Lakeshore a Golfing Oasis in the Midst of RTP
By Patrick Jones

DURHAM – For 40 years, Lakeshore Golf Course and Research Triangle Park (RTP) have thrived together in a symbiotic relationship on the eastern edge of Durham County.

In 1962, J.M. Utley Sr. and J.M. Utley Jr. completed an 18-hole course on a then remote piece of property off the non-paved, dirt lane of Lumley Road. Within three years, their Lakeshore Golf Course found itself in the early stages of being surrounded by the company of numerous multinational companies. IBM, one of the original tenants of RTP, arrived in 1965. Today, The Park, as most of its paycheck dwellers have come to call it, encompasses 7,000 acres, more than 100 research and development facilities, and annual salaries amounting to more than $1.2 billion, according to the Research Triangle Federation.

To Lakeshore’s geographic good fortune, many RTPers are avid golfers who take full advantage of their handy proximity to the oasis layout in the midst of their working environment.

“A majority of our business comes from the park,” said Chip Stallings, who is the club’s head golf professional and has been at the facility since 1995. “We cater to the corporate business. We have numerous golf leagues during the season from big companies that come out and play our facility.”

IBM, Nortel, SAS and GlaxoSmithKline are some of the conglomerates that sponsor nine-hole league play for their employees after work hours, according to Stallings. And there’s a waiting line for other companies looking to book time for their recreational needs during the week on the 5,719-yard, par-71 course.

“We have really taken advantage of our location being right inside Research Triangle Park,” said Stallings, who is originally from nearby Oxford and played golf at J.F. Webb High School. “We’re very fortunate and definitely capitalize on that. Even last year, with the economy and business the way it was, we had to turn away the league business from more than five companies because we simply didn’t have room. Some of the leagues have been out here for 20 years. We do everything we can to accommodate the clientele we have so close to us.”

Lakeshore is also a haven for golfers who tire of playing some of the area’s newer lengthy courses that seem to require fairway wood approaches on every hole, even after adequate drives. At 5,719 yards from the back tees, it’s one of the Triangle’s shorter layouts, but, like its providential partnership with RTP, being relatively short has also proven to be a blessing.

“We definitely have our niche,” said Stallings. “Because of our length, it’s not a penal golf course and it’s not a golf course that’s going to beat up an average middle handicap player or a senior golfer. It’s a great course for the beginning mid to high handicapper. They need a place to play where they can go out and maybe have one of the best rounds they’ve ever had. And they want to come back.

“I think you see a lot of golf clubs today that really take a toll on the average golfer,” added Stallings. “And there are many more mid to high handicappers playing the game than there are single-digit and scratch golfers.”

Lakeshore’s lack of length does not make the course a pushover, though, by any standards. Its centerpiece 30-acre lake comes into play on eight holes, making watery splashdowns seem much more foreboding than having to traverse additional yardage of Bermuda firma. And its greens are the same originals built back in the ’60s, a time when putting areas were designed to be small, particularly in comparison to some of today’s jumbo jet landing surfaces.

“We have relatively tight targets for approach shots,” said Stallings. “And we’re a tight course. Accuracy is definitely more important here than length.”

Lakeshore provides several titillating tests for golfers who insist on pulling out their newest Titanium Big-Headed Smasher in hopes of hammering one a la El Tigre. A pair of par 4s, No. 11 and No. 15, are potentially reachable off the tee for those thrillseekers wanting drive-the-green reward with no aversion to score-inflating risk.

No. 11 plays to a mere 266 yards, but has a fairway, in the words of Stallings, “that is so narrow that you almost have to walk down it in single file.”

Playing downhill at 279 yards, No. 15 tempts golfers like Sirens did seamen. A career tee shot onto the green has to avoid the perils of water on the left, right and back of the putting surface.

A pair of par 3s on the back nine are, in Stallings estimation, “two of the best holes we have.”

The 16^th hole is a 190-yard shot over the water to a green that is bordered by the lake on the left. A large oak tree sits on the edge of the lake. “If the pin is tucked back left, you have to carry the oak tree to get back to it,” said Stallings. “It’s a fair shot, but visually, it’s extremely intimidating.”

The finishing hole features one of the most difficult greens on the course. It slopes severely from back to front. “Our green speeds aren’t lightning fast like some golf courses,” said Stallings, “but a putt can definitely get away from you on that green if you don’t play it right.”

Since 1962 – the era of the Kennedy administration – Lakeshore Golf Course has stood the test of time. But it hasn’t stood still. New blue tees and a complete bunker restoration will be completed by this spring. Over those four decades, it has become a Triangle tradition and still remains in the hands of a third generation of Utleys.

“I’m most proud of the fact that we’re still a family-owned business that has survived,” said Stallings. “We celebrated our 40^th anniversary last year. It speaks for itself – being a family-run business that’s still making strides.”

It’s a walk that Lakeshore Golf Course and Research Triangle Park continue to share together.