Connect with us

News

North Carolina Golf Still Impresses

Published

on

Pinehurst #4 (110) bw

Back and forth I have sprinted through North Carolina many a time in the last few years, only occasionally taking the time for a golf game – or several. With almost 600 golf courses I have to admit that it ranks highly among my favorite states to visit when golf is concerned.

Years back I was fortunate to play all eight golf courses at Pinehurst Resort in a single 5 day golf frenzy – it still stands as a highlight of my golfing life. I longed to return there in a better time – that stint was just days after the tragic events of September 11, 2001 and it was a somber time for all. So, along with my buddy Jeff, we vowed to make a return to the venerable resort someday and in Mid-October this year we did just that.

To round out the trip (it will be the subject of a major travel feature that will appear next year in Flagstick Golf Magazine) we added in a few other destinations. The final itinerary found us playing nine courses in total with just one day that we would play twice – leaving lots of flexibility to check out other attractions, golf shops, and even a NASCAR race. For golf junkies it was a classic road trip.

I’ll say the weather was less than perfect although my true choice of words at the time would basically be unprintable. Early tee times resulted in near freezing temperatures by the time we teed off most days. Thankfully a warming trend on the last couple days left a much better impression although only be able to comfortably wear shorts for just nine holes was a bit of a letdown. I take solace in knowing that is unusual weather for them at this time of year.

To give you a framework for what we took on here is a list of the layouts we managed to play on the journey, in order: Pinehurst #1, Pinehurst #4, Pinehurst #8, Pinehurst #2, Little River, Anderson Creek, Lonnie Poole at NC State, UNC (University of North Carolina)- Finley, and The Preserve at Lake Jordan.

Lonnie Poole was the youngest of the courses (it opened just this past June) proved to be the weakest for us – mostly due to early condition and anomaly holes like a 550 yard, uphill PAR 4! But in time this near 7400-yard beast should improve as far as condition and playability as adjustments are made.

For the topper, well, how can you argue with Pinehurst among our selection? My second look at #8 left me even more impressed and this picturesque Tom Fazio layout pushed its way up on my favored Pinehurst list. #2 is still the grand pappy, the enigma you just try and figure out each time you play. Not the most aesthetically pleasing of the courses at the Pinehurst complex, nevertheless you can’t help but be drawn into its grasp. There are few better second shot courses on the planet. Bang it all you want off the tee but strategy for the last half of each hole is a priority unless you have a Houdini-like short game.

I am want for the space and time to lay out opinions of each and every course; that I will save for the Spring Feature but let’s just say there was nothing you could complain about as far as golf was concerned.

Spanning the Sandhills, Fayetteville, and Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill regions like this proved once again why North Carolina is a leading golf state.

And the deals? Just too much. When John Meroski, CEO of the Fayetteville Convention and Visitors Bureau, said he could put us on a course like the Davis Love III designed Anderson Creek with a room for less than a $100 a night I just couldn’t do much more than chuckle. At about $45 for a green fee this time of year with a cart the course would be equivalent to a $100 plus offering in many towns across North America.

So eight years after we made that last Pinehurst journey, by the time we arrived home we felt we had experienced the trip we had hoped for. In one 36 hour stretch we managed to play Pinehurst #8 then attend the NASCAR Bank of America 500 at Lowe’s near Charlotte, followed by an early morning tee time on Pinehurst #2.

I mean, really, if we hadn’t been impressed by those happenings alone it might just be time to give up the game.

So if you haven’t been to North Carolina for golf then I suggest it might be about time you made the trek. I can tell you from my own experiences that it will never leave you disappointed. And surely it will leave you with something to talk about for a long time to come – just as it continues to do for us.

To check some images from our trip you can view them here.

Your Reaction?
  • 0
  • LEGIT0
  • WOW0
  • LOL0
  • IDHT0
  • FLOP0
  • OB0
  • SHANK0

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

News

Photos from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship

Published

on

GolfWRX is live this week at the Wells Fargo Championship as a field of the world’s best golfers descend upon Charlotte, North Carolina, hoping to tame the beast that is Quail Hollow Club in this Signature Event — only Scottie Scheffler, who is home awaiting the birth of his first child, is absent.

From the grounds at Quail Hollow, we have our usual assortment of general galleries and WITBs — including a look at left-hander Akshay Bhatia’s setup. Among the pullout albums, we have a look inside Cobra’s impressive new tour truck for you to check out. Also featured is a special look at Quail Hollow king, Rory McIlroy.

Be sure to check back throughout the week as we add more galleries.

General Albums

WITB Albums

Pullout Albums

See what GolfWRXers are saying about our Wells Fargo Championship photos in the forums.

Your Reaction?
  • 3
  • LEGIT0
  • WOW0
  • LOL0
  • IDHT0
  • FLOP0
  • OB0
  • SHANK0

Continue Reading

News

SuperStroke acquires Lamkin Grips

Published

on

SuperStroke announced today its purchase of 100-year-old grip maker Lamkin Grips, citing the company’s “heritage of innovation and quality.”

“It is with pride and great gratitude that we announce Lamkin, a golf club grip brand with a 100-year history of breakthrough design and trusted products, is now a part of the SuperStroke brand,” says SuperStroke CEO Dean Dingman. “We have always had the utmost respect for how the Lamkin family has put the needs and benefits of the golfer first in their grip designs. If there is a grip company that is most aligned with SuperStroke’s commitment to uncompromised research, design, and development to put the most useful performance tools in the hands of golfers, Lamkin has been that brand. It is an honor to bring Lamkin’s wealth of product innovation into the SuperStroke family.”

Elver B. Lamkin founded the company in 1925 and produced golf’s first leather grips. The company had been family-owned and operated since that point, producing a wide array of styles, such as the iconic Crossline.

According to a press release, “The acquisition of Lamkin grows and diversifies SuperStroke’s proven and popular array of grip offerings with technology grounded in providing golfers optimal feel and performance through cutting-edge design and use of materials, surface texture and shape.”

CEO Bob Lamkin will stay on as a board member and will continue to be involved with the company.

“SuperStroke has become one of the most proven, well-operated, and pioneering brands in golf grips and we could not be more confident that the Lamkin legacy, brand, and technology is in the best of hands to continue to innovate and lead under the guidance of Dean Dingman and his remarkably capable team,” Lamkin said.

Related: Check out our 2014 conversation with Bob Lamkin, here: Bob Lamkin on the wrap grip reborn, 90 years of history

Your Reaction?
  • 17
  • LEGIT4
  • WOW8
  • LOL2
  • IDHT1
  • FLOP2
  • OB2
  • SHANK5

Continue Reading

News

Tour Rundown: Pendrith, Otaegui, Longbella, and Dunlap soar

Published

on

Take it from a fellow who coaches high school golf in metro Toronto: there’s plenty of great golf played in the land of the maple leaf. All the greats have designed courses over the USA border: Colt, Whitman, Ross, Coore, Mackenzie, Doak, as well as the greatest of the land, Stanley Thompson. I’m partial to him, because he wore my middle name with grandeur. Enough about the architecture, because this week’s Tour Rundown begins with a newly-minted, Canadian champion on the PGA Tour. Something else that the great white north is known for, is weather. It impacted play on three of the world’s tours, forcing final-round cancellations on two of them.

It was an odd week in the golf world. The LPGA and the Korn Ferry were on a break, and only 13/15 of the rounds slated, were played. In the end, we have four champions to recognize, so let’s not delay any longer with minutiae about the game that we love. Let’s run it all down with this week’s Tour Rundown.

PGA Tour: TP takes TS at Byron’s place

The 1980s was a decade when a Canadian emergence was anticipated on the PGA Tour. It failed to materialize, but a path was carved for the next generation. Mike Weir captured the Masters in 2003, but no other countrymen joined him in his quest for PGA Tour conquest. 2024 may herald the long-awaited arrival of a Canadian squad of tour winners. Over the past few years, we’ve seen Nick Taylor break the fifty-plus year dearth of homebred champions at the Canadian Open, and players like Adam Hadwin, Corey Conners, Adam Svennson, and Mackenzie Hughes have etched their names into the PGA Tour’s annals of winners.

This week, Taylor Pendrith joined his mates with a one-shot win at TPC Craig Ranch, the home of the Byron Nelson Classic. Pendrith took a lead into the final round and, while the USA’s Jake Knapp faltered, held on for the slimmest of victories. Sweden’s Alex Noren posted six-under 65 on Sunday to move into third position, at 21-under par. Ben Kohles, a Texan, looked to break through for his first win in his home state. He took the lead from Pendrith at the 71st hole, on the strength of a second-consecutive birdie.

With victory in site, Kohles found a way to make bogey at the last, without submerging in the fronting water. His second shot was greenside, but he could not move his third to the putting surface. His fourth was five feet from par and a playoff, but his fifth failed to drop. Meanwhile, Pendrith was on the froghair in two, and calmly took two putts from 40 feet, for birdie. When Kohles missed for par, Pendrith had, at last, a PGA Tour title.

DP World Tour: China Open in Otaegui’s hands after canceled day four

It wasn’t the fourth round that was canceled in Shenzhen, but the third. Rains came on Saturday to Hidden Grace Golf Club, ensuring that momentum would cease. Sunday would instead be akin to a motorsports restart, with no sense of who might claim victory. Sebastian Soderberg, the hottest golfer on the Asian Swing, held the lead, but he would slip to a 72 on Sunday, and tie for third with Paul Waring and Joel Girrbach. Italy’s Guido Migliozzi completed play in 67 strokes on day three, moving one shot past the triumvirate, to 17-under par.

It was Spain’s Adrian Otaegui who persevered the best and played the purest. Otaegui was clean on the day, with seven birdies for 65. Even when Migliozzi ceased the lead at the 10th, Otaegui remained calm. With everything on the line, Migliozzi made bogey at the par-five 17th, as his principal competitor finished in birdie. To the Italian’s credit, he bounced back with birdie at the last, to claim solo second. The victory was Otaegui’s fifth on the DP World Tour, and first since October of 2022.

PGA Tour Americas: Quito’s rains gift title to Longbella

Across the world, superintendents and their staffs will do anything to prepare a course for play. Even after fierce, nightime rains, the Quito TG Club greeted the first four groups on Sunday. The rains worsened after 7 am, however, and the tour was forced to abort the final round of play. With scores reverting to Saturday’s numbers, Thomas Longbella’s one-shot advantage over Gunn Yang turned into a Tour Americas victory.

64 held the opening-day lead, and Longbella was not far off, with 66. Yang jumped to the top on day two, following a67 with 66. He posted 68 on day three, and anticipated a fierce, final-round duel for the title. As for Longbella, he fought off a ninth-hole bogey on Saturday with six birdies and a 17th-hole eagle. That rare bird proved to be the winning stroke, allowing Longbella to edge past Yang, and secure ultimate victory.

PGA Tour Champions: Dunlap survives Saturday stumble for win

Scott Dunlap did not finish Saturday as well as he might have liked. After beginning play near Houston with 65, Dunlap made two bogeys in his final found holes on day two, to finish at nine-under par. Hot on his heels was Joe Durant, owner of a March 2024 win on PGA Tour Champions. Just behind Durant was Stuart Appleby, perhaps vibing from his Sunday 59 at Greenbrier on this day in 2010. Neither would have a chance to track Dunlap down.

The rains that have forced emergency responders into action, to save hundreds of lives in the metro Houston area, ended hopes for a third day of play at The Woodlands. Dunlap had won once previously on Tour Champions, in 2014 in Washington state. Ten years later, Dunlap was the fortunate recipient of a canceled final round, and his two days of play were enough to earn him TC victory number two.

Your Reaction?
  • 0
  • LEGIT0
  • WOW0
  • LOL0
  • IDHT0
  • FLOP0
  • OB0
  • SHANK0

Continue Reading

WITB

Facebook

Trending