Golf in High Point

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.

PGA professional Jason Rockhold stows shiny nuggets of golf wisdom up his argyle-print sleeves accrued from a competitive career as a mini-tour golf professional and a coaching tenure that includes more than 10,000 private lessons. Endowed with a keen eye for swing deficiencies, Jason analyzes his students' swings as they crush orbs, patiently proffering corrective advice to help players add distance to their drives, precision to their short game, and flair to their post-swing pose. With covered and heated hitting stalls, clinics can be conducted year-round regardless of weather conditions, and video lessons enlist V1 video analysis to provide pupils with intricate data about their swing, as well as a visual aid to complement Jason's analytical explication.

Keith Hills Golf Club's three nine-hole courses convene for divergent 18-hole experiences along the cattail-lined shores of Cape Fear River. Daunting wetlands and well-bunkered fairways pose threats throughout the 27-hole expanse, placing a high premium on course management, deft club selection, and web-toed golf balls. The course's bermuda-grass fairways snake through the shadows of towering oaks and pines on their way to slick, bentgrass greens. The stately complex encompasses a 32-acre practice facility, a fully stocked pro shop, an onsite snack bar, and men's and ladies' locker rooms with showers to freshen up or revive comatose golf carts.

The Orange Course at a Glance:

• 9-hole, par-36 course

• Length of 3,326 yards from the farthest tees

• Course rating of 36 from the farthest tees

• Slope rating of 127 from the farthest tees

The Black Course at a Glance:

• 9-hole, par-36 course

• Length of 3,299 yards from the farthest tees

• Course rating of 36.2 from the farthest tees

• Slope rating of 136 from the farthest tees

The White Course at a Glance:

• 9-hole, par-36 course

• Length of 3,309 yards from the farthest tees

• Course rating of 35.4 from the farthest tees

• Slope rating of 129 from the farthest tees

When they took over Jimmy Mac’s Golf Range, PGA professional Brad “Smiley” Latimer and his wife Pam knew they had their work cut out for them. The couple dove right in: they resurfaced the miniature golf course, illuminated its brick-lined pathways with nearly 100 solar lights, acquired a FlightScope Launch Monitor for lessons, and stocked on the driving range with new Titleist and Callaway balls. Even after completing these renovations, they continue to revamp the facilities. The 18-hole mini-golf course now features two cascading waterfalls, babbling brooks that wend along turf fairways, and new putters that send colorful golf balls into holes or to the one-eyed pirate living under the course bridge to fulfill his dream of a new ocular orb.

A 325-yard driving range showcases 25,000 square feet of Bermuda grass tees and 20 artificial turf hitting stations featuring laser yardage readers. The range has covered and uncovered stations, as well as lights that let golfers swing even after the sun has started to snore. Lessons provide the instructional guidance of a professional while taking advantage of the center’s practice bunker and chipping and pitching greens, developing swings dependable enough to take down rabid ball washers.

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