Welcome to the Two Down Press golf newsletter!

I played in Carolinas Mid-Am qualifying on Tuesday at Holly Ridge. The cut fell at 70 (-2)! Either people are getting better at golf or the prospect of playing at Broomsedge spurred on some inspired performances (probably both). I shot 77 despite using a Broomsedge ball marker the entire round - really thought that was going to be my silver bullet…

The azaleas are popping around Charlotte, and that has our minds drifting toward a little tournament taking place next week in Augusta, Georgia. We have a Masters-themed Q&A this week to start getting you in the mood for the season’s first major, plus a new North Carolina ranking list and more news items from across the region. Let’s get to it.

TWO DOWN PRESS Q&A

David Strawn is an accomplished amateur golfer and a member of the Carolinas Golf Hall of Fame. A Charlotte native, Strawn grew up next to his family’s driving range and par 3 facility near the airport and won the Charlotte City Amateur in 1968. In 1973, he finished runner-up to Craig Stadler in the U.S. Amateur at Inverness Club to qualify for the 1974 Masters.

We recently connected with Strawn to learn more about growing up in Charlotte in the 1960s, his run that landed him a spot at the Masters, and his memories from the week at Augusta National. This conversation has been edited for brevity and readability.

2DP: Tell me about growing up and how you got into golf.

DS: I grew up in Charlotte, and my dad had a driving range out near the airport on Old Dowd Road - it's a business park now. He had a par-3 course and a little 9-hole executive course. It was a pretty nice thing from the 1950s until about 1984. We lived right on it, so I had a nice facility to learn how to play.

My dad was a member at Carolina Golf Club and actually caddied there when Charlie Sifford caddied there. He grew up caddying and then got into the golf business. He was a good player. He used to play in the Charlotte Country Club Invitational Four-Ball with Keely Grice from Myers Park, who was a great player.

I grew up out there and played sports - football, basketball, and baseball all through school, but I played golf in the summer. In 1967, when I was 17, I won the Junior City Amateur and the County Junior Amateur. The next year, when I turned 18, I won the City Amateur.

I ended up going to Furman on a golf scholarship and played there for 4 years.

2DP: What was it like growing up right next to a golf facility? What was the place like?

DS: It was pretty cool to be able to go play 9 holes at night. We called it a chip-and-putt. The longest hole was about 70-80 yards, so you'd take a wedge and putter. It was a lot of fun and could play it quickly. The greens were small, but they were really nice. I remember you could pay a dollar and play all day.

We had a covered driving range, lights, and a putt-putt course. It was a big thing and very busy back then. It stayed open until midnight in the summer. Eventually, dad sold it for development, but it was cool growing up there. We all worked in the business - we had a little restaurant inside and everything, so I did everything from picking the range to mowing and all that stuff.

2DP: OK - transitioning back to your playing career. How did you end up qualifying for the Masters?

DS: I was out of college and in my second year of law school at the University of South Carolina. In my last year of college, I didn't play that well - I just had a down year. When I was in law school, I played golf in the summer, and in 1973 I had a good run. The Eastern Amateur was about 2 weeks before the U.S. Amateur, and it was a big tournament back then. I led after the first round, tied for the lead after the second round, and led after the third round. I came to the last hole with a 1-shot lead and bogeyed, then went into a 4-way playoff and lost.

I was playing really, really well and qualified for the U.S. Amateur. At that time, there were a lot of amateurs in the Masters. Bobby Jones, the founder, was a famous amateur, and so if you got to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Amateur, you got an invitation to the Masters. Everyone on the Walker Cup team also got invited. If I remember correctly, there were about 11 amateurs who played that year.

It was my first U.S. Amateur - I was first alternate the year before at Charlotte Country Club, but no one dropped out. With the quarterfinalists qualifying for the Masters, the big match was the Round of 16. If I would have played that well in the finals, I would have won. I played against Bill Harvey, who was a legend that I had never beaten before. I shot 30 on the front and was 5-up at the turn. I played great all the way to the finals, where I went up against Craig Stadler. I had never played a 36-hole match before, and I got behind early. I started trying to go at pins, which was the wrong strategy. I just got too far behind to catch up.

Of course, being second at the U.S. Amateur, I got an invitation. When I finished, there was a USGA official who came up to me and said, "You know, since you've qualified for the Masters, between now and the tournament, you can come down and play anytime you want."

2DP: Did you take advantage of that?

DS: I didn't take full advantage of that. I was in law school, but I was in Columbia at University of South Carolina, which is not too far from Augusta. So I did go down once or twice over the winter and just got a caddy and played by myself. It was really fun.

2DP: What do you remember about your first impressions of Augusta National - seeing the place and the course for the first time?

DS: It was just beautiful. The clubhouse was really cool - the old style with a lot of wood. I had seen the course on TV, but had never really seen the stretch of 4-6. You really had to place your ball - holes like 10 and 13 require a specific shot off the tee to get to the best spots. The greens were super fast and hard, which was difficult to get used to.

2DP: Tell me about Masters week itself. What memories stick out?

DS: We went down there and the ones that weren't married stayed in the Crow's Nest in the clubhouse. I got there on Sunday afternoon and there was one other guy there, Henry DeLozier, who was a friend of mine. I'd met him through some golf tournaments. After I got there, I stayed on campus the whole time and never left the campus. I ate all my meals there - breakfast, lunch, supper. Henry and I played practice rounds every day.

They had a par-3 tournament on Wednesday, just like they do today. The way you signed up for it was very unofficial - they just put a sheet up on a bulletin board and you just put down the time you wanted to play. Henry and I were there on Monday, so we just put down 10 AM or something like that. There was hardly anybody on the sheet.

When Wednesday came around, we had all these great players in front and behind us - Johnny Miller and Jack Nicklaus and everything. We just slotted right in the middle of them, which was fun. I played pretty well - I shot 2-under. I think 5-under won or something like that.

2DP: How did you feel on the first tee Thursday?

DS: I was paired with Billy Casper, who had won the Masters a couple years before - great player. We teed off at 12:04, which was, again, right in the middle of the big guys playing. It was just a huge crowd on the first tee.

I was really nervous. So I got up there and had this quick backswing - like zip, zip. Luckily, I hit it in the middle of the club and right down the middle of the fairway, so that felt good.

2DP: How did the rest of the tournament go? How did you play?

DS: I didn't chat too much with Casper - he's a nice fella. I shot 77. I was 3-over going to 17, and the pin was front right. I was in the middle of the fairway with a 9-iron and it looked right on top of the flag, but it came up about 15 feet short and buried in a bunker. So I made a double bogey 6 and finished at +5.

The next day I played late, like 2:30 or something like that, with Sam Adams - he was a left-handed player from Boone, North Carolina. He won the Quad Cities Open and was the first left-handed American golfer to win a pro event.

We had a lot of people following us on the front 9. But by the time we turned, it was like 4/4:30, and there weren't that many people, so we basically played the back 9 by ourselves. His family was following us. I shot 75 that day and played a lot better, but I hit it in the creek at 12, like a lot of people do, and made a 5 there. Then I 3-putted 14 - I shot 3-over on the back.

The cut was 148, and I was at 152. No amateurs made the cut - I think the low amateur was 150. It was the first big tournament I'd ever played in. I'd played in the Kemper Open a few times back when you could Monday qualify if you were an amateur, but it's not like the Masters.

It was just really cool. They treated us amateurs extremely well. When I got back about 2 weeks later, I got this bill from them - room and board. It was like $90 for the week. All those meals and everything! It must have been about $10 or $11 a day or something. That was funny.

When I was growing up and practicing as a kid, you know, you talk about, "OK, this is for the U.S. Open," but you always dream about the Masters. To actually get to play in it was just incredible.

PRESENTED BY TWILIGHT GOLF CLUB

TGC is a CGA member club that supports equitable access to golf in North Carolina. With an active chapter in Charlotte, it’s a great way to meet other passionate golfers in town and play some competitive golf in a casual setting. Annual dues are $60 per year giving members access to:

Want to get involved? Visit the website for more details.

COURSES

The publication made its annual detour into the golf world this week with the release of its updated ranking list. The top 5 for 2026 were Pinehurst No. 2, Grandfather, Pine Needles, Quail Hollow, and Country Club of North Carolina (Dogwood). Several notable names, including Mountaintop and Carolina Golf Club, were left off the list, likely because they didn’t meet the minimum number of rated rounds played.

Where to start?: This list is… all over the place. Yes - ranking golf courses is a silly and subjective task, but this one strays a bit too far from my lived experience to get much credibility in my book.

Bold or dumb?: In my opinion, any list that meddles with the near-consensus top 2 of Pinehurst No. 2 and Old Town Club is either trying to make a statement or missing the mark altogether. Given some of the context clues here, I’m going with the later.

Too high, too low: Old North State and Cape Fear Country Club are WAY too high at 11 and 12, as is Rock Barn (Jones) at 22. Southern Pines at 64 is egregiously low, and Tot Hill Farm at 97 means me and the panelists might just have different tastes. Plenty of other knits to pick, but I’ll leave that up to you - take a look and send in your hot takes!

STORIES TO TRACK

Registration Opening for Multiple CGA Championships: Monday, April 6 is a big day, with sign-ups opening for the Carolinas Amateur, North Carolina Amateur, and both the North Carolina and South Carolina Match Play championships. Strong host lineup for the Match Play events, with Woodlake Country Club and DeBordieu Club tapped as the tournament venues. Visit the CGA website for more details on qualifying.

ANWA Underway at Champions Retreat: Day 1 scores were strong at the notoriously challenging host of rounds 1 and 2, with nearly half of the field shooting under par in the opening round. Maria Jose Marin and Soomin Oh lead at -7, with Asterisk Talley and a crew of chasers nipping at their heels. As always, we’re tracking the Carolinians in the field - here is the list for those looking to do the same.

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