Name a Muni with Better Land...

Welcome to the Two Down Press golf newsletter!

If today’s subject line is any hint, we have another Day Trips write-up this week from guest contributor, friend of the program, and retro golf club aficionado Jeff Emminger.

He takes us to a municipal course under an hour from Charlotte with outrageously good land and some excellent options for post-round barbecue. I won’t spoil the surprise, but a delusional voice in my head won’t shut up about how today’s destination could be discussed alongside the country’s best munis with a small cash infusion and continued minor improvements.

We also have a Golf Biz spotlight on Johnston Gray Designs, news from the Home of American Golf, and record demand for USGA qualifying spots. Let’s dive in!

DAY TRIPS

Lexington Golf Club: A Playground for 10-Year-Old Me

The course melds into the setting in a comfortable, unpretentious way. It feels like a local hang - like the hole-in-the-wall burger joint that everyone knows blows the chains out of the water. There is no practice facility, just a putting green right next to the 1st tee. It’s the kind of place where you learn to play golf, not golf swing, and you can’t beat the value. It runs less than a dollar a hole to walk on the weekdays.

On your way to pay your $17 green fee ($13 at twilight), you can pay your respects to Ham Snead - read up on his backstory on the course’s website if you aren’t familiar, but he’s a legend. Architect Bill Coore, another legendary local figure, attributes some of his early love of golf course architecture to Lexington Golf Club (allegedly), and it’s easy to see why.

It would be easy to overlook it by the scorecard, but don’t make that mistake. The course is worth the play and offers plenty of challenge despite stretching only 6,116 yards from the back tees. It never feels quite that short, though with modern equipment it can turn into a bit of a wedge-fest. Even with short approaches, the greens provide plenty of defense - miss in the wrong spots and you’ll pay. The greens have a lot of contour and numerous runoffs to discover, leaving players with strategic decisions all over the course.

Take the 2nd hole as an example - you could take a mid-iron from the tee to the fattest part of the fairway, leaving a short iron into the 295 yard par 4. Simple - but you’re tempted to push a longer club closer, where the fairway pinches in and a creek crosses the right-to-left dogleg. Pull off the semi-blind tee shot and you are rewarded with a flip wedge from an advantageous angle to the narrow green benched into the hill. Miss left or right, however, and you’ll lose some shots and possibly a ball.

The front nine routing is compact, and it’s not uncommon to cross paths with neighboring holes (but not in a way that feels dangerous). The payoff is connection with other players on the course and some excellent vistas across the rolling terrain. From the 2nd green you’ll see across two valleys to both the 3rd green and the 8th, which is a short par 5. A 490 yard Par 5 on paper feels like a great opportunity, but if your approach comes up a yard short, you could have 70 for your next one. The back 9 is more spread out and plays through neighborhoods, though it never feels like you’re in someone's backyard. You could probably attribute this to the design era - Lexington was built in 1939, with a renovation by the city in 2003.

While you’ll never mistake it for Augusta, the conditions don’t detract from the enjoyment of the course. From my experience, the greens have always been in great condition and land in the Goldilocks zone for green speeds. In the shoulder seasons, the dormant bermuda around the course is firm and fast. My favorite hole on the course is the Par 4 15th - a 360 yard bunker-less hole with a left-to-right sloping fairway that threatens to kick tee shots into the pine trees. The fairway also pinches in around 260 yards, so as you push further up the hole, you are tempted to play further and further left. A long drive will leave you a short wedge shot, but you’ll likely have the ball below your feet and a poor angle to a small landing area - not the most comfortable feeling shot.

There is no logical reason for me to live in Lexington. It would be quite the commute, and yet, every time I come up Fairway Drive, I find myself looking for houses for sale. It’s everything the golf-crazed 10-year-old me would have loved.

P.S. Bring your vintage gear if you are so inclined. It would make a great persimmon course!

GOLF BIZ

Charlotte’s Johnston Gray Designs Creates “1 of 1” Custom Ball Markers and Accessories

From humble beginnings as a hustle to scrape together enough cash to fund the PGA Tour dreams of founders Al Dickens and William Rainey, Charlotte-based Johnston Gray Designs has grown into a sustainable business producing some of the most creative and unique golf accessories on the market.

It all started with a brainstorming session during a summer chipping contest between two college golfers. “Al had just gotten engaged and we were both trying to make some extra money,” said Rainey of the brand’s creation. “I had some experience stamping teammates’ wedges, but I was always worried I was going to ruin a brand new Vokey. We decided ball markers would be less pressure.”

While JGD has branched out over time into other types of accessories and apparel, the core offering remains their array of custom ball markers - all stamped, finished, and painted by hand. “Each individual stamp gets hammered into the ball marker, so each one is unique and different even if they have the same design," he said. “It’s a labor of love.”

Social media has been key to the brand’s growth (14K+ followers on Instagram), with Rainey, who works full-time as a Digital Media Manager, able to apply his professional expertise to an area he’s passionate about. “I’ve always been into social media - from trying to run the Facebook account for my high school golf team, to creating golf trick shot videos for YouTube and Vine (RIP). I’ve been a creator my whole life.”

My two cents: I love the aesthetic and attention to detail apparent in everything Johnston Gray is putting out there - it stands out in a golf world full of “stuff” and companies trying to profit off the game’s recent explosive growth. The handmade, custom nature of the ball markers makes them memorable - perfect for a tournament tee gift, groomsmen present, or one-off keepsake.

STORIES TO TRACK

Pinehurst Resort Announces Plans for Course No. 11: Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw will begin construction later this year on the new course set to open in Fall 2027. The course will be the second at the Pinehurst Sandmines location, also home to Tom Doak’s No. 10, which is located ~5 miles from the main clubhouse.

• Center of gravity: At Pinehurst, everything has always revolved around the main clubhouse, which features courses 1-4, Thistle Dhu, and the Cradle. It will be interesting to see how guest preferences change as the resort continues to build out a second hub south of town. Great retention play IMO as it introduces more variety into a familiar experience for repeat visitors.

Carolinas Qualifying Sites for U.S. Mid-Am Full Within 24 Hours: Based on some second-hand comments and my amateur sleuthing, it appears that all North and South Carolina qualifiers for the 2025 U.S. Mid-Amateur filled up the day registration opened. Crazy!

• Times are changing: The golf boom seems to have spread to tournament golf. One interesting thing to track will be the qualifying format for this and similar events going forward. We’ve already seen the USGA introduce two-stage qualifying for the U.S. Amateur, a move that may need to be replicated for other events as demand continues to increase.

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