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| Carolina Golf | ||
| Golfers and nongolfers alike will find much to love at these top Carolina Resorts. | ||
| BY JANE LONGSHORE & LIBBA YOUNG | ||
Pinehurst Resort & Country Club As hard as it may be to believe, there is more to Pinehurst than golf. The Pinehurst Tennis Club was the site of 1994-96 U.S. Clay Court Championships, and hosts USTA events each year. Pinehurst is also the home to three championship croquet courts and a lawn bowling court. The resort’s pools and Beach Club offer plenty of water activities, and a new 31,000-square-foot spa offers a full menu of pampering indulgences. Nine dining venues offer a full range of options, from stringent-dress-code fine dining to family-friendly eateries. Accommodations range from the historic Holly Inn and Carolina luxury hotels to the sportsman-style Manor to rental villas and condominiums. Address: 1 Carolina Vista Drive
Accommodations include the rustically elegant Lodge at Pine Needles and the historic (circa 1921) Mid Pines Inn, each of which feature dining rooms serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner (jackets are required for dinner). Casual dining is offered at Pine Needles’ In the Rough Lounge and Mid Pines’ Cosgroves Lounge. While more pointedly golf-centered than other resorts on this list, Pine Needles does offer additional recreation options including swimming pools, tennis courts, and a fitness center. Groups can also arrange for tours to North Carolina’s famous pottery country, local horticultural gardens, and the trendy shops of the Villages of Pinehurst and Southern Pines. Address: 1005 Midland Road
Guests have a number of room types from which to choose. Rooms at the historic Main Inn (opened in 1913) feature original solid oak Arts and Crafts-era furnishings, while the oversized rooms of the Club Floor offer spa-like bathrooms featuring seven-jet standing hydro-showers and oversized effervescent baths. For a truly unique experience, reserve one of the Inn’s themed suites, from the Fabulous Fifties, featuring colors and textures that recall the era’s fascination with all things geometric, atomic, and automotive, to the Gatsby room, with its plush Art Deco glamour (golf vacationers will appreciate the Donald Ross room, with its masculine, club-like appeal). Nongolfers will have plenty to keep them occupied. Lose yourself for the day (or more) in the 40,000 square foot spa, offering a full range of treatments plus mineral pools with soothing underwater music, waterfall pools, contrast pools, a lap pool, an inhalation room, a sauna, and a eucalyptus-infused steam room. Active guests can enjoy indoor and outdoor tennis; indoor and outdoor pools; and a 50,000 square foot sports complex with racquetball court, fitness classes, and personal training. Dining options include Horizons, one of Asheville’s finest restaurants and a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence winner; Sunset Terrace, serving fine prime beef and seafood on a spectacular dining veranda; and The Blue Ridge Dining Room, specializing in American-Continental cuisine served in grand buffet style. Address: 290 Macon Avenue Kiawah Island Golf Resort Kiawah golfers have five championship courses, designed by the world’s leading golf course architects, from which to choose. Situated along an unspoiled three-mile stretch of Atlantic Ocean, the 7,296-yard, par-72 Ocean Course by Pete Dye is perhaps the most well known of Kiawah’s courses. In addition to hosting the 1991 Ryder Cup, the 1997 and 2003 World Cups, and the 2007 Senior PGA Championship, the Ocean Course will be the home of South Carolina’s first major championship when it hosts the PGA Championship in 2012. In addition to the Ocean Course, Kiawah is home to Osprey Point by Tom Fazio, Turtle Point by Jack Nicklaus, Cougar Point by Gary Player, and Oak Point by Clyde Johnson. There are many activities for nongolfers at Kiawah, including two world-class tennis clubs with 23 clay courts and five hard courts; outdoor adventures like marsh creek canoeing, ocean kayaking, back-river excursions, and biking; three swimming pool complexes (separate children’s and adult pools); beach services; and a fitness center. Dine in any of 12 venues, from fine dining at The Ocean Room, to grab-and-go eateries like The Market at Town Center. The Sanctuary Spa offers 12 garden-themed rooms and offers treatments based upon the ocean, maritime forest, and botanical gardens. Address: One Sanctuary Beach Drive
Aside from golf, there are plenty of activities at the resort to keep everyone occupied. Outdoorsy types will appreciate the 605-acre Forest Preserve, with its 20 miles of bike trails and nature paths, and the five miles of unspoiled beaches. Sports buffs can hit some balls at the Racquet Club, consistently ranked among the finest resort tennis facilities in the world, or work out at the fitness center. The Lawton Stables Equestrian Center allows guests to explore the area on horseback, and the Stoney-Baynard ruins offer history buffs an 18th century plantation house to explore. Anglers will delight in the fishing possibilities, with deep-sea fishing charters, freshwater fishing (on Lake Mary and Lake Joe in the Forest Preserve), and fly-fishing, reeling in everything from red snapper to catfish. Sunset cruises, sightseeing by sailboat, and dolphin discovery excursions are launched from the Harbour Town Yacht Basin. The more than 20 dining options include the only oceanfront open-air restaurant on Hilton Head Island. Address: 32 Greenwood Drive
The resort takes full advantage of its setting on the water with a freshwater marina offering 142 premium slips available for membership or lease. Barefoot Water Sports offers boat rentals for exploring the waterway and barrier islands, and jet ski tours like the Dolphin Watch Jet Ski Tour that spans more than 40 miles. Area attractions include live performances at The House of Blues, Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Museum, miniature golf, Myrtle Waves Water Park, NASCAR Speed Park, and Pavillion Amusement Park. Dine poolside or at Docksiders Grille, overlooking the Intracoastal Waterway and featuring a unique open-air kitchen. Address: 2200 Premier Resorts Boulevard
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No surprise here, but then again no discussion of Carolina golf would be complete without this legendary resort in the sandhills of North Carolina. Established in 1895, Pinehurst veritably oozes golf history—it has hosted more championships than any other course collection in the country, most recently the 2005 U.S. Open (the resort will host the Open again in 2014, as well as the 2008 U.S. Amateur Championship, August 18–24). The resort’s best-known course, Pinehurst No. 2, was designed by Donald Ross and completed in 1907. Ross called it “the fairest test of championship golf” he had ever designed. Ross’ touch can be felt on several of the eight courses, including the classic No. 1 course, which reopened in March, 2008, after a nine-month renovation. Other course architects represented at Pinehurst include Tom and George Fazio and Rees Jones. 
Donald Ross added to North Carolina’s golf blessings with Pine Needles, a 1927 creation that was restored to the architect’s original vision in 2005. “Time had softened some of the challenges of Pine Needles,” said John Fought, who led the renovation. “We tried to bring those subtleties back, especially around the greens.” Sister resort Mid Pines features another classic Ross creation, a bit shorter and more hilly than Pine Needles, that remains exactly as he crafted it in 1921. The USGA makes regular stops at Pine Needles, most recently for the 2007 U.S. Women’s Open. Signature holes include No. 3, which calls for a precise tee shot over a small pond and wetlands area, with a putting surface that slopes sharply from back to front, and No. 10, a five-par dogleg left with a dramatic bunker hugging the inside of the corner. The practice facility is routinely ranked as one of the best in the country, and players looking to improve their game can take advantage of the resort’s numerous instruction offerings, including signature Golfaris, private lessons, and workshops. Women especially appreciate the resort’s clinics and workshops tailored specifically for them. 
No expense was spared to ensure that visitors to Kiawah Island Golf Resort have a memorable, timeless experience. That meant raising the Sanctuary site 20 feet to allow unobstructed views of the ocean from the first floor, and using hand-planed walnut flooring in the lobby that was shaped into irregular length and width planks and placed on sleepers so the floor will “give” and creak. They even used the world’s largest mechanical spade to transplant more than 400 trees, including 160 50-foot-tall live oaks to create the resort’s centuries-old feel. Located on a barrier island 21 miles from Charleston, Kiawah Island Golf Resort is a 10,000-acre haven, with 10 miles of pristine beaches bordering the Atlantic Ocean. Guests can lodge in one of the Sanctuary’s 255 rooms and suites (90 percent of which boast ocean views), or opt to rent one of the resort’s 600 villas and private luxury homes.
Golf is a huge draw to the area, and Sea Pines boasts three world-class courses, including Harbour Town Golf Links. This 6,973-yard, par-71 course was designed by Pete Dye in consultation with Jack Nicklaus, and is the longtime home of the PGA Tour’s Heritage of Golf. The property’s other courses include Hilton Head Island’s first golf course, the Ocean Course, and Sea Marsh, ideal for family play with its set of junior tees. In addition to the courses, the Golf Academy of Hilton Head Island offers instruction, driving ranges, two teaching tees, a chipping area, and practice bunkers.
The resort’s four golf courses were designed by Greg Norman, Davis Love III, Pete Dye, and Tom Fazio and include such coastal scenery as natural marshes, majestic pines, white sands, and views of the Intracoastal Waterway. The Norman Course boasts seven holes set along the Intracoastal Waterway and is a par-72, 7,200-yard course. The par-72, 7,000-yard Love Course is Golf Digest’s number one rated course in Myrtle Beach and incorporates the recreated ruins of an old plantation home along holes three through seven. The Dye Course is the only semi-private facility at Barefoot with its own clubhouse, and a par-72, 7,343-yard layout. The Fazio course is par-71, 6,834 yards and offers four sets of tees to give players of all skill levels the opportunity to play a championship caliber course.
