Gillespie Golf Course-A Nine-Hole Gem By Alan Marshall

Like Rodney Dangerfield's portrayal of the bug-eyed, tie-tugging nervous wreck, a nine-hole golf course just don't get no respect.

Take Greensboro's Gillespie Golf Course, for instance. Opened in 1941 as a nine-holer on 80 acres of rolling hill-country in southeast Greensboro at the intersection of Florida and Asheboro Streets-now Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive-Gillespie Golf Course was and is a fine, well-maintained course and a more than adequate test of golf skill.

Yet there are many avid golfers in the area who have never even heard of Greensboro's "other" municipal golf course, much less played it. It is their loss.

Indeed, Gillespie's PGA Class-A professional Bob Brooks calls Gillespie "Greensboro's best kept little secret.

"My parents have been in the area 14 years," he commented recently, "and they hadn't even heard of it until I came to work here."

Since Greensboro's Green Valley Golf Club closed in the mid-1980s many area residents have bemoaned the lack of a good, affordable, centrally-located place to play golf in the Gate City. Within a mile of the city center, Gillespie perfectly fits the bill.

And it is only technically a nine-hole course. If Scotland's Royal and Ancient Old Course at St. Andrews can have common greens at numbers 2 and 16, 3 and 15, 4 and 14, 5 and 13, 6 and 12 and 7 and 11, then Gillespie is justified in turning a nine-hole course into an 18 holer by having two sets of tees.

And that is exactly what they did in 1991. Major alterations to two of the greens were completed the same year-some felt with good reason.

It used to be said that after getting to the dance floor on the two par-5s at numbers 3 and 9, your troubles had just begun. Both greens were so severely sloped that putts above the hole often rolled completely off the green. Understandably, at no time did a player want to find his ball above the hole-unless it was dead on the lip. And the slope was so great that from the high side of the lip the ball would often as not fall in.

It is fair to say that there are no easy holes at Gillespie, but there are no unreasonably difficult ones, either. Smooth-swinging pro shop attendant Fletcher Miller recently shot 31, and he smiled at his accomplishment when he spoke about it.

As to the course, numbers 1 and 2 are straight par-4's, 340 and 375 yards, respectively, from the blue tees. A creek comes into play on both sides of number 2 fairway so that severely hooked or sliced shots usually wind up in the drink.

Number 3 is a 515-yard par-5 that doglegs right. A creek along the right adjoins the fairway from the ladies tee box to the green. Woods left make driving accuracy vital, and two good wood shots and a wedge are usually needed to find the green.

The fourth hole is a straightaway 173-yard par-3 with a drop-off behind and to the left of the green, and a sandtrap right which will catch faded attempts at the green

Five is a downhill, then uphill par-4 of 380 yards with a green that slopes toward the approaching shot.

Six is a 360-yard par-4 dogleg right. A large sandtrap skirts the entire front of the green demanding that the approach fly straight onto the green.

Hole number seven is a straightaway 380-yard par-4 with woods left and a creek in front of the tee and along the right-hand side of the fairway.

Eight is a 195-yard par-3 with a creek right and behind the green.

Nine is a straight, then dogleg right, 560-yard par-5 with water along the fairway, woods left, for the first two shots.

Overall, Gillespie has the honest, unpretentious feel of a golf course that has been around a while and is, with good reason, pretty satisfied with its layout. It rarely seems crowded, though it hosted some 24,000 rounds of play last year.

It has springy turf, Bermuda grass tees and fairways, on which the ball naturally sits up nicely. The rough, while not exactly forgiving, is not impenetrable. The bent grass greens putt fast and true, though Brooks admits that "the greens this time of year are a little stressed."

Over the years, Gillespie has acquired the reputation of being a gamblers' golf course. There were stories of big money games involving Roxboro's Thorpe brothers, Calvin Peete, Bill Harvey and other lesser known golfers who, shall we say, enjoyed the challenge of a friendly wager.

With its new picnic shelter area and recently remodeled, fully-stocked pro shop, Gillespie has spruced up its image. And with its special reduced Seniors, Ladies and Juniors rates, Gillespie is attracting many golfers new to the old game.

It is worth noting that the Gillespie Park area was named for Revolutionary War Colonel Daniel Gillespie (1743-1829), one of the founders of the city of Greensboro, who fought for independence in the Battle of Alamance and Guilford Courthouse. It is known that Gillespie's ancestors came to America from the Scottish highlands. A Dr. Gillespie, perhaps a relative, was an early member of St. Andrews Royal and Ancient Golf Club in 1842.

While there is no historical record of Col. Daniel Gillespie's recreation interests, one might wonder, did Col. Gillespie ever hit a feather stuffed leather ball with a crooked hickory stick and afterward take a dram of spirits for his health? Even if he never did, he would be justly proud of the nine-hole gem of a golf course in Greensboro that bears his family name. And he would surely give it the respect it deserves.

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Renowned Architect Breathes New Life into Durham Course By Ronnie Musselwhite

Ron Garl's company mission is simple: To design golf courses that are exciting, challenging and memorable. The renowned golf course architect from Lakeland, Fla., doesn't try to punish golfers for imperfect shots; nor does he attempt to create a "signature" hole. Instead, he labors to create a rewarding golf course filled with great holes-holes from which golfers can choose their own "signature."

True to these time-tested principles, Garl is completing The Crossings at Grove Park in Durham, an 18-hole, par-72 tract that was started nearly seven years ago and then abandoned by its original developers. When it opens this November, Garl believes The Crossings Golf Club-now managed by RDC Golf Management of Parsippany, N.J.-will soon be recognized as one of the best courses in the booming Triangle golf market.

Jack Brennan, president of Paledin Golf Marketing in Plant City, Fla., the firm hired by RDC to handle The Crossings' marketing activities, agrees.

"The layout of this course and the maintenance will separate it from others in the area. Having been in the golf business 13 years, I can say with some confidence that this will be the best course in the Triangle. With due respect given to Duke University's course, it will definitely be one of the top two."

According to Brennan, The Crossings will cater to public play, following a limited membership drive to residents of Grove Park. He plans to offer introductory rates, then adjust greens fees once the true demand has been established. Average rates should eventually settle in the $40 to $50 range-a price point roughly equal to two of the area's more upscale public courses, Devil's Ridge and The Neuse.

An Inauspicious Start

Although the November opening of The Crossings is greatly anticipated, the early life of the golf club was less than promising. According to Brennan, the original owner had some of the course routed when the company went out of business. Development of The Crossings remained dormant until two years ago, when RDC-which manages 12 courses in nine locations in three states-became interested in the site.

Together, RDC and Garl rerouted the layout and brought the course to fruition. "Before I started the project, about two-thirds of the holes had been cleared and some earthwork had been done, so I had some freedom on the rest of the holes. Fortunately, what was there was quite good," Garl says.

Currently, ShapeMasters Construction is laying sod on the last few holes in order to open by the end of the year. Grass on the others is nearly 90 percent filled in.

A Course For Golfers of All Levels

To diversify the course for players of different skills, The Crossings features multiple tee placements, with a length from the tips of approximately 6,700 yards. Varying angles to landing areas and greens and a range of greens sizes have also been incorporated.

"My goal at The Crossings is to create a course where people have a pleasant golf 'experience'," Garl says. "I want it to be a challenge, but also a course that is enjoyable and rewards good golf shots."

For aesthetics, Garl relied heavily upon natural beauty. "Our objective was to move as little dirt as possible because this course has some of the best natural terrain I've ever seen," he notes. "We tried to pick 'natural' green sites, then design the holes backwards (from green to tee). This is the way you work with natural land to design great holes."

Preserving the course's natural beauty was no simple task, especially on the 18th hole. Here, Garl's challenge of creating a unique finishing hole was further hampered by his desire to save an existing creek while designing a lake large enough to be the course's main water supply. The result was a design that will gather water from a 50-acre lake and then refill a 4-acre lake on the 18th.

The 27-year veteran of golf course design has also sprinkled The Crossings with "cornflake" bunkers that showcase jagged lips instead of the popular "smooth" lips. Garl's "cornflake" bunkers are the golf course equivalent of snowflakes-no two are exactly alike.

Ultimately, Garl-an architect whose course résumé includes such masterpieces as the TPC of Prestancia in Sarasota, Fla., and Las Vegas Golf and Country Club-realizes that the true test of his design will be golfers' enjoyment.

"You know, golfers express whether or not they like a course verbally and by returning to play it," Garl says. "I'm anxiously awaiting the response."

So is the golfing community.

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