Heritage Club honored as best new N.C. course

By KEVIN BRAFFORD

When Bob Moore put pencil to pad and began sketching what evolved into the Heritage Club, he stayed true to his own course. “I’ve never embraced the philosophy of one signature hole,” he said. “I’ve always thought that if you do a good job, every hole will be memorable.”

Memo to Moore from members of the North Carolina Magazine Golf Panel: Consider Heritage Club a job well done.

In fact, enough panelists took fond memories from the American links-style course in Wake Forest — just north of Raleigh — to earn it the magazine’s highest honor: Best New Course for 2002.

In the second narrowest margin since the panel began rating the state’s courses in 1995, the semi-private Heritage Club amassed 4,983 points to 4,698 for Old Chatham, a Rees Jones-designed private course in Durham.

Finishing third with 3,713 points was The Preserve at Jordan Lake, the second signature course of Davis Love III to open in the Triangle in as many years. On its heels was Farmstead (3,575), a Willard Byrd-Dave Johnson design that straddles the North Carolina-South Carolina border in Calabash. Fifth was the Links at Cotton Valley (1,704), a layout designed by local Tarboro resident Tom Johnson.

Those were the five courses that began full play during the 2002 season and were visited by many of the 133 golf panel raters statewide. On a 1 to 10 scale (with 10 being the highest), panelists assessed 10 elements — routing, flow, design, strategy, fairness, memorability, condition, variety, aesthetics and experience. Twenty-seven panelists rated all five of the nominees in a voting season that runs from one Labor Day to the next to accommodate courses opening in the fall.

The 285-point margin between the top two courses followed a developing trend. Last year, only 17 points separated first-place Anderson Creek, a semi-private Love design in Spring Lake, from second-place Brier Creek, an Arnold Palmer-designed country club course in Raleigh.

Panelists can vote only for courses they play. That makes the rankings anything but flawless, and it spelled the difference in this year’s balloting. Heritage Club received 64 rounds from raters compared to 59 for Old Chatham; thus while the former totaled more points — which is considered the fairest gauge — the latter actually received a higher-points-per-panelist rating (79.6 to 77.8).

“Ultimately, what it says is that both are terrific courses,” said Bill Hensley, the panel’s chairman. “Some preferred one while others preferred another.”

Others even preferred The Preserve and still others Farmstead. In fact, all four courses received ratings from panelists in the 90s, proving that “different strokes for different folks” holds true even in the ranking of golf courses.  

Of the 54 panelists who played both Heritage Club and Old Chatham, 31 gave a higher score to Old Chatham. But Heritage Club received consistently higher numbers — only five panelists gave it a rating in the 60s or lower, compared to nine such totals for Old Chatham.

Built on the site of the former Marshall-Stroud Dairy Farm, Heritage Club winds through a distinctive rolling and scenic wooded terrain. So planned was the course and surrounding real estate that many of the holes are framed by an estimated one million pine trees planted decades ago by developers Jud and Andy Ammons.

“Pines make a beautiful background to golf holes,” said Moore, a Chapel Hill resident whose previous credits with his design group, JMP Golf Design, include Nags Head Golf Links and North Shore Country Club near Topsail Beach. “The soil is different here, but, as far as the backdrop, it makes you almost feel like you’re in Pinehurst.”

But that’s where the look of familiarity ends. The Heritage Club isn’t brazen along the lines of Tobacco Road in Sanford and Tot Hill Farm near Asheboro, two Mike Strantz designs that golfers either love or loathe, but in Moore’s words, “it’s not traditional, as far as appearance and strategy, in North Carolina.”

Notable are more than 100 strategically placed pot bunkers. Couple those with the constant shifts and movement in the fairways, lakes that wind throughout and can come into play on five holes, and you have a form of target golf that’s still fair to the average player. “We don’t try to pass it off as true links golf,” said Ammons. “After all, we’re in the middle of North Carolina. But we feel like the random pot bunkers dictate the strategy you’ll have to follow to play the course well.”

Panelists found much to like about the course, including various sets of tees perfectly placed to challenge golfers of all handicaps. “It has a little touch of everything makes you want to come back again,” said Jim Pettit of Fayetteville. “And you had better bring your thinking cap.”

Rick Robbins of Cary, a panelist and highly regarded golf course architect, praised Moore’s work. “I found this to be a very nice golf course in all respects. It has good strategy with reasonable choices for play by all golfers, regardless of skill level. The greens have well thought-out contouring without being severe.”  

For the serious golfer, Old Chatham was borne of the best of reasons. About five years ago, a small group of successful business executives, frustrated by five-hour weekend rounds and course conditions compromised by too many rounds, decided to take action.

A pristine piece of land was discovered near the Chatham, Durham and Wake county lines. Once enough property was acquired, Jones, son of the legendary Robert Trent Jones, was hired to turn it into a golf course. The result was Old Chatham, a beautiful immaculately manicured course that represents everything that’s great about the game.

It’s a layout void of the usual country club bells and whistles. There’s no pool, no tennis courts and no home sites — just a golf course and a modest clubhouse and pro shop. “Our members want to be able to go out and play a quick round of golf without the crowd and without a lot of fanfare,” said head professional John Marino. “Mr. Jones gave them just that, in a real natural, flowing way. There wasn’t much dirt moved to build this golf course.”

 What you see is what you get with Old Chatham, which features open fairways and wide landing areas that lead to rolling greens that average 305 square feet in size. “It’s a traditional championship golf course in every sense of the term,” said Marino. “Mr. Jones says that it’s among his finest works.”

Panelist Reid Spencer of Davidson agreed. “Old Chatham shows the still-burgeoning talent of Rees Jones as an architect. Though no holes are truly spectacular, the designs are uniformly excellent.”

Mebane’s Todd Graff, like many panelists, was wowed by both the course and the setting. “No houses, no nearby streets — just you and the golf course. For the most part, Old Chatham feels as if it’s been there for years.”

Those who found fault with Old Chatham say they were expecting more challenges. “Questionable routing,” said Paul Simson of Raleigh. “So many trees, but none are in play.” Adds Betsey Mitchell of Southport: “Other than holes 6, 13 and 14, I found the course repetitive. And I played below my skill level, but never felt in jeopardy.”

Just the opposite was true for some panelists at The Preserve, who believe the course requires too great a skill level and fails to measure up to Anderson Creek, which was lauded a year ago for having 18 seamlessly superb holes. “I was disappointed that the lake was not in view and that all of the water hazards are mostly creeks and wetlands,” said panelist Steve Johnson of Advance.

Panelist Steve Williams of Reidsville agreed. “They need to take the ‘at Jordan Lake’ out of the name,” he said. “It implies that at least some of the holes play around the lake or at least offer views. That was my major disappointment.”

Still others hold the gently flowing course, which has been designated as an Audubon Certified Sanctuary, in the highest regard. “It has the potential to be the premier semi-private course in the Triangle region,” said Tim Kent of Greensboro. “It has a great variety of holes requiring a wide array of shots — and beautiful terrain.”

Greenville’s Russell Eaves is sold. “It’s definitely the best layout in the Raleigh area,” he said. “As it matures, it will be on the top 30 in the state.”

Farmstead is routed along a spectacular piece of land marked by freshwater lakes and native grasses and is memorable for its finishing hole, a par-6 that plays to a maximum of 767 yards from the championship Black tees and to no less than 635 yards from the Red tees. “I tell everyone that the 18th is so long that it had to be built in two states,” said head professional Mac Hood. “Seriously, it has been a great marketing vehicle for us. It’s important to have that angle that sets yourself off — in the Myrtle Beach area, we’re competing with 120 courses.”

Panelists feel it can hold its own. “It offers a wide variety of looks,” said Robbie Wooten of High Point. “I felt like we played holes at the beach, on Scottish links and in the Sandhills. I hit a wide variety of shots.”

Wilmington’s Drew Pierson noted that once you get past the scenery, another underlying positive is the putting surfaces. “These were the best Bermuda grass greens that I’ve played in a long time,” he said.

Cotton Valley is located just off Highway 64 at the edge of Tarboro. Given a couple of years to mature, this 6,773-yard links course stands to be one of the better daily fee offerings in eastern North Carolina. “It’s just a nice little country course,” said Vicki DiSantis of Pinehurst, “and aren’t we glad there are such courses that are affordable to play?”

After two consecutive years of new course development concentrated mainly in the Triangle, the five new courses panelists will visit during 2003 are scattered throughout the state. The most lauded is Rock Barn Golf & Country Club in Conover, a Robert Trent Jones II design that will host a Champions Tour event in September.

The others are a second 18 holes at Keith Hills Country Club in Buies Creek, The Club at Longview in Weddington, near Charlotte, and courses in both the mountains — Diamond Creek Golf Club in Linville — and along the coast — Kilmarlic Golf Club in Harbinger, near Kitty Hawk.

(Reprinted with permission from North Carolina Magazine)