Carolina Golf Club

Carolina Golf Club began on the Dunavant family's dairy farm in Charlotte. The club's history records that Mrs. H. J. Dunavant decided to turn the farm into a golf course shortly after her husband died in 1929, and that she hired Donald Ross to design it. The course opened in 1929 as the first 18-hole public course in the Charlotte area. Kris Spence, who restored it eight decades later, worked from Ross's 18-hole routing drawing and has written that every bunker on that plan was built in 1929. In the same account he wrote that the public course "quickly fell victim to the depression", and that the lean years left many of the original bunker forms and green fill pads in the ground.

In 1958 a group of regular players took over ownership and management, and the course became private. Superintendent Matthew Wharton's account adds that Mrs. Dunavant's son-in-law, the first professional, persuaded them, and that the new owners lined the holes with pines. They replaced the original log-cabin clubhouse near today's 14th green with a building on the hill above the 18th, and the course then went nearly 50 years with few design changes. Shortly before 2003 the 16th and 18th were redesigned in a modern style the membership did not like. Spence's first job at the club, about 2003, was to put Ross back into those two holes, and that work led to a master plan for the whole course.

Holes to Know

From the Black tees the course is 7,019 yards and par 71, 36 out and 35 back, with four par 3s, three par 5s and eleven par 4s. It opens with the 540-yard par-5 1st, one of the two holes Spence built on land the club bought in 2004. The 136-yard 12th is the shortest hole.

The 229-yard 3rd from the Black tees (stroke index 15) carries an arm of the irrigation lake to a rounded green with a narrow bunker down its left side and a long bunker angling in from the front-right. Pines once enclosed the green; Spence cleared them, and from the green the 4th and 16th are now in view. "If there is a better par 3 anywhere," he said in 2026, "I don't know where it is."

The 440-yard 7th (stroke index 5) bends left around a cluster of about a dozen bunkers on the inside of the turn, shared with the 6th fairway, and the approach climbs to a green guarded short-left and short-right. Spence counts the 7th among the holes that are completely original.

The 228-yard 9th (stroke index 17) has a cross bunker left of centre about 50 to 60 yards short of a squarish green, with more sand short-right, front-left and right.

The 524-yard par-5 13th (stroke index 10), rerouted by Spence, crosses a creek early and bends left between tree lines toward a green bunkered front-left and right.

The 435-yard 18th (stroke index 6) bends left to a kidney-shaped green set between two ponds, one wrapping its front-left and the other off the right side, below the clubhouse hill.

Ross's Design Here

Spence described the course he found as a set of old Ross holes with grassed-over bunkers and shrunken greens; the original green fill pads were intact but in places sat 20 feet beyond the edge of the putting surface. He restored the greens on the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th, 10th, 14th and 15th to their Ross forms. In 2026 he named the 7th, the 8th and the other holes across the brow of the ridge as completely original.

The bunkers were rebuilt with flat floors and grass faces. Many went back in their exact locations from the Ross drawing; others were moved for modern distances, and a few were added. Two of the restorations are on the long par 3s: there were no cross bunkers on the 3rd or 9th before 2008, but Ross's 1929 drawing showed one on each, and Spence put them back. On that drawing today's 3rd was the 8th hole and today's 9th was the 5th.

On the 7th, Spence wrote, Ross set the bunkers on the left of the hole on a downslope, with only the first visible from the original tee line. Spence pushed the fairway slightly right to strengthen the dogleg and set the inside bunkers into the tops of mounds, as Ross had done at Mimosa Hills.

Before the restoration seven holes ran parallel and straight, back and forth through a swale running north and south. Spence's aim was width: he pushed each fairway from side to side within its corridor and took the mowing lines back out to the staggered fairway bunkers. With the trees gone, members can see 15 holes from the clubhouse terrace, with downtown Charlotte behind them. Wharton notes that all 18 greens can be reached along the ground.

Historical Significance

Carolina was the Charlotte area's first 18-hole public course. Bradley Klein's consulting report for the restoration, as quoted by member Ed Oden, said: "Carolina GC is a course with 'good bones'. For too long, the skeleton has remained unrecognized." Spence calls it one of the more significant transformations he has done.

The Carolinas Golf Association has held the 2005 North Carolina Junior, the 2010 Carolinas Super Senior, the 2011 Carolinas Mid-Amateur and the 2014 North Carolina Amateur at Carolina. At the 2014 North Carolina Amateur, the 54th, Bailey Patrick Jr. opened with a 62, the competitive course record, and Joshua Martin of Pinehurst became the event's youngest champion. The club also lists five PGA Tour qualifiers for the Wells Fargo Championship and several Charlotte City Amateurs. In 2018 it was stroke-play co-host, with Charlotte Country Club, of the 38th U.S. Mid-Amateur, where member Brett Boner reached the final and lost to Kevin O'Connell.

Among other members, David Strawn was runner-up to Craig Stadler at the 1973 U.S. Amateur at Inverness, and David Eger, who grew up at the club, won the 1988 U.S. Mid-Amateur at Prairie Dunes.

Changes Since Ross

After 1958 pine plantings narrowed the holes, bunkers were grassed over, greens shrank, and several green complexes were remodelled with depressions, catch basins and symmetrical mounds. Hurricane Hugo hit the middle of the course in the late 1980s. Shortly before 2003 the 16th was rebuilt to play over a pond to a severely crowned green, and the 18th was given a three-tiered fairway; Spence's first commission reworked both.

The club bought 43 adjoining acres in 2004 and hired Spence for a four-phase master plan, with Klein engaged to review it for Ross authenticity. In May 2005 work began on two new holes, today's 1st and 2nd, on the new land. The old 1st and 2nd, short parallel par 4s, became the practice range and short-game area. A ravine between the new 2nd and the 10th was dammed to form a 7.5-acre irrigation lake. The course then closed for eleven months for the final phase: more than 1,000 trees were removed, greens, tees and bunkers were rebuilt, fairways were regrassed, fescue native areas were seeded, and new irrigation went in. It reopened in October 2008 at par 71; before the work it had been a 6,228-yard par 70.

Besides the eight restored greens, the greens on the 6th, 9th, 11th, 12th and 13th were moved for length, agronomy and angles. The 9th green was pulled back from the road in front of the clubhouse, enlarged and squared off, and its two tiers were softened. The 11th lost its symmetrical mounds and a green set down on the creek. The 13th, once short and straight, was moved and turned to the left.

Since then the bunker sand was replaced in 2014, and from 2021 the club lined 71 bunkers with Capillary Bunkers liners to keep the red clay out of the sand. The mid-century clubhouse has been demolished for a new building, part of about $23 million in projects, after a member lawsuit over the financing was dropped in January 2026.

Uncertainties

• Reopening date: the club's history places the restored course's reopening under "2009", but a member posted on Oct. 29, 2008 that it had "reopened this month", and the CGA dates the renovation to 2008. This listing follows October 2008.

• Land purchase: the club says 43 acres; Spence wrote in 2008 that the new holes and lake sit on 20 acres of new land. This listing uses the club's figure.

Sources & Notes

1. Carolina Golf Club, "About Us", https://www.carolinagolfclub.org/about-us. Dunavant commission and 1929 Ross design, first 18-hole public course, 1958 privatization and clubhouses, 2004-2008 master plan, events hosted, notable members.

2. Carolina Golf Club, home page and FAQ, https://carolinagolfclub.org/. Private, membership by invitation, guest access.

3. Two Down Press, "Architect Kris Spence on Current Projects, Donald Ross, and Design Philosophy", Oct. 9, 2026, https://www.twodownpressgolf.com/p/architect-kris-spence-on-current-projects-donald-ross-and-design-philosophy. First engagement on 16 and 18, old 1st and 2nd, 11th, 13th, original holes, the 3rd.

4. Two Down Press, "Renovation Roundup: Spending Spree Continues at Charlotte Clubs", Jan. 22, 2026, https://www.twodownpressgolf.com/p/renovation-roundup-spending-spree-continues-at-charlotte-clubs. Clubhouse demolition and construction.

5. Golf Club Atlas, "Feature Interview with Kris W. Spence", July 2017, https://golfclubatlas.com/feature-interview/feature-interview-with-kris-w-spence/. Work from about 2003, condition before restoration, Hurricane Hugo, Ross drawing, tree removal, width, 15 holes visible from the terrace.

6. Golf Club Atlas forum, "Carolina GC (Ross restored by Spence)", 2008-2025, https://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,37123.0.html and https://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,37123.25.html. Posts by Kris Spence (greens restored and repositioned, routing sketch, 7th bunkering, depression, fescue), superintendent Matthew Wharton (four phases, new 1st and 2nd, lake), and members Ed Oden and Carl Johnson (October 2008 reopening, Klein report, 9th green, 2025 changes).

7. Golf Club Atlas forum, "Donald Ross' Cross-Bunkered Par-3s", January 2012, https://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,50854.25.html. Cross bunkers on the 3rd and 9th rebuilt from Ross's drawing; old hole numbers.

8. LinksNation, Q&A with Matthew Wharton, https://linksnation.com/matthew-wharton-carolina-golf-club/. Son-in-law first professional, 1958 takeover, pine planting, 7.5-acre reservoir, Klein's role, greens open to the ground game.

9. Carolinas Golf Association, 2014 North Carolina Amateur championship page, https://www.carolinasgolf.org/championship/home/14ncam/year/2014. Youngest champion Joshua Martin; CGA championships hosted at Carolina.

10. Carolinas Golf Association, "Bailey Patrick Jr. Sets Course Record in Round 1 of NC Amateur", June 5, 2014, https://www.carolinasgolf.org/blog/bailey-patrick-jr-sets-course-record-in-round-1-of-nc-amateur-1. 62 course record; renovated in 2008.

11. Asian Golf Industry Federation, "Capillary Bunkers Seals off Carolina's Red Clay", January 2023, https://agif.asia/2023/01/capillary-bunkers-seals-off-carolinas-red-clay/. Flat-bottomed, grass-faced bunkers; 2014 sand replacement; liners from 2021.

12. WSOC-TV / Charlotte Business Journal, "Lawsuit dropped over Charlotte golf club's $23M upgrades", Jan. 10, 2026, https://www.wsoctv.com/news/local/lawsuit-dropped-over-charlotte-golf-clubs-23m-upgrades/BN7F57D6KZA7BPPSWJKGAQ6QZQ/. Clubhouse project and lawsuit.

13. Top100GolfCourses, review by Tyler Janz, August 2026, https://www.top100golfcourses.com/golf-course/carolina-golf-club/reviews/tyler-janz-carolina-golf-club-2026-08-93365f96. New clubhouse still under construction.