Renovated golf course at Raleigh Country Club boasts new updates, retains old beauty
Hunter Grove lives in Cary, North Carolina, and it takes him nearly 22 minutes, door-to-door, to reach Raleigh Country Club (RCC).
“It’s worth the drive,” he says. “I pass probably four or five golf courses to get [to Raleigh Country Club], but it’s well worth it.”
Grove played collegiate golf at the University of North Carolina in the early 1990s and his handicap still hovers around scratch. He decided to join Raleigh Country Club about six years ago, in large part because RCC is widely considered “a player’s course.”
“One of the appeals [to RCC] was that I have a lot of friends, teammates and former college guys that I used to play against, so it’s a really good, select group of players. You always get a good game,” Grove says. “The golf course and the way John [McConnell] does things at all of his locations is always first class.”
Grove has never been into social media, but says he entered the online arena — slightly — during RCC’s major golf course renovation last year, which was overseen by architect Kyle Franz.
“I would go on Twitter or Facebook to look at [renovation] photographs that Kyle Franz would post,” he says, noting the only reason he’s used either platform is to look up pictures of the historic golf course, the final design of legendary architect Donald Ross.
“The course was always good,” Grove says. “I’m a huge Donald Ross fan and that was another reason I went to Raleigh, because I just love his courses, and this was the signature Donald Ross.”
Raleigh Country Club opened in 1948, just east of downtown Raleigh; the newly-renovated golf course made its debut in November 2020.
Now that Franz, who worked hand-in-glove with RCC Superintendent Billy Cole, has unveiled the “reimagined” golf course, Grove says that one of his favorite places to play has been exponentially improved.
“I was so, so impressed that you could still have a Donald Ross course and just update it,” he says. “And when I say update, the bunkering was updated and beautiful; the greens were updated and beautiful. And then they added length, because golfers are hitting it so much further today. But when you play the course, it still feels like you’re on a Donald Ross course. I think that’s the beauty of it. We were able to get a new course with an old feel and that’s really hard to do. The intrigue of all old courses is how great their design was. Today, Raleigh Country Club has a great design and it’s been updated. So, it’s the best of both worlds.”
The RCC renovation cost approximately $5.5 million, funded entirely by McConnell Golf, making it one of largest recent privately-funded investments in east Raleigh. There were no member assessments. The focus of the project was to produce an improved course for all levels of players — retaining the integrity of the course that Ross first designed and built, while allowing more challenges for today’s long-hitting players. Among RCC’s numerous enhancements:
- An entirely new irrigation system improving bunkers and turf conditions while minimizing erosion and eliminating bare spots near the tree lines.
- Enlarged green complexes allowing for more pin locations and improved, strategic shot making. On the greens, McConnell Golf used a new variety of bent grass called Pure Eclipse, which promises improved heat tolerance. RCC is the first course in the region to seed this grass on all 18 holes.
- New tee boxes on certain holes extending the course yardage to nearly 7,400 yards, while also benefitting female, junior and senior golfers. RCC’s rolling hills make the course play even longer.
- New bunkers provide greater visuals and improved play for golfers, as well as much improved drainage with the material used in the traps. “We’ve tried to vary out the scale of the bunkers quite a bit, to where it’s reflective of the best stuff of Ross that I really like here in North Carolina,” Franz says.
- Air movement and turf quality have been enhanced by the removal of approximately 500 trees.
- The new irrigation system allows for native grasses to be planted during the next few years that will give the course a dramatic look. Many of the natural drainage areas across fairways were changed, to help the course better absorb rainfall and create more strategic shot-making opportunities.
- Rerouting some cart paths (and removing others) on certain holes lends the course a more natural feel as to the lay of the land. McConnell Golf is the first to utilize a new process called soil stabilization. “A machine tills whatever is existing, be it old path, soil or roots, and incorporates cement and water to create a soil surface,” says McConnell Golf VP of Agronomy Michael Shoun. “The final product is 8 to 10 inches of a soil surface that takes on the natural look of the material tilled. It’s called ‘natural path’ — not meant to be a perfectly smooth surface, more like a hard soil path.”
The feedback from RCC members has been overwhelmingly positive.
Jay Mills is a Raleigh lawyer who joined RCC in 2007 and currently carries a 3.5 index. “I used to play a ton and then had kids, and that slowed things down,” he says. “But I’ve tried to jump back in, in large part due to the renovation.”
Mills is a member of the North Carolina Golf Panel, which means he uses his architectural expertise to rate golf courses around the state. He thinks Franz’ work at RCC could propel the layout into the very highest echelon.
“Overall, I think the renovation has significantly improved the golf course,” Mills says. “While many of the changes are dramatic and obvious, each time I’ve played the ‘new’ course I’ve noticed a subtle change to one of the holes and I’ve agreed with most of them. I think that will continue for many rounds and that, to me, is the sign of a successful renovation.”
The biggest and best improvement, Mills says, is the green complex on hole No. 3. “The prior green was too penal, particularly considering most were already hitting a long iron or a hybrid into it,” he says. “Now, while still a difficult hole, it’s no longer borderline unfair. So, huge win there.”
Will and Summer Smith have been RCC members since 2015 and play the golf course regularly. Just weeks following the grand reopening, Summer dunked her third shot on the par-5 12th hole for an eagle.
“She blew up the cup,” Will Smith says. “We had to repair it. It was awesome. PD [RCC’s Director of Golf, Paul Dickens] said it was the first eagle on No. 12 so far that he knows of.”
Summer Smith calls the renovation “spectacular.”
“I love the openness of the course now, being able to see so much more, the clubhouse and our friends playing other holes,” she says. “The greens don’t break nearly as much as they used to, which may change come spring. The rough is extremely tough and causes quite a few more lost balls. I’m so happy with how it turned out.”
Her husband agrees.
“The course before [the renovation] was phenomenal,” he says. “It made me a much better golfer, because it’s not your normal, stock track. You have to hit shots, sharpen your short game, and learn how to get creative with your mind while putting and all that good stuff. When I would travel, people who knew Raleigh Country Club would be like, ‘Oh gosh, you know, he’s an 8 handicap there, he might be a 5 here.’”
Aesthetics set the course apart.
“It’s just captivating,” Will Smith says. “One thing that’s cool is that it’s different at different tee boxes, which is fun. So, sometimes you want to go play a step back just so you can see the course from another perspective — it’s that pretty — especially with the flashed bunkering. It’s profound.”
Grove says the renovated course reminds him of Oakmont Country Club, near Pittsburgh, host of nine U.S. Opens and three PGA Championships.
“Now, you can almost see every hole from the clubhouse and several locations on the course,” he says. “You can look around and just see forever. That, to me, is beautiful. But you still have a lot of the big, very old pine trees around there.”
Grove believes the true test of a golf course is whether you use every club in your bag and hit every type of shot.
“If great courses like Oakmont are in that discussion, I think Raleigh’s in that discussion, too,” he says. “Because if you play a few rounds of golf out there you realize, ‘I’ve got uphill lies, sidehill lies, downhill lies. I’ve got long irons, short irons. The greens are challenging.’ Every facet of your game is on call when you play RCC.”
Of all the on-course alterations, the redesigned bunkers and green complexes have received the most resoundingly positive member feedback.
“McConnell Golf took a leap of faith with these new greens and my opinion on them is, ‘so far, so great,’” says Will Smith. “They’re only going to get better and they putt so well already. A lot of the guys have said, ‘It’s weird, because there are actually some straight putts on this golf course now.’ And they don’t know how to hit them, because they’ve always had to hit a putt that breaks. The greens are phenomenal, the layout’s amazing, and the vistas again are just tremendous.”
Mills emphasizes improvements to the bunkers.
“They are much more consistent and playable,” he says. “I think the improvements that come from the combination of tree removal, drainage and irrigation will be more obvious after spring and summer, but I think they will be significant.”
Grove praises the conditioning. “The greens are much further along than I thought that they would be and the bunkers look like they’ve been there for much longer than just being brand-new. Hitting out of the bunkers is night and day. It’s still a hazard, but the sand is perfect and the ball pops out like it should,” he says.
“I love everything that they did. The added length is amazing to me, that they could find that much length in the golf course. That’s probably the biggest change to me,” says Grove. “There are several places where you can see almost every hole on the course. For a true golfer, that’s beautiful to see.
“I’m grateful for the vision that John [McConnell] had to even tinker with a gem like this Donald Ross design. He was so smart to hire somebody like Kyle Franz to keep the integrity of the Donald Ross design, but just update it. It’s so much fun to be out there now.”
Now that spring is here, the Smiths are anticipating playing the course as it grows in, getting fast and firm.
“We’re so thrilled to be McConnell members, just in general, but then you know that your home course is only going to get better and it’s already amazing,” Will Smith says. “We feel blessed every day being a member. It’s hard not to be grateful when you’ve got such an embarrassment of riches from a golf standpoint.”
Read More
