By Steve Hanf Folks have continued to trickle in to Jamestown Park Golf Course throughout the summer, eager to bend the ear of head golf professional Ross Sanderlin about the long overdue and highly anticipated changes impacting one of the Triad’s favorite municipal courses. “With the new clubhouse renovations and the new greens, those two…
By DAVID DROSCHAK As Primland Resort executives and golf architect Donald Steel settled on a piece of land for a new golf course on top of the mountain of the 12,000-acre property, there was what now seems like a silly concern. Especially since most golfers who have logged a round at the award-winning Highland Course…
A tiny mountain hamlet in an Allegheny County gap packs plenty of punch with a trio of world-class golf courses By Brad King The hamlet of Roaring Gap in Allegheny County consists of a gas station, a post office … and a trio of heralded golf developments with unique, centerpiece mountain layouts all within a…
By David Droschak At first glance, Salem Glen Country Club in western Forsyth County seems to have it all. As the only Nicklaus Design golf course in the Triad, there is 150 feet of elevation change, 4½ miles of creeks and nine lakes scattered throughout a layout that offers two distinct nine holes. An expansive…
Gillespie Park’s historic layout seeing increased participation. By Steve Huffman At mid-afternoon on a recent weekday, Billy Eastwood was greeting a customer entering the clubhouse at Gillespie Golf Course. They seemed like old friends, the way it is between many of the golfers who frequent Gillespie and those who staff its pro shop. “Hey, Seth,…
By Steve Huffman Gillespie Golf Course is recognized as a tight nine-hole tract, as good a municipal course as you’ll find. It’s also recognized as the site of one of the battles in the civil rights movement, a place where a group of black men sought to integrate a course they weren’t allowed to play.…
By Steve Huffman Jim Melvin grew up across the street from Gillespie Park Elementary School, an area of east Greensboro that in the early 1930s remained largely rural. Melvin, now 82, recalled that, “When I was about 7, I watched them build a golf course.” It was a project that was to become Gillespie…
By BRAD KING Private clubs around the Triad and the throughout the country have felt the pinch from on-going economic turmoil and uncertainty. Membership rosters have shrunk considerably. The majority of private clubs has fewer members today than a decade ago. A challenging economy, along with fierce competition and changing lifestyles have made attracting and…
DAVID DROSCHAK Growing up in the Hamilton Lakes section of Greensboro and learning the game from his father as a youngster at Starmount Forest Country Club it was probably a foregone conclusion Rick Barakat would join the private club when he returned to work in the Triad area after living in Charlotte and Virginia.…
By BRAD KING McConnell Golf recently held its annual executive meeting in which administrators from the company’s growing stable of clubs made a variety of presentations to the group covering numerous club-related topics. Michael Shoun, the director of agronomy, titled his presentation, “The Year of Extremes.” Golf course superintendents like Shoun are the caretakers of…