Missing Links: Deep River Golf Club 

By BLAIR HOLLEY

 Tucked in the corner where I-40 and highway 68 intersect, there was a prosperous cattle farm operated by W.W. Pegg and his son Bill on about 200 acres of nice land. It was so nice that Bill kept much of it mowed close.

The way it looked led Bill and his dad to think of the place as a golf course possibility, which came to fruition in 1958. But it died in 1988, not due to greed but courtesy of the U. S. Government’s estate tax.

Behind Deep River Golf Club was this theory of Bill Pegg’s: “A guy could go to work and get chewed out and come home and get chewed out. But come out here and be treated nicely.”

Bill continued, “It was shorter than some others and people could shoot two or three strokes better, so it was a comeback course. The first and ninth were easy par-5s so, people would have birds on those holes that never had birds before.”

Deep River was one of few Guilford County public courses in its day and the course got its fair share of play.

“Irwin Smallwood (a Hall of Fame golf writer) had a survey of clubs in the area in the 60s and we were the top in rounds in our area,” Pegg said.

Deep River opened in 1958 with only nine holes on a day they were not really ready to open.

One Sunday they mowed the new greens and Bill said to his dad, ‘Let’s put the flags in and see what it looks like.’

“Within a few minutes cars began pulling in and although they were told we were not yet open they begged to play. So they let them on for one dollar. They didn’t even have a cash register or score cards.” Next day they opened full time.

The course was designed by the late John Lamb. It was his first but Bill Pegg described him as a fine amateur golfer. “He put a lot of thought into it.”

Bill and his dad went to Charlotte to E.J. Smith, the distributor for Titleist and Acushnet. They bought 20 dozen balls and some push carts. On the way home he remembers asking his dad if he thought they’d sell all of golf balls. Several years later they were selling 600 balls a week.

They opened the second nine in 1960 but kept the fee at $1. Then came a half dozen riding carts which grew to 90. Summer weekends they would regularly record 275 rounds, weekdays 125 to150.

Bill was Deep River’s golf professional for 30 years and attained PGA Class A status.

And many players were names in the local press, such as Smallwood, Lee Kinard and the late Charlie Harville.

When W.W. Pegg passed away in 1984 at age 90 it was also, unfortunately, the end of Deep River, courtesy of the government’s estate tax.

Volvo, RF Micro, Deep River Corporate Center, Comfort Inn, Hampton Inn and Thorndike Road now occupy the former golf course land.The pool at Comfort Inn sits where the fourth green was.The only parts of the course to remain are the fourth and ninth tees but they are hard to spot.

-------

Missing Links is part of a continuing series. Previous courses featured have been Green Valley in Greensboro, Nocho Park in Greensboro and Cain Creek in Danville. If you have information about other courses that could be featured, contact Steve Williams at (336) 349-2739 or email him at editor@triadgolf.com