The Golf Club at Quail Ridge sets re-opening date

Sanford Herald (NC)

Oct. 05--SANFORD -- The Golf Club at Quail Ridge's massive renovation, the first such project in the golf course's 50-year history, will be ready for the public and ready for play with a grand re-opening set for Oct. 14.

A new ownership group brought the club and Ellis Maples-designed course in January. Now, it's getting close to Christmas Eve.

The hub of the team in charge of the renovation -- which has included basically every piece of the course -- is Mike Hendley, who is part of the owners' group and was one of Quail Ridge's first pros when it opened in 1967 -- when Hendley was just graduated from Chowan University, general manager Bill Brooks and superintendent Eddie Draper.

The project's spanned the spring and summer. With drier weather than usual through the last couple months, there's been a slight extra wait for greens and fairways to grow. Patience versus rushing to open is the best course.

The new greens are Champion Bermuda grass. The new fairways are TifTuf Bermuda. New sod surrounds all of the greens and sand bunkers. The "new" rough go back to the Maples/Sandhills origin -- which are very closely related to Donald Ross as Maples was a close mentee of Ross. There is little to no rough now at Quail Ridge, only natural Sandhills terrain and, as Ross classified it, "broken ground." Many trees, more than 150, have been cleared.

Some changes might make the course a little easier, or playable, said Hendley, some will make it a tougher test. Being a playable, enjoyable course for local players has been their driving focus.

The cart paths are largely now packed sandy trails with only a few stretches where asphalt it needed. The clubhouse and grill room, which will be ready close to Oct. 14, maybe give or take a few days, are part of the big renovations, too.

"The most time's been spent on the fairways and greens, and bunkers, and basically everything around the greens," said Hendley.

"The greens will be excellent right off the bat," said Brooks.

Handley was a young golf pro before working for 42 yards in the insurance business. When he should be retiring, and perhaps just enjoying playing nice golf courses, he felt called to this daunting project.

"We're all putting a lot into it," said Hendley in August. "We're committed to getting it back to the way it should be. For it to be a good golf course for Sanford and the surrounding area.

"What's driving us," he said, "is to turn a really nice golf club into being a really nice golf club again."

They're grateful for valuable, and free, expert-caliber consulting from Randy Dallas -- a former superintendent at Woodlake Country Club down the road in Vass and at Ocean Forest Golf Club in Sea Island, Georgia who now works for Bulk Aggregate Golf, a company which supplies soil, sand, gravel and more for courses.

"When we were first getting started, he just stopped by, just to see what we were doing," said Brooks.

"He's basically been with us on his free time and he's great, I mean, he's about as knowledgable and as expert as it gets," said Hendley.

Memberships will be available. Greens fees are expected to be $30 on weekdays and $35 on weekends with $25 and $30 as senior, 55-and-older, fees.

It's been a whole lot more work and effort than simply watching grass grow. Quail Ridge's team is getting ready to show their new, yet original, club.

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