Friends have been sending me links to articles this week that rank U.S. cities in terms of their housing prospects and friendliness. NASDAQ recently published a list of 11 “up and coming” housing markets. Charlotte weighs in at the #10 spot, with Austin, TX, at #8 and the Raleigh/Durham area at #6. We’ve received a number of inquiries recently about Charlotte from prospective buyers looking for a golf community within an easy commute of a full-service urban area. The area north of Charlotte, principally around and near Lake Norman, and the city’s southern suburbs, which stretch to Tega Cay in South Carolina and beyond to Rock Hill, are rich in golf communities of every stripe, from the upscale Quail Hollow to a few more-mundane but high-value communities just off Lake Norman. We visited Austin years ago, and most of its sprawling golf communities are also within an easy drive of the city and the large University of Texas campus. Great barbecue is never far away either. Raleigh/Durham has been one of the south’s major economic success stories over the last three decades, with the Research Triangle area the major lure for technology and other companies looking to relocate from northern areas. With all the activities surrounding Duke University, the University of North Carolina and North Carolina State University, one of Raleigh/Durham’s nice selection of golf communities would certainly be an educated choice.
Savannah bubbles
Conde Nast’s Traveller magazine asked its readers to weigh in on America’s friendliest and most unfriendly cities, and most choices on the unfriendly side are not surprising (e.g. Newark, NJ, tops that list). But for those contemplating a move south to a golf community, the list of most friendly towns points the way toward a few nice options. (Although Park City, UT, weighs in at the top spot, the next two are deep in the heart of Dixie.) At #2 is Savannah, which the magazine’s editors describe as “Bubbling with Southern charm.” We agree, and if you want proximity to the city (just 20 minutes) in a large community with dozens of clubs and other activities, including six terrific golf courses, The Landings on Skidaway Island is a good choice. For a more upscale experience, Ford Plantation, on a beautiful patch of ground by a river where Henry Ford and his family once spent their winters, is just 25 minutes south of the city.
Charleston, SC, holds the #3 spot on the Conde Nast ranking, and while we prefer it slightly to Savannah – mostly for its inventive and world-class roster of restaurants – both deserve their high ratings on the friendliness meter. Surprisingly, most of the golf communities in the Charleston area are semi-private, with Rivertowne in Mt. Pleasant near the top of our list. Kiawah and Seabrook Islands are 40 minutes away, and both offer near-private golf experiences (resort guests have access to all but a couple of the islands’ courses).
Nashville & Asheville, friendly rhymes
Other good choices on the Conde Nast list include Nashville at #4 and Asheville at #7. We did not know much about Nashville until a meet up with friends for a couple of days of music club hopping in May. Although time constraints did not support an investigation of the golf communities near the city, we did stop for a round of golf and a quick drive-through at Fairfield Glade, the expansive community on the Cumberland Plateau about an hour east of Nashville. We were matched with a couple from Florida who had just moved to Fairfield Glade a week earlier, and they were definitely in the honeymoon phase with their new second home and community. For reasonably priced real estate and three good golf courses, Fairfield Glade seems an excellent choice.
Asheville, of course, is on everyone’s list of best cities for retirement. It has been an especially strong lure for Floridians looking for relief from summer heat in the Sunshine State. On the upscale end of golf communities in the area, The Cliffs at Walnut Cove features $1 million homes and higher and one of the most elegantly sculpted golf courses in Jack Nicklaus’ oeuvre. One $50,000 membership provides access to The Cliffs’ seven other courses, all different yet all as good as Walnut Cove. (Tom Fazio’s layout at Keowee Vineyard may be even better.) For an interesting, albeit more down-market experience, the Reems Creek community north of the city features a wide range of real estate at price points that begin hundreds of thousands lower than Walnut Cove but with a unique golf course designed by the Great Britain based Hawtree & Sons, close relations of the designer of Donald Trump’s heralded new course in Aberdeen, Scotland.
If you would like some friendly suggestions of which golf communities in the South might best match your requirements, please contact us.
