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| Carolina Golf Course Living |
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olf courses are integral to the country club lifestyle.
Savvy community planners also know that activities for non-golfers will keep the whole family happy.
When they’re not on Marco Island, Raymond and Florence Micheline are enjoying the weather and playing golf at their summer townhome in Jefferson Landing, N.C. “My husband is a really good golfer, and in the summer, he wants to live where he can play golf seven days a week,”
Mrs. Micheline explained from Florida, adding, “My husband knew he wanted a home in the Carolinas; he just wasn’t sure where.”
He began to investigate the possibilities and soon found Jefferson Landing, in the mountains just north of Boone.
“It had great weather and a wonderful golf course, so he took me up there to see it,” she said. “I like a tailored look and the drive into the community sold me.” She found the people in North Carolina to be so friendly and Jefferson Landing to be just perfect.
Mrs. Micheline pronounces the clubhouse “terrific,” and the ease of townhome living very appealing. “We travel with nothing,” she laughed.
The 13+ hour drive is accomplished in one day, and then the fun really begins.
Friends often travel up from Florida to join them, and this year, they’re staying four or five months in North Carolina, “to enjoy the leaf season.”
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riginally from Long Island, the Michelines had lived in Florida for 18 years. They still love wintering in Florida and spending their summers in North Carolina, but this year, they’ve made the drive a couple of times in the winter as well, just to enjoy the seasons.
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Mrs. Micheline plays golf about three times a week, and notes that there are groups who play together frequently. It’s the whole country club package, however, that gives her everything she wants in this Carolina mountain community.
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Today’s country club communities are islands of privilege, but they’re not insulated entirely from the real world. For sure, the notion that what the man wants, the man gets, is long gone.
“If Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy,” observes Arthur Raymond, senior vice president for Crescent Resources, LLC, in Charlotte. He echoes what other experts in the field are saying: Golf is important, but not as much anymore. “Ladies’ tennis is big,” he reports, predicting a trend toward more tennis courts.
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And that’s not all: The successful country club community must offer a constantly changing array of activities and diverse amenities to attract residents and keep them happy.
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Nature trails, fitness centers, swimming pool complexes and summer camp programs for children reflect the baby boomer’s thirst for lifelong education and a return to the simple life.
And more ... “The way society is today, with both parents working, the most precious thing they have is time, and they want to spend it with their children,” Mr. Raymond theorizes.
On Daniel Island in Charleston, homes have been wired for instant Internet access – necessary for the at-home entrepreneur. “ ‘Mayberry with fiber optics,’ that’s what our sales manager says,” notes Matt Sloan, COO of the mixed-use community. Because of Daniel Island’s location on a new expressway, it’s developing as a full-fledged municipality, with churches, schools, white-collar companies, small businesses and two professional sports stadiums.
“People realize the place they live is more than bricks and mortar,” Mr. Sloan upholds. “They need activities and they’re embracing what ‘community’ means.” For the leaders at Daniel Island, “community” means looking out for your neighbor, and presenting residents with philanthropic opportunities. Nearby Cainhoy Peninsula has become Daniel Island’s mission. Residents have adopted Cainhoy’s elementary school, underwritten a Boys and Girls Club and started an after-school mentoring program there. The Daniel Island Community Fund is endowed by transfer fees and contributions, with employees donating funds straight from their paychecks. Social gatherings at the clubhouse result in two benefits – residents make friends at oyster roasts and black-tie fundraisers, and Cainhoy residents receive the reward.
“The island breeds social activity,” Mr. Sloan says, ticking off the variety of clubs that have formed here, from fishing and kayaking to prayer groups and book clubs. “Knock on any door and residents will say they know more people after living on Daniel Island for a year or two than in their previous community for much longer than that.”
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Many Carolina country club communities reflect what today’s families want, and how the consumer’s life has evolved, experts agree. |
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“ ‘Reconstituting the family’ is frequently the consumer’s goal,” says Pete Halter in Atlanta, who is president of V.R. Halter & Associates, a company that advises residential community planners. Here’s how Art Raymond puts it: “You’ve got a couple in Pittsburgh, and they’ve got a daughter in Charlotte and a son in Atlanta and another son in Richmond,” he hypothesizes.
This couple wants a large home in a central location between their children, preferably near a lake, the ocean or in the mountains, to draw the offspring for holidays and family vacations. This way, grandparents can enjoy their grandchildren without having to take care of them all day, thanks to having so many children’s activities available at the club.
They want to keep things simple by choosing a house plan from ten that are offered, and then instill their personal tastes with the interior. These couples also don’t see their new home as their second home, but rather their “other” home.
The high technology in their infrastructures allows these “flex execs” to work there. Mr. Halter remembers one executive whose home office in Hawaii looked just like his office in Los Angeles. That way he could conduct videoconferences – a camera was installed in the ceiling – and no one would know he was working from his other, more vacation-like, home/office.
As “flex execs” continue to work from home, clubhouses will become satellite offices – with boardrooms available for teleconferences and videoconferences. “We’re already seeing the club concierge take on a new meaning,” Mr. Halter says. Many women own second homes now, and frequently homes are designed with his-and-her offices. “Putting the proverbial desk under the wine rack in the kitchen doesn’t work anymore.”
While it seems many new
Carolina country club
communities are for the
older and well established,
it’s the children who matter
most. “The sign of a great
neighborhood is this: When
the kids wander off, the
neighbors are watching,” Mr.
Sloan observes.
He relays a
common sight on Daniel
Island: “Little kids ride
their bikes downtown and
spend their allowance on
comic books and candy. They
can do that, versus Mom
loading up a minivan and
hauling them to a mall.”
Editor's Note:
If you're passionate about golf, you're going to fall in love with the Carolinas.
Visit our bird's eye view of just a smattering of our award-winning golf courses.
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Katherine O. Pettit has worked as a writer, magazine editor, printer and
public relations consultant. The Columbia resident has published
more than 250 articles in magazines and newspapers. Her writing
explores a variety of subjects including travel, lifestyles, business
and management.
Aida Rogers has worked
in newspapers, magazines, legal newsletters, and television.
The USC graduate and Lexington, SC native currently is managing
editor of Sandlapper, The Magazine of South Carolina, for which
she writes a column about the most popular restaurants in The
Palmetto State. Call her with your favorites at 803-808-1664.
Have some fun. Get some expert feedback.
Post your Golf Course Living questions,
comments and experiences on the "Carolinas
Message Board."
Click on this book image to read more about ...
Golf in the Low Country
written by Joel Zuckerman,
the vagabond golfer!
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