Makeover of Northwoods GC spurs golfers back to The Spur at Northwoods
The transformation of Northwoods Golf Club, the 25-year-old public layout in northeast Columbia, reached another milestone last week with its new name – The Spur at Northwoods.
The name reflects the western theme of new owner Joe Rice’s other golf facility, the private Bulls Bay Golf Club in Awendaw near Charleston. The Spur at Northwoods’ logo includes an old-fashioned spur worn by cowboys. In addition to the name at Bulls Bay, the teaching center is called the Ranch, and the club mascot is a bull called Titleist.
The revised name “is just another step in the makeover,” said pro Greg McBride, whose family sold the financially strapped club to Rice’s Empire Sports Management the first of the year.
In almost five months under the new ownership, changes include new golf carts, new maintenance equipment, a renovated clubhouse, brush removal, upgrades around the club entrance and reworked bunkers on 13 holes. Completing the bunker work and renovating the cart paths are scheduled to be completed by the end of June. Amenities such as water coolers placed around the course have been a welcome addition.
“We’ve still got work to do, but we’ve made a lot of progress in a short time, and the players like what they see,” McBride said. “We had more than 100 rounds on Tuesday; players just kept coming. One group of seniors had called and said they would bring six or eight players, and they had 16.”
Golfers can see the bunker work in progress and quickly realize the hazards are more than merely dumping in sand. Drainage has to be cleared and upgraded, and heavy equipment is on hand to do the job.
The greens remain spotty and will receive attention soon. Aerification is set for June 1, and new sod will be placed on the greens where necessary after that process.
“Golfers will see more marked improvement by July 1, and there will be more to come,” McBride said.
The club’s revenue for this year’s first quarter equaled 61 percent of the income for all of 2014, and McBride predicts second-quarter revenue will match or exceed 2014’s total income.
“Golfers are finding their way back,” he said. “We understand why the club suffered in the past and why play was down. We had financial challenges, and the golf course’s conditions needed to improve. But the new ownership wants the best, and we’re headed in that direction.”
Chip shots: Eleven golfers with South Carolina ties passed the first test on the road to the U.S. Open, advancing through local qualifying to the 36-hole sectionals on June 8. The list includes four current or former USC players – Matt NeSmith, Sean Kelly, Mark Anderson and Dykes Harbin – and two with USC Aiken connections, Andrew Ward and Roberto Diaz. Others: Adam Hart (Columbia), Jason Perry (Myrtle Beach), Ryan Nelson (Charleston), Ricky Werenski (Bluffton) and Tate Hoisington (Hilton Head Island). PGA Tour players who are not exempt into the Open automatically advance to the sectionals. ... The team from Palmetto Golf Club (Aiken) – head pro Brooks Blackburn and amateurs Jay Blackburn, Jeff Pope, and Rodger Sharpe – captured the CPGA Pro-Am played at Cherokee, N.C. The team from West Columbia’s Par Tee Golf Center – pro Tom Mason and amateurs Russ Lord, Brandon Shaver and Ray Greco III – placed sixth. ... George Ackerman (Charleston) and Mike Weiner (Kiawah Island) teamed to win the SCGA’s Super Senior Four-Ball at Edisto Island. ... Bailey Cocca (Myrtle Beach, seventh) and Taylor Dodson (Aiken, tied for 10th) posted the best finishes by South Carolina players in the CGA’s Carolinas Women’s Amateur in Durham, N.C.