Wilmington Municipal Golf Course

Wilmington Municipal Golf Course, the Muni, is the City of Wilmington's public 18-hole course, a few miles inland from the Atlantic on a 180-acre tract of sandy ground. It plays to a par of 71 and is run by PGA professional David Donovan, who arrived in 2007, as a city enterprise fund paid for by its own revenue. It is one of the most popular courses in southeastern North Carolina, with more than 50,000 rounds a year, and local residents of New Hanover, Brunswick and Pender counties pay lower rates. The course is walkable, with parallel holes and a front nine that loops around the back nine. Pines frame most holes, and sandy waste ground still runs beside many fairways. The greens were rebuilt from Ross's sketches in 2014, at about twice the size of the greens they replaced, with false fronts and closely mown surrounds, while bunkers restored in 1998 and again in 2014 are the main hazard. The clubhouse was renovated by the nonprofit Friends of Muni and reopened in early 2022, and the group continues to fund drainage, path and bridge work on the course. A new irrigation system was installed over the winter of 2024-25. First Tee of Greater Wilmington runs its programs from a three-hole short course and practice green on the property, built in 2017. In 2026 the course marked its centennial with a tournament on September 19.