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A Renascent Woodlake is Worth a Look

Take a huge, rustic lake, add a charming lakeside clubhouse mansion, mix in two superior golf courses, including a fine Ellis Maples design, and voila, you have a Pinehurst area resort and golf club that one day could be the best in the Pinehurst area. Thanks to new on-site management, Woodlake resort is undergoing dramatic changes that may promise to make this every bit as good as its owner hopes. It certainly is one of the more naturally endowed locations in the area. At least, Frank Sinatra thought so. Allegedly, Ol' Blue Eyes thought about building a house here.

Even with a beautiful setting going for it, Woodlake's road to success has not always been smooth. Woodlake has had a checkered history, the result, conjecturally, of several factors including lack of convenience. It is some 25 miles from the Village of Pinehurst, a factor that may have come into play three decades ago, but is no longer relevant today. Also, like some other golf communities in the Pinehurst area, Woodlake may have struggled in the past because the market for homes and golf club memberships in an area with few other amusements has not been as brisk as was anticipated. Thirdly, at least one observer contends Woodlake has suffered because its owners have cut corners.

A. B. Hardy, a local developer and landholder, started Woodlake back in 1968, when he had the 1100-acre lake built. It is the only private lake in North Carolina and one of the south’s largest. Hardy hired the late Ellis Maples to design the first 18. Opened in 1970, it is a beauty.

Ellis Maples’ father was an associate of Donald Ross, and the classical influence obviously trickled down to the son. Among others, Ellis Maples designed the courses at the famed Country Club of North Carolina. His unostentatious creations are models of straightforward, no-funny-business designs that blend strategic interest with eminent fairness.

Whether it was the location or the lack of a strong buyers market that sent Woodlake down, it can only be surmised. Woodlake lies outside the village of Vass some 25 minutes from the Village of Pinehurst, and three decades ago that was considered way out. Today, Vass is well within the Pinehurst area.

In any case, Woodlake continued under Hardy until 1980 when the financially foundering resort was bought by the family of German developer Dr. Ingolf A. Box. Box, a mergers and acquisitions attorney whose wife was a member of the German National Team, also owns The Carolina, a Palmer course in the area.

In the 1990s, Box decided to build a second course at Woodlake. He wanted to hire Ed Seay, who did the bulk of the work on the first course when he was an associate with Ellis Maples. After Ellis Maples died, Seay joined Palmer Design. Box tried to negotiate with Palmer to have Seay do the course but Palmer insisted that if Seay performed the work, the course would have to have the Palmer name on it. That meant bigger bucks than Box wanted to pay. Ellis’ son Dan started the course, designing the first 10 holes, before Box agreed with Palmer to have Seay finish it. This explains the split personality of the course between the front and back nines. The Palmer course opened in 1996.

Box undoubtedly hoped his grand visions for Woodlake would have come to fruition sooner, but a series of setbacks have dogged the German. Box balks at the argument that the Pinehurst area is too small and sparsely populated to support more than a few golf and residential communities. According to the attorney, Raleigh/Cary, one of Pinehurst’s primary feeder areas, is totally built out and the migration of development expansion is definitely south toward Pinehurst.

Meanwhile, the golf courses have grown a bit shabby, a consequence that one observer attributes to an insufficient maintenance budget and the turnover of key personnel. Attrition of members, some of whom have been performing assistant staff functions on a volunteer basis, hasn’t helped either. All this apparently got Box’s attention and led him to ink the pact with Golf Matrix in July 2000. Under Arizona-based Golf Matrix, a leader in golf course management, Foxfire, another golf and residential community with similar problems, has had a stunning turnaround, and Woodlake’s fortunes could soon follow. If so, Woodlake will fulfill the visions of its founder and reward its current owner with a golf resort every bit as good as its potential.

When the anticipated improvements are made, there is no question that Woodlake, especially the Maples course, is worth a visit. The course starts out along the lake with a terrific set of holes that includes the stunning 2nd, a 512-yarder with an island landing area which doglegs at a 90-degree angle to the elevated green. The second shot to this reachable par 5 must negotiate a narrow strip of fairway pinched between two areas of the lake. The 178-yard 4th is another gem over a cove of the lake.

From there, the course veers inland, traipsing through oaks, pines, maples, and hickories. Another noteworthy hole on the front is the 7th, a 506-yard severe dogleg right that climbs precipitously to the green from a very tight landing area between trees. This hole is dramatic.

The back side is design artistry at its best, one hole after another of classic holes that wind through the woods. As good as the front 9 is, the back side is one to remember for those who appreciate courses as they used to be designed.

The Maples course ranges from 5276 to 7043 yards, plays to a par 72 and has a slope of 129 from the whites (136 from the tips). The Palmer course, which has some opening holes around the lake and moves to the upland areas which once was a tobacco farm, is a par 72 layout with a slope of 124 from the whites (133 from the tips). It measures between 5054 and 6962 yards.

The two-story southern-style mansion, with its columned portico, serves as Woodlake's clubhouse. It sits regally on the shore of the lake and its outdoor patio and elegant indoor banquet room, both served by an outstanding kitchen, provide an ideal setting in which to hold a wedding or other great occasion. The mansion, which was named in honor of John A. Oates, a lawyer, historian and former president of Wake Forest College, and once served as a hotel and tavern, was relocated to Woodlake from Fayetteville in 1995.

For more information, including reservations at the attractive golf villas within a short walk of the pro shop, call 1-888-THE-LAKE. 

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