Alamance Country Club

Alamance Country Club was formed in 1946 to replace Burlington's Piedmont Country Club, which had closed in 1945. The club's history records that the idea came out of discussions early that year between Thomas D. "Tom" Cooper and Emerson T. "Curly" Sanders. Former Piedmont members were divided: some wanted an 18-hole championship course with a pool, tennis courts and a full clubhouse, others a nine-hole course and nothing else. Cooper and Sanders carried the larger plan, and the club engaged Donald Ross to design the 18 holes.

The plans Ross drew for Alamance survived. The club says Bob Cupp "used the original Ross plans throughout" when he rebuilt the course in 1999, and Adam Tomasiello, reviewing the course for Top100GolfCourses in 2021, describes the 2020 work as faithful to "the original 1946 plans." Top100GolfCourses' own profile dates the design to 1947. Alamance was among the last courses Ross designed: writing in The First Call in 2021, David Droschak calls Raleigh Country Club and Alamance "the last two designs" of Ross, and Tomasiello calls Alamance his "penultimate design." No source read for this listing says whether Ross walked the Burlington site or worked from a topographic map, or who built the course for him.

Holes to Know

From the I Tees the course plays 6,871 yards to a par of 71: 35 out over 3,419 yards and 36 in over 3,452. There are eleven par 4s, four par 3s and three par 5s. The front nine has one par 5, the 6th, and it starts the stretch Top100GolfCourses calls the most testing on the course: the longest par 5, the longest par 4 and a long par 3 in a row. The back nine has two par 5s, at the 12th and 17th, and two par 3s, at the 14th and 16th.

The 542-yard 6th from the I Tees is the longest hole on the course. Top100GolfCourses notes an uphill tee shot and a sharp dogleg with bunkers at the elbow. Today the hole climbs past a line of tall pines on the left and turns right, with two bunkers on the inside of the turn about 245 and 260 yards short of the green. A single bunker sits on the left of the fairway about 65 yards short, and a bunker is cut into the right side of the green.

The 460-yard 7th from the I Tees is the longest par 4 and stroke index 1. Top100GolfCourses describes a blind tee shot and one of the larger greens on the property. Our tour data makes it the largest green on the course, and no bunker touches it; the hole's only fairway bunker sits on the right edge about 240 yards short of the green.

The 201-yard 8th from the I Tees is the second-longest par 3. Top100GolfCourses notes that the fronting bunker rules out running the ball onto the green. Today that bunker sits at the front left, and a second bunker is cut into the right side of a long, narrow green that runs straight away from the tee.

The 439-yard 13th from the I Tees is stroke index 2. It bends gently left and plays to one of the two smallest greens on the course, a small oval with a bunker on each side. Three bunkers sit beyond the trees on the left between about 225 and 280 yards from the tee.

The 419-yard 15th from the I Tees turns sharply right about 245 yards out. Two bunkers sit in the right half of the fairway on the line from the tee, at about 180 and 205 yards, and three more line the outside of the turn. The kidney-shaped green is about 35 yards wide and 24 deep, set across the approach.

Ross's Design Here

No source read for this listing ties a specific surviving feature at Alamance to Ross himself, so this section describes what is there today and how reviewers have read it. Tomasiello's 2021 review makes three observations about the routing. The green cannot be seen from the tee on almost every par 4 and par 5, because most of the long holes bend one way or the other or play blind from the tee. The property is compact, yet no two consecutive holes run in exactly the same direction. And the presentation is uncluttered: bunkers are not added around greens that are already hard to hit, there is little artificial mounding, and the holes follow the existing ground.

The aerials bear out the bends. The 1st, 9th, 11th, 13th, 17th and 18th turn left, the 6th and 15th turn right, and on the 6th and 15th the fairway bunkers sit at the turn itself. Several greens have only one or two bunkers, and the 7th, the hardest hole on the card, has none. Triad Golf describes the greens as undulating and fast, "though not the turtleback style normally associated with the architect," and calls the course tree-lined; tree lines frame nearly every hole on the aerials.

Historical Significance

Alamance belongs to the last group of courses Ross designed, and it is one of the two late North Carolina courses, with Raleigh Country Club, that The First Call names as his last two designs. It has a long record as a Carolinas Golf Association venue. The CGA's championship records show the Carolinas Amateur at Alamance in 1960, when Larry Beck of Kinston beat Dave Smith Jr. of Gastonia 6 and 5 in the final, and in 1983, when Michael Carlisle of Aiken beat Gus Ulrich of Garner 5 and 4. The North Carolina Amateur was played here in 1970, won by Joe Inman Jr. of Greensboro with 284, and in 1991, won by Paul Simson of Raleigh with 272.

Elon University's men's team hosts its Phoenix Invitational at Alamance; the October 2025 edition had 16 teams playing 54 holes over two days on the 6,871-yard course. In Triad Golf's 2025 ranking of the 25 best courses in the Piedmont Triad, Alamance placed fifth, behind Old Town Club, Old North State Club, Sedgefield and Greensboro Country Club's Farm Course.

Changes Since Ross

The course has had two major projects since Ross. In 1999 the club carried out what it calls a complete renovation under Bob Cupp, working from Ross's original plans. Top100GolfCourses describes the scope as refurbishing the greens and bunkers and adding new tees to lengthen the course a little, to just under 6,900 yards.

In 2020 the club restored the greens and bunkers again and added several new tees. Tomasiello writes that the membership commissioned the work and kept it faithful to the original 1946 plans; no source read for this listing names an architect for it. The greens were regrassed as part of the project. Triangle Golf reported in November 2020 that Alamance had chosen Pure Eclipse, a heat-tolerant bentgrass, and would be the second course in the world to open with it on all 18 greens, after Raleigh Country Club. The First Call quoted superintendent Peter Horn, who had grown the grass on a nursery green at the club before choosing it: "I pulled the string on choosing it at the 13th hour of our project."

Today's course keeps a Ross routing on a compact site, with greens and bunkers rebuilt twice to his plans and tees added at both stages. The aerials show tree lines along most holes and houses close to several, including the 6th, 13th and 15th.

Uncertainties

• Opening year. The club was founded in 1946 and its golf page says golf has been played since the founding; Top100GolfCourses dates the design to 1947; the Alamance County visitors bureau says the course opened in 1948. The text gives the founding year only.

• Design date. Tomasiello refers to Ross's 1946 plans; Top100GolfCourses gives 1947. The text uses neither as a date for Ross's work.

• Green turf. Pure Eclipse bentgrass was planted in 2020 (Triangle Golf, The First Call); Triad Golf's January 2025 directory lists Champion Bermuda greens. The text does not name the current grass.

• The 2020 architect. The club names no architect for the 2020 restoration, and no read source links one to it. The previous listing's credit to Kris Spence is dropped.

Sources & Notes

1. Alamance Country Club, History. https://www.alamancecountryclub.com/history Founding in 1946 by Tom Cooper and Curly Sanders; Piedmont CC until 1945; Ross design; 1999 Cupp renovation using the original Ross plans; 2020 greens and bunker work.

2. Alamance Country Club, Golf. https://www.alamancecountryclub.com/golf 2020 restoration of greens and bunkers and new tees; practice facilities; instruction and club fitting.

3. Alamance Country Club, About, Racquet Sports and Pool pages. https://www.alamancecountryclub.com/about Member ownership and invitation-only membership; dining room and 1946 Grill; https://www.alamancecountryclub.com/racquet-sports courts; https://www.alamancecountryclub.com/pool pools and season.

4. Top100GolfCourses, Alamance course profile. https://www.top100golfcourses.com/golf-course/alamance-country-club 1947 design date; Cupp work on greens, bunkers and tees; descriptions of the 6th, 7th and 8th.

5. Adam Tomasiello, Top100GolfCourses review, February 21, 2021. https://www.top100golfcourses.com/golf-course/alamance-country-club/reviews/28273 "Penultimate design"; routing observations; 2020 renovation faithful to the 1946 plans.

6. David Droschak, The First Call, "'Transition Zone' courses betting on new bentgrass", August 16, 2021. https://www.firstcallgolf.com/features/feature/2021-08-16/transition-zone-courses-betting-on-new-bentgrass Raleigh CC and Alamance as Ross's last two designs; Pure Eclipse greens; Peter Horn quote.

7. David Droschak, Triangle Golf, "Raleigh Country Club re-opens with expansive views", November 2020. https://trianglegolf.com/raleigh-country-club-re-opens-with-expansive-views/ Alamance's 2020 greens renovation and Pure Eclipse.

8. John Brasier, Triad Golf, "Alamance County Courses", January 2, 2025. https://triadgolf.com/?p=1027 Tree-lined course; undulating, fast greens, not turtleback; Champion Bermuda listing.

9. John Brasier, Triad Golf, "Triad Golf's Top 25: Old Town, Old North State top list", May 14, 2025. https://triadgolf.com/?p=2843 Alamance fifth.

10. Carolinas Golf Association, Carolinas Amateur Championship history. https://carolinasgolf.org/Images/CarolinasGolf/2025/Championship%20History/NEW_Carolinas_Amateur_25.pdf 1960 and 1983 at Alamance, winners and finals.

11. Carolinas Golf Association, North Carolina Amateur Championship history (November 2025 update). https://www.carolinasgolf.org/Images/CarolinasGolf/2025/Championship%20History%20-%20Nov/North_Carolina_Amateur_Championship_11-25_Update.pdf 1970 and 1991 at Alamance.

12. Old Dominion Athletics, "ODU Men's Golf Returns to Action at the Elon Phoenix Invitational", October 12, 2025. https://odusports.com/news/2025/10/12/odu-mens-golf-returns-to-action-at-the-elon-phoenix-invitational 2025 Phoenix Invitational at Alamance, field and format.

13. GolfPass, Alamance Country Club. https://www.golfpass.com/travel-advisor/courses/9912-alamance-country-club Ross (1946) and Bob Cupp (1999) as architects.

14. Alamance County Visitors Bureau, Alamance Country Club. https://www.visitalamance.com/listing/alamance-country-club/18/ 1948 opening date (see Uncertainties).

15. Greens Visited course scorecard and course-tour geometry (NC OneMap 2019 orthoimagery). Pars, yardages and stroke indexes from the I Tees; hole shapes, bunker positions and green sizes.