Golf Community Reviews

        As part of the celebration last week of my son Tim’s graduation from Washington & Lee University in Virginia, our family stayed for a few days at the Wintergreen Resort in the western part of the state.  I reviewed the Wintergreen community after my first visit in 2007.  The following is an updated look at the sprawling mountain golf community.

 

        At the four-season Wintergreen Resort, you can ski and play golf to your heart’s content, sometimes on the same day.  Located in Nellysford, VA, about 35 miles from Charlottesville, Wintergreen is one of those hybrid resort/residential communities where the transient and permanent exist in peaceful harmony.

        At 11,000 acres, Wintergreen is huge, with mountain real estate accounting for about 2,000 acres and the Stoney Creek community in the valley below sitting on 3,000 acres.  The rest will remain natural forever thanks to an arrangement in 1994 between Wintergreen’s owners and

the Wintergreen Development Company.  The result, the Wintergreen Nature Foundation, maintains a full-time staff of six, supplemented by many volunteers from among the community’s residents.  The Foundation promotes a wide range of activities, including wildflower reseeding efforts, workshops and nature walks on the community’s 30 miles of marked trails, some of which link directly to The Appalachian Trail.  Mountain bikers have use of 24 separate trails, mostly near the ski slopes.

        At Wintergreen, the core recreation activities are skiing and golf, although the community offers its members the full range of customary amenities, including an Aquatic & Fitness Center and a tennis program that one magazine rated among the top 20 in the U.S. Wintergreen’s mountaintop area is warm and inviting, with a Euro-village style lodge just steps from the resort’s 24 slopes, more than half of them lighted.  The resort has little trouble filling its lodge and rental units with eager skiers from Charlottesville, Richmond and Washington, D.C.  Attracting golf play is a little more challenging, in spite of 45 holes of excellent and scenic golf.  Devil’s Knob, an Ellis Maples 18-hole layout that inspires fear and a little loathing in those uncomfortable with fairly tight mountain tracks, spans the top of the mountain, one of the highest courses east of the Mississippi.  [For some comments on Devil’s Knob, click here.]  Opened in 1977, the course provides the views you’d expect from 3,800 feet, but some occasionally crazy rolls and (cliff)hanging lies as well. Many local golfers prefer the two original nines of the 27 holes at the Stoney Creek course at the bottom of the mountain, which is open year round.  It is not uncommon in January and February for Wintergreen’s hardiest sportsmen and women to ski in the morning and play golf at Stoney Creek in the afternoon.

Far Out:  The 17th hole at Devil's Knob is nearly 3,800 feet up, providing spectacular views of the Shenandoah Valley.  Photo courtesy of Wintergreen Premier Properties.

 

        The Shamokin and Tuckahoe nines at Stoney Creek are the combination most favored by members.  Rees Jones laid out the Shamokin and Monaccan nines in 1988 and added the Tuckhoe 10 years later.  The routing is clear and without surprise, with only one or two blind shots from the tees and no gussied-up landscaping.  The greens, which are well bunkered, roll fast and true with many undulations, yet we didn’t scratch our heads once over a misread break.  The first hole on the Tuckahoe nine starts from a dramatically elevated tee to a generous fairway framed by bunkers on the right and a huge lake at greenside right.  It forms a beautiful and intimidating tableau from the tee box.  A decade ago, Golf Digest named Stoney Creek one of the top 50 resort golf courses in the U.S.  With a grand smorgasbord of activities at Wintergreen, the community offers a dizzying array of membership plans.  After dropping the prices of their “Premier (equity)” and non-equity membership fees last year, Wintergreen sold 140 new memberships.  That was enough to convince them to retain the promotional fees at $12,000 for the Premier, 50% of it refundable when a membership is resigned and reissued; and $5,000, with no refund.  (Note: Wintergreen permits new members to pay for their membership over five years at 0% interest.)  Membership opens up the resort’s amenities on a “cafeteria-style” basis that includes not only golf, but also tennis, skiing, fitness centers, pools and access to the community lake.  Depending on what amenities you choose, and whether the membership is for an individual or family, annual dues range from $1,800 to $5,000.

The flat par 3 6th hole at Devil's Knob belies the mountain venue, but is characteristic of all but a few holes on the course.  Most tee boxes, however, are elevated.   

Photo by Tim Gavrich

 

        Housing options are high and low in Wintergreen in terms of both altitude and price, with nice golf course lots in the ½ to ¾ acre range typically selling for between $100,000 and $125,000.  Count on an average of about $150 to $175 per square foot in construction costs.  A few of the most expensive homes, some with impressive views, top $1 million but the median price is close to $450,000, down from around $600,000 when I first visited Wintergreen in 2007.  Town homes rarely exceed $300,000, and some feature spectacular mountain views from about 3,800 feet up.  Some of the homes in Wintergreen are approaching 35 years in age, and across the mountain you see roofs and windows being replaced.  Last week we drove by a home we rented last year and noted extensive renovations underway; would that the dismal home we rented this year had undergone a thorough cleaning, if not a total renovation.  (Note: We did not rent it through the resort, a mistake we shall not make again.)

        Life at some remove from a sizable town (Wintergreen is 40 minutes from Charlottesville) demands a few modest accommodations.  At 15 miles, it can seem a long way to a supermarket, and some Wintergreen residents take coolers on their weekly grocery expeditions.  Wintergreen Partners Inc., the group of residents that runs the community, recently took over the on-site market with plans to enhance the offerings.  Nearby Nellysford has opened a few interesting small restaurants.  The Ambrosia Bakery and a small bistro called Bare Necessities offer boutique food and wine offerings.  Next door to the Ambrosia, the Blue Ridge Pig is properly rough and rustic in its décor and its nicely smoked barbecue.  For beer lovers, a number of brewpubs have sprung up in the immediate area.  For those who love their cars and their cameras, the amazing Blue Ridge Parkway, with some of the most spectacular views east of the Mississippi, is less than two miles from Wintergreen’s front gate.

The 13th at Devil's Knob begins a spate of holes that are more tilted and challenging than earlier holes.  Photo by Tim Gavrich

 

        Although the area around the Stoney Creek golf course is home to many year-round residents, the mountain resort attracts a large transient population.  Condo and other homeowners have little trouble renting their places to skiers for the three core months of the ski season, but golf course competition in Virginia and the Carolinas makes it tougher to attract summertime guests in spite of aggressive golf package pricing.  An average temperature at least 10 degrees cooler than in Charlottesville, Richmond and other hot Virginia towns certainly helps the cause.

        Golf resorts that are also golf communities must strike a balance as they try to appeal to both their full-time residents and their short-term guests.  Although Wintergreen’s residents and resort guests co-exist quite peacefully, the full-timers tend to arrange their recreation schedules accordingly, opting to play golf and ski on weekdays rather than the more heavily trafficked weekends.  Given the incredible amount and variation of the natural landscape in Wintergreen, its residents are more than happy to literally take a hike on weekends.

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If you would like more information about life at Wintergreen and the wide range of properties for sale there, please contact me.

An entrance to the Blue Ridge Parkway is less than two miles from Wintergreen's gate.

        Our family is celebrating the college graduation of our son Tim this weekend by gathering at the Wintergreen Resort in Nellysford, VA, atop

the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains.  On Friday, Tim, Tim’s uncle David from San Francisco, family friend John from Connecticut and I played the Devil’s Knob golf course atop the Blue Ridge Mountains at Wintergreen.  What the layout lacks in length -– it is just 6,700 yards from the tips -– it makes up for in sloped fairways and contoured greens.   Position is key off the elevated tee boxes at Devil’s Knob; on a few holes, a tee shot faded or hooked to off-center of the fairway will continue bounding toward the rough which, on the day we played, was cut (or I should say, not cut) to U.S. Open style.

        Still, the Ellis Mapls design is more restrained, if a bit more narrow, than I expected from a mountaintop layout.  Some of the locals suggest keeping driver in the bag “unless you play from the back tees.”  We gave it a go from the tips, which I hadn’t done in years, but the elevated tees at Devil’s Knob actually took some fairway bunkers out of play (too far away) and left more middle irons than long irons and woods into the greens.  The greens were still recovering from an earlier aeration but we were told that when they get back up to speed in both senses of the word, they will be treacherous.  Understood; the sloping of the fairways are mimicked on the greens, sometimes in the same direction but other times in the opposite direction.  Devil’s Knob is a golf course that begs for you to stick around at Wintergreen an extra day to take full advantage of what you learn on the first go.

        Today we make a return visit to Stoney Creek, the resort community’s bottom-of-the- mountain layout designed by Rees Jones.  Stoney Creek does not hide its charms. We wrote a few years ago during our first visit to the resort that, “The routing is clear and without surprise, with only one or two blind shots from the tees and no gussied-up landscaping.”  It should be fun.  Look for more notes on the Wintergreen golf community and its golf courses in this space in coming days.

Although on the mountain top, Devil's Knob golf course is relatively flat.  Many condo units at the Wintergreen Resort, such as those beyond the 16th hole, are available for nightly, weekly or weekend rental and are a short drive from the interesting layout.  Another 27 holes are available for play at the bottom of the mountain. 

Photo courtesy of Wintergreen Resort Premier Properties.

        Because I own a vacation home there, I am on the mailing list for a few real estate agents who list and sell properties in Pawleys Plantation in Pawleys Island, SC.  Occasionally they send out market reports indicating

properties that have sold recently, and one I received today was interesting in that it indicated not only the price homes sold for but also their original listing prices.  The conclusion I draw from this admittedly small sample is that sellers of homes in stable golf communities may not be dropping their prices as much as buyers expect; or, alternately, they may be pricing them initially low enough that buyers are content with a drop of just a few percentage points in the negotiation.

        Owners of condos in the sample tended to be a little more flexible in dropping their prices than were owners of single-family homes.  In Pawleys Planation, owners of the two condos sold them at prices 13% and 6% less than the original asking price (percentages rounded off).  The discounts off list price for the four single-family homes that sold were just 2%, 3%, 4% and 5%.

        Each real estate negotiation has its own particular calculus. But these numbers at Pawleys are not dissimilar from what real estate agents in other areas of the south are telling me.  The conclusion for anyone searching for a golf community home is to decide what a home is worth to you and, if a few percentage points gets you there, do the deal.  You don't necessarily win when the other guy loses.

        Higher than normal sea surface temperatures and a weakening La Niña effect have led scientists in two respected organizations to come to about the same conclusion -– the upcoming hurricane season that begins next week is likely to produce above-average activity.  The La Niña effect –- the opposite of El Niño -- lowers sea surface temperatures, leading to dryer periods.  When the effect weakens, conditions support more rain.

        The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued its latest hurricane season predictions just a few days ago, forecasting that the nation will endure between three and six major hurricanes during the season (one to three is “normal”); six to 10 hurricanes (five to seven normal); and 12 to 18 named storms (nine to 12 is normal).  The official hurricane season lasts from June 1 to November 30.

        The NOAA’s predictions follow and concur with those of

Colorado State University’s well-regarded hurricane experts Phillip Klotzbach and William Gray, who earlier estimated five major hurricanes, nine hurricanes and 17 named storms, which they have since revised to 16 storms.  Normal annual activity between 1950 and 2000, the professors determined, was fewer than 10 storms and six hurricanes, and just 2.3 major hurricanes.  If the forecasters are correct, named hurricanes, which are listed alphabetically as they occur, will stop in the 2011 season at Philippe, the 16^th on this year’s list; Sean, Tammy, Vince and Whitney will remain unused.

        We have helped some of our readers find homes in golf communities along the eastern seaboard, and others are currently considering the purchase of a home near the coast in the Carolinas.  History suggests major hurricanes occur there, on average, every couple of decades.  In 1960, for example, Hurricane Donna set something of a record by becoming the first, and still only, storm to register hurricane-force winds in Florida, the Mid-Atlantic states, and New England, including 120 mph gusts in Manteo, NC, at the southern end of the Outer Banks.

        It would be almost 30 years, however, before another storm of

magnitude would assault the Carolinas, and it was a big one.  In 1989, Hurricane Hugo devastated the city of Charleston with winds up to 120 mph.  Even Charlotte, a three-hour drive inland, measured wind gusts to 99 mph from Hugo.  Hurricane Floyd 10 years later had its eye on Wilmington, NC, literally, dumping nearly 20 inches on the sodden town before producing a foot of rain or more on a path that took it north through New York State.  Isabel and Charley in 2003 and 2004, respectively, precipitated torrential rains in the Carolinas and spawned a number of dangerous tornadoes.  Since then, the Carolina coast has not endured the kinds of storms experienced by Gulf coast towns in the early years of this century, including the now legendary Katrina.

        With such modern inventions as the Weather Channel and with well-honed local evacuation plans in virtually every beach community, those who live along the coast receive plenty of warning and have plenty of escape options before the storms come.  Modern construction methods have made homes in most locations able to withstand the strongest storms.  Most of us will take our chances in exchange for the opportunity to be close by a mostly peaceful ocean.  Our hope here is for a safe and uneventful 2011 hurricane season.

     Bloodied and bruised by the housing market recession, who among us is ready to plunk down a good chunk of our net worth for a retirement home or vacation home without a good idea of where prices might be heading?  And who wouldn’t spend just $75 -– about .00025% of the cost of a $300,000 home -- for a well-reasoned prediction about price trends in our target markets.

        Local Market Monitor and its predecessor firms have supplied banks, investors, real estate companies and homebuilders with analyses and

predictions about housing prices for more than 20 years.  The service’s in-depth reports focus on 315 U.S. metro markets and employ census and other government-reported data to forecast housing price trends.  The company’s founder, Ingo Winzer, was one of the relatively few economists in 2005 to warn that many housing markets in the U.S. were overpriced.  He often appears on television business shows and is quoted in news articles about the housing market.

        Local Market Monitor also makes its reports available to individuals, and its information, analysis and forecasts about local price trends can be especially invaluable for those of us trying to decide, say, between Myrtle Beach and Wilmington or Chapel Hill and Charlottesville.  Local Market Monitor looks especially hard at market-by-market population trends and job statistics, two key predictors of home prices, although other factors, such as the overall inventory of homes for sale in a particular area, also factor into the forecasts.  The service’s market reports include easy-to-follow charts and analyst commentary.

        Local Market Monitor’s conclusions about Myrtle Beach were an

eye-opener for me.  As a vacation homeowner in the Grand Strand area and a frequent visitor, I can report that the Myrtle Beach media, my neighbors, local golf course operators –- you name it –- seem a bit depressed about the housing market in the area.  In some cases, prices are off 40% from their pre-recession highs, and it is tough for any Myrtle Beach resident to envision a significant turnaround on the horizon.

        Yet, based on its data and analysis, Local Market Monitor forecasts that home prices will increase an average 7% in the Myrtle Beach area from 2013 to 2014 based on what the service’s analysts see in terms of population and job trends (e.g. job growth in March ’11 was the best since December ’06).  Frankly, I trust Local Market Monitor’s numbers more than I do my own anecdotal observations (and my friends’ and neighbors’ pessimism).

        You can look through a sample market report (for Miami/Miami Beach) at Local Market Monitor’s web site, LocalMarketMonitor.com.  If you like what you see, LMM is offering a special 25% discount on its reports and subscriptions to readers of Golf Community Reviews.  Just enter the special coupon code “golf” (don’t use the quote marks) and sign up for either a one-market report ($99 before the discount) or a full-year subscription for monthly updated reports on one market ($297 before the discount).  If you would like to sign up for a full subscription to all 315 markets that LMM covers, please contact COO Carolyn Beggs toll free at 800-881-8653, extension 105.

        When I published an article 16 months ago predicting increased British investment in American golf communities, the exchange rate for one pound of British sterling was $1.63 US.  When I checked today, it was $1.62.  With that kind of buying power and the over-supply of leisure residential properties in the southern U.S. driving prices lower than they were 1 ½ years ago, a modest Euro-invasion of American golf communities is not unlikely.  In fact, according to the National Association of Realtors, the $82 billion foreigners spent on U.S. real estate in the year ended in March was one of the highest levels in recent years, up $16 billion from the prior year.

        Some interesting data emerge from the NAR survey of its members concerning their foreign clients.  Almost 80% said they would use their new home in the U.S. to entertain family and friends or as their primary home,

or both.  The top five nation's whose citizens purchased property in the U.S. included Canada and Mexico, which is not surprising given their proximity, and the UK, also not surprising given the longstanding connection between the countries.  But the second-most number of purchases was from China.  Florida, California, Texas and Arizona accounted for 58% of total real estate sales to foreigners; North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and Virginia each accounted for 2% of total sales. Only 3% of the purchases were for “commercial properties,” with all others for residential (61% for single-family homes).  A full 80% of the realtors who participated in the survey said the value of the dollar relative to other currencies played a major role in their foreign clients' purchases.

British citizens looking for an investment in a place like Daniel Island, SC, will be pleasantly surprised at the prices for golf homes, relative to those in the UK.

 

        Let’s face it:  The United Kingdom is a small country, and all of France is barely larger than Texas.  They aren’t making any more land on which to put European golf courses, and if you think environmentalists are aggressive in the States, try building a new course in Europe.  We may bemoan our own economy but it is still considered a safe haven by many investors around the world.  Continuing worries about U.S. debt can only work against the value of the dollar, giving Europeans even greater leverage for large-scale purchases in the U.S.  And considering the economic problems in Greece, Portugal and other bailed-out countries, Europeans seem to be more worried about rampant inflation than we in the U.S. are.  As many economists tell us, real estate investment is one of the most effective hedges against inflation (especially when “safe” investments today are yielding barely 2% interest rates).

        On an apples-to-apples basis, properties in Europe, especially in the UK, are more expensive than comparable properties here in the U.S.

For example, a lovely four-bedroom home at the St. Mellion Resort in Cornwall, which features 36 holes of golf (including a Jack Nicklaus layout), is currently listed at £450,000 ($729,000 US).  The farmhouse, at 2,300 square feet, is described as “in need of some improvement” (translate “much improvement”); and St. Mellion is a long way from anywhere in the UK.  Contrast that with a four-bedroom, 4 ½ bath, 3,550 square foot home listed on Daniel Island, 15 minutes from the wonderful city of Charleston, SC, and a cart ride from 36 holes of golf by Rees Jones and Tom Fazio, for $719,000.

        Foreign dollars just could have a stimulating effect on one sector of the floundering U.S. housing market.  If you are contemplating a purchase of a golf retirement or golf vacation home, keep an eye on this trend, as it might just push up prices in golf communities that look like a bargain today.  If you would like some help in identifying the golf communities that best fit your criteria, please contact me.

        It is hard to keep track of the plans to restart construction of the Tiger Woods designed golf course at High Carolina, the struggling Cliffs

community in the mountains of western North Carolina and upstate South Carolina.  The paper of record in nearby Asheville, NC, certainly isn’t helping.

        Last Wednesday, the Asheville Citizen-Times’ Keith Jarrett, who has followed The Cliffs closely over recent years, filed a critical piece under the headline, “Golf Course on Hold at Cliffs at High Carolina.”  Then on Saturday, at the paper’s online edition, a piece written by David Dykes appeared under the headline, “Developer: Tiger Woods Cliffs Project Still on Track in Asheville Area”; the latter story served up the yin to the earlier piece’s yang.

        Although we would like to believe in an independent press, we can’t help thinking that, in the days after Jarrett’s article, Mr. Anthony and his handlers may have reminded the Citizen-Times’ executives of the magnitude of the Cliffs’ advertising budget.  At the height of their success, before the housing market tanked, the Cliffs spent as much as $14 million annually on marketing.

        The Citizen-Times seems as confused as the rest of us about the status of The Cliffs’ highest profile unfinished project.  In February,

Mr. Anthony told the newspaper that construction, which had been halted late last year, would start again at High Carolina in April.  This came a day or two after one of Anthony’s top executives indicated construction was on indefinite hold and months after a loan agreement with residents stipulated that slow property sales at High Carolina would cause a stoppage in construction.  The Cliffs has sold virtually no properties at High Carolina since Tiger Woods’ now infamous Thanksgiving night automobile incident and subsequent bimbo eruptions late last year.  Woods’ fall-off in tournament play and consequent lack of airtime hasn’t helped marketing efforts either.

        After the optimistic tone Anthony set in February, April came and went, and during a TV interview last week, the developer implied that construction was on indefinite hold, later amplified by Keith Jarrett’s Citizen-Times column that characterized the developer’s explanation of the stoppage as “the dog ate my homework.”

        “Anthony's comments that concentrating on getting a Gary Player design in South Carolina up and running by this fall is taking away from High Carolina construction,” Jarrett wrote, “sounds as flimsy as Tiger's apologies for fooling around.”

        But then a few days later, in the online edition of the Citizen-Times, reporter Dykes writes that Mr. Anthony indicated construction would start “by this summer.” (words from the article, but not directly attributed to Mr. Anthony).  The developer, however, is quoted in the online article as saying the work stoppage at High Carolina was “technically on hold,” whatever that means.

        Uncertainty makes markets nervous.  The Cliffs needs to assure its market of potential buyers and the Asheville community that it is organized and has a plan.  It can start by getting its story straight about High Carolina.

by Tim Gavrich (photos too)

        The author will be graduated from Washington & Lee University later this month, having earned a bachelor's degree in English, with honors.  He is available for writing assignments beginning in June.

        There is no gate guarding the entrance to Sedgefield Country Club.  There are multiple ways in and, besides, a gate would attract attention to Sedgefield’s presence in an affluent part of Greensboro, North Carolina.  It is not as if people do not know it exists; after all, Sedgefield has been around since 1926 and hosts a regular event on the PGA Tour — the Wyndham Championship.

        Despite these lofty credentials, Sedgefield is an unassuming club sitting quietly among woods, streams and houses.  This modesty and calm is an essential part of Sedgefield’s charm.  That charm rings through its superbly restored Donald Ross golf course.  Ross designed the golf course at Sedgefield with the intention of building a second eventually, with the venue functioning as a genteel resort destination.   But the Great Depression altered the course of the club, and the existing 18 holes became the centerpiece of a venerable residential community.  Unlike most clubs of similar vintage, many of Sedgefield’s holes are bordered by front, back, and side yards of houses.  But appropriately, these dwellings are set far enough back from the field of play so as not to intrude.  Indeed, the residences are attractive and without ostentation.  They lend a sense of place and purpose to a stroll and a round at Sedgefield.

The approach over the stream to #2 at Sedgefield.

 

        But what of the golf course?  It is a faithfully restored, esteemed Donald Ross-designed gem.  The man who created such famous courses as Pinehurst No. 2, Aronimink on the Philadelphia Main Line, and Seminole Golf Club in North Palm Beach, FL, left his deft mark at Sedgefield as well.  The course lost some of its luster through the 20^th and into the 21^st Centuries but, in 2007, acclaimed architect Kris Spence oversaw a project that restored Sedgefield to Ross’ original plans.  His team moved, recovered and rebuilt bunkers, expanded greens to their original sizes, regained lost-hole locations, and lengthened some holes in order to keep up with golf club technology.  The result was a course that the PGA Tour deemed fit to return to after 30 years at nearby Forest Oaks Country Club.  But even more importantly, the new-look Sedgefield Country Club course is one that its members rightfully treasure and adore.

        Donald Ross courses almost always boast exemplary par 3s, and Sedgefield is no exception.  The four one-shotters — the 3^rd, 7^th, 12^th and the 16^th — offer a complete examination of one’s abilities with clubs ranging from a fairway wood to a short iron.  The mighty 12^th is a 245-yard bruiser with a tough two-tiered putting surface and bunkers standing guard right and left.  A merely “good” tee shot may still lead to bogey or worse, as the undulations within the putting surface can shunt the ball everywhere but towards the hole.  The final par 3, #16, is only 165 yards from the tips, but its green also features multiple levels that shrink the target considerably.   During the Wyndham Championship, many pros come to 16 eager to make a birdie and walk away disappointed with pars and bogeys.

The approach to the 9th hole and the iconic Sedgefield clubhouse beyond.

 

        Lee Trevino once described Sedgefield as “the best stretch of 18 par 4s I’ve ever played.”  He was referring to the rigorous challenges posed by the short holes as well as the opportunities available at the three par 5s, which are all reachable in two.  The 18^th hole is a 509-yard darling that the PGA Tour turns into a 509-yard beast by calling it a par four, bumping the course par down from 71 to 70.

        The class of the three-shot holes at Sedgefield is the 15^th, one of three on the course where water is a deep concern near the putting surface.   After a downhill tee shot to a fairway wedged between a stream, a bunker and a hillside covered with long grass, the layup and approach shots must contend with a lake, more sand and hollows and undulations on and around the green.  In spite of these impositions, birdie and even eagle are very real possibilities, making for great potential drama late in any round, be it a Tuesday evening with friends or Sunday at the Wyndham.  The two-shot holes at Sedgefield are strong as well.  They range from the 488-yard 11^th down to the 376-yard 8^th, which is nearly drivable under favorable wind and ground conditions.  The best of these is the 448-yard 2^nd hole, where the player must negotiate a semi-blind tee shot downhill past a string of intimidating bunkers in order to attack a large green that slopes severely from left to right and is bordered on the right side by a meandering stream.  It is simultaneously unique because of the terrain it covers and unmistakably a Ross hole.

Water is in play on just a few holes at Sedgefield, but nowhere is it more intimidating than at the par 5 15th, a reasonable birdie hole after two and a half good shots.

 

        Sedgefield Country Club’s golf course is an excellent test of a player's full range of shotmaking.  With many narrow and some semi-blind fairways and multi-sectioned greens, it requires precision and tamed power from the metal woods and irons.  Those rumpled putting surfaces also require a deft touch with the putter and wedges.  Sedgefield is a golf course that hosts the world’s best golfers one week out of every year and delights the mortal player every other day.

        [Editor’s Note: Current homes for sale in the community surrounding the Sedgefield Country Club are listed at prices up to $4 million.  Recently, 33 homes in the community were on the market, with the “sweet spot” around $500,000.  With the purchase of Sedgefield CC by McConnell Golf earlier this year, club members now have playing privileges at the other six courses in the McConnell portfolio, including nearby Cardinal Golf Club, also in Greensboro; and Raleigh Country Club, another Ross-designed course, and Treyburn Country Club in Durham, both within a 90-minute drive of Sedgefield.  Current initiation fees at Sedgefield are $10,000.  If you would like more information about real estate inside the Sedgefield community or would like to speak with the director of membership for the McConnell Group, please contact me.]

Sedgefield's home hole (top) and a home for sale at the 14th tee.