By Ken Mink
Editor
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. – North Carolina boasts hundreds of good golf courses, many located near interesting locales.
But few can claim to have a more varied golf community than Fayetteville.
Famed for its huge military installations (Fort Bragg and Pope Air Force Field), the metro area has at least a dozen four- and five-star golf courses, large and varied shopping and lodging facilities and many dining and entertainment opportunities.
Occupying the eastern flank of North Carolina’s famed golfing Sandhills, Fayetteville’s topography provides ideal conditions for golf’s greatest architects to sculpt their masterpieces, not to mention ideal training conditions for America’s best military heroes. As proud home of the 82nd Airborne, Fayetteville is America’s first name in defense. This is truly a city that knows what it means to be ready at a moment’s notice. Lending their support, many of Fayetteville’s finest area golf courses and best hotels have enlisted by offering some of the fastest tee times, best deals and easiest accommodations along I-95 and the East Coast.
And all this located less than an hour from the famed venerable golf community of Pinehurst and Southern Pines.
All of which also makes Fayetteville a true golfing treasure.
Our Travelling Adventurer Magazine group recently checked out some of the outstanding golf and dining opportunities in the Fayetteville area.
The metro area offers dozens of good restaurants and our group decided to try out a couple of the more unique eateries, including Sherefe, a Mediterranean restaurant with an emphasis on Turkish dishes. Located in a historic downtown building at 114 Gillespie Street, Sherefe (pronounced “sherefay”) means “Cheers!” in Turkish. The restaurant has three dining rooms and three private rooms. The restaurant is decorated with artistic Mediterranean wall hangings, features many unique dishes created by the founder/owner/chef Mustafa Somar and offers numerous wines, Turkish drinks and beers. Info: www.sherefe.com, 910-630-3040.
Also unique is the English fare on the menu at the Huske Hardware Restaurant, 405 Hay Street. Occupying an old downtown hardware store building, Huske Hardware is a “gastropub,” a British term for a public house that also specializes in serving interesting food. The menu is very diverse but really shines with its pub fare: Bangers & Mash,
Shepherd’s Pie, Brew-Battered Fish and Chips, Corn Beef & Cabbage, and Bubble & Squeak. You’ll be in heaven. Info: www.HuskeHardware.com, 910-437-9905.
Fayetteville’s formidable foursome of Cypress Lakes Golf Course, Bayonet at Puppy Creek, Gates Four Golf & Country Club and Anderson Creek Golf Club all offer top-notch facilities at reasonable rates and excellent conditions.
Here’s some highlights of these courses:
Cypress Lakes Golf Course
The 18-hole layout at Hope Mills provides a very distinct look and feel not found at many courses.
Located a few minutes off I-95 exit 41, the course has several striking lakes and ponds, many with cypress trees growing abundantly in the waters, providing an almost surreal landscape.
The course features 6,943 yards of golf from the longest tees for a par of 72 (white 6,346, gold 5,873, ladies 5,272). The course rating is 73.2 and it has a slope of 133 on Bermuda grass. Designed by L.B. Floyd/Stuart Goodin, the Cypress Lakes golf course opened in 1968. Retired club professional L.B. Floyd was once a clubhouse fixture at this course. He is the father of four-time major champion Ray Floyd and LPGA player Marlene Floyd.
The management has done a superb job of continuing the tradition set out by the famed Floyd golf clan when the course was built. The former turkey farm is full of tree-lined holes that place a premium on accurate tee shots. Plus the greens are in top shape. Employees are friendly and helpful — they actually seem glad you came to play.
Opening as a public facility, Cypress Lakes was a novel idea in these parts, where the only courses to be found were private. More than 40 years later, Cypress Lakes remains the granddaddy of Fayetteville’s public golf scene and, thanks to various renovations through the decades, one of the area’s top golf experiences.
Two par-3 holes on the front nine — 5 and 9 — play over Cypress-filled Rainey Pond. The signature ninth is the most photographed — and perhaps most intimidating — hole on the course with a 180-yard carry over water to a long, narrow green fronted by bunkers.
What players might appreciate most about Cypress Lakes, however, is the unhurried, countrified feel rarely found on a track of this quality.
Info: www.cypresslakesnc.com, 910-483-0359.
Bayonet at Puppy Creek Golf Club
During his college days Joe Poole attended The Citadel, where the bayonet is often incorporated during important ceremonies. Poole figured that — particularly considering its proximity to the army base at Fort Bragg — Bayonet at Puppy Creek would be a perfect name for his project: a quality golf course for the area without the extravagance of an expensive country club.
Those “in the know” agreed: “Best all-time name in golf? Look no further than Bayonet at Puppy Creek,” proclaimed Golf Magazine soon after the golf course opened.
A par 72 layout located in Raeford, south of Fayetteville, Bayonet is 7,069 yards from the championship (black) tee and has a slope of 142.
It’s no secret why this course always has such manicured Bermuda fairways and bentgrass greens: The course is right next to a huge sod farm also owned by Carolina Turf Farms, Inc.
Designed by Willard Byrd, the course crisscrosses Puppy Creek numerous times, meandering through rugged woodlands and open fields, rising and falling, with no two holes alike.
Bayonet also offers the region’s largest and best conditioned practice area, including a 20-acre golf practice facility featuring 10 target greens and a short-game area.
Wide fairways and several downhill holes give players a chance to let loose off the tees. The blue tees are 6,472, white/regular (6,019), senior men/ladies (5,310) and senior ladies/juniors (4,453).
One minor drawback: The course tee markers are very small (about 10-inch long rounded wood with tee colors on the end) and sometimes difficult to locate. There are also a few intersecting cart trails that could use some directional signs.
The course is located about 15 minutes west of Fayetteville
Bayonet has several interesting par 3s, including number 9, a 184-yarder carved into the side of a hill with a daunting bunker complex. Meanwhile, the closing 18th is a fitting fun-filled par 5.
Info: www.bayonetgolf.com, 910-904-1500.
Gates Four Golf & Country Club
Gates Four brings a private club atmosphere into your reach.
Located in an upscale gated community, the club’s immaculate bentgrass greens roll fast and true. With many twisting, tree-lined fairways, raised greens and gnarly Bermuda rough, the course demands accuracy.
The 4.5 star quality of the course is proven by the fact the facility was chosen to host a new NGA Pro Golf Tour’s Max Motion Physical Therapy All American Golf Championship, in July 2014.
To better test today’s bombers, Gates Four was stretched to more than 7,000 yards for the tournament with the recent addition of three new championship tees on Holes 9, 13 and 15 – highlighted by the 13th extending from 536 yards to 605 yards. In addition, the tournament played at Par 71 with the 487-yard 4th hole playing as par 4.
The most intimidating hole is No. 12, a 419-yard par-4 which appears much longer and tougher from the back tee, where players consider a 210-yard carry over a lake to a narrow fairway, then an approach over another water hazard to a narrow, crowned green.
Last year, Gates Four unveiled a new 3,600 square-foot Golf Pavilion, a 10-acre park and new tennis courts. This accompanies an even more recent multi-million dollar golf course renovation by architect Kris Spence, who brought all the greens back to USGA specifications using A1/A4 bent grass as well as an entire bunker renovation, improved practice area, chipping green and the addition of several new tees.
Demonstrating its ongoing commitment to its members, Gates Four completed a multi-million-dollar, 29,000-square-foot clubhouse in 2001 that has grown into a wonderful focal point for the facility and the surrounding gated community. In the early part of the century, esteemed designer Dan Maples was called on to etch his imprint into the original Willard Byrd-designed course in 1967, which included reversing its two nines so that players could conclude their rounds with a wonderful view of the grand clubhouse.
Info: www.GatesFour.com, 910-425-6667.
Anderson Creek Golf Club
Designed by pro tour great and North Carolina native Davis Love III, this course is challenging – but fair — to golfers from any of its five sets of tees.
Although long from the black tees (7,215 yards, rating 75.1, slope 144), the course offers reasonable distances from the blue (6,672, rating 73.0, slope 140), white (6,179, rating 70.5, slope 129) grey (5,864, rating 68.8/74.0, slope 124/142) and red (4,986, rating 71.4, slope 127).
Anderson Creek, located in a Spring Lake luxury homes community, is Love’s first signature course in North Carolina and was rated 4 1/2 stars by Golf Digest in 2008 and the winner of the “Best New Course in North Carolina” award for 2001.
This traditional layout reflects all that is great about golf in the Carolina Sandhills – rolling emerald fairways lined with longleaf pines, natural areas highlighted with love grass and perfectly manicured course conditions. The greens’ large roll-off areas and significant undulations offer a glimpse into the classic Donald Ross architecture seen throughout the renowned golfing region. Davis Love III remarked, “Anderson Creek is one of the finest courses I’ve played, and is more than ready to host a major golfing event.”
The thing that makes Anderson Creek a cut above most courses in the degree of toughness category is the speed and undulations of the greens. Downhill putts here can invoke fear into the heart of duffers. Rolling fairways, undulating greens and huge deep bunkers also combine to make this a true big-boy layout.
Accuracy off the tee is not nearly as important as approach shots from the fairway. Being on the correct side of holes is crucial on the severely sloped greens, as every putt seems to break more than expected and roll out farther than usual.
Visitors also have the opportunity to stay at the luxurious Inn at Anderson Creek, along the 18th fairway.
For rates and info on the Inn: http://www.andersoncreekclub.com/the-inn, plus www.andersoncreekclub.com and 910-814-2633.
Golf Package Hub/Holiday Inn Bordeaux
One of the more attractive and golfer-friendly accommodations in the heart of the city is the Holiday Inn Bordeaux at 1707 Owen Drive, with nearly 300 well-appointed rooms and free full course hot meal breakfasts. Lots of parking and 33,000 square feet of flexible meeting space, two full service restaurants, lobby bar and lounge and numerous amenities. Located minutes from Fort Bragg and central to most all the golf courses.
Info: www.Holidayinn.com/fayettevillenchibordeaux.com, 910-323-0111.
Fayetteville Info
For more information about the history, heroes and hometown feeling of Fayetteville contact the city’s tourism organization at www.visitfayettevillenc.com. Fayetteville golf info at www.VisitFayettevilleNC.com/golf.
