GOLF
Outer Banks Outing Get to The Pointe Golf Club for an entertaining and challenging round. BY FRANCIS X. GALLAGHER
Beware the Water: Hole 9 PHOTO: © FRANCIS X. GALLAGHER
THE POINTE GOLF CLUB 308 Pointe Golf Club Drive Powells Point, NC 27966 tel 252 491 8388 thepointegolfclub.com
28
A
frequently played course on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, The Pointe Golf Club lies just north of the Wright Memorial Bridge in Powells Point. The course was designed by Russell Breeden, a prolific golf course architect who left his mark all along the Carolinas. Breeden is not one of the most notable designers, but he earned respect in the inner sanctum of golf for carving courses that are equally challenging and fair for nearly any level of player. He was known as a hands-on designer, often seen behind an earth-moving machine rather than at the drafting table. The friendly staff that runs the course keeps the greens and fairways in good condition. The course also owns and runs the Carolina Club, a little farther north in Grandy, North Carolina. I recommend adding both courses to your Outer Banks golf trip. This fall our threesome traveled the area, and every course we played kept us together without adding a fourth player. On this bright, sunny day, I hit The Pointe with Christopher Ottaunick (aka Yammi) and Frank Wood, both members of the Global Traveler Advisory Board.
globaltravelerusa.com DECEMBER 2021
HOLE 8 447 yards, par 5 This is not a long par 5, measuring only 459 yards from the tips (most par 5s are just more than 500 yards). What it lacks in distance, though, it makes up in trickery. The tee box view deceives you, as trees line the right side and a deep canal runs the entire left side — I know it well. Friends still laugh at me crossing the canal and then having a difficult time “fording” back to the fairway. Yammi slammed a nice ball straight, but, alas, the hole turns as a slight dogleg right, and he bounced down and deep. Frank took his ball into the trees but had a magnificent recovery under and back into play. After a valiant drive, my fairway wood took me too far left and fell in the canal greenside. Fortunately, and never seen previously, the canal was dry and I was able to use my lob wedge to flip the ball to the edge of the green. Unable to save par, I secured a bogey, which was worthy of the challenge. HOLE 9 346 yards, par 4 Here’s another interesting and fair hole for players but with many
