement to part ways after two years.

Cross Creek Apparel continues to lay off workers and will shut down facilities in Mt. Airy. Several golf courses will be closing in part or in whole and several of the area's top professionals have left positions in the last year.

There are a few area courses up for sale and the prospect of three new courses looks promising. Quaker Creek in Alamance County (see separate article), also a new course required by the Kernersville Aldermen to replace Pine Tree (see separate article) and the Jaycees are still planning on developing a course to host the GGCC. Recent reports, however, say it will not be ready by 2003 as was earlier hoped.

The explosion of golf in the 90s reached its peak. While most facilities are posting the same or close to the same revenue numbers as last year, their expenses have increased. After the problems with overseeding fairways with rye this year, expect some facilities to skip the expensive process this winter and focus on growing the bermudagrass higher in the fall for the winter months.

Although the Gate City Golf Association had to cancel this year's Gate City Open, they have gotten sponsorship for upcoming tournaments. Toyota will sponsor the event in the future. The event will change its name to the Charlie Sifford-Gate City Open and will resume on Labor Day Weekend in 2002.

Times are changing at Asheboro Country Club. Two new holes, both 510-yard par-5s, opened Aug. 24, just in time for the annual member-guest tournament, and houses will soon border the course for the first time.
The fifth hole should prove interesting as a large lake will border the left side and will come into play on both the first and second shots. The 16th is the other new hole.
Although new holes replaced existing par 5s, the par at Asheboro CC is now 71, instead of the 70 that it has been. The 12th, formerly a par-4, has been extended to make it a par-5. Streets have been cut and will pave the way to more than 70 building lots. The course, which opened in the mid-50s, will have residents for the first time.

NewsChannel 12 Sport's Bill Logan wants to hear from you if you think you know the toughest holes in the Triad. A list has been maintained on their website at www.thepiedmontchannel.com. Make your nomination on the site. Logan will play one of the Triad's Top 18 Holes Of Golf every Friday on NewsChannel 12 Sports.

The USGA made two grants to junior golf in North Carolina. The Town of Vass was awarded $4,500 to help support the cost of golf course access, instruction and equipment for its junior golf program. In 2000, the Town of Vass began offering Saturday golf leagues at Pine Horse Golf Club, a par-3 and driving range, on a year-round basis. Al Arrigoni, Member of the Recreation Board, said, "We want to make golf as accessible as baseball and basketball for these kids."

The second award was for $5,000 to the Western North Carolina Junior Golf Association in Hendersonville. This grant will help support expansion of the Association's golf program, and will fund instruction for beginner clinics and etiquette and rules seminars.

Bryan Park Golf Course will have four temporary greens on the Players course while they are rebuilding the greens. The new greens are expected to be open within 60 days, which will be before the end of the fall. The teaching professional staff of Bryan Park has taken over the instruction at the practice facility formerly managed by Rick Murphy's Carolina Golf Academy.

David Waggoner has been promoted to Director of Golf at The Challenge and replaces Mike Long.

Ritch Buckner, general manager at Southwick in Graham, has resigned to take a sales job outside of golf.

Burlington native Mike West has been named director of golf at Independence Golf Club in Richmond. The facility features an 18-hole championship course and a nine-hole short course.
Slated for a fall opening, Independence will offer patrons a complete practice and teaching center and a full service clubhouse. Along with golf operations, the clubhouse will be home to the Virginia State Golf Association, a golf education center and the Museum of Virginia Golf History. The VSGA Foundation has spent the last 15 years planning Independence Golf Club.

West will be responsible for directing the golf program at Independence, including developing teaching initiatives, implementing junior golf programs, supervising the golf professional staff and day-to-day golf activities.
West, a Class A PGA Professional, previously served as the Director of Golf at the Country Club of Virginia's three golf courses for seven years. West is a graduate of Williams High School he later played on the Tar Heel golf team at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and played on the PGA Tour.

Construction on the clubhouse at Barefoot Resort at Myrtle Beach is expected to be completed this fall. The 40,000 square foot Resort Clubhouse combines a low country exterior with an elegant and traditional country club interior. The Resort Clubhouse overlooks the 18th hole of the Fazio Course and features an exquisite view of the lake at Barefoot Resort and Golf.

Myrtle Beach National Company’s Tom Jackson signature course, River Club, will showcase its new A-1 bent grass greens for its first full fall golf season. River Club reopens October 16, 2001 after a one million-dollar reconstruction project. The installation of the greens make River Club the only public golf course with A-1 bent grass in the Litchfield Beach and Pawleys Island area of Myrtle Beach.