New, Old Golf Course Reopens in Northwest Florida

Harrison Michew with his mentor Arnold Palmer

PENSACOLA, FLORIDA — With an eye toward transforming the area’s only municipal golf course into a more profitable operation, the City of Pensacola and the Parks and Recreation Department invested $750,000 on what many would call a long overdue, “extreme makeover” to Osceola Municipal Golf Course. Its new marketing slogan is: “Come Play Osceola Again For The First Time.” The First Tee facility now includes a full-service, 70-person practice facility — complete with a massive, new putting and pitching green, and separate sand bunker — while golfers on the course will enjoy reconstructed green complexes with the finest putting su... Full Story

Berry Hill, an Antebellum Outpost to Remember

SOUTH BOSTON, VIRGINIA — The pace becomes syrupy slow as you gently wind your way along an inconspicuous farm road through the rustic countryside of South Central Virginia, just across the North Carolina border on the north side of the Dan River about three miles west of South Boston. My destination is the Berry Hill Resort & Conference Center, a former antebellum plantation estate that now serves as a Four Star retreat rapidly gaining renown as a sought-after destination for romantic getaways, wedding celebrations, corporate events and social gatherings. The breathtaking landscape of the surrounding countryside is lined with long strands of white picket fences, lu... Full Story

Staying in Great Shape

The Carolina Club and its sister layout, The Pointe, are two of the fine golf offerings along North Carolina's storied Outer Banks

OUTER BANKS, NORTH CAROLINA — It comes as no great surprise that The Carolina Club and The Pointe Golf Club are two of the most immaculately manicured and impeccably conditioned golf courses you will find on the East Coast. After all, the sister layouts on the Currituck mainland of North Carolina’s fabled Outer Banks are owned and operated by a former scratch golfer who also runs one of the region’s major turf grass companies, and both courses were built on what had previously been fertile farm land. But the Other Banks have always been best known for its relaxingly wide and sandy beaches, mild year-round temperatures and numerous historic... Full Story

Hogan and Picard footsteps lead to Hershey History

The history of Hershey, PA included a time when golf legends Ben Hogan and Henry Picard served as head professionals.

HERSHEY, PENNSYLVANIA — While Hershey, Pa., is known worldwide for its iconic chocolate bar, Milton S. Hershey’s model town has attracted attention for many other reasons and at one point served as a symbolic and metaphoric center of the golf universe. Hershey Country Club was established in 1930 and quickly garnered national recognition for its choice of golf professionals. Shortly after the club opened, Henry Picard, one of the game’s best players at that time, was hired as golf professional. Nicknamed the "Hershey Hurricane" and “Chocolate Soldier,” Picard possessed enviable on-course skills that led to 26 wins on the PGA Tour, including the 1936-1937... Full Story

Honoring the Spirit of Freedom through Golf

Former U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover

Few things in this generation’s history compare with the significance of September 11, 2001. “We lost my brother John Patrick Salamone who was working on the 104th floor of the North WTC tower on 9/11” says Mike Salamone of Charlotte, North Carolina. “Since then, my fear has been that the American people would, over time, forget the enormity of this tragedy.” Most of us can describe exactly where we were, what we were doing, and how we felt when we were confronted with the unfolding tragedy. Strangers helped strangers. Flags were raised and candles were lit with a spontaneous spirit of unity as one by one, Americans linked arms. September 12, 2001 was truly a day when we... Full Story

All the Tees in China

Despite historically difficult times in his field, North Carolina-based golf course architect Rick Robbins has remained busy both at home and around the globe.

The restaurant’s background music hums so gently in the distance its melody is hardly perceptible as Rick Robbins eyes a cheeseburger that’s been placed in front of him, shifts his lithe frame to find comfort in a hard, straight-backed chair and begins metaphorically whistling a familiar yet barely recognizable tune of his own. Two decades after the Cary-based golf course architect and native of the Tar Heel mountains departed the comforts of the Jack Nicklaus design umbrella and set out on his own, Robbins now finds himself a 60-year-old, first-time grandfather designing golf courses during a period of time when the economic downturn and its trickle-down effect on golf and the a... Full Story

Bestselling author Jim Dodson generates Wyndham excitement with debut of new magazine

GREENSBORO, N.C. — One of the bigger buzzes around Sedgefield Country Club during the first few days of PGA TOUR’s Wyndham Championship this week has been the inaugural issue of a bimonthly, Greensboro-based magazine called, “O.Henry," which includes a lengthy story about the club and the tournament titled, "Birthplace of Champions: How the Wyndham Championship came to symbolize the revival of a region." A major factor behind all the magazine launch excitement is that "O.Henry" is being edited by New York Times bestselling author James S. "Jim" Dodson, widely considered one of the great literary figures alive today and a man who throughout the years has spent more than his fair sh... Full Story

Former Arrowhead Golf Club Reopens With New Name

Harrison Minchew with his golf course design mentor Arnold Palmer.

DAVIE, FLORIDA (November 2011) — Out of commission since December 2008 as part of an Interstate 595 expansion, the former Arrowhead Golf and Country Club near Ft. Lauderdale has reopened following a complete redesign by golf course architect Harrison Minchew. The course’s new owner, The Town of Davie, announced the course will now be called Davie Golf and Country Club. The 10.5-mile, I-595 corridor in the highly urbanized and congested Broward County is being reconstructed as part of one of the state's first ever public-private partnerships, with three tolled reversible express lanes in the median and additional auxiliary lanes. To minimi... Full Story

Wolfdancer Golf Club Overcomes Mother Nature

Despite historic wildfires in nearby Bastrop, TX, Austin's Wolfdancer Golf Club has thrived.

AUSTIN, TEXAS — Despite the record-breaking heat, historic drought and wildfires that severely impacted Bastrop, Texas a dozen miles to the east, the Wolfdancer Golf Club at the Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort and Spa proudly sports its best-ever playing conditions since it first emerged onto the Austin golf scene five years ago. In fact, the resort’s picturesque setting played a major role in not only allowing the golf course to survive the summer elements, but thrive. Situated along the banks of the Lower Colorado River immediately adjacent to an 1,100-acre nature preserve caled McKinney Roughs Nature Park, Wolfdancer recently received the... Full Story
Former Arrowhead Golf Club Reopens With New Name

DAVIE, FLORIDA (November 2011) — Out of commission since December 2008 as part of an Interstate 595 expansion, the former Arrowhead Golf and Country Club near Ft. Lauderdale has reopened following a complete redesign by golf course architect Harrison Minchew. The course’s new owner, The Town of Full Story

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Honoring the Spirit of Freedom and Uniting Through Golf

(MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2011) — From former Masters, PGA and U.S. Open champions to the defending Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers to numerous military and government officials, the stars have come out in full support of today’s inaugural GOLF 9/12 celebration of unity. At 50 courses around the co Full Story