Things are heating up across the land of North Carolina in 2024 – especially in terms of golf. This year all eyes will be on Pinehurst No. 2 in the state’s midsection where the world’s best male players will gather to compete in the U.S. Open in June.
All great news for all the “Majors of Golf” lovers, as well as devotees to classical Donald Ross golf course design.
But for diehard golfers (those who would just as soon launch shots of their own as they would spend time traipsing around after the professionals), there is still nothing better than the excitement of teeing it up in the presence of cooling summer breezes. Of course in North Carolina, promised pleasures of comfortable air are perhaps more often attributed to the state’s western Mountains. But for those in the know, refreshing breezes are just as invigorating along the sandy shores of its Outer Banks.
From Jockey’s Ridge in Nags Head to the land of wild horses along Currituck, open spaces abound along the Outer Banks’ seaside sanctuaries. And there may be no better settings to enjoy the fresh air and majestic landscapes than across the region’s great golf courses – a trio of which is recognized among the best in all of golf-crazed North Carolina again in 2024.
This year, as in several ones past, the Outer Banks has proven itself once again to be a supplier of some of the game’s most highly-coveted courses in the Tar Heel State. According to the esteemed North Carolina Golf Panel – now in its 29th year – three courses remained among the Top 50 You Can Play in North Carolina: Featured at No. 17 is The Currituck Club, followed closely by Kilmarlic Golf Club at No. 28 and Nags Head Golf Links at No. 35.
Nags Head Golf Links
Golf around the storied Outer Banks represents an outstanding selection of enjoyable and affordable yet quality golf courses. Lists like the North Carolina Golf Panel’s are intended to tempt you with some sort of understanding of North Carolina’s golfing mentality and thus add to your golfing pleasure. These headliners, along with a handful of others, have helped transform the Outer Banks into an outdoor sportsman’s paradise. Throw in spacious accommodations and a plethora of off-course activities and you have a destination unlike any other.
From true barrier island links courses to modern parkland marvels located inland, the region is chock full of variety. The challenges at The Pointe Golf Club, The Carolina Club, Nags Head, Kilmarlic and Currituck Club are as spectacular as the coastal views they possess. There may be no better location for a true golf vacation than the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
Afternoon drives take on a whole new meaning along the coast just minutes north of Rees Jones’s 18-hole gem known as The Currituck Club, now No. 61 in North Carolina’s Top 100 and the No. 7 Coastal Course. The Corolla keeper is the grandest design along the coast “sculpted on the type of land where golf began” among 600 acres of dunes, wetlands, maritime forests, and sound seascapes.
In addition to being a 100-best comprehensive venue in the state, The Currituck Club has pierced the ranks as a top-tier design in a new category that panelists were asked to assemble. As it were, it now stands at No. 5 among the state’s newest classification … “Most Aesthetically Pleasing Courses.” This latest honor essentially credits golf courses that provide not only great golf, but tremendous views, landscaping and flora.
Every time golfers tackle historic Nags Head – touted as North Carolina’s No. 5 Best Short(er) Course two years ago – they find themselves facing a different challenge. Crafted by Bob Moore, Nags Head plays hard along the inner waterway on the southern end of the Outer Banks, where capricious breezes off sound-side waters create a unique golfing experience each and every day. With its coastal winds, rugged shoreline, island holes, seaside vistas, and tees and greens separated by rolling dunes and wild sea grass, Nags Head bears far more than a passing resemblance to the famed Scottish golf links.
Home to various golf cottages located near its entrance, Kilmarlic is a popular Tom Steele design nestled along the marshland of the Albemarle Sound. North Carolina’s No. 89 course in the Top 100 is a wonderful mainland design amidst 605 beautiful acres of maritime forest providing a pure OBX layout with water and wetlands virtually in play at all times.
Located just across the Wright Memorial Bridge, The Pointe is the first in a sequence of championship golf courses — layouts close to the sounds and ocean but more parkland in settings. The course is also said to be the first in the country to have the A-1 bent grass — a dense, disease-resistant strain — installed across its corridors. Meanwhile, The Carolina Club’s positioning as the first design heading into town from the north and last one on the way out makes it the ideal play on either side of your OBX golf getaway.
#outerbanks #northcarolina #nagshead #currituckclub #carolinaclub #kilmarlic #golf #golfresorts #golftravel #golfcourses
Feature Photo Courtesy of Kilmarlic