Charlotte - North Carolina - USA

North Carolina has no shortage of rolling topology, which provides a great canvas to design golf holes. It’s no surprise that Donald Ross continued his legacy across a State that heralds many of his best efforts.

The course at Charlotte has recently improved by leaps and bounds due to the restoration work by Ron Prichard, and in some cases he added new green locations (e.g. 16th) and a new par 3 17th hole, which made part of his project a renovation, rather than a restoration. The shaping of the green-contours is hugely impressive and in a state with so many Donald Ross courses, I hadn’t seen contours like this before (e.g. 2nd and 3rd greens).

The change in elevation is more significant than first glance, and really punishes approach shots that fall short (e.g. 6th hole) so don’t hesitate to take an extra club.

While there are picture-perfect oak tees within the grounds, the beauty of this course is wonderfully accentuated by the tree removal. In fact, my host brought me to a very special spot on the course. If you stand in the back-right hand corner of the 8th green, from that specific vantage point you can see a portion of every single hole on the property. It’s absolutely true, and a really enjoyable fun fact.

Charlotte has had a number of architects since two members laid out a rudimentary course before World War I. A few years ago, the membership decided it was Donald Ross’s work they preferred to that of revisionists Robert Trent Jones and Tom Fazio. So they hired Ron Prichard to restore the course to Ross’s 1926 design. From aerial photographs he was able to bring the bunker count back to its original 105—including a sweet little teardrop bunker in the middle of the 12th fairway. But as the aerials left only clues as to the green undulations, Prichard got to emulate Ross by designing greens as he thought the master might have. I thought Prichard’s work was excellent, particularly at 2, 3, 5, 11, and 17, where the undulations are quite confounding. Bringing back the fairway bunkers also added to the fun as there is a clearly better side of the fairway from which to approach many greens. The course has the length to challenge very skilled golfers, but remains playable for members using shorter tees.