http://bradkingwrites.com Great Golf and Travel Writing Sun, 29 Apr 2012 02:22:12 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en   (FAYETTEVILLE, N.C.) — A trio of Fayetteville’s finest golf designs — Anderson Creek, Gates Four Country Club and King’s Grant Golf Club — have been included in the North Carolina Golf Panel’s annual rankings published in the April issue of Business North Carolina Magazine. The Davis Love III-designed Anderson Creek, named North Carolina’s Best New Course in 2001, remained a fixture in the Tar Heel State’s Top 100 checking in at No. 91 and was also ... ]]> http://bradkingwrites.com/golf/golf/courses-and-travel/402/golf-spotlight-turns-to-fayetteville McConnell Golf members earn back-to-back PGA Tour wins, as Old North State Club champion Bubba Watson claimed the Masters green jacket and Carl Pettersson’s tartan jacket from the RBC Heritage found a new home at Wakefield Plantation. RALEIGH, N.C. (April 17, 2012) — Members and staff of TPC at Wakefield Plantation were duly impressed Monday when Carl Pettersson dropped off his new tartan jacket to be displayed in his home club’s golf shop. Less than 24 hours ... ]]> http://bradkingwrites.com/golf/golf/personalities/393/jacket-required Bull City club reopens its renowned Tom Fazio design following extensive restoration of golf course and vast practice area. Will show off facelift Monday during North Carolina High School Invitational. DURHAM, N.C. (March 31, 2012) — Following a nearly yearlong renovation and just in time for the spring golf season, Treyburn Country Club unveiled its freshly refurbished Tom Fazio-designed golf course and expanded practice facility Saturday during a grand re-opening Club Gala. The physical work on the ... ]]> http://bradkingwrites.com/golf/golf/courses-and-travel/310/todays-treyburn The world’s best golfers will be presented an entirely different challenge during the PGA TOUR ’s Wyndham Championship in August, when Greensboro’s Sedgefield Country Club unveils a new set of green complexes featuring a more heat-resistant strain of grass. RALEIGH, N.C. (March 2012) — When McConnell Golf purchased Greensboro’s venerable-yet-aging Sedgefield Country Club in early 2011, its new owner recognized significant improvements to the longtime host site of the PGA TOUR’s Wyndham Championship would be ... ]]> http://bradkingwrites.com/golf/silos/pga-tour/329/bermuda-revolution GREENSBORO, N.C. — It is no coincidence that  “the voice of sports” belongs to one of the most thoughtful and introspective interview subjects imaginable; and that same person also happens to be among the most affable and cordial people you’ll ever meet. So I suppose it should come as no surprise that Jim Nantz returned a phone call bright and early Monday morning from his Connecticut home while preparing to  “tip off,” as the case may ... ]]> http://bradkingwrites.com/golf/golf/personalities/303/nantz-sports-his-game-face-during-a-month-of-madness The Club at Viniterra has earned rave reviews among golfers since opening to the public earlier in the year. This Rees Jones masterpiece shares top billing at Viniterra with a world-class vineyard that has the wine industry abuzz. RICHMOND, VA. — The word "Viniterra” means loosely, “earth wines” or “land of grapes.” In the case of one gated, Richmond-area golf community — where there are not only luxury estate home sites and planned golf cottages, ... ]]> http://bradkingwrites.com/golf/golf/courses-and-travel/281/new-kent-classic Texas octogenarian “Tiny” Leach is a wise-cracking treasure trove of entertaining stories who during a Forrest Gump-type life helped change the course of women’s golf around the Lone Star State   BASTROP, TEXAS — While Marjorie “Tiny” Leach may not be a household name in the world of golf, she is a living legend in golf circles around her native Austin and throughout the Lone Star State. Tiny’s “celebrity” is due in part to her nearly half-century of ... ]]> http://bradkingwrites.com/golf/golf/personalities/255/true-grit RALEIGH N.C. (February 1, 2012) — In late 2011, McConnell Golf announced it would be closing one of its eight clubs, Musgrove Mill Golf Club in Clinton, S.C., at least temporarily due to continuing losses and declining membership. Turns out the reported closing was very temporary, as McConnell Golf has now announced formulation of a plan with the Musgrove Mill membership that will allow the club to continue operations. The plan includes a partnership that shares ... ]]> http://bradkingwrites.com/golf/golf/courses-and-travel/248/musgrove-mill-gets-a-mulligan 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 ... ]]> http://bradkingwrites.com/golf/golf/courses-and-travel/222/new-old-golf-course-reopens-in-northwest-florida 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 ... ]]> http://bradkingwrites.com/golf/golf/courses-and-travel/219/wolfdancer-golf-club-overcomes-mother-nature