Golf in Graham

After assessing your golf background and problem areas, Williams will tailor your lesson to your needs. Beginners are welcome, or more experienced golfers can use the lesson to improve their swing. Lessons at Perfect Fit include instruction and usage of the Explanar golf-swing training system, which improves swing technique by guiding movement through a large, adjustable hoop made of wishes. You’ll go home with written notes for practice as well as a DVD copy of a swing video with voice-over commentary.

At Triangle Golf Center, visitors can hone fluid golf swings with the help of professional instruction. PGA professionals closely analyze positioning, posture, and technique to help students shoot lower scores and spend less time slicing trails through thick brush. Every facet of the game can be covered based on your strengths and weaknesses, including the short game, mental game, course management, trouble shots, practice routines, and golf-cart drafting. Additionally, a driving range offers 33 lit, artificial hitting areas year round, as well as grass hitting areas from April to October. Golfers can practice their putting on the short-game area's synthetic putting green—after all, the green is where an average of 43% of a round’s shots are taken and 62% of jokes are told.

Crooked Creek Golf Club blankets the rolling Carolina countryside with a 6,271-yard layout that challenges golfers with dramatic elevation changes and high-risk high-reward opportunities. The longer of the two halves, the front nine showcases numerous shot-making opportunities, including the drive on the par-four third hole, where golfers must choose to play it safe or try to cut the corner on a water hazard that hugs the left side.

Dramatic elevation changes await on the course’s second act, where the rolling terrain is intersected by multiple water hazards and sweeping views of the surrounding topography. After a day at the links, golfers can refuel with a cheeseburger or a platter of torn up scorecards at Club’s restaurant, The Turning Point Grill.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par 71 course
• Length of 6,271 yards from the farthest tees
• Course rating of 70.4 from the farthest tees
• Slope rating of 132 from the farthest tees
• Four tee options

Host of the PGA’s Wyndham Championship from 1977 to 2007, Forest Oaks Country Club’s private course incorporates natural elements such as looming trees and severely sloping hills with manmade sand traps and water obstacles, challenging beginning and experienced golfers alike. Opened in 1962, the terrain was renovated in 2002 after the renowned Love Golf Design group reached out to professional golfers to find out what makes an ideal course. The main improvement, helmed by Davis Love III, was the resprigging of the fairway with bermuda grass, a strain of turf that can handle extreme temperature changes, and a redesign of the new greens. The course was featured on the PGA for over 30 years, and was enjoyed by Davis Love III as well as Rocco Mediate and many other professionals. While the golf course is the main attraction, the club also houses a pro shop, a 25-yard professional-size swimming pool, tennis courts, and a restaurant.

Built in 1969 and having hosted the 2001 National Golf Association Triad Classic, Pine Knolls Golf Club has brought a long and sparkling history to its location in northeast Forsyth County. In 2006, two brothers-in-law from Ireland—Graham, a retired professional motorcycle racer and Pearse, a PGA professional—purchased the course. Today, they carry on its tradition of challenging and enjoyable play. To conquer the 6,338-yard layout, golfers must decipher the course’s small and complex greens, which requires even more concentration than geocaching for holes on a course that spans an entire city.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par 72 course

• Total length of 6,338 yards from the back tees

• Course rating of 72.4 from the back tees

• Course slope of 123 from the back tees

From the very first tee shot over a lake to the pond protecting the left side of the 18th green, the course at River Ridge Golf Club pits players against the physical and psychological challenges brought by omnipresent water hazards, including the Neuse River that intersects the course on several holes.

Architect Chuck Smith’s 1997 design weaves course play through a 6,740-yard gauntlet furnished with a plush carpet of bermuda-grass fairways and rough that gives way to fast-moving G-6 bent-grass greens. The course's signature 5th hole rewards golfers who keep their tee shots on the fairway with a short-iron approach that must clear a large pond and any caddies sunbathing in the large greenside bunker.

As a semiprivate club, membership at River Ridge unlocks a slew of benefits not available to the general public. Though the practice area—composed of a driving range and putting and chipping greens—is open to everyone, only members may make use of the locker rooms, club storage, and handicap program provided at the clubhouse. Additionally, members are granted access to special events, tournaments, and PGA pro Tim Cockrell’s lessons, which help players calibrate putting strokes and find their swing after a long time away from the game to search for their favorite golf ball that got lost in the Neuse River.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par-72 course
• Total length of 6,740 yards from the back tees
• Course rating of 72.2 from the back tees
• Course slope of 138 from the back tees
• Four sets of tees per hole
• Scorecard