North Carolina's best golf courses.

1. Grandfather Golf and Country Club, Linville

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2. Elk River Club, Banner Elk

3. Linville Golf Club

4. Biltmore Forest Country Club, Asheville

5. Wade Hampton Golf Club, Cashiers

6. Bright's Creek Golf Club, Mill Spring

7. The Cliffs at Walnut Cove, Arden

8. Linville Ridge Country Club, Linville

9. Grove Park Inn Golf Course, Asheville

10. Mount Mitchell Golf Club, Burnsville

11. Mimosa Hills Golf and Country Club, Morganton

12. Diamond Creek Golf Club, Banner Elk

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CHARLOTTE METRO

1. Charlotte Country Club

2. Quail Hollow Club, Charlotte

3. The Club at Longview, Weddington

4. Myers Park Country Club, Charlotte

5. Gaston Country Club, Gastonia

6. River Run Country Club, Davidson

7. The Golf Club at Ballantyne Resort, Charlotte

8. The Point Lake and Golf Club, Mooresville

9. Tournament Players Club at Piper Glen, Charlotte

10. The Peninsula Club, Lake Norman

11. Carmel Country Club (South), Charlotte

12. Rocky River Golf Club, Concord

PIEDMONT TRIAD

1. Old North State Club, New London

2. Rock Barn Golf & Spa (Jones), Conover

3. Old Town Club, Winston-Salem

4. Willow Creek Country Club, High Point

5. Sedgefield Country Club, Greensboro

6. Grandover Resort & Conference Center (East), Greensboro

7. Forest Oaks Country Club, Greensboro

8. Tanglewood Park (Championship), Clemmons

9. Alamance Country Club, Burlington

10. Bermuda Run Country Club, Advance

11. Cardinal Golf & Country Club, Greensboro

12. Bryan Park Golf and Conference Center (Champions), Browns Summit

TRIANGLE

1. Duke University Golf Club, Durham

2. Raleigh Country Club

3. Treyburn Country Club, Durham

4. Governors Club, Chapel Hill

5. Finley Golf Course, Chapel Hill

6. Old Chatham Golf Club, Durham

7. Brier Creek Country Club, Raleigh

8. Hope Valley Country Club, Durham

9. MacGregor Downs Country Club, Cary

10. The Heritage Club, Wake Forest

11. Tournament Players Club at Wakefield Plantation, Raleigh

12. The Golf Club at Chapel Ridge, Pittsboro

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SANDHILLS

1. Pinehurst No. 2, Pinehurst

2. Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club, Southern Pines

3. The Country Club of North Carolina (Dogwood), Pinehurst

4. Forest Creek Golf Club (South), Pinehurst

5. Pinehurst No. 4, Pinehurst

6. Pinehurst No. 8, Pinehurst

7. Forest Creek Golf Club (North), Pinehurst

8. National Golf Club, Pinehurst

9. The Country Club of North Carolina (Cardinal), Pinehurst

10. Mid Pines Inn & Golf Club, Southern Pines

11. Mid South Club, Pinehurst

12. Pinehurst No. 7, Pinehurst

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EASTERN

1. River Landing (River), Wallace

2. River Landing (Landing), Wallace

3. Keith Hills Country Club (Creek), Buies Creek

4. Wilson Country Club

5. Walnut Creek Country Club, Goldsboro

6. Keith Hills Country Club (River), Buies Creek

7. Gates Four Golf & Country Club, Fayetteville

8. Benvenue Country Club, Rocky Mount

9. Cypress Landing Golf Club, Chocowinity

10. Greenville Country Club

11. Bradford Creek Golf Course, Greenville

12. King's Grant Golf & Country Club, Fayetteville

COASTAL

1. Eagle Point Golf Club, Wilmington

2. Cape Fear Country Club, Wilmington

3. Tiger's Eye Golf Links, Sunset Beach

4. Leopard's Chase, Sunset Beach

5. St. James Plantation (Reserve), Southport

6. Country Club of Landfall (Dye), Wilmington

7. Bald Head Island Club

8. Porters Neck Country Club, Wilmington

9. Sea Trail (Jones), Sunset Beach

10. Crow Creek Golf Club, Calabash

11. Country Club of Landfall (Nicklaus), Wilmington

12. Rivers Edge Golf Club, Shallotte

Best New Course

North Carolinians are proud to claim Tom Fazio as one of their own--and with good reason. The Hendersonville resident is widely acclaimed as America's Greatest Living Golf Architect, the capital letters supported by the fact that he has 14 courses ranked among Golf Digest's top 100 in the country, more than anyone in the business.

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Roughly a dozen of his more than 120 designs are in North Carolina, including Old North State Club in New London and two courses at Forest Creek, a private club in Pinehurst. So when Fazio speaks in reverent tones about his newest design, Bright's Creek Golf Club, part of a 5,000- acre development of the same name in Rutherford County, one tends to listen. "It's about as spectacular and beautiful a place as anyone could ever expect in golf. It's as good as it gets."

Members of the North Carolina Golf Panel agree, as they anointed Bright's Creek their Best New Course for 2007. It had stiff competition from Leopard's Chase, a Tim Cate design and the newest of four courses at Ocean Ridge Plantation in Sunset Beach. Those were the two new courses visited by panelists during 2007. On a scale of 1 to 10, panelists assessed 10 elements: routing, flow, design, strategy, fairness, memorability, condition, variety, aesthetics and the experience of the round. Bright's Creek received an average score of 83.4 from the 88 panelists who rated it, compared with an average score of 79.8 from the 74 panelists who rated Leopard's Chase.

While the courses are distinguishable by their topography, separating them from a ratings standpoint was difficult. "I played Bright's Creek first, and I just knew it would be voted the top new course in the state--that is, until I played Leopard's Chase," panelist Nat Walker of Greensboro says. "Brand new, they are both easily in my top 20."

Bright's Creek measures 7,435 yards from the championship tees. Panelists were most impressed by the quality of each hole and the vast expanse of land with which Fazio worked. "The separation of each hole from the rest of the course gave the impression of truly playing one hole at a time," says Glenn Miller of New London.

Fazio's work at Bright's Creek isn't done. A second course is in the works, and a third is expected to follow, each rising higher in an elevation that ranges from 1,000 to 3,200 feet.

Leopard's Chase is Cate's third design among the 72 holes at Ocean Ridge, a development just off U.S. 17 near Sunset Beach. It has already been named to the "Top 10 Best New Public Courses in America" by Golf Digest and in the "Ten Best New Courses You Can Play" by Golf Magazine. Measuring 7,155 yards from the championship tees, Leopard's Chase is scattered with native grasses and plants--including preserved wetlands.

Open to Change

Jim Hyler is a vice president of the United States Golf Association, the national governing body for golf. A native of southern Virginia, he graduated in 1970 with a bachelor's in accounting from Virginia Tech. After 10 years at Ernst & Young, he moved to Raleigh in 1980, where he joined First Citizens BancShares. He recently retired as its vice chairman and chief operating officer. Hyler recently talked about golf in the state.

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What drew you to golf?

Hyler: I got hooked on the game through television. It was the late 1950s when Arnold Palmer burst on the scene, winning the '58 Masters, the '60 Masters and the '60 U.S. Open with his dramatic final-round charge at Cherry Hills. I was 11 or 12 when he got my attention.

Did you play as a teen?

Hyler: Not really. I didn't really get into playing golf until I went to Virginia Tech. I played basketball, baseball and football and ran track in high school. When I got to college, I quickly realized that team sports were going to be a thing of the past. To have a sport that offered a lifelong opportunity to play, it was going to be golf for me.

You made yourself into a scratch player on a couple of occasions. How?

Hyler: I had played a fair amount in college. Then when I started working, I began playing a lot. I was in public accounting, which was demanding, but I made time to play. My formative training came from looking at Golf Digest or a Ben Hogan book and trying to emulate what I saw. Hogan, Palmer, Byron Nelson--I'd buy their books and put into practice what they said. Getting to be a fairly good player wasn't easy, though, and boy, it'll leave you quickly.

What do you mean?

Hyler: How much you improve and how you sustain it is directly dependent upon how much you practice. Your improvement is your ability to turn double bogeys into bogeys and bogeys into pars. It's accepting bad shots and minimizing the damage that they cause.

Do you remember the milestone rounds?

Hyler: Absolutely. I broke 80 for the first time at Grandview Golf Club in Winston-Salem in 1975. I shot 77. The first time I broke 70 was at North Ridge Country Club [in Raleigh]. My low round was a 65 at Blowing Rock Country Club. But I've only had one hole-in-one--on the second hole of the new course at Ballybunion [in Ireland] in 2000.

How did you become chairman of the President's Council for the 1999 and 2005 U.S. Opens at Pinehurst No. 2?