i moved to rocky mount in 1990 and one of the places to be was northgreen country club. i mean that place was always busy with golf, pool, tennis and restaurant. since i was a local business guy i attended several functions there and was always impressed with the quality. well not unlike a lot of smaller towns around our great country things started changing. the fist change that took place and hit northgreen hard was the hardee's buy out...a west coast company bought them (carl jr's.). this impacted the community quite a bit and mostly northgreen. the course slowly started slipping at that point; now remember i did not even play golf then, but being in the hotel business...heard quite a bit. i know it changed hands several times and basically got worse with each change. so you get the right picture the acc golf tournament was held there starting in 1980 and almost every year until i think 1994. so an extremely nice course and a very technical layout.
about 6 years ago? i think a couple of guys bought northgreen and started making these ridiculous claims that they were going to return northgreen to her former greatness...we just figures hype and watched. well the first thing they did was change all 18 greens...pretty good start, but that was about it. i know the guys were trying but we just did not see the fruits of their labor. they started losing all the greens...had the cow farmer down to play it with me...he said, "i ain't never coming back here". they lost all the grass in many fairways and i just watched, shaking my head. i knew that it was going to take a bunch of money to get this thing back to average let alone good. in fact it got so bad that i gave up...just went there to hit balls...and there was no grass on the practice tees half the time.
sometime around the first of june the guys made what i am going to call the best decision of their ownership...they hired a new super. now it just so happens that i know this guy and he is one of the most regular guys you could ever meet. since i was not playing there i had no idea...so one day i stopped over to hit a bucket and there he was...wth? long story as short as i can make it...he immediately attacked the greens with sand. those suckers were like walking on carpet with 4 inches of soft foam under it. they have already started firming up. he also has grass back in the fairways!
the marine and i went there yesterday for our second round of the day and when we pulled in around noon...there was only 4 parking spots left. i have never seen this many cars in that lot...EVER! i mean there were regular guys, regular girls, regular kids...it was crazy. they were all there to play the new and improved northgreen! i obviously don't know the business information about northgreen, but i would have to guess this was the best day they have ever had. i was so happy for them and their patrons. now these guys are father and son and both of them always have a smile on their face and take time to speak and have a conversation. yesterday, dad was on the grill cooking dogs and burgers for anyone who wanted one and son was at the desk...it was a sight to behold.
the course is not the best course on the east coast, but it has improved more than any course in nc in the last few months. i cant wait to see how it progresses...keep up the good work guys!
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