Best golf courses near Concord, NC

In the backdrop of the Charlotte Motor Speedway, Dan Maples routed Rocky River Golf Club in 1997 through rocky hills and natural wetlands. The humming of racecars doing laps around the track—visible from holes on the front nine—can be heard while navigating the rolling layout. Though North Carolina boasts some of the best public golf anywhere, Charlotte isn’t necessarily as blessed—but Rocky River might be the best option closest to the city.

There was never a dispute about the Donald Ross pedigree of Charlotte Country Club. Ross expanded its original nine-hole course in 1915, remodeled it while adding grass greens in 1925 and further tinkered with it in the 1940s. But in the 1960s, Robert Trent Jones rearranged holes to create a practice range and redesigned the others. Still, it wasn't until 2007 that the club felt it should restore its Ross design. But Ross-expert Ron Prichard convinced them it wasn’t smart to simply replicate holes from a 70-year-old aerial photograph, because golf technology has changed. Prichard rebuilt all greens and bunkers in the style of Ross, but improvised the green contours based on what he’s observed at other Ross layouts. He also installed SubAir cooling systems beneath the greens, one example of how times have certainly changed since Ross’ day.