Say the word around here and ears perk up. With all due respect to basketball and football, golf is Charlotte’s passion, not to mention the unofficial sport of the Carolinas. In fact, many consider golf a religion in the Charlotte area. That’s little wonder, considering our temperate climate and proximity to some of the best courses in the world. Don’t label golf a “pastime.” Upwards of 11 percent of all Carolinians play, and the Carolinas are among the top three travel destinations for golfers in the United States. All this means big business and a big boost to the regional economy.
While not necessarily a golfing destination, Charlotte has a rich history with golf. Charlotte’s first golf course, Charlotte Country Club, dates to 1910 and was designed by renowned course architect Donald Ross. Legendary Gene Sarazen was once an assistant pro at the club, and Davis Love Jr. was the club’s head pro when his son, future PGA Tour superstar Davis Love III, was born in 1964. The private club is filled with Charlotte’s elite and continues to rank as one of the finest courses in the state and the country, especially after a $10-million restoration project that set it up nicely to host the prestigious 2010 U.S. Women’s Amateur.
Speaking of prestige tournaments, Charlotte has long been a host for the best of the best. The PGA Tour stopped at Myers Park Country Club in the 1930s and ’40s for the Charlotte Open. In 1945, Bryon Nelson’s win at Myers Park was part of his Tour-record 11 straight victories that year. Charlotte Country Club hosted the U.S. Amateur in 1972, while the PGA Tour’s Kemper Open was played at Quail Hollow Club from 1969 through 1979. When the Senior Tour (now the Champions Tour) cranked up in the early 1980s, a fellow by the name of Arnold Palmer, who had long-standing ties to the Queen City, made sure the tour had a tourney in Charlotte, first at Quail Hollow and later at the TPC at Piper Glen. The LPGA also spent time in Charlotte, when the Fieldcrest Cannon Classic was played in the 1990s at the Peninsula Club on Lake Norman.
In 2003, the PGA Tour returned to Charlotte in a big way with an annual event that started as the Wachovia Championship and is currently known as the Quail Hollow Championship. Quail Hollow Club president Johnny Harris, a local developer and prominent member of the golf world, put together this first-class tournament for the first week of May. The tournament is played on a great Quail Hollow layout that has been renovated over the years by noted golf architect Tom Fazio, and it is considered by many PGA Tour pros as the fifth-best tournament on the PGA schedule, behind the four majors. There is always an elite field and the list of winners includes Vijay Singh, Tiger Woods, Jim Furyk, David Toms, and Anthony Kim. Meanwhile, strong rumors persist that Harris will bring a major championship to Quail Hollow this decade, probably the PGA Championship, but possibly a U.S. Open.
Charlotte has contributed to the ranks of the PGA over the years. Clayton Heafner was a PGA Tour star in the 1940s and ’50s. He played on two Ryder Cup teams and twice finished second in the U.S. Open. Clayton’s son, Vance, also spent time on the PGA Tour. In 1961 Charlie Sifford became the first African-American golfer to play on the PGA Tour full time, and a couple of years later, James Black, another Charlotte-born African American, competed on the circuit. Sifford was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in November 2004. As mentioned, superstar Davis Love III was born in the Queen City, although he moved to Atlanta at a young age.
For golfers in the Queen City, there are tremendous opportunities to play the sport on a variety of layouts. In fact, within a 50-mile radius of Uptown you can locate nearly 100 golf courses, Financially, it’s a good time to be a golfer in the area because prices are reasonable due to a saturated market.
Entries in this chapter are listed under public and semiprivate, and private courses in the Charlotte area, then courses farther afield in the Carolinas. Listings are located in Charlotte unless otherwise noted.