The Carolinas Golf Association held its 1999
Carolinas-Virginia Team
Matches at Grandfather at the invitation of Dick Hix,
the Carolinas
captain and a longtime Grandfather member. Crisp October weather,
a
kaleidoscope of color on the mountains, fast greens and good competition made
for a memorable weekend for two dozen top amateurs.
“You can’t beat the ambiance at Grandfather,” says CGA
Director Jack
Nance. “It was one of the better matches we’ve had in that series.
It’s
a special place. Driving through the gates and around the lake to the
clubhouse puts you in another world.”
The club has done a couple of renovation projects over the
years,
one engineered by Ellis’ son Dan in the late 1980s to restore the green
dimensions and another in the late 1990s, under David Graham’s
supervision, to
rebuild the bunkers.
“Dad’s courses are like Donald Ross courses,” says Maples.
“The
fundamentals are so good, all you need to do is minor tweaking.”
As for Roberts, he joined the club in the early 1970s and
bought
into a 24-unit, lakeside condominium village. When he learned his unit
was going to be numbered 24, Roberts “requested” that the unfinished
units be
renumbered so that his was No. 1. Wish granted. Roberts,
incidentally, abhorred
uphill par 3s, and upon finding one on the 5th
hole of an executive course built
at Grandfather in the mid-1970s, he
told Morton he wanted to see no more of the
course.
“He never again set foot on that executive course,” says
Morton,
accepting that you cannot win them all.
Par: 72
Yardage: 7,010
Year founded: 1967
Architect: Ellis Maples
