After surviving more than six decades with the only golf course in a small town, Siler City Country Club is gearing up for a boom in demand.
New golfers are coming to Chatham County and its surrounds. With nearby Wolfspeed and VinFast plants under construction in the county in addition to a Toyota Lithium battery production factory fewer than 10 miles away near Trinity, around 10,000 new jobs. Some of them are bound to be golfers.
As of 2024, Siler City is estimated to have slightly more than 8,000 in population. So the area is destined for dramatic growth.
In fact, Dail Golf, which manages SCCC, said inquiries from workers planning to work at the new manufacturing facilities, have already been received.
The members at SCCC, which has an 18-hole layout designed by Ellis Maples and Tom Jackson, don’t want to miss the opportunity to improve and grow. For years, the club has faced challenges of an aging membership and the bulk of the city’s young adults leaving for bigger cities as textile and furniture jobs disappeared.
“We wanted to make sure we were ahead of the curve,” said Hal Milholen, a longtime member whose family owns Basic Machinery Co. based in Siler City. “As all this was percolating around, the board felt it was the right time for all these improvements.”
“With all of the industry coming to town, and exploding the way it is in Siler City, we’re getting ready for the impact with an amazing golf course,” said Geoff Dail, the head of Dail Golf.
The improvements on the 6,600-yard, par-72 course have included the conversion of the greens from bent grass to TifEagle Bermuda with new TifTuff collars; rebuilt tees, improvement of the fairway turf, cart path repairs and significant tree removal. A new fleet of carts is planned next year.
Off the course, the swimming pool has new pumps and a new sand filter. Renovation of the club’s ballroom has also been approved. A second drainage lake is in future plans.
It’s an exciting time at the club, which in northwest Chatham is a significant drive from any course, though only 40 minutes from Pinehurst. Until the front nine at Siler City was built by Maples in 1957, Milholen said the closest course for Siler City golfers was Asheboro Municipal. The lucky ones, such as Milholen’s grandfather, were able to play at Sedgefield Country Club after a 30-minute drive.
Since then, The Preserve at Jordan Lake and The Golf Club at Chapel Ridge have opened on the eastern side of Chatham County.
With membership steady around 200 members full and social for several years, SCCC struggled maintaining good playing conditions on the fairways, which have single-row irrigation lines. For the past two decades or so, SCCC has accepted public play.
Now, the new greens are nearly flawless, and the fairways are filling in. The course has an assortment of ponds and bunkers that serve as hazards.
“For years played the ball up in the fairways,” said member Craig Wood, whose family operates pork producer Brookwood Farms. “Now, we can play it down.”
Dail said renovation of the greens made it possible to make the front greens more compatible with the greens on the back nine, built by Jackson in 1987.
SCCC’s small-town charm includes down-home prices.
Weekday prices for greens fee and cart in late April were $36 on weekdays and $53 on weekends for the public. Full membership, which includes tennis, pickle ball and swimming, was $215 per month in 2023 with an $1,800 stock purchase.
The restaurant, which has an extensive menu, is open to the public for lunch with dinner for members on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
