Reimagining Donald Ross Renovated golf course at Raleigh Country Club boasts new updates, retains old beauty by Brad King
HUNTER GROVE LIVES IN Cary, North Carolina, and it takes him nearly 22 minutes, door-to-door, to reach Raleigh Country Club (RCC). “It’s worth the drive,” he says. “I pass probably four or five golf courses to get [to Raleigh Country Club], but it’s well worth it.” Grove played collegiate golf at the University of North Carolina in the early 1990s and his handicap still hovers around scratch. He decided to join Raleigh Country Club about six years ago, in large part because RCC is widely considered “a player’s course.” “One of the appeals [to RCC] was that I have a lot of friends, teammates and former college guys that I used to play against, so it’s a really good, select group of players. You always get a good game,” Grove says. “The golf course and the way John [McConnell] does things at all of his locations is always first class.” Grove has never been into social media, but says he entered the online arena — slightly — during RCC’s major golf course renovation last year, which was overseen by architect Kyle Franz. “I would go on Twitter or Facebook to look at [renovation] photographs that Kyle Franz would post,” he says, noting the only reason he’s used either platform is to look up pictures of the historic golf course, the final design of legendary architect Donald Ross. “The course was always good,” Grove says. “I’m a huge Donald Ross fan and that was another reason I went to Raleigh, because I just love his courses, and this was the signature Donald Ross.” Raleigh Country Club opened in 1948, just east of downtown Raleigh; the newly-renovated CONTINUED ON PAGE 32
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