"Setting the Course" - A Vision for the Future of Golf in the Carolinas

“Setting the Course” is an endeavor to raise funds to construct Carolinas Golf House, a headquarters which will include a Carolinas Golf Legacy Museum, an educational center, staff offices, a junior golf area and other golf growth initiatives.

The campaign also will provide reliable funding for the grow-the-game programs, focusing on junior golf initiatives and turfgrass management services that are overseen by the Carolinas Golf Foundation.

Carolinas Golf House is slated be built on a tract of land adjacent to the conference center at the Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club in Southern Pines, NC. Pine Needles has hosted three U.S. Women's Open Championships (1996, 2001, 2007) and is owned by legendary golfer Peggy Kirk Bell and her family. Pine Needles offers 18-holes of Donald Ross-designed golf, a state-of-the-art practice facility that includes a four hole short course, lodging, dining and meeting facilities.

What is the Carolinas Golf Association and Foundation?

The Carolinas Golf Association (CGA) is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization, a regional golf association founded in 1909 by golfers from five golf clubs.  Their goal was to create a committee to conduct a Carolinas Amateur Championship.  No one then would have suspected that, 100 years later, the CGA would be a full service organization for 700 golf clubs and its golfers. 

The CGA offers membership services to more than 165,000 golfers of CGA clubs that includes: extensive tournament program for golfers of all ages and ability, an agronomy service, a quarterly magazine mailed only to members, USGA handicapping service, USGA course ratings, Rules of Golf and handicap system education, handicap licensing and certification along with USGA outreach programs.

The Carolinas Golf Foundation (CGF) was formed by the Carolinas Golf Association in 1977 to support Carolinas golf initiatives, turfgrass scholarships, junior golf developmental programs and many other projects.

The CGF is funded principally by the Carolinas Golf Association but also by contributions from individual golfers interested in promoting and supporting junior golf, women's golf, turfgrass research and management and many other worthwhile Carolinas projects. According to Internal Revenue Service regulations, the Foundation must generate at least 10 percent of its receipts from golfers who want to give back something to our game. The CGF is also a 501(c)3 non-profit educational organization.