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North Carolina

No other state in the east offers more in the way of golf community choices than does North Carolina, whose 500-mile length spans ocean to mountains with a fertile Piedmont region in between. Choose from among dozens of coastal golf communities, like Landfall, just a few miles from the exciting town of Wilmington and even closer to Wrightsville Beach; or Mountain Air (photo left), whose 4,000+ foot elevation will add a few yards to your golf shots; or any of the great choices near sophisticated cities, like Asheville, Charlotte and Raleigh/Durham. And there are plenty of out-of-the-way choices where bargain real estate abounds and the golf is excellent, such as the area between Hertford (Albemarle Plantation, Scotch Hall Preserve) and Greenville (Cypress Landing, Brook Valley); and the many top notch golf communities sprinkled throughout the western North Carolina mountains.
Asheville paper confirms our story on Cliffs
The Asheville (NC) Citizen-Times has run a story this morning confirming what we broke here last week -– that Cliffs Communities founder Jim Anthony has asked property owners to lend $60 million to...
Wilmington, NC market inches ahead
USA Today featured the Wilmington, NC, housing market in its regular “Close to Home” series today. Sales in December in Wilmington were up 19.8% compared with an increase of 18.9% in the state and...
Digging deep: Cliffs asks owners for $60M
The fallout from a bad economy that is wreaking havoc on the high end of the leisure residential market, as well as an unfortunate bet on Tiger Woods, may have caught up with upscale Cliffs...
Now and then: The Thistle’s clubhouse focuses on golf and its history
As Americans pare down their spending, golf clubs old and new are doing the same, deleting services that appeal to less than a majority of members in an attempt to staunch dues increases and...
Hidden in plain sight: Edwards concubine was stashed in NC golf community
The Governors Club in Chapel Hill, NC, is as refined as any golf community of the hundreds I’ve visited in the southern U.S., with a 27-hole Jack Nicklaus Signature layout at its core and a group of...
Migration patterns: Apple takes shine to small NC town
Apple Computer, the iconic American business success story, announced plans last summer to build a $1 billion data center in Maiden, NC, more than an hour from a town whose name most of usMake no...
Bitter first course: Woods scandal a case of indigestion for Cliffs and its founder
The Tiger Woods mess must be tearing up Cliffs Communities founder Jim Anthony in both a commercial and personal sense. CNBC reported yesterday it was not able to reach Cliffs spokespersons for...
Current listings in Coastal NC: Golf community homes for sale under $500K
To stay abreast of market conditions, we scan current prices of homes for sale in golf communities we have visited. We have not inspected the homes and make no representation about their quality. We...
Two-riffic: Famed Pinehurst #2 course on sale
For those contemplating a home in the Pinehurst area, or just looking for a winter golf vacation, the folks at Pinehurst have just made it a little easier to do both. For just $222 per person now through...
5 for 1: As courses go for cheap, some owners offer multi-club memberships
I interviewed a pubic golf course operator in Massachusetts a month ago. I asked him what he charged for green fees. "Depends," he answered. "On what?" I asked. "On which of our 30 discounts they [golfers]...
Cape Fearless: New course bucks trend
The 8th green at the new Cape Fear Golf Club in Leland, NC. (photo courtesy of Cape Fear National) It takes guts to open a new course in the current environment. Give credit to Brunswick Forest,...
Sisyphus Lives: Repeat performances for rocky road in North Carolina
I was eight years old and riding on the New York State Thruway with my parents when I saw my first "Fallen Rock Zone" caution sign. I found myself looking up a lot for the rest of the drive. More than 50...