Tot Hill Farm

Tot Hill Farm opened in 2000, Mike Strantz's second-to-last solo design and his last public course—he lived in the farmhouse for a year and a half while building it, working the land on horseback instead of by cart.

The course fell into real disrepair after 2008—overgrown, patchy, teeing areas abandoned—until Pat Barber bought it in late 2022 and restored it fast: new Zoysia greens, rebuilt bunkers, over a thousand trees cleared to open Strantz's original sightlines back up. It reopened Labor Day 2023, and the diamond is back.

Hole 5 · Betty McGee Creek

The hole Tot Hill Farm is built around

At 543 yards it's the longest par 5 on the card, but the real decision comes on the third shot, not the first—Betty McGee Creek runs down off the Uwharrie Mountains and fronts the green here, so you're choosing between challenging it or laying back short and pitching in. It's the hole regulars bring up first when they talk about the round afterward.