You have to wonder what has taken developers so long to discover and use the Albemarle Sound of eastern North Carolina as a location for their golf communities.  It is not that far from significant population centers, like Raleigh and Norfolk.  The Albemarle is the second largest estuary in the U.S., after the Chesapeake Bay, and provides the kind of nook and cranny coastline that developers, as well as golfers and homeowners, dream about.  Edenton, a charming and historic town –- the first capital of the state – is at the heart of the Albemarle area, and you won’t find a cost of living much more reasonable than here.  All right, so there isn’t much to spend your money on in this quiet area of the east coast.  But for long weekends or even a summer getaway, you can make your own entertainment on site, once the clubhouse and other promised amenities are in.

        Until a couple of years ago, only the minds behind Albemarle Plantation (circa 1990) had seen fit to develop a golf community on the stretch of coastline between Virginia and New Bern, NC, a span of nearly 130 miles.  It took a group of Austrian investors to conjure a second coming on the Albemarle.  They bought more than 1,000 acres in the rural town of Merry Hill, NC, and commissioned Arnold Palmer’s firm to design a golf course.  They named the community the Innsbrook Golf and Boating Community, after their beloved hometown of Innsbruck, and earned accolades from golf raters for the quality of the golf course, which opened in 2008.

The par 3 17th hole at Scotch Hall Preserve provides a full-on view of the Albemarle Sound and the prevailing winds to match.

 

Sharply priced waterfront property

        But this recession, and especially housing’s part in it, is not to be trifled with; home sites were slow to move at Innsbrook and the golf course, which preceded everything, attracted a couple of foursomes on a good day.  In an attempt to capture more market attention, the Innsbrook group hired a new marketing firm and permitted them to change the name of the community to Scotch Hall Preserve, for an historic plantation home down the road.  Most importantly, the developers priced their lots so sharply that they were hard to ignore…and pass up.  Consider that a ¾ acre waterfront lot with a 10-mile view up the Sound sells for $250,000 at Scotch Hall.  That is about a quarter to a third of the price of comparable lots elsewhere along the coast; the Sound is wide enough that you can imagine (almost) that you are gazing out on an ocean.  With construction prices in the Albemarle area starting in the low $100s per square foot, it is possible to go all-in at the gated and guarded Scotch Hall Preserve for well under $1 million.  It is small wonder that just a half dozen waterfront lots remained unsold (as of May 6).

        For those who prefer a golf view and savings of $100,000 or so, plenty of golf course lots in the $100s remain.  And most of those also include views of one of the 10 ponds that dot the property.  The developers are counting on a July 4 unveiling of their Family Club Retreat Cottages, fully furnished 2,500 square foot, maintenance-free homes, to generate additional interest in the overall community.  These units are priced in the $500s, and the first two purchasers will have the opportunity to lease back the units to the developers for two years.  The developers will use the leased-back units for show purposes to prospective buyers of future cottages, but the owners will be permitted a few weeks of vacation there each year.  Judging from the designer drawings and the slabs of wood flooring and tiles lying around the sales office, the cottage units should be nicely accessorized.

        Aside from a sales office and a cobbled together pro-shop inside the office building, there is not much in the way of amenities yet at Scotch Hall Preserve, except for the golf course, whose membership totals less than 30 for now.  A clubhouse with the traditional accoutrements will eventually be built on a slight rise in elevation on the otherwise flat land near the current sales office.  A 107-slip marina will occupy a gorgeous cove off the Salmon Creek that juts into the northwest corner of the property.  The Sound itself provides the widest range of activities at Scotch Hall, the site for fishing and boating opportunities, as well as kayaking and water skiing.  Plans call for a Kids Adventure Club on site with playgrounds and such; and for more grown-up pursuits, a shooting club site is also on the drawing board.  For those who need the feel of sand between their toes, the famed Outer Banks are 80 miles away, close enough for a day trip.

 

A go at the green on the par 4 12th at Scotch Hall Preserve is tempting, but beyond the fairway bunker on the right looms a hidden and nasty bunker near the green.

 

A golf course to play every day

        For now and forever, though, the golf course will be the most commanding amenity at Scotch Hall Preserve (besides the Sound), and all but the lowest single-digit golfers should find the pleasurable Arnold Palmer layout fun and mildly challenging no matter how often they play it. As Mr. Palmer turns over the major design chores to his staff of architects, the layouts that bear his name are not as in-your-face as his earlier designs.  At Scotch Hall Preserve, Harrison Minchew, one of the most experienced in the Palmer stable, did the lion’s share of work.

        When you design for Palmer, there must be sand, and considerable amounts of it.  With few exceptions, though, I did not see the humongous bunkers characteristic of earlier Palmer designs.  The fairway bunkers are certainly in play to catch the wayward drive, and they are not small, but the fairways are generous enough to reward those who understand that the shortest distance tee to green is a straight line.  There is a relationship on most courses between bunkering and length of hole, and that is certainly true at Scotch Hall; on the 319-yard par 4 12^th hole, for example, it is a simple thing to lay up to about 120 yards with a utility club but more tempting to fly the bunker on the right, about 210 yards from the tee, to give yourself a short and straightforward pitch shot approach.  But if you pull your tee shot just slightly left and over that bunker, another huge and deep greenside bunker awaits, forcing a shot across the narrowest part of the green.  Good hole.

        The natural land at Scotch Hall is essentially flat, and any contours both on and off the course are manmade.  Minchew did not overdo the earth moving, mostly to his credit, opting instead to place bunkers where rolling topography might have provided its own hazard.  This works okay for most of the longer holes, but on the par 3s, I found myself yearning for more variation in landscape, at least on the front nine.  The 3^rd hole, for example, plays 173 yards from the penultimate tee box.  Bunkers guard the entire left side with an ever-so-slight rise up to the green; but the best entry point, no matter where the pin is placed, is the open area on the right third of the green, which tilts back toward the pin, wherever its location.  The 7^th hole is just 150 yards, but like #3, a large entry path opens onto the surface, this time the left half of the green.  The three bunkers -– two right and a big one at left -– certainly add visual appeal, but only the spray hitter will be bothered by them as he or she stands on the tee such a short distance away.

The par 3 14th hole provides the "layered" look at Scotch Hall Preserve -- tee, marsh, fairway, green, landscaped hillside and the Albermarle Sound beyond.

 

Water everywhere…except on the golf course

        The par 3s on the back nine are distinctly more interesting and challenging.  The 14^th is the longest of all at 193 yards (a whopping 235 from the tips), and at such a distance, the bunkers are not superfluous (I pushed my fairway metal a bit and wound up in sand short and right).  The marsh, which runs from the tee box to 40 yards short of the green, should not come into play.  The architect did push a little dirt on this hole, and the mounding in front of the green can play havoc with a shot that is rolled up rather than flown the entire distance.  Scotch Hall appears to have spent half its landscaping budget on the 14^th hole, with a dense thatch of attractive green plantings and bright red azaleas at the foot of the tee box, and then a bank of maturing plants that arc behind the green, forming a visual bottom frame for the wide Salmon Creek beyond.

        The 17^th hole, the last par 3, is eye candy, the Sound finally coming into full and abundant view behind the green.  At 187 yards, it is not exactly a back breaker, unless the wind is blowing which, in these parts, it does quite often, and

usually in your face.  The first 120 yards or so is over marsh, which should not bother most players; but just beyond the marsh is a good-sized bunker that blocks the middle of the green, there to force an all-carry shot to the green when the pin is at center and to gobble up any thinly hit shot.  Bunkers await left and right for solidly but errantly struck shots.  The green is of modest size and, at various points, slopes down into fringe areas below the putting surface.

        As its turf and adjacent plantings mature, the Scotch Hall Preserve course, which is already quite good, can only get better.  It is hard to imagine the golf club staff, led by former Walker Cup member Nick Cassini, can get much better; they are professional, friendly and helpful.  Even strangers feel welcomed at Scotch Hall, although if they come alone, they may stay that way during their round. (I saw one other group over my four-hour round.)

        I had just one minor disappointment as I made my way around the course; the Sound is so near and yet so far, never coming close to the playing ground.  Clearly, the developers faced a dilemma; turn some of the prime real estate over to the golf architect or use it for home sites.  They chose the home sites.  No holes at Scotch Hall Preserve run along the Sound or Salmon Creek, and only a couple of times does the Sound dominate the background.  In these situations, the golfer in me mutters, “For shame.”  But with large waterfront lots priced at a reasonable $250,000, the wide Albemarle is within reach from a homeowner’s back deck, literally and financially.  In that regard, you have to admit that the developers’ judgment was Sound.

 

Scotch Hall Preserve, Merry Hill, NC.  Par 72.  Yardage:  7,254; 6,682; 6,120; 5,324.  Rating:  76.0; 73.1; 71.1; 71.5.  Slope:  139; 133; 127; 123.  Architect:  Arnold Palmer Design (Harrison Minchew).  Membership initiation:  $15,000.  Monthly dues: $225.  Association dues:  $1,200 annually.  Home sites from low $100s to $250,000.  Web site: http://www.scotchhallpreserve.com/.  Scotch Hall Preserve’s Stay & Play Discovery Package is priced at just $139 and includes two nights in a local bed and breakfast and golf on the Arnold Palmer course.  For more information or to arrange a visit, please contact me.

A few developer lots on the Albermarle Sound remain at $250,000.

by Tim Gavrich

 

        One of my favorite hazards in all of golf sadly comes into play just once on its golf course.  It is the Swilcan Burn, which crosses in front of the first green at The Old Course at St. Andrews, Scotland (as well as in front of the 18^th tee, not nearly in play).  Barely five feet wide, it can cause palpitations for players attempting to make birdie on one of the oldest golf holes in the world.  The Burn’s diminutive size is what is so impressive; its implications far outweigh its substance.

        Across the Atlantic Ocean, about 10 miles north of the center of Durham, NC, the golf course at Treyburn Country Club uses its own streams to delightfully maddening effect.  The flowing water comes into play no fewer than six times during the round, forcing golfers to think about the best angles of attack and to make confident swings throughout their rounds.

        Treyburn is, first and foremost, a course built for its members.  Private golf courses cater to a much more regular clientele than do golf resorts and public courses, and their members –- who write a check to the club every month -- have higher expectations.  Higher standards usually follow, for both conditions and layout.  Thus, it is imperative that the golf course architect loads such a private course with sufficient interest to hold members’ attention through dozens of rounds annually.  Renowned golf course architect Tom Fazio has achieved that dynamic at Treyburn, which has held up very well since opening in 1989.  Treyburn retains the golfer’s interest with naturally hilly terrain, fascinating greens and its streams.

One of the streams at Treyburn comes into play at the par 4 3rd hole.

 

        The following describes a few of the holes that are most indicative of Fazio’s work at Treyburn:

 

#3, par 4, 403/374/349/309/309 yards — A dogleg left that demands accuracy and boldness from tee to green, the third at Treyburn is the number one handicap hole on the course.  After a drive down the center of the fairway, most players will be left with a short or mid-iron to a green perched above a stream — the first the player will encounter head-on.  A large bunker also stands guard over the left side of the green.  The putting surface itself is one of the tamest on the golf course and there is some room for error directly over the back.  But shots that miss well long will have to deal with the ever-present stream.

 

#8, par 4, 447/419/395/375/375 yards — The tee box on this lengthy two-shotter yields the prettiest vista the golfer will enjoy to this point.  The hole unfolds below, stretching straight downhill to a brilliant green that slopes from front to back.  A nod to the limitations of lower-spin players, there is ample room to run the ball onto the green from the fairway, as shots that land too far beyond the front third of the putting surface will bound into the rough beyond.

 

#13, par 3, 130/118/110/102/81 yards — Many cookie-cutter modern courses feature insufficient variety in the lengths of their par 3s.  At Treyburn, however, the difference between the longest and shortest one-shotters is a fantastic 111 yards (the 2^nd hole plays to an intimidating 241 yards from the Gold tees).  The beguiling 13^th calls for a short iron or wedge over a chasm to a two-tiered green.  The ravine wraps around the left side of the green and a steep hill rises to the right, leaving nowhere to hide a poor shot.  It is a terrific match play hole, where scores from 2 to 5 are likely.

 

#17, par 3, 178/155/122/122/103 yards — The penultimate hole is the last of the short holes and will make or break many rounds at Treyburn.  A rocky stream that swallows up many golf balls borders the entire right side of the long, narrow green.  A bunker guards the rear-left portion of the green.  The best place to miss the green and still have a decent chance at par is short and a little left going before moving to the long 18th.

 

#18, par 4, 471/450/428/355/355 yards — The closing hole at Treyburn is the longest par 4 on the course by nearly 40 yards.  It plays downhill, however, and a well-struck drive that curls around the left fairway bunker on the inside of the dogleg could leave as little as a mid-iron into the green.  The green complex is easily the most exacting on the course.  A stream wraps around the left and rear of the green, while bunkers lie to the right.  The green falls from front to back, allowing players to access rear hole locations by landing the ball only a few yards onto the green.  It’s a brute for sure, but it is also a picturesque and entertaining finishing hole.

 

        When designing private courses, many golf architects are hard-pressed to please members across the spectrum of handicaps.  Playability for the bogey golfer often means less of a challenge for the scratch player, but Treyburn strikes a great balance with a set of challenging greens, often-generous fairways and a measure of restraint with regard to hazards.  Fazio’s artistic eye and deft architectural touch have resulted in a well-rounded golf course that should entertain members over repeated rounds, as well as those occasional guests fortunate to be invited to Treyburn.

 

Editor’s Note:  Treyburn is located in northern Durham, just 10 miles from Duke University and a few short miles from a full range of services.  The large golf community is divided into five neighborhoods around the Little River Reservoir.  Attached homes begin in the $300s, homes with views of the Fazio course range from the $300s to $1 million, and homes in the most exclusive neighborhood, Treyburn Point, start above $600,000 and range as high as $2 million.  The golf course is owned and managed by The McConnell Golf Group, which runs five other excellent golf courses in the Carolinas; a member at one McConnell course has full privileges of membership at all the others.  Initiation fees are $26,000 and monthly dues $325 per family. 

        For more information or to arrange for a visit to Treyburn, please contact me.

Tim Gavrich will be a senior next fall at Washington & Lee University, where he is an English major.  He is a three-year member of the school’s golf team and also contributes a regular column at http://www.examiner.com/x-10682-Hartford-Golf-Examiner.

From the tees at Treyburn's par 3 13th, and another shot over the stream.