1. Bryan Park Champions. 2. The Cardinal. 3. Tanglewood Championship. 4. Forest Oaks. 5. Grandover East. 6. Grandover West. 7. Deep Springs. 8. Pinewood. 9. Bryan Park Players. 10. Mill Creek. 11. Oak Valley. 12. Greensboro National. 13. Holly Ridge. 14. Tot Hill Farm. 15. Cross Creek. 16. Meadowlands. 17. Cedarbrook. 18. Salem Glen. 19. Jamestown Park. 20. Stoney Creek.
Park’s Championship Course hosted the 1974 PGA Championship won by Lee Trevino.
Forest Oaks Country Club was the site of PGA Tour Greater Greensboro Opens for three decades, producing 14 different winners who also won major championships.
But the best public-access course in the Triad, according to a Triad Golf panel, is Bryan Park’s Champions Course, host of the 2010 U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship.
The above trio provides only a glimpse of the Triad’s outstanding, 18-hole, public-access courses, which include designs from Robert Trent Jones, Pete Dye, Ellis Maples, Joe Lee, Rees Jones, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Hale Irwin and David Graham.
More than 50 of the Triad’s 60-something golf courses are open to the public — at least on a limited basis.
Guilford and Forsyth counties can thank generous benefactors for Bryan Park and Tanglewood Park, amazingly affordable 36-hole facilities with outstanding practice areas.
Grandover Resort offers a premier golf resort with two David Graham and Gary Panks collaborations, known for generous practice facilities and pristine playing conditions.
Several of the region’s best courses are former private clubs that still have sizeable memberships.
Within the last decade, McConnell Golf opened tee times to the public at The Cardinal, a tough Pete Dye design that was once merged into Sedgefield.
Other clubs with significant memberships include Forest Oaks, Cross Creek, Meadowlands, Deep Springs, Pinewood Mill Creek, Salem Glen, Stoney Creek and Greensboro National.
Holly Ridge, a rarity in not offering memberships, is at the forefront in providing modern amenities including four simulator bays and robot food and drink servers as well as tee times offering discounts for foursomes.
Jamestown Park was the top vote-getter of an outstanding group of municipal courses, including Lexington, Reynolds Park, Oak Hollow and The Valley, sure to make golfers in most other markets envious.