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Welcome to the Two Down Press golf newsletter!

Hard to believe it’s U.S. Open week! It’s a bittersweet feeling - we’re in the absolute heart of golf season, but in a few days we’ll have 3 out of 4 majors behind us. Regardless, I’m fired up to watch the best players in the world take on what could be the most challenging test in championship golf.

Before you dive headfirst into Oakmont, swing by 2DP and fill up on some local Carolinas golf fare. We’ve got a full agenda this week, with news of a short course project in the heart of the state, the latest chapter in the Charlotte City Am saga, and a busy CGA tournament week with multiple events taking place. Enjoy the golf!

THIS WEEK’S HEADLINE

Old Field, a New 6-Hole Short Course Between Charlotte and Winston-Salem, Targeting Fall 2025 Opening

News of the project broke last Friday, as construction is set to begin this month on the 20-acre site in Davie County. The “community-focused” facility will feature a driving range, a putting course, and 6 holes ranging 65-150 yards.

Backstory: Old Field was born out of a collaboration between Cofounders Matt Tullos, who purchased an old driving range in Mocksville, NC a couple years ago with ideas of reimagining the property, and Stephen Edwards of Twilight Golf Club, who has spent several years trying to get a golf development project off the ground in the Winston-Salem area.

“We did a pitch with Colton Craig to the city on a comparable short course and putting course project at Quarry Park, so after visiting the site [of Old Field] we instantly had a vision for how it could be used,” said Edwards of their inspiration for the project. “From there, it’s been a 6-month process of figuring out all the zoning, talking to people at the state, getting renderings from the architect, and finalizing all the plans.”

Dream team: Tullos and Edwards have assembled an awesome team to build and promote Old Field. The facility was designed by architecture firm Smyers, Craig, and Coyne and will be built by prominent golf construction contractor Landscapes Unlimited. Logo and branding work for Old Field was done by Dave Baysden.

Design details: The course will feature 6 holes routed to 5 greens, with the 2nd and 4th holes sharing a putting surface. Sustainability and simplicity of construction are the name of the game at Old Field - there will be minimal irrigation on the course, and material to build greens will be harvested from a newly excavated creek cutting across the property. The turf will be bermudagrass throughout, which will be ideal for the scheduled summer grow-in.

Course with a mission: “The hope is for it to be very family friendly and very affordable,” Edwards said of course’s mission. “Our hope long-term is to partner with organizations like The First Tee and Youth on Course to hold youth clinics out there and allow kids to play for extremely reduced rates.”

My two cents: On trend. Right near the highway 75 minutes from Charlotte and 25 from Winston. Accessible and affordable. Loosely surrounded by successful, popular courses with a similar model (3’s, the Cradle, Schoolhouse 9). Lot’s to be excited about with this project - long live the Carolinas golf development boom!

To learn more about Old Field, check out @oldfieldgolf or oldfieldgolf.com.

TOURNAMENTS

Charlotte City Am Registration Opens, Sells Out in 24 Hours

Shortly after last week’s 2DP dropped (coincidence?!), the Charlotte City Amateur finalized it’s host sites for the 2025 championship and announced registration would open on Monday, June 9th. Raintree Country Club was named round 1 host, with Myers Park Country Club stepping up to hold round 2. Thus concludes the saga, which was big news in our little corner of the internet!

Big ups: Shoutout to these two clubs for stepping up to host - it’s a big ask for a private club to give up the course during a summer weekend, which should not go unnoticed. I continue to be impressed by how the Charlotte golf community supports this event.

Hot ticket: Both qualifiers filled up in ~24 hours! I’m not sure if it was pent-up demand from delayed registration or excitement about the slate, but I did not expect entrants to be that quick on the trigger. If you missed the deadline, there are instructions on the website about how to join the waitlist.

STORIES TO TRACK

John Varol and William Register Prevail at The Devlin: This is the second big-time tournament win for the pair in 2025 after their success at Pine Needles earlier this year. The Devlin, hosted annually at Secession Golf Club, is a Mid-Am invitational event with a unique format - four-ball for two days, then combined score in the final round. View full results here.

North Carolina Men’s and Women’s Amateur Championships Underway: Big week in the CGA world, as both NC Amateur events are ongoing at the time of posting.

• Women’s: The North Carolina Women’s Amateur concludes today at Cutter Creek Golf Club. 14-year-old Juno Taino of Pinehurst has a 5-shot lead entering the final round! Follow live scoring here.

• Men’s: Round 2 of the North Carolina Amateur takes place today at The Cardinal by Pete Dye. Only one round down, but we already have some big names in the mix, including Brett McLamb, who has already taken down 2 CGA titles this year, and Charlotte’s Chad Wilfong. Follow live scoring here.

Range and Cart Path Repairs Ongoing at Sunset Hills and Harry Jones: Mecklenburg County Public Golf shared some project updates on Instagram last week, which highlighted ongoing improvement work at two local facilities. The range work at Sunset Hills comes on the heels of similar projects at Sifford and Charles T. Myers, which included range expansion and installation of new turf mats.

• Praise progress: Nice to see Troon continuing to honoring their commitment by investing in incremental improvement to these facilities. These projects may seem small in isolation, but the model of trying to get better slowly year after year is appropriate for municipal golf.

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