GOLF COURSE REVIEWS

New Bob Moore-Designed North River Club - The Class Act on the Crystal Coast by David Droschak

Those of us who play golf in the Triangle have enjoyed the creative mind of Bob Moore, the Chapel Hill-based architect who designed the popular Heritage Club in Wake Forest and Chapel Ridge outside of Pittsboro.

One of Moore's best projects took him three hours southeast of Raleigh, to an area along North Carolina's Crystal Coast.

The North River Golf Club is a must-play on your next beach vacation or long weekend. Heck, I drove down, played the 7210-yard layout, ate some seafood while enjoying a sunset along Beaufort's historic waterfront, then headed back to Apex in the same day.

The Top 20 Courses: From the Triangle to the Coast

If you’re a golfer in the Metro readership region from the Triangle to the Coast, consider yourself blessed. There are so many great clubs and outstanding courses that compiling a definitive Top 20 list leaves too much for argument.

The selections are in alphabetical order, but three courses stand indisputably at the top nationally — Donald Ross’ masterpiece, Pinehurst No. 2 and Tom Fazio’s Eagle Point near Wilmington and Forest Creek in Pinehurst.

  1. Bald Head Island – Southport; George Cobb, 1974.
  2. Cape Fear Country Club – Wilmington; Donald Ross, 1924 & 1947.
  3. Country Club of North Carolina – (Dogwood) – Pinehurst; Ellis Maples, 1973.
  4. Croasdaile – Durham; George Cobb, 1961.
  5. Currituck Club – Corolla; Rees Jones, 1996.
  6. Eagle Point – near Wilmington; Tom Fazio, 2000.
  7. Forest Creek – Southern Pines; Tom Fazio, 1996.
  8. Governors Club – Chapel Hill; Jack Nicklaus, 1990.
  9. Hasentree – Raleigh; Tom Fazio, 2007.
  10. Hope Valley Country Club – Durham; Donald Ross, 1926.
  11. Landfall Dye Course – Wilmington; Pete Dye, 1988.
  12. North River Golf Club– Beaufort; Bob Moore, 2007.
  13. Old Chatham – Chapel Hill; Rees Jones, 2001.
  14. Pinehurst Resort & Country Club – Pinehurst No. 2 (Donald Ross, 1907); No. 4 & No. 8 (Tom Fazio, 2000 & 1996); No. 7 (Rees Jones, 1986).
  15. Pine Needles – Southern Pines; Donald Ross, 1927.
  16. Prestonwood – Cary; Tom Jackson, 1988.
  17. Raleigh Country Club – Raleigh; Donald Ross, 1948.
  18. Tobacco Road – Sanford; Mike Strantz, 1998.
  19. TPC at Wakefield Plantation – Raleigh; Hale Irwin, 1996.
  20. Treyburn Country Club – Durham; Tom Fazio, 1988.