Story by Tobin Spirer
Photography By Greg Darrow, David Kubes & Keith Ketchum
Cape Fear National®, one of the coastal South’s newest and most ambitious golf courses, is on schedule to open this fall. The course is set in the heart of Brunswick Forest, a 4,500-acre master planned community 10 minutes south of Wilmington. The first 18 holes of a planned 27-hole complex will invite area golfers sometime in late September or early October.
“Cape Fear National is a challenging, visually stunning golf course designed to use the natural areas encompassing the golf course to enhance the course aesthetics,” says Tim Cate, a golf course designer who has created some of the most notable courses in the coastal South over the past two decades. “This will be a fun course to play and will be aesthetically unmatched in the area.”
Already under construction is a 7,000-square-foot clubhouse slated to open later this year with a full-service golf shop, a grill and bar and indoor and outdoor dining. An events lawn adjacent to the clubhouse will be available for a wide variety of functions.
While grow-in of the course continues, the final touches are being put on the operational side, which will open as a premium daily fee facility.
“We’re going to have one of the best courses in the region,” says Jimmy Sloan, Brunswick Forest’s director of operations, “and our fees will reflect the quality of the course, along with the excellence of the entire golf experience. There will be superior playing conditions, first-class food and beverage offerings and genuine hospitality and service.”
While final numbers are yet to be determined, non-property owner greens fees are expected to fall in the $40 to $80 range, depending on season, plus a $20 cart fee.
According to Sloan, Brunswick Forest property owners will enjoy about 40 to 45 percent off posted non-property owner greens fees or have the opportunity to participate in the Brunswick Forest Annual Golf Program.
The Annual Golf Program will cost approximately $2,000 for individuals and $3,500 for couples and is designed to provide avid golfers among Brunswick Forest property owners the most cost-effective, value-oriented golf program possible. The fee will be prorated depending on the time of year.
Among other benefits, a cart fee will be charged only at the time of play, advance tee time privileges will be afforded, and special events and social functions will be held for Annual Golf Program participants only.
The eventual long-term objective for Cape Fear National is to be a fully private club made up exclusively of Brunswick Forest property owners and their guests. The time frame of the transition to a private club structure is yet to be determined.
The fall opening of Cape Fear National marks the latest in a string of amenities already up and running at the community. Last year an 18,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art Fitness and Wellness Center opened, including an indoor pool, outdoor pool with wade-in entry, expansive sun deck and snack bar; six hard-surface tennis courts and pro shop; an aerobics studio; a cardiovascular equipment room; expansive men’s and women’s locker rooms with showers and saunas; meeting rooms; and a lounge and juice bar.
More recently the Garden/Community Center on Low Country Boulevard in the heart of Brunswick Forest opened and is expected to become one of the community’s more popular amenities. This unique facility features a glass-enclosed meeting room where community groups can gather to plan each season’s crops. There is also a cedar-sided meeting room featuring a masonry fireplace and kitchen, where cooking lectures and demonstrations will be held regularly, while the covered pavilion offers the perfect spot for picnics and outdoor enjoyment.
The Villages at Brunswick Forest, a 500,000-square-foot medical, professional and retail town center at the entrance to the community, has tenants that include the New Hanover Regional Medical Center, BB&T Bank, Hampton Inn, CVS, Lowes Foods and a planned theater cinema complex. New Hanover Regional Medical Center is preparing to soon move into a 40,000-square-foot medical arts building providing a full range of physician and related health services.
A network of more than 100 miles of paths and trailways continues to grow throughout the community, along with parks and natural areas, while plans for the River Club, a fishing, kayaking and boating facility on Town Creek, continue to progress.
Having all these amenities in place may be part of the reason Brunswick Forest is ranked the fastest growing community in the coastal South. Sales at Brunswick Forest continue to set the pace, picking up from last year when nearly $50 million in property was sold. According to Jerry Helms, director of sales, the opening of Cape Fear National should further accelerate buyers.
“Not only do we have a terrific selection of premier golf course home sites that will now open up,” says Helms, “we also will soon have the opportunity to better showcase our community. Every golfer that plays Cape Fear National will drive through Brunswick Forest to get to the course. I’m confident every one of them will like what they see — and many will become property owners themselves.”
Q&A with Tim Cate, Designer of Cape Fear National
We caught up with Tim Cate when he recently visited Cape Fear National® at Brunswick Forest for an inspection of the course he designed. Now recognized as one of the top golf course designers in the Southeast United States, Cate has been working in the golf course design business for some 23 years. Along the way Cate has garnered a number of highly prestigious golf course awards, including Best New Golf Course in both Golf Digest, Golf Magazine and America’s Best New Courses from Golf Digest. While Tim is less comfortable talking about himself, he is extremely proud of what he has accomplished at Cape Fear National. When asked if he feels this will be one of the best golf courses in the region, his smile says it all.
What will set Cape Fear National apart from other area golf courses?
TC: A detail-intensive approach to design both on the golf course and in the areas that surround the course. I started as a landscape architect, which helps me to present the golf course and the surrounding areas in a very sophisticated, upscale manner. Many of the hazard areas are aesthetically pleasing featuring colorful plants and native grasses. The course features over 1,500 linear feet of bridges, three separate waterfalls, several ponds, strategically placed rock walls, drive-through sand waste areas, beach bunkers that run into the ponds. The Cypress marsh also frames a couple of the holes on the back nine and the drainage on this golf course will be unparalleled in the local and regional market. All told, more than 1.5 million cubic yards of earth were moved to create Cape Fear National.
Question
What will set Cape
Fear National apart from other area golf courses?
Answer
A detail intensive
approach to design both on the golf course and in the areas that surround the
course. I started as a landscape architect, which helps me to present the
golf course and the surrounding areas in a very sophisticated, upscale
manner. Many of the hazard areas are aesthetically pleasing featuring colorful
plants and native grasses. The course features over 1,500 linear feet of
bridges, three separate waterfalls, several ponds, strategically placed rock
walls, drive-through sand waste areas, beach bunkers that run into the ponds. The
Question
Can you describe Cape
Fear National in a couple of sentences?
Answer
A challenging, visually stunning golf course designed to use the natural areas encompassing the golf course to enhance the course aesthetics. Cape Fear National will be a fun course to play and will be aesthetically unmatched in the area.
Question
What features are
consistent with Tim Cate designed golf courses?
Answer
I only work with
high-end golf courses. Quality is always of the utmost of importance to me
and if that is not the number one priority of the client, I will pass on the
project. I pride myself on designing golf courses that provide an
aesthetically pleasing, memorable experience to all levels of
golfers. Every shot needs a challenge, visual interest and difficulty
level. I am always 100 percent dedicated to each project ensuring that the
courses exceed client expectations. I am constantly tweaking the course
until the day it is grassed. A great deal of thought and creativity goes
into each and every hole.
Question
Were you given any
specific directions from the client regarding the design of Cape Fear National?
Answer
The client gave me
simple instructions: “…build us the best golf course in the coastal
Question
Which hole do you
feel will become the signature hole on the first eighteen holes?
Answer
My goal is to make each hole spectacular and memorable. If I were
to pick my favorite hole, I would probably pick hole number four. This
hole is a par four dogleg right that plays 440 yards from the back
tees. There is a giant berm that runs along the far right side of the
entire hole. That berm will feature native grasses, Wax Myrtles and wildflowers
that will really make it stand out. There will be a waste bunker that runs
between the fairway and the berm until about 60 yards out from the green where
it crosses between the fairway and the green. Golf carts travel through
the waste area for the majority of the hole. There is a pond that runs
along the length of this spectacular golf hole. Sand traps are
strategically placed beside the pond that will keep your ball from making it to
the water if traveling along the ground. There is plenty of mounding
around the green complex to accent this large target. Although there are a
number of other signature candidates: it
wouldn’t surprise me if numbers two, nine, 13 and 14 got the honor as well.
Question
What tips would you
give to golfers playing Cape Fear National?
Answer
Pay close attention to your
yardage book, and don’t bite off more than you can chew. I certainly hope
everyone enjoys playing Cape Fear National as much as I enjoyed designing it.
