Country Club of North Carolina (Dogwood)

Pinehurst, North Carolina

Rankings

Address1600 Morganton Rd, Pinehurst, NC 28374, USA
Championships hosted

The Dogwood course at the Country Club of North Carolina is an Ellis Maples and Willard Byrd design that comprises half the golfing challenge at a fine 36-hole facility. Both courses date back to the 1960s and the Dogwood, like the Cardinal, occupies rolling sandhill terrain close to the Pinehurst Resort.

Founded in 1963, the Country Club of North Carolina is a gated residential establishment that’s comprised of two separate communities, each of which enjoys the sporting amenities of tennis, swimming and golf within an enormous 2,000-acre property. It’s true to say the 36-hole golf complex and three recreational lakes are much in demand for the privileged homeowners who live here.

The Dogwood is five years the senior of the two 18-hole layouts, making its debut in 1963, and it’s played host to a couple of USGA events since it first opened for play. The 1980 US Amateur Championship was won at this venue by a then 22-year old Hal Sutton then, more recently, Doris Chen claimed the US Girls’ Junior Championship in 2010.

Apart from the 153-yard 3rd, which plays to an island green, the more memorable holes on the Dogwood are encountered on the back nine, with many of the fairways routed around the shimmering waters of Watson Lake. Best of these is probably the 204-yard 16th, which plays across the northern corner of the lake.

After almost forty years of use, Arthur Hills and Steve Forrest renovated both courses over a period of four years, starting in 1999. Fifteen years later in 2016, Kris Spence performed

another renovation, which tackled resurfacing and expanding the greens, remodeling bunkers, improving drainage and removing trees.