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HOWARD WARD: Little River Ain't What It Used to Be
September 23rd 2008 - I've always been a fan of the Little River golf course.
Way back when it had just been completed and was catching some flak for being too tough, too tricky and too unforgiving for some, I thought it was a pretty good layout. Frankly, I never saw its true potential, however.
Which is probably just one of the many reasons why guys such as Gerry Fagan and Simon Burgess own the place, and I just feel lucky to visit it once in a while.
Dan Maples designed and built Little River on the site of an old horse farm. I've always been a fan of Maples, too, feeling that he's given the Carolinas some of the most enjoyable courses we have the privilege of playing.
But even Dan would tell you that the course he built on a restricted budget, both money- and time-wise, is better than ever.
This is still a Maples design, but new ownership by Oceanico and management by Troon Golf are making a huge difference. Oceanico has deep pockets and doesn't mind spending the money.
And Troon Golf, which manages seven other properties in Portugal for Oceanico, has the expertise and the manpower to get the job done.
My trips to Little River were always memorable for the experiences of our foursome on the par-5 third hole. I used to kid Maples about its being unplayable. I asked him how to play it, and he just laughed and said, "Very carefully and with a lot of golf balls."
Well, OK, I added a word to that phrase just because this is a family newspaper.
Seriously, the changes at Little River over the past four years are almost unbelievable, and the third hole is just an example. I used to get this dreary feeling as I pulled into the parking lot and had to walk down the steps to the sunken golf shop in a building that was ill-suited for the purpose
Now I enter the driveway and love the view of the clubhouse and the villas bordering it. There's a before-and-after picture that is startling.
But the clubhouse and villas came before Oceanico. There was also a second set of owners before Oceanico. There were a hundred well-meaning promises, and most of them may have been kept even without Oceanico taking over. We'll never know, though there were definite strides being made.
But there is no more speculation. What is happening now is right there in the open for everyone to see. This is a golf resort that is beginning to live up to the promise of its owners.
Remember the old days when you could put a nick in an iron from a stone in the fairway? Forget that. This is a course that superintendent Chris Lassiter has in superlative condition.
A Moore County native who has been in the area his entire life, Lassiter loves this property. And he's loving the opportunity to do now what he had no hope of doing a few years ago.
Little River is moving on up in the golf resort world, as evidenced by the 4.5-star ranking it recently received from Golf Digest. Think that's not something to take pride in? Mention it to Lassiter and watch his chest swell.
It hasn't been all that long ago that the Moore Women's Amateur was held at Little River and got a thumb's down from the players. It was too hard. It was unfair. It was not set up for women. We are not coming back!
Well, here's a caveat for the women. It's a different animal these days. The new women's tees play to 4,850 yards, and they're manicured to perfection. There are no forced carries over ravines or water for the women.
"We had the North Carolina Senior Women's Golf Association championship here a few days ago," Waters said, "and they left happy. They committed to coming back here for the fourth straight year."
Little River hosted the North Carolina Golf Panel in 2006, and the course immediately vaulted into the Top 100 in the state. When the panel returns, look for that ranking to improve. Frankly, I don't think Top 50 would be an insurmountable leap.
Contact Howard Ward at 867-6493 or 690-2211 or by e-mail at
howardward@att.net
 
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