(Thought I would post this here since Duke is not in the pull-down list of the Reviews section)
Sure it’s a two hour drive from Charlotte to Durham and costs an arm and a leg for non-Duke people, but with all the rave reviews of the Duke University Golf Club, I felt compelled to use a vacation day (a Tuesday) to play a couple rounds. I walked the first round. At 8:45 I was the first golfer out. Extremely heavy dew made things pretty sloppy. (Not their fault, of course). Not for the faint of heart, Duke is a big kids’ course. Fairways are moderately to very wide with a lot of undulating. Plenty of water, creeks and rocks. There is knee-high grass or weeds in almost all the wooded areas, errant shots are as good as gone. A million huge, deep, well-maintained! fairway and greenside bunkers to tack on a few more strokes. The greens are some of the fastest, firmest, true-rolling and most challenging I’ve ever played. The starter’s advice to always hit it to “under the pin” was spot on as putts from pin-high invariably ran WAY past the cup. For walkers, the yardage markings stink. The GPS in the carts updates quickly and easily saved me a good five strokes when I drove the second round. Glad I went. I recommend Duke. Won’t be back. A pretty course, but no wow factor.