Carolina Golf Club - North Carolina - USA

“Carolina Golf Club” might sound like an awfully ambitious title for a region as rich with courses as North Carolina, but the development of golf in the state’s largest city — Charlotte — has actually been relatively recent by East Coast standards. The course gathered its name by being the first 18-hole golf facility in the Charlotte area during 1929.

Although the city may have been late to the game, it wasted no time in seeking to ascend to the top shelf, namely by hiring Donald Ross to handle its design. Much later down the line, the club purchased an additional 43 acres and hired Kris Spence to conduct a redesign/restoration to better restore the master’s style to the property (Ross historian Bradley Klein served as a consultant to ensure the authenticity of the work).

Because of its early development in Charlotte’s history, the course sits relatively near to the city compared to other courses of a similar caliber. As a result, the city’s iconic skyline can be seen from a distance while playing rising above the trees. Other signs of the club’s urban setting remain carefully shielded from the player’s view, however.