New ownership promises to fine-tune Crescent

By ED DUPREE

        SALISBURY – Crescent Golf Club, a popular Southern Piedmont course during the past five years, is on its way to becoming even more popular under new ownership and management.

        Crescent, a John Lafoy-designed 72-hole layout that opened in August 1998, has been purchased from Landscapes Unlimited of Lincoln, Neb., by five North Carolinians, three of them with Salisbury ties.

        Salisbury’s Franco Goodman and Rick Hardesty, Raleigh’s Tony Withers, Chapel Hill’s Jay Klomkmaker and Sanford’s James Tucker formed Run and Jump, LLC, and purchased the course on June 24. Salisbury native Withers is also one of the owners of Crooked Creek Golf Club near Raleigh.

        The LinksLand Group, a golf management company from Fuquay-Varina, has taken over operation of the course for the new owners.

        Drew Smith is general manager of LinksLand, while Salisbury native Jay Hill is director of golf and Renata Fecteau is membership and accounting director. Hill was formerly head pro at Crooked Creek.

        Crescent, known for its excellent, large bentgrass greens and its challenging layout, has drawn criticism in the past for its cart paths, which were only partially completed, and its rough areas.

        Smith said the new ownership “wants to fulfill the vision the original owners had in opening the Crescent, to make it a great golf course, make it available to a wide variety of people, and fill the niche that’s not being met in the Salisbury golf market … They tried to do that, but not everything was in place in the infrastructure.”

        LinksLand started working on paving more cart paths immediately after the sale was completed, and other changes are on the way.

        “I think it’s a great layout,” said Smith. “There are some areas that we would like to shore up, particularly a couple of drainage issues. The rough was never grown in the way it needed to have been done, so we’ll be switching over, over time, from fescue to Bermuda grass. The fescue is gnarly and hard to play out of, particularly when it’s wet and real thick. The Bermuda grass will lend itself more nicely to the course. We want the fairway and rough areas to be more defined. The greens are excellent, the fairways are excellent and the tees are excellent.

        “There are a lot of interesting holes. It’s the kind of golf course that you can play 30 times and find some place different to hit a ball from every time, and play different shots each time.”

        The new ownership and management has lowered Crescent’s rates.

        “If you want to play really affordable golf, we’ve got that for you,” pointed out Smith. “If you want to play golf Saturday morning, but not break the bank, we’ve got that for you. If you want to bring your kids out, we’ve got that for you. If you want women’s clinics or junior clinics, we’re going to have all that.”

        No rates have gone up. The Monday-Friday rate is $25, including cart, and $19 after 2 p.m. The weekend and holiday rate is $35 until 11 a.m., $29 from 11 until 2 p.m., and $25 after 2. Seniors, ladies, civil servants, clergy and military personnel can play for $19 Monday-Friday and after 2 p.m. on weekends and holidays. College students can play for $19 Monday-Thursday and after 2 p.m. at other times. Juniors age 16 and under can play free Monday-Friday with a paying adult.

        “They can buy a junior membership for $50 a month. That’s unlimited green fees Monday through Friday and after 11 on the weekends, and unlimited range balls,” said Smith. “We love juniors. We’re going to teach juniors, and we want them to come out and play as much golf as they want to.”

        Crescent has had its share of tournaments and corporate outings in its first five years, and Smith says that’s not likely to change.

        “From what I’ve seen so far, the staff here has always done a great job with all their corporate outings and particularly their charity events. We’ll certainly continue to do those,” he said.

        Crescent has had two head pros, Bo Bowden the first year and a half and Ross Desmond the past three and a half years. Desmond took the head pro position at Stonebridge Golf Club near Monroe, leaving Crescent before the sale was completed.

        Assistant pros Jason Hurst and Addison Smith ran the course after Desmond left and will continue in their positions. There are no plans to hire a head pro. Hurst and Smith will work under Hill, who will be director of golf for both Crescent and Crooked Creek.

        “We’re not going to come in and make sweeping changes that are going to put anybody out or irritate people. Mainly, what we are going to do is listen. We will listen to our staff and listen to people that play the course and act accordingly,” said Smith. “We know there’s a lot of great golf courses in the area. We’ve seen a lot of them and we appreciate and admire what they’re doing. We want to do something a little bit different in what people are telling us that they want to see and experience.”