Twin Oaks Par-3 Brings Golfers Out at Night

 By STEVE HUFFMAN

It's approaching 10 p.m. on a recent weeknight, but it's still hours away from closing time at Jamestown's Twin Oaks Golf Course.

Thanks to lights mounted on huge telephone poles, the 27-acre par-3 layout is the only course in the Piedmont that stays open after dark. From April through October, as long as the weather is decent, closing time doesn't come calling until midnight.

And the golfing fivesome of Deborah Freeman, Linda Petty, Mary Catherine Ziegler, Rita Richardson and Lisa Harrelson couldn't be happier about it.

"This is like a great big golf course that someone shrunk in the dryer," said Freeman, trying not very successfully to suppress a giggle as she spoke.

And then the women - all five of them - laugh uproariously.

So it goes at Twin Oaks and other area par threes, where the emphasis is often on fun rather than serious golf.

While par 3 golf is often associated with the pitch-and-putt courses at Myrtle Beach and other resort facilities, the owners of a number of such area courses say they do well while operating in the shadows of more prestigious full-length facilities.

Todd Arnold, the manager and vice president of Twin Oaks, said he wouldn't have it any other way. He and his father, Bud Turcot, the course's owner, have operated the facility, located adjacent to Adams Farm, for 19 years.

They've seen the business through good times and bad, with an emphasis on the good.

On this particular night, the course is filled almost to overflowing, with a goodly portion of soon-to-be golfers practicing on the putting green while awaiting their chances to tee off.

At Twin Oaks, a round of golf will set you back $12 at night. During the day, children 16 and under can play all day for $10. Senior citizens get an even better daytime rate, able to play to their heart's content for $7.

"We're an all-day babysitting service," Arnold said. "Moms can pack their kids up a lunch and send 'em over here to play 100 holes of golf if they want."

Arnold said the lights have saved Twin Oaks. His nighttime business, he admitted, is good.

But he said he'd like to see a few more daylight golfers.

"Five years ago, our business was booming," Arnold said. "We're a little slow these days. I don't know if it's the dropoff in the economy or what."

Twin Oaks, he said, has been in existence since 1963, the course was built by Thurmond Edwards. Arnold said his father bought the course from Thurmond Edwards' son, Ken.

The course, located on Hilltop Road, was surely once in the country.

But Greensboro and Jamestown have long since grown to it. Hilltop Road, still a two-lane highway, is soon to be expanded to four lanes, Arnold said.

He said he and his father have worked to rid people of the notion that par 3 golf is only for novices.

"People say, 'Oh, you're just a par 3,' " Arnold said. "But they don't know the amount of work we put into this course. We've got sand traps, lakes and grass traps. We've got everything the big courses have got. We try to make this look like a real golf course."

The course has two full-time and two part-time employees. Wes Williams is the course superintendent.

Omar Hanhan, a 15-year-old tenth-grader at Greensboro's Smith High School, said it's not unusual for him and his friends to play at Twin Oaks as often as three or four nights a week during the summer.

At a time when many teen-agers complain about a lack of recreational activities, Twin Oaks offers welcome relief, Omar said.

"I like to play as often as I can, especially during the summer," he said.

"We always have a good time out here. And they're friendly to us here."

Officials at other area par 3 courses say their facilities are also doing well these days. For instance:

• Mike Wilcox, the head golf pro at Winston-Salem's Tanglewood Golf Club, said the 18-hole par 3 course at Tanglewood is most often frequented by senior citizens and children, but he said people of all ages play it. The course was built in the early 1960s, he said.

"Lots of parents bring their children out there," Wilcox said. "You can usually get in a round in under two hours. It's a lot of fun."

He said junior golf tournaments are also held on the course. A driving range is located adjacent to it.

At Tanglewood, a round of par 3 golf costs $6 on weekdays and $7 on weekends. Children and senior citizens can play for $3.

• Lakewood Par 3 in High Point was opened in July 1966 on 13 acres belonging to Bill Kinley and his family. The course is a nine-hole one.

   "We focus on our greens and customer service," said Kinley, Lakewood's owner.

   Reasonable green fees make the course all the more attractive. To play nine holes costs just $3.75. An additional nine is only $2.75.

   An all-day pass is $8 on weekdays and $9 on weekends.

• The city of Greensboro operates a nine-hole par 3 course at the Bur-Mill Club off U.S. 220 north of town. Officials there said the course was built in the late 1960s. Cost is $6 on weekdays and $7 on weekends. Children and senior citizens get a $1 discount.