Course Suggestions

[Tripper]

Print a map for both of these or you will be lost out there, especially UNC. I played both of these 2 just last week (after walking off both 10 years ago because of navigation issues). Finding hole 3 after 20 (#1 and #2 are pulled) is difficult, good thing I saw a golfer working on the course and was pointed in the right direction.

Zeb can be difficult to navigate now that the old 18 is hole 1 and the transition from 4-5 is a little counter intuitive.

I am baffled why when UNC closed 1 & 2 they didn't re-number all the holes. Particularly since the parking lot by old 1 & 2 is not a public lot and there have been reports of cars without student parking passes getting ticketed. We always park at the lower lot by hole 9 and start there. Hole 9 should have become hole 1 IMO.

 

[ElliottDenney]

So I ended up deciding to play Valley Springs and UNC DGC just because of the proximity to my AirBnB. I already played Valley Springs, and it was awesome! It may be because I'm used to courses that are just ok, but I really enjoyed it. A lot of long tunnel drives. The tee variety was great too. I ended up going from the blues, but I probably should've gone from the whites because I ended up +8 through 22 (I didn't think that was TOO bad having never played the course and starting DG in June). The woods were clear enough to allow scrambles rather than just pitch outs if you got out of the fairway. Haven't played UNC yet, probably about to head there in not too long.

 

[ElliottDenney]

Just finished up at UNC DGC. It was definitely more appropriately difficult as I shot even (2 birdies/2 bogies). I really wish I had looked at the course map a little more closely though because the free parking is WAY far away from hole 19.

 

[BuzzSharpe]

This :doh:

I haven't had a chance to jump back on here in a while, but I wanted to thank everyone who contributed. I lucked out in my scheduling and managed to get Duke, UNC, and Wake Forest close together, and that's actually my first trip. Based on this thread, I'm going to use the course reviews to vet the following:

Johnson Street Park
Patriot DGC
UNC DGC
Zebulon
Valley Springs
Apex Nature Park
Buckhorn
Jones Park
Rockness Monster

I'll be out that way for ~6 days, but of course a lot of my time will be spent interviewing during the day. I'm hoping that I will be able to fit in 3-4 courses while I am out there. I'm glad people made the suggestions of printing out course maps though. If the NC courses are anything like the East TN ones, they can be pretty wooded and trickily laid out.

First, good luck and fortune in your interviews, Elliott! Secondly, you've got some great courses listed there. You're right that many NC courses are heavily wooded and trickily laid out. In the Triad area, I'd definitely recommend Johnson Street and The Patriot Patriot is mostly wide open and JS is about half and half. For a fun, recreational round, I'd suggest Horizons, on the north side of Winston-Salem, the oldest course in the state. If you're really pressed for time, there is the church property nine holer, Bethel, which is very near the hospitals. In the Triangle area, I'd add Rock Ridge in Pittsboro, a John Houck designed, fully forested course, to go along with Buckhorn, another wooded gem. And right in between the Triad and Triangle are the two courses, Cedarock (open) and Wellspring (wooded) in Cedarock Park, on the south side of Burlington.