Playing Golf In The Piedmont

Right in the middle of North Carolina are the rolling hills of the Piedmont amid which are scattered scores of inviting venues to test your golf skills. It’s the state’s heart where graceful terrain and mild climate mean it’s always a good day to tee it up.

North Carolina’s primary urban centers all are surrounded by an abundance of courses designed by the game’s biggest names. Charlotte’s Ballantyne Hotel & Lodge offers inspired golf with a spa to work out post-round kinks, while just a solid five-iron from Charlotte Motor Speedway is Rocky River Golf Club. In the vicinity of Winston-Salem and Greensboro, Tanglewood and Bryan Park showcase the best of public golf.

The famed Research Triangle – encompassing Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill – has college connections to get you in the rah-rah spirit. N.C. State’s new Lonnie Poole Golf Course is a broad-shouldered Arnold Palmer production, while Tom Fazio transformed UNC’s Finley Golf Course into a gem.

And, by the way, putting across the Piedmont also presents the perfect opportunity to sample North Carolina’s famous barbecue and weigh in on the age-old debate as to which style – eastern or western – produces the most palatable pleasure.