What if someone were to tell you it is possible to play seven of the most prestigious private luxury courses you will find in the country, courses designed by Tom Fazio, Pete Dye, Donald Ross, Arnold Palmer and Greg Norman, five rated among the Carolina’s best. While everyone these days seems to be putting together a golf trail typically made up of courses which the public can play at affordable prices, the McConnell Golf Trail is different. The tracks on this trail are very private, normally only accessible to members and guests and the price is higher, the golf experience extraordinary. John McConnell who made a ton of money in the medical software business created McConnell Golf in 2003 with the acquisition of the Raleigh Country Club, the last course Donald Ross built (1948). Mc-Connell went on to add more clubs to his portfolio including Cardinal Golf & Country Club and Treyburn Country Club in 2006, Old North State Club and Musgrove Mill Golf Club in 2007, the Reserve at Pawley’s Island (2010) and this year, Sedgefield County Club, another Donald Ross design built in 1926. Passing through the stone gates along the long drive which leads to the stately brick and Tudor-style Sedgefield clubhouse in Greensboro, NC, you know you have arrived in a very special place. A statue of Donald Ross stands in the courtyard, while the pro shop staff addresses everyone by name. Venue for the Wyndham Championship and the ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference) Women’s Golf Championship, in McConnell’s words, Sedgefield is a ”grande ole club” with a proud history. And it just got much better having been recently restored from Ross’s original plans by Kris Spence who arguably knows more about Ross than Ross did himself.
Then there’s Old North State Club at Uwharrie Point, host to the ACC men’s championships. It was selected as the best private course in the state by North Carolina Magazine. (The restored Pinehurst #2 only recently took the top stop) Its finishing holes were named the best par 3 and par 5 in the state. There’s the Cardinal in Greensboro built in 1974 and restored by Pete Dye in 2007; Musgrove Mill in Clinton, SC an Arnold Palmer design (1988) ranked among the Top 100 Modern Courses; Treyburn Country Club in Durham, NC beautifully crafted by Tom Fazio in 1988; and the Reserve in Pawley’s Island, S.C, a Greg Norman design (1998) included among Top 50 by South Carolina Golf Panel. The McConnell Golf Trail gives non-club members the opportunity to play these courses in a “luxurious golfing event” focusing on what they call, “the pure, challenging essence of the game.” Participants can choose from the extravagant seven, five or three-day programs. The seven-day plan is priced from $2,595 (peak season) to $2,107 (off season); five-day plan $1,654 to $1,374; and the three-day plan $1,016 to $736. Included besides unlimited golf, is lodging in the charming on-site Musgrove Mill Cottages and the elegant eight-suite Lakeside Lodge in Old North State Club where you feel like you are living in a lovely private home with a living room, porch with rocking chairs, pool room and bar. The Marriott hotels in Raleigh and Greensboro are also used.
You get transportation to courses, airport transfers, most breakfasts, lunches and dinners, some prepared by a private chef while accommodations are upscale and on a single-occupancy basis. Itineraries are specifically organized day-by-day with some flexibility on courses you prefer to play and your driver serves as forecaddie for the trip. There is a minimum of four golfers.
For more information: mcconnellgolf.com
About Katharine Dyson
Katharine Dyson is a regular contributor to the New England Golf Monthly column: The Perfect Life.
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