Dream Courses

Groundskeeper Michael Reaves pauses from his daily work on the 7th-hole green of Pinehurst No. 5 to watch the majestic sunrise over the world-renowned golf resort. The greens and fairways in and around Pinehurst, N.C. (pop. 9,706), have produced many champions—and countless dreamers—since the village’s first course was built 108 years ago. Reaves is among the newcomers pursuing his own dream of golf celebrity.

"The main reason I moved here was to one day play on the pro tour," says Reaves, 37, a former truck driver who relocated to Pinehurst in 2003 from Spring Lake, N.C. (pop. 8,098).

"He’s got his goal," adds Reaves’ wife, Gabriella. "We’ll keep doing what we’re doing until he makes it. We’ll never give up."

Golf dreams are being pursued on thousands of small-town courses across America, from Pinehurst to Gaylord, Mich., to St. George, Utah, and beyond. Where cow pastures, forested hills and barren deserts once prevailed, meticulously groomed and challenging golf courses now reside for the enjoyment of both professionals and amateurs.

While greens fees ($345 for 18 holes) on famed Pinehurt No. 2 have outgrown the pocketbooks of most golfers, affordable rates still can be found on dozens of courses in nearby Aberdeen (pop. 3,400), Pinebluff, (pop. 1,109) and Southern Pines (pop. 10,918). And a $20 bill buys a round of golf at many small-town links around the country.

Playing Pinehurst, the site of the U.S. Open June 13 to 19, wasn’t always so expensive; at one time it was free, though less refined. When the health-based winter resort opened in 1895, guests hit "little white balls" in a cow pasture, until a local dairyman took offense. By 1898, the resort’s first nine-hole course was completed.

Fortunately Pinehurst’s fees remain within Reaves’ financial reach. He uses his employee discount to hone his game—and pursue his dream—on the resort’s legendary courses during his off-hours.

Greens in the desert

In the high desert region of southwestern Utah, the sun-seared, red rock landscape has been transformed into a year-round golf utopia over the last two decades. The St. George (pop. 49,663) area features 10 courses, including the original nine-hole, Dixie Red Hills, developed by the city in 1965.

"In the late 1980s the boom really began, with Green Spring opening in 1989 and Sunbrook in ’90," says David Terry, the city’s director of marketing. "At that point we finally had two top quality golf courses open to the public."

The highly popular Entrada at Snow Canyon course, designed by former PGA Tour great and current golf commentator Johnny Miller, and Sunbrook’s Black Rock course each possess one of golf’s more intriguing challenges: three holes in which prehistoric lava fields substitute for ordinary rough. It commands a golfers’ attention. A ball hit wide of the fairway has the possibility of bouncing anywhere within a 360-degree radius once it lands on lava.

"You hope you get the one in a hundred that hops back in the grass," Terry says. "It doesn’t happen very often."

At 2,800 feet elevation, the area is blessed with a dry, moderate climate, though keeping the desert green poses a challenge that requires plenty of irrigation water.

"Up here, we get it right out of Quail Creek Reservoir," says Glenn Evans, 37, course superintendent for Coral Canyon Golf Club in nearby Washington (pop. 8,186). "Each course has its own little microclimate, as far as where they get their water supply. We’re pretty blessed here, but water’s not free anywhere."

The cost of water notwithstanding, Evans’ private slice of heaven enables him to resist the temptation of climbing the ladder at other golf havens. "I could be happy here for the rest of my career," he notes. "A lot of guys every year want to be somewhere different and move up, up, up, and then eventually they retire in a place like this. There’s a little less stress; there’s no TV tournament. With tournament courses, there’s high demand and a lot of scrutiny."

Pinehurst of the Midwest

In the rolling woodlands around Gaylord, Mich. (pop. 3,681), golfers can play on beautifully contoured, championship courses, some of whose fairways meander alongside scenic ski slopes.

"We have a 10-month season now, because we have skiing in the winter," says Rick Smith, co-owner and managing partner of Treetops Resort, which offers four championship courses and joins 23 other area courses that comprise the Gaylord golf mecca.

In 2002, Smith and a consortium of partners purchased Treetops and its adjoining 4,000 acres. The resort is host to ESPN’s Par-3 Shootout and was rated No. 39 by Golfweek in its 2003 America’s Best Resorts course list.

"It’s probably the finest collection of golf courses that you can find out here," says Smith, 47, a professional golf instructor who counts 2004 Masters champion Phil Mickelson among his pupils. "You can call it the ‘Pinehurst of the Midwest.’"

Though northern Michigan might appear an unlikely location for a golf mecca, more than 350,000 rounds are played annually from late April through mid-October on Gaylord area courses. In 2003, the golf industry contributed $18.2 million to the area economy.

Although golf drives the mecca today, it was skiing and other winter sports that were the focal point of area business in 1983 when Harry Melling purchased Sylvan Ski Resort and determined that a championship golf course would attract summer visitors to the resort, which he renamed Treetops. To that end he lured one of the world’s elite golf architects to Gaylord.

"Robert Trent Jones Sr. designed the first of the Treetops courses, back in 1986," says Paul Beachnau, executive director of the Gaylord Area Convention and Tourism Bureau. "That really helped our marketing efforts. Since then, things have really taken off."

But Jones Sr. was not the inaugurator of golf in Gaylord. His masterpiece course at Treetops was preceded by the Gaylord Country Club course in mid-1920, followed by the Otsego Club’s original nine-hole course in 1950s, plus several others.

"Places like the Otsego Club, Treetops and Boyne Mountain built golf courses to help bolster winter trade," Beachnau says, "and that’s how things really began to shake out in terms of interest in Gaylord as a golfing destination."

Still, the destination isn’t the only source of inspiration for amateurs such as Reaves. Often it’s the pursuit of a dream, like those envisioned by countless golfers who play on hometown courses across America each weekend.

Alan Ross is freelance writer from Bisbee, Ariz.

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