The renovation of the driving range and practice areas at The Country Club of North Carolina by Spence Golf Inc., under the direction of architect Kris Spence, is complete.
The project began this past June 8, under the supervision of Spence’s lead associate Jim Harbin. It opened to the membership on Oct 9.
“CCNC is extremely pleased with the work of Kris Spence and Spence Golf, Inc., on the practice range and short game facility,” Club President Charlie Waters said. “The amenities of this critical area for our dedicated members are top-notch and also feel like home. Members and guests, either playing our courses, or trying to sharpen their games, will experience a fully new and revamped/rejuvenated facility.”
“I’m very confident that we not only accomplished all of our goal but most likely exceeded expectations on this project,” Spence said. “The new short game area has great variety and will accommodate many more players and if there is a better practice tee and target green set up in the Sandhills I am not aware of it”
The main components of the renovation included changes to the size, alignment and levels of the practice range, additional target greens, a higher safety net, and a larger and more free-flowing short-game area. The entire facility was sodded with new grass.
A new single deck of 125,000 square feet (nearly three acres) was built for the practice range and resulted in eight to 10 more hitting stations.
To simulate the on-course experience for the members, 40,000 square feet of the tee is zoysia to match the fairway grass on the Dogwood Course and the remainder is Bermuda to match the fairway grass of the Cardinal Course.
Practicing players can now hit four well-defined target greens with sharper surrounds, ranging in size from 3,000-3,500 square feet. In addition, two smaller target greens of 1,000 square feet or less were built to accommodate ‘scoring club” practice.
The new short-game practice area have been expanded by 80 percent, according to Spence.
Each end of the practice range now have the ability to accommodate synthetic mats for the winter season.
Kris Spence is recognized as one of the leading golf course architects in the design and restoration of classic golf architecture. A traditionalist at heart, he brings his passion and understanding of the golden era courses to each project. His ability to integrate design, construction, maintenance and management of your course comes from moe than 25 years of experience in every facet of the golf business. Kris Spence Golf Design can provide complete design, construction, grow-in and management consulting services for new or existing courses.
Located in Pinehurst, The Country Club of North Carolina (CCNC), established in 1963, is a member-owned private club and gated residential community with 2,000 acres that features long-leaf pines and three lakes and upscale dining, tennis, fitness, swimming, and pickleball facilities. The club’s diversity is reflected by golf memberships in local, state, and national categories.
Since 2003, it has been a certified member of the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program. The Dogwood Course was designed by Ellis Maples and Willard Byrd and renovated by Kris Spence in 2016. The Cardinal Course, designed by Willard Byrd and Robert Trent Jones Sr., completed a renovation by Arthur Hills in 2002 and will be renovated by Andrew Green with work beginning in 2028.
The club has hosted three USGA championships (1980 U.S. Amateur, 2010 U.S. Girls’ Junior and 2021 U.S. Junior Amateur). The club will also host the 2037 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship, conducted by the USGA as well as the 2027 Southern Amateur. In 2023, it also hosted Atlantic Coast Conference Men’s Golf Championships, won by national runner-up Georgia Tech.