Up the hill from the Park Alumni Center lays a vast green expanse of trees, hills and creeks, that 18 months from now will become a 7,025 yard, 18-hole golf course designed by the Arnold Palmer Design Company.
Palmer, a retired golfer who won seven Major titles in the Professional Golf Association, came to the event, along with his design partners Erik Larsen and Brandon Johnson — N.C. State graduates who are in charge of the course’s design.
Carl Pettersson, a PGA Tour player and an NCSU alumnus, and Lonnie Poole, who donated $3 million of the $11.4 million course, teed off with Palmer into what will become the driving.The course is entirely funded by private donors and, according to Larsen, should take 15 to 18 months to complete.
Larsen mentioned that some of the best features include the urban setting of the course — it will have several views of the Downtown Raleigh skyline, the running water at various spots and the rolling hills.
“[An urban setting] is almost completely unique,” Larsen said, adding that they tried to build a course in the Meadowlands outside of New York City, but the project hasn’t come to fruition.
There are two main creeks in the course, and each have two or three branches.
“Running water is one of the best qualities of a course,” Larsen said. “The highlight is the roll of the ground — it’s dramatic not overly rolly. There are a variety of up and downhill shots.”
NCSU is the only ACC school without a course to call its own, and Palmer, a Wake Forest graduate, said he is excited to work on his company’s first college course.
“Building a course in North Carolina is always something I look forward to,” Palmer said. “I feel like building courses for colleges and universities is another part of my duty.”
A new teaching facility for turf grass management and professional golf management students will also be built as part of the course.
The golf management program recently received certification by the PGA because of the future golf course, and Chancellor James Oblinger said the course makes the turf grass program one of the best in the nation.
“Most universities who have PGM and turf grass programs have their own course,” Oblinger said. “So what it will mean to those programs is a package we’ve longed for for a long time.”
Palmer, who used to cut grass at his father’s course when he was six years old, said the golf industry has changed since he first got into it, evident by the college programs devoted to it.
“It’s wonderful to have the programs,” Palmer said. “It’s so important not only for the golf courses and the businesses but for the environment and future of grasses as well.”
Students in the programs are hoping that importance is placed partially on them, as they hope to get a chance to work with the professionals developing the course.
“[The administrators of the programs] are trying to get the students involved,” Keith Ingersoll, a senior in turf science, said. “Right now we use our own research facilities, but working on that course would give us 10 times the experience. So I hope they don’t pass that up.”
The students there, many of whom served as volunteers for the event, said they were excited to have Palmer at the event.
“It’s been spectacular to have him here and to be building an Arnold Palmer designed course,” Josh Beeson, a sophomore in turf management, said. “Hopefully we’ll get to train out there.”
