A prominent club professional and course owner with ties to the Triad has died, according to an obituary published by Bennett Funeral and Cremation Care.
John Ralph Johnson Jr., known as Ralph, passed away Sunday at a hospice in Dunn at 80. He is survived by wife Janice and four children.
During his career, Johnson served as head professional at High Point Country Club’s Emerywood Course before buying the former Arrowhead Golf Course in Mebane in 1976 and operating it until it closed in 2003.
Previously, Johnson served as head pro during the construction and development of the course at Bald Head Island. He also served as head pro at Greenhill Country Club in Louisburg and Oak Island Golf Club.
His posts as an assistant pro included a stint at the former Pine Tree Golf Club in Kernersville.
In 1992, he moved to Atlantic Beach and became involved with fast boats and offshore racing. He owned a boat with Roger Ausley and won a 1999 world championship in offshore racing.
Earlier, TriadGolf.com took a look back at the best of 2025. Now, here’s a short list of what Triad golfers should look forward to during the new year:
New and Improved Facilities:
Starmount Forest Country Club should enjoy its first spring since Kris Spence’s course redesign, a project that returned the Greensboro layout to the original type of challenges intended by Wayne Stiles and John Van Kleek, with a few modern tweaks to account for modern technologies.
Major projects (yet to be announced) are coming to at least a few Triad public courses. Look for more high-tech simulators at public courses. The plans for money allocated for projects at Gillespie and Winston Lake should advance.
The six-hole Old Field par-3 course next to Colin Creek should open. It promises to be a great site for beginners and advanced players looking for a fun outing that can be completed in a tight time window.
Country Club Golf Center’s new location off Shallowford Road in Lewisville may be ready to open. With a spacious driving range, generous practice green and short-game area as well as a roomy, well-stocked pro shop, the new facility will be a groundbreaker in the area.
An Extension for Greensboro’s PGA Tour Event:
The 2026 Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club is in the last year of a title sponsorship.
Nothing has been announced (TriadGolf.com has inquired to tournament officials) about an extension of Wyndham’s long-time title sponsorship of the PGA Tour’s annual event at Sedgefield Country Club, scheduled to conclude after the 2026 tournament.
There’s no reason to worry — not yet, anyway. The PGA Tour helped with the construction of the new short-game area just north of the clubhouse. Tour players rave about the course, a classic Donald Ross layout unique to Tour sites, each year.
If Wyndham opts out of an extension, influential businessman Bobby Long, instrumental in bringing the event to Sedgefield, and local leaders should be able to find another title sponsor to follow in the footsteps of Wyndham, Kmart and Chrysler.
Junior and College Championship Prospects:
Let’s start with the Wake Forest women, which have local products Macy Pate and Morgan Ketchum among a talented spring lineup.
Macy Pate returns as one of the top players on the Wake Forest women’s team.
In the high school and junior ranks, East Surry’s Pennson Badgett will wrap up an outstanding career before heading off to play at Tennessee. Badgett, a U.S. Amateur match-play qualifier, and Pate, a North-South runner-up, will have more changes to excel on the international amateur stage.
Big Events:
We’ve covered the Wyndham. Then there’s Wyndham’s AJGA event, also at Sedgefield.
So what else? Well, the North Carolina will be played at Bermuda Run, June 17-20; the Carolinas Junior Girls is July 1-3 at Jamestown Park; and Holly Ridge will play host to the N.C. Boys and Carolinas Girls Juniors on July 20-21.
More Improvements at Triad Golf Magazine and TriadGolf.com:
In 2025, we put a new emphasis on TriadGolf.com with several new stories and posts each week supported by professional digital marketing.
Plans for 2026 included continued growth and expansion of TriadGolf.com with more features and stories on local golf facilities, personalities and travel features. We’ll also increase the volume of Triad Golf Podcasts. We want you to make TriadGolf.com a daily destination for Triad golfers.
New to TriadGolf.com will be features on instruction and equipment. Have no fear, Triad Golf Magazine readers. We will continue to distribute free quarterly print issues.
We also plan to bring back opportunities to list local tournaments and publicize holes-in-one in the magazine and on the website. Look for updates on our new policy in the next few weeks.
There could be a few more surprises announced in the next few weeks.
It’s just about time to say goodbye to another year. From outstanding Triad-centric performances by PGA Tour pros, club pros and juniors to outstanding local philanthropy and exciting new facilities, 2025 was filled with highlights.
And with the dawn of a new year approaching, here’s a short list:
Cameron Young’s Wyndham Championship victory:
As good as Cameron Young had played in his young PGA Tour career, he hadn’t won a Tour event prior his August victory in front of several Wake Forest University supporters in the gallery at Sedgefield Country Club.
With the wire-to-wire, six-stroke victory, the former Wake star cemented a captain’s pick spot on the U.S. Ryder Cup team and posted a 3-1 record at Bethpage Black, near where he grew up in New York.
Pennson Badgett’s Big Summer:
The Pilot Mountain teenager thrust himself into the spotlight at two of the nation’s biggest junior events.
Pennson Badgett spent the summer on the national stage.
Badgett played with Charlie Woods (Tiger’s son) in the final group of the PGA Junior Championship at Bethpage Black, where he finished fifth. A few weeks later, he qualified for match play at the U.S. Amateur at The Olympic Club. He was shown making birdie on live coverage by Golf Channel.
Brandon Einstein’s dominating N.C. Open Victory:
Einstein, an assistant pro at Tanglewood, put together a spectacular 54-hole performance at Forsyth Country Club without making a single bogey.
Brandon Einstein cruised to victory at the N.C. Open at Forsyth Country Club.
Posting 18-under-par 195, the 25-year-old Einstein won by nine strokes.
First Responders of the Triad Raises $200,000:
The seventh annual First Responders of the Triad tournament held by Byron Development at Greensboro National Golf Club raised $200,000 for First Responders groups through entry fees, sponsorships, an online auction and other donations.
Wayne Player and recipient Belinda Beatty appeared on behalf of Tunnels to Towers.
In 2025, Tunnel to Towers took an active role. Wayne Player, son of Gary Player, was on hand representing Tunnel to Towers.
Tanglewood Park Clubhouse:
Home to 36 holes of public golf, Forsyth County finally opened a new clubhouse worthy of a facility that hosted the PGA Championship in 1974, albeit perhaps two decades overdue.
The rear side of the new Tanglewood Park clubhouse includes a long back deck.
The new clubhouse is smaller, but much efficient. Improvements include a bigger pro shop and a back deck where customers can enjoy food and drink while watching play on the Championship Course’s iconic ninth hole.
Toptracer Bays at Bryan Park Practice Range:
Bryan Park’s outstanding facility became even better in the final weeks of the year with the expected opening of 20 covered bays equipped with Toptracer technology at the Ernie Edwards Learning Center and Practice Facility, just a short drive from the clubhouse.
The new simulator bays were scheduled to open in December at Bryan Park’s Ernie Edwards Learning Center.
Toptracer data is now available for customers with the purchase of practice balls.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Triad Golf Magazine and TriadGolf.com!
It was a great year for golf in Triad. And we hope 2026 will be even better!
As we throw away gift wrap debris and take down the tree, here’s our short wish list for 2026:
Stabilization of Costs and Prices.
It’s become significantly more expensive to play golf since the Covid-19 epidemic. Demand is up and the number of golf seems to shrink every year. Anecdotally, I’d estimate public rates are up 30 to 50%.
But I don’t blame the golf course owners. After all, you don’t see anybody building any new public courses. There’s a lot more money is other types of development.
Costs are a major factor. According to organizations, including the National Golf Foundation, the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America and the USGA, the price of fertilizers has gone up as much as 50% (some owners estimate more). Labor is also more expensive and harder to find.
There are two good reasons for optimism, though. Oil prices and inflation – driving factors in the recent price increases – are falling. Don’t expect golf fees to drop. But is very possible they will stabilize.
No Winter Kill or Excessive Rain.
As much as most of us long for warmer temperatures, let’s have no stretches of unseasonably warm temperatures early in the year that might cause Bermuda to come back prematurely, followed by frost. The effects of winter kill can mar most of the year for many golf courses.
Courses need rain, but not at a volume that causes damage (flooding) or keeps players off the course. Nobody likes carts path only, either.
Save Goodyear and Boone.
We survived 2025 without any course closings. Let’s hope golf’s momentum continues in 2026. More good news: several courses – public and private – invested in improvements. But there are a few trouble spots to monitor.
Goodyear Golf Club, perhaps only a long par-5 away from the North Carolina border near Danville was put on the market late in the year. A very good public course, Goodyear would seem to be a no-brainer for purchase by Caesars Virginia. Let’s hope that happens.
Boone Golf Club, a popular course for Triad golfers visiting the High Country, is in danger. Owners of the outstanding course, the only one within 30 minutes of Boone and Blowing Rock, have announced plans to build housing over at least nine holes of the Ellis Maples design. Though the value of the land has been estimated at as much as $17 million, the city of Boone and/or Appalachian State University would benefit by buying it and keeping it open.
Brooks Koepka’s departure from the LIV Golf makes it possible for the five-time major championship winner to play in future Wyndham Championships.
Koepka, whose resignation from LIV was announced Tuesday, cited family reasons for his decision to leave the tour, beginning in 2026.
He did not announce an intention to rejoin the PGA Tour. A return would require him to reapply for membership, and face a suspension and possible fine for playing in LIV events the past three years.
Koepka was reported to receive a $100 million signing bonus for a four-year commitment to LIV, which released a statement revealing no animosity for Koepka’s resignation.
“We have amicably and mutually agreed that Brooks Koepka will no longer compete in the LIV Golf League, following the 2025 season,” read a statement from LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil. “Brooks is prioritizing the needs of his family and staying closer to home.”
Koepka, 35, won the 2023 PGA Championship as a member of LIV, but struggled while placing No. 31 in LIV’s 2025 standings. Koepka did not announce his intentions for future competition.
The PGA Tour has indicated in the past that a former member leaving for the LIV, would have to serve a suspension of at least one year before returning to PGA Tour competition.
A substantial fine would probably accompany reinstatement because several players turned down huge bonuses from LIV to stay on the PGA Tour.
A year-long suspension would prevent Koepka from playing the Wyndham Championship in August 2026, though adding a high-profile player would be a boost to the Greensboro tournament, which has been by skipped by most of the PGA Tour’s top-ranked players in the FedEx Cup rankings.
Koepka has played at Sedgefield in the Wyndham, including an appearance during the Covid-19 pandemic. He tied for sixth in 2015.
A pair of golfers with North Carolina connections fell short of earning five exemptions onto the PGA Tour for 2026 Sunday after the final round of the Tour’s Qualifying Tournament at Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.
Christian Salzer, an N.C. State graduate, who needed to make up two shots on the top five players in the 176-man field, shot 1-over-par 71 to finish in a tie for 20th at 7-under 273.
Doc Redman, a former Clemson golfer and PGA Tour member from Raleigh, finished at 275. Ryan Sullivan, a 36-year-old former UNC Wilmington golfer living in Winston-Salem, posted 276.
Salzer, Redman and Sullivan did earn spots on the Korn Ferry Tour.
AJ Ewart, Alejandro Tosti, Adam Svensson, Marcelo Rozo and Dylan Wu, who beat Ben Silverman with a birdie on the first hole of a playoff, claimed the five exemptions.
PGA Tour veteran Camilo Villegas missed the playoff by one shot.
At least one player with close North Carolina ties, has a realistic chance to earn a spot on the PGA Tour in Sunday’s final round of the Tour’s Qualifying School.
Former N.C. State standout Christian Salzer, a 27-year-old from Sumter, South Carolina, is only two strokes from the final qualifying spot at 8-under-par 202 after three rounds at Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.
Salzer, who makes his home in Cary, shot his second consecutive 66 Saturday after opening with 70.
Ryan Sullivan, who lives in Winston-Salem, shot 69 to fall six shots out of the top five at 216.
A Triad-based golfer is in contention for one of five available spots on the PGA Tour after Friday’s second round of the Tour’s 72-hole Qualifying Tournament at two sites at Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.
Ryan Sullivan, a 36-year-old former UNC Wilmington golfer who makes his home in Winston-Salem, shot 68 Friday for a 3-under-par 137 total, four shots behind the five co-leaders. Doc Redman of Raleigh, a Clemson graduate who has played on the PGA Tour, is tied for 27th with Sullivan and eight other players.
Jackson Van Paris, a Pinehurst native who played at Vanderbilt, stands at 142.
A pair of former Wake Forest golfers earned spots on the 2026 LPGA Tour this week, and another fell short at the LPGA Q-Series Qualifying Tournament at Magnolia Grove in Mobile, Alabama.
Recent Wake graduate Carolina Lopez-Chacarra finished with 6-under 280 Tuesday to tie for 17th place — the top 25 players and ties qualified.
Mimi Rhodes of England, who won three times as a rookie on the Ladies European Tour this year after playing four years at Wake, overcame an opening-round 75 with rounds of 66, 68 and 72 to finish with seven others on the cut line with 5-under 281.
Former Wake standout Rachel Kuehn failed to qualify with 294.
