Outer Banks NC Golf Weekend

T&L Golf, May '05

www.travelandleisure.com/tlgolf/articles/play-away-outer-bank-on-it

Play Away: (Outer) Bank On It
FROM T&L Golf MAY 2005
by Jeff Silverman

It's too bad those ancestral Brits forgot their mashies and niblicks when they set sail in 1587 for what is now known as the Outer Banks. The fate of the brave New World's first settlers, on picturesque Roanoke Island, might have been different. With such superb golf ground in the neighborhood, the 117 men, women and children who would later be known as the "Lost Colony" could have been safely chasing par instead of whatever else it was that lured them into oblivion.

Funny that to this day, of the many wonders these islands in North Carolina are noted for, golf still doesn't spring to mind. After all, the Outer Banks has been home to Virginia Dare, the first non–Native American native American; Blackbeard and his mateys; the inaugural flights of the Wright brothers; and countless hurricanes and shipwrecks. It's best known for its charming lighthouses, beaches and cottages.

The low profile of the region's golf is too bad. But, then, is it really? You won't find any six-hour rounds like those at Myrtle Beach or any steep greens fees rivaling the ones at Pinehurst. So, given the hordes of vacationers flocking this way to partake in so many of the other joys of sand and sea, be glad that Outer Banks golf remains an insider's secret.

ORIENTATION
North Carolina's face to the sea, the Outer Banks is a series of barrier islands—Bodie, Roanoke, Collington, Hatteras and Ocracoke—that arc more than one hundred miles south of the Virginia border. Given the geography—a chain of shallow sounds separates the Outer Banks from the mainland—the easiest access is by bridge, though ferries are available. From the north, U.S. 158 joins Bodie Island via the Wright Brothers Memorial Bridge at Kitty Hawk; turn left for the town of Duck and the village of Corolla, and right for Kill Devil Hills and Nags Head. From the south and west, U.S. 64 leads to the new Virginia Dare Memorial Bridge and onto Roanoke Island, then to Nags Head over the Washington Baum Bridge. The closest airport is Norfolk International, ninety miles to the north.

WHERE TO PLAY
The Outer Banks has rugged winds and pristine marshes ideal for coastal golf, so the real shocker about it as a duffer's destination is how long it took to plant the flag and how long it's managed to flap beneath the radar. The first course didn't open until 1968. When architect Rees Jones vacationed here in the mid-eighties, he didn't even think of bringing his sticks. But he never forgot what he saw. "I looked so longingly at it," he recalls. "This is the kind of land where golf was born.'"

Despite development, it still is. Dramatic dunes. Craggy shoreline. Wild sea grasses. Prickly shrubs. And the wind.

In the mid-1990s, Jones returned to play—this time with the dunes, the wetlands and the maritime forest of Corolla, in order to create the Currituck Club, the area's most prestigious golfing venue, from what was once a private shooting haven. Of the holes that dance through the dunes along Currituck Sound, number nine is the most deceptive—and the most fun. A short par four, it calls for a tee shot over marshland to a rollicking, uphill fairway. "You don't get land like this to work with many times in your career," Jones says. "There just isn't that much linksland available in America."

Which suggests how blessed by beginner's luck 1959 Masters champion Art Wall was when he set out in the late sixties to design his only course, Sea Scape Golf Links, on the ocean side of Kitty Hawk. With quintets of par threes and par fives—three of each on the outward nine—the routing is quirky and surprising from the get-go. The long opener is not only the number-one handicap hole but also requires traversing a hellish mess of sand and grass; be sure to warm up before teeing off. At first glance, the islands' second-oldest track seems neither long nor hard, but let the wind come up and it suddenly becomes a stern test.

Nags Head Golf Links, set on the edge of Roanoke Sound in Nags Head, is also prey to the whims of the breezes. Holes eleven through fourteen are strategic marvels, around bends, over water, across natural duneland. The reward is reaching fifteen, a picturesque par three on the edge of the sound. Designer Bob Moore loaded this compact gem—just 6,126 yards from the tips, but it doesn't play anywhere near that short—with blind shots over wavy fairways.

Unlike its three neighbors, the Outer Banks' oldest course, Duck Woods Country Club, just north of the bridge in Kitty Hawk, isn't a links at all. And while the mature trees around Ellis Maples's traditional parkland layout offer reprieve from the wind, there's no respite from problem solving; thanks to a network of canals running through the landscape, water enters the equation on fourteen holes. "If you can get around without losing a ball," head pro David Donovan says, "you've done something."

There's an additional quartet of courses back on the mainland within fifteen miles of the bridge. The Carolina Club, the Pointe Golf Club, Goose Creek Golf and Country Club and the recently opened Kilmarlic Golf Club are all on Route 158, all built within the past decade and all a step down in character, charisma and creativity from the four across the sound. Still, the Carolina Club, in Grandy, has daredevil appeal in its island-green par-three seventh.

WHERE TO STAY
Long an outpost of funky beachfront motels and quirky cottage rentals, the Outer Banks went luxe in the late eighties with the opening of the Sanderling Resort & Spa, the islands' first—and only—premier resort. One of Travel + Leisure's top 500 hotels in the world, it sprawls across twelve acres five miles north of Duck. Sanderling looks like a beach resort, wooden and weathered, and with plenty of private ocean access it acts like one, too. Weary golfers will appreciate post-round pampering in the spa and fine dining in two restaurants, one a refurbished lifesaving station more than a century old.

The privately owned Nags Head Inn, on the beach in Nags Head, is a comfortable, if utilitarian, 100-room alternative to the moderately priced national chains, while the twenty-four-room Tranquil House Inn, overlooking Shallowbag Bay in Manteo, the hub of Roanoke Island, is high on charm and appeal. It resembles a turn-of-the-century hostelry, with amenities modern—the 1587 restaurant on the first floor is one of the most sophisticated and hip around—and dated: bicycles are free for the taking.

Charm also abounds at any number of B&Bs, but two stand out: Advice 5¢, a short walk from the ocean in Duck, and the Cameron House Inn, on the edge of downtown Manteo. Still set on that funky beachfront motel? You'd be hard-pressed to top the Ocean House Motel in Kill Devil Hills. Most of its forty-three rooms boast the imprint of a design team on acid. The wall paintings and furnishings tip a distinctive, if kitschy, tam to Carolina history and tradition.

WHERE TO EAT
Think fish. Of course, not everything on local menus began life piscatorially, but hey, when in Rome, or Duck, or Kitty Hawk . . .

At the Blue Point in Duck, executive chef and co-owner Sam McGann fills plates with what he calls "Southern coastal cuisine." His jumbo lump-crab cakes and seared Hatteras tuna are revelations. Kitty Hawk's Ocean Boulevard began life as a hardware store in the forties; in 1995 it was reincarnated as a chic oasis of elegant entrées and imaginative martinis that eventually hit like the hammers that once lined the walls. Less hip but no less enjoyable are a pair of old outposts in Nags Head. Sam & Omie's has been around for more than sixty years, and with good reason; its no-frills atmosphere, filling breakfasts and homey specialties (such as she-crab soup and soft-shell crab sandwiches) offer a flavor of what the Outer Banks used to taste like. So does Owens' Restaurant, which has been operated by the same family since the late forties. Its memorabilia is as enticing as its clam chowder.

OTHER ATTRACTIONS
The Wright Brothers National Memorial rises over Big Kill Devil Hill like an exclamation point to the vision of man's place in the air. This is precisely where Orville and Wilbur changed the world in 1903.

Across the sound on Roanoke Island, the Roanoke Adventure Museum employs a fascinating array of artifacts and multimedia to trace Outer Banks history from the sixteenth century forward.

Anglers can work the angles from deep-sea runs to the Gulf Stream for marlin to fly-rodding the backwaters for speckled trout. Book an offshore charter at the Oregon Inlet Fishing Center or let captain Rick Caton of Custom Sound Charters in Manteo guide you to stripers in the sound and through the mysteries of the marshes.

One of the ecological treasures of the eastern seaboard, the nation's first national seashore extends along seventy miles of pristine beaches, leviathan dunes and small fishing villages. Overseen by the National Park Service, the seashore embraces both the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, a birder's haven and hiker's delight, and the iconic black-and-white-striped Cape Hatteras Lighthouse.

TRIP PLANNER: OUTER BANKS
WHERE TO PLAY
The Currituck Club, 252-453-9400. Yardage: 6,885. Greens Fees: $50–$160. Architect: Rees Jones. T+L Golf Rating: ****

Duck Woods Country Club, 252-261-2609. Yardage: 6,650. Greens Fees: $50–$95. Architect: Ellis Maples. T+L Golf Rating: ****

Nags Head Golf Links, 252-441-8073. Yardage: 6,126. Greens Fees: $45–$110. Architect: Bob Moore. T+L Golf Rating: ****

The Carolina Club, 252-453-3588. Yardage: 6,952. Greens Fees: $39–$89. Architect: Russell Breeden. T+L Golf Rating: ***1/2

Sea Scape Golf Links, 252-261-2158. Yardage: 6,650. Greens Fees: $50–$100. Architect: Art Wall. T+L Golf Rating: ***1/2

Kilmarlic Golf Club, 252-491-4220. Yardage: 6,461. Greens Fees: $50–$110. Architect: Tom Steele. T+L Golf Rating: ***

The Pointe Golf Club, 252-491-8388. Yardage: 6,343. Greens Fees: $39–$85. Architect: Russell Breeden. T+L Golf Rating: ***

Goose Creek Golf and Country Club, 252-453-4008. Yardage: 6,300. Greens Fees: $20–$58. Architect: Jerry Turner. T+L Golf Rating: **1/2

WHERE TO STAY
Advice 5¢, Duck; 800-238-4235. Rooms: $135–$245.
Nags Head Inn, Nags Head; 800-327-8881. Rooms: $59–$215.
The Sanderling Resort & Spa, Duck; 800-701-4111. Rooms: $132–$700.
Tranquil House Inn, Manteo; 800-458-7069. Rooms: $99–$219.

WHERE TO EAT
The Blue Point (Seafood), Duck; 252-261-8090. $$$

Ocean Boulevard (Contemporary), Kitty Hawk, 252-261-2546. $$$
Owens' Restaurant (Coastal), Nags Head, 252-441-7309. $$$
Sam & Omie's (Seafood), Nags Head, 252-441-7366. $$

OTHER ATTRACTIONS
Cape Hatteras National Seashore; 252-473-2111, www.nps.gov/caha
Roanoke Adventure Museum; 252-475-1500, www.roanokeisland.com
Wright Brothers National Memorial; 252-441-7430, www.nps.gov/wrbr

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