Reflections on golf and life with Raleigh Country Club’s longest-serving member

The year: 1973. Stove Top Stuffing hit store shelves, “All in the Family” was the top show on TV and the U.S. economy was plagued by an oil crisis and inflation. In the midst of changing times, Jim Barnes joined Raleigh Country Club. “Oh, it wasn’t like it is today,” he reflects with a chuckle. “It was really just a golf club, there wasn’t much more, and it wasn’t in the best of shape. They had some kind of a deal during a membership drive. It cost $200 to join and dues were $47.50 a month.”

And just like the Doobie Brothers song, Barnes became a “Long Train Running.” Today, the 76-year-old is the longest-serving member at RCC, with this spring marking 50 years. The sites and stories he’s witnessed could fill the clubhouse locker room and then some. “I’ve seen the good, the bad and the ugly,” he laughs. “The golf course back then was only good six months out of the year because the greens didn’t drain well. In the early days, when we had the Parent/Child Tournament, there were only three teams. The pro and his son, one other father-son, and my son and I typically finished third in the field!”

Despite dubious numbers and conditions, his love of golf and family never wavered. As he told his wife Beth back then, he just needed a course and the opportunity to play. He’d grown up with the sport in Fayetteville, North Carolina. “I started playing with my mother when I was about 12 years old. We played a lot,” he says. “I played in college at Louisburg (College) and then The University of North Carolina. It’s always been an important part of my life.”

He confides there were years he was embarrassed to bring friends to play RCC, but then, John McConnell came along.

“When I first talked to him about purchasing the club, he told me those days were over,” Barnes shares. “I was hoping for green greens and fairways, but his vision was to redo the clubhouse and purchase land to expand the range. Major renovations and so much more. I’m honored to say our visions were miles apart and his was so much better!”

Barnes is in awe of not just the physical improvements, but programming and membership growth. “When I joined, we had probably 200 members. Now we’ve more than doubled in size, we have a waitlist,” he says. “And the juniors program? To see all the kids lined up for the Parent/Child nowadays? And the Operation 36 program? To see these great numbers is great!”

Three generations of Barnes now play the course, with the retired cement executive’s son and grandson picking up the sport. Barnes himself tees it up at least four times a week. He doesn’t hold any club titles but has sunk two holes-in-one on 17.

While the aces were great, Barnes says his most treasured golf experience was a trip to St. Andrews in Scotland, which the club pro put together. “When I got out on the first tee, I was so nervous,” he reveals. “To know every great golfer, from Bobby Jones and Ben Hogan, to Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, has stuck their tee in the ground right where I stuck mine? I couldn’t get my breath; I was so excited.”

He’s also excited to have been part of the club’s transformation to one of the premier clubs in the region. “This is my home,” he explains. “I was just telling my grandson; this is a special place, and we need to take care of what we’ve been given. When you’re a member of Raleigh Country Club, you can say it with pride. It’s a wonderful place to be. It’s been a privilege to have been on this 50-year journey.”

Read More

Restored historic church at The Water’s Edge Country Club has become a wedding venue for many couples

When Virginia developer Ron Willard began clearing property around Smith Mountain Lake in 1985 for the course that would become The Water’s Edge Country Club, he had little idea he’d uncover a piece of history. It wasn’t until one of his crew came upon an old building that Willard knew they’d found something special.

“He got off the bulldozer and noticed it was an old church,” says Willard. “He refused to tear it down, because it was God’s house.”

The old church, now a beautifully restored chapel used for wedding ceremonies at The Water’s Edge, hadn’t shown up on the land survey when Willard purchased the property. Curious, he decided to dig into its history, and ultimately rerouted the course to avoid tearing down the church.

Having grown up in the area, Willard soon discovered the building was the old Rising Sun African American Church. After talking to his father, Walker Willard, Willard uncovered a wealth of stories about the church, including some Willard himself can remember. Off an old state gravel road, the church used to be surrounded by big trees with picnic tables spread out underneath the branches. Willard can remember driving down the road as a boy and catching sight of revivals at the church, with all the members gathering around the tables in the yard.

“My father can remember when it was a two-horse wagon road,” Willard says.

“They’d come that way before the lake was built, and people would have their horses tied up to the trees in front.”

After purchasing the church from the Rising Sun congregation, Willard used the building for storage until he was able to restore it in the late 1990s. After adding a copper roof and redwood siding, along with new floors, electricity, and some support, the old church transformed into a lovely chapel. Willard celebrated the restoration with a christening, inviting the grandchildren of the old Rising Sun congregation. And in 2010, his own daughter Heather was married there, complete with a gospel choir.

Since the church’s restoration, many have tied the knot at this beautiful venue. While the interior can be used for smaller ceremonies, couples tend to utilize the chapel as an altar background with guests seated outside on either side of the walkway. Kasey Outen, stepdaughter of McConnell Golf CEO John McConnell, and her husband, Stewart, held a destination wedding at The Water’s Edge in the fall of 2020. Outen grew up swimming at Smith Mountain Lake with her family, and as it quickly became a special place for the couple while they were dating, she knew the property would make an ideal spot for their wedding.

“Having a chapel on-site at a beautiful property with all of the other event amenities is rare,” Outen says. “This made our experience particularly special. The chapel is chic and rich in history, it’s such a neat addition to the property.”

A former country club employee, Crystal Dofflemyer worked at The Water’s Edge in high school and through college on her breaks. Hosting her wedding at the property was incredibly special for her.

“The chapel entrance was our altar, and the walkway to it was the aisle,” Dofflemeyer says. “Our family and friends sat on each side of the aisle under the shade provided by mature trees. There was a slight breeze coming off the water so despite having a late August wedding, it was absolutely perfect.”

The chapel continues to create special memories for countless newlyweds at The Water’s Edge Country Club. And to think it’s all thanks to a crew member in 1985 who refused to tear down an old church.

Read More

Since its debut in 1927, Holston Hills Country Club on the northeast side of Knoxville, Tenn., has played an integral role in the game of golf.

Set near the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains on 180 open acres of rolling old farmland tucked into a bend in the Holston River, Holston Hills boasts a magnificent, Donald Ross-designed golf course.

Holston Hills has always been highly regarded among the country’s most prestigious golf course rankings. Such recognition continues in 2022.

In Golfweek's prestigious “Best Classic Courses 2022” — the top 200 golf courses built before 1960 — Holston Hills ranked No. 101 in America. In Golfweek's “Best Private Courses 2022” — a state-by-state ranking of private courses — Holston Hills ranked No. 2 in Tennessee behind the Pete Dye-designed Honors Course in Ooltewah.

In the 2021-22 Golf Digest state-by-state rankings of all courses, public and private, Holston Hills was ranked No. 6 in the state. In addition, as it approaches its 100^th anniversary, the Ross design is consistently ranked among the country’s top 100 by Golf Magazine.

“Holston Hills takes great pride in its consistent recognition as one of the most well-preserved Donald Ross courses in the country,” said Chris Dibble, General Manager and Director of Golf at Holston Hills. “We believe this philosophy is the reason the golf course continues be recognized as one the country’s top classical designs.”

The co-founder of the Donald Ross Society, Michael J. Fay, has said that he would rather play Holston Hills on a regular basis than any other golf course in the South. Acclaimed golf course architect Tom Doak says Holston Hills is the closest golf course around to what Ross originally designed.

The club has played host to many national events in its history, including the PGA Tour’s Knoxville Invitational, which was captured by Byron Nelson in 1945 during a historic season that included a record-setting 18 victories. Holston Hills welcomed the 2004 USGA Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship and has also played host to numerous Tennessee PGA Championships.

McConnell Golf purchased Holston Hills in late 2015 and has invested millions in capital improvements. In 2019, the PGA Tour and TOUR Vision Promotions signed a five-year agreement with Holston Hills to host the Korn Ferry Tour’s Visit Knoxville Open.

McConnell Golf Founder and CEO John McConnell said he knew Holston Hills was a special place from the moment he set foot on the property. “It immediately reminded me of Shinnecock Hills,” McConnell recalls, referencing the storied eastern Long Island golf club that was a founding member of the USGA and has hosted five U.S. Open Championships.

McConnell Golf is the only individual golf course proprietor in the world that owns four Ross-designed courses.

“I knew when I saw Holston Hills that it would be a great addition to our golf portfolio,” McConnell said. “It’s a ‘must-play’ for our members. Holston Hills enjoys a proud past and we think that it has a great future as well.”

Read More

The Jaycee Supreme Open gave Nelson his 14th victory of 18 that year

During the second week of August 1945, an unbeatable streak ended, which would become an unbreakable record. Byron Nelson’s legendary string of 11 straight tournament victories on the professional tour through the spring and summer ended in Memphis when amateur Freddie Haas Jr. won the Memphis Invitational. Nelson tied for third, six shots back.

The next week, the tour came to Knoxville and Holston Hills Country Club for the Jaycee Supreme Open.The event was sponsored by the Knoxville Junior Chamber of Commerce and Supreme Foods. The purse was a whopping $13,333, with $2,000 going to the winner.

Nelson was entered at Holston Hills, even as he said he was “overgolfed” after the Memphis tournament. Sam Snead, who had spent 26 months in the U.S. Navy, was in the field, as was Lt. Ben Hogan, who was serving a two-year hitch in the Army Air Corps as the country was deeply embroiled in World War II.

The 33-year-old Nelson had hemophilia, a blood disorder that caused his blood to clot four times slower than normal. The condition kept him out of military service but he was no less a patriot. The week after the Jaycee Supreme Open, Nelson joined Snead, Harold (Jug) McSpaden and Craig Wood for a fundraiser at Oakmont Country Club in Pittsburgh, Pa., for the hospitalization and rehabilitation of injured servicemen. That was one of many events that Nelson played to raise money for the war effort.

Also in the Knoxville field was Jimmy Thomson, who grew up at Holston Hills when his father, Wilbur Thomson, was the pro. The younger Thomson, one of the longest hitters on tour, held the Holston Hills course record of 63.

Fred Corcoran, the tournament manager of the PGA who ran the tour events, wanted the pros to play Holston Hills from the front tees, 6,301 yards at the time. But Charley King, a member of the Holston Hills golf committee, insisted the players compete from the back tees at a hefty 6,993 yards, a brute of a course for 1945. Corcoran floated a compromise of two days from the back tees and two days from the front tees but Kingwas having none of it.

“I told (Corcoran) that the fans wanted to see the stars turn loose,” King said.

The 72-hole tournament was originally to begin on Friday, Aug. 24, with 18 holes, the second 18 for Saturday and finishing with 36 holes on Sunday. But Corcoran decided to change the schedule and begin the event on Thursday with 18 holes a day. “The PGA frowns on 36 holes for its members during the summer months,” Corcoran said, “because the extremely hot weather takes too much out of the players and they can’t play their best brand of golf.”

The Jaycee Supreme Open field was small – just 36 professionals and 24 amateurs. That was the case for most of the tou rbecause many of the pros were active duty service members. Haas led the amateur contingent.

Since professional golf at this level was new to Knoxville, fans were asked to follow a few rules of etiquette, including: “Do not walk through or across any sand trap – it is tough enough getting out of smooth sand.”

Nelson was often referred to in the press as the “Toledo umbrella man.” The Toledo part came from his job as head professional at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio. In those days, nearly all of the touring pros had jobs at country clubs in addition to playing in competition. Nelson was from Waxahachie, Tex., but the newspapers used the club affiliation as the pro’s hometown.

Nelson had dinner with Inverness member Cloyd Haas, co-owner of Haas-Jordan, a successful manufacturing company that made umbrellas. Nelson asked Haas to make a suitable golf umbrella, one that wouldn’t collapse or leak. Nelson introduced the finished product to the tour and as a result, Haas-Jordan entered the golf business.

At each tournament Nelson entered, he visited all the department stores in town and dropped off his Haas-Jordan business card. He was paid $25 per call. Thus, the Toledo umbrella man.

Despite Nelson’s being “overgolfed,” he took to Holston Hills immediately, shooting a 6-under 66 in the pro-am, leading his team to victory. Snead shot 71 and declared the 12th hole at Holston Hills “the hardest par-4 in America.”

The next day, in the tournament’s first round, Nelson picked up where he left off by winning 11 in a row, shooting 67 to take the lead by one shot over Hogan, Haas and Toney Penna. In a rainy second round, Nelson added a 69 for an 8-under 136 total, four shots ahead of Haas and five in front of McSpaden and Penna.

Nelson could only manage a 1-over 73 in the third round but held onto his four-shot lead over Haas and Hogan, who climbed the leaderboard with a 69 on Saturday. 

But on Sunday, Nelson re-established his dominance on the pro tour, shooting a 5-under 67 to win the Jaycee Supreme Open by a commanding 10 shots over runner-up Sam Byrd, 11 over Hogan and 12 in front of Haas and McSpaden.

It was Nelson’s 14th tournament victory of 1945 and gave him a total of $50,966 in winnings for the year, which was a tour record. Nelson won four more times that year and his 18 victories in a year is another professional record that is likely never to be broken.

The pro tour returned to Holston Hills in 1946 but the tournament was known then as the Knoxville Invitational.The purse was $10,000 and the event moved to the middle of October. Nelson did not play in 1946, by then having retired from full-time tournament golf at age 34 to tend to his ranch in Roanoke,Tex., which he bought with his record-breaking 1945 earnings.

Neither was Hogan, Snead nor U.S.Open champion Lloyd Mangrum in the field. Herman Keiser, who beat Hogan by one shot to win the Masters the previous April in one of golf’s greatest upsets, took the first-round lead and never looked back.

After posting a first-round, 1-under-par 71, Keiser told KMOX Radio, “I believe today’s high scores were due for the most part to the fast greens and lengthy course. When I say fast greens, I don’t mean they are too fast... in fact, they are ideal. After today, I believe you’ll see the scores going down, but I don’t believe anybody is going to consistently break par in this tournament.”

Keiser was right. After leading the tournament after 36 holes at 2-under par, Keiser finished 72 holes at 3-over 291, good for a one-shot victory over Chick Harbert.

But to show you which sport was king in 1946, the Knoxville Invitational took the day off on Saturday so the players could attend the Tennessee-Alabama football game. Saturdays in October were sacred in Knoxville even then.

(Special thanks to Holston Hills member John Stiles for his contributions to this story.)

Read More

Brook Valley Country Club marks its fiftieth anniversary by celebrating royal beginnings, Maples golf course architecture and celebrity contests 

In 1760, a tract of land in Greenville, N.C., now occupied by Brook Valley Country Club, became part of a royal grant bestowed by King Charles to a family who later sold the property to another family, the Brooks. They maintained the land for centuries before selling the large tract for development. Brook Valley reflects the family name, and today a copy of the royal charter adorns the club’s front walls.

Ellis Maples, who worked under and learned from Donald Ross, designed the Brook Valley golf course. Brook Valley’s rich history includes an exhibition match between legends Sam Snead and Ben Hogan. Reynolds May - one of the development’s original investors and a promoter - was friendly with many of the world’s best golfers at the time. After helping develop the golf course, he established the Reynolds May Tournament that featured many top professionals. The trophy from that event still resides at the club, bearing names of many great champions - including a young Curtis Strange, who captured the inaugural event at Brook Valley, as well as 2012 U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson.

Today, Brook Valley’s future appears bright following the club’s 2015 purchase by McConnell Golf. The golf course and practice area were renovated under the tutelage of renowned Greensboro-based golf course architect Kris Spence whose work included bunkering and one green modification (No. 2), along with significant tree removal and the relocation of a number of cart paths. Spence called Brook Valley an “out of the box” design for Maples, mostly due to its intricate cross bunkering.

“We have brought the Ellis Maples bunkering back, as well as adding a few bunkers to modernize the golf course,” Spence says. “Brook Valley is a very nice mix of golf holes with a lot of variety. The par-5s, in particular, are some of the best three-shooters I’ve seen. It’s not long, but it is a great membership golf course.”

The difference is noticeable. PGA Tour professional Will MacKenzie grew up in Greenville and regularly played Brook Valley. “Everyone always said Brook Valley was the best layout in Greenville” says MacKenzie. “It’s definitely got some of the best rolling terrain we have in Greenville. Brook Valley’s golf course was always a step above the others (in the area) in shot quality and feel, how the golf course was routed. But it needed to be restored. McConnell Golf came just in time.”

Watch History Unfold

Don’t leave it to your imagination, catch a smile and wave from Sam Snead and Ben Hogan via YouTube.com/McConnellGolf.

Read More