Forest Creek lone residential community in America with two golf courses ranked in Golfweek Top 50

(PINEHURST, N.C.) – When the Forest Creek South Course opened in 1996, the Tom Fazio-designed gem located minutes from the historic Village of Pinehurst was widely hailed as not only one of the best new residential layouts to open that year, but also simply one of the finest golf courses in the country. Ditto Forest Creek’s North Course, another Fazio masterpiece that made its equally auspicious debut in 2005. During the time since, the outpouring of accolades around Forest Creek has only continued.

Now, the exclusive development built along 1,200 acres in the rolling Sandhills of North Carolina has been honored once again, this time as the only golf course community in America with two layouts ranked among Golfweek’s Top 50 Best Residential Golf Courses for 2012. The Forest Creek North Course was ranked as the 36th best residential golf course in America for 2012, while the South Course was ranked 50th.

“We are proud of the fact that Forest Creek has always set the standard for golf course communities,” said Forest Creek Golf Club President Terry Brown. “Our residents and members are blessed with two golf experiences that we have always considered among the best in the world, and the rankings have consistently supported our belief.”

Says Bradley S. Klein, national director of the Golfweek’s Best Course ratings program. “The presence atop our lists of luminary properties such as Pacific Dunes (No. 1 Resort), Rock Creek Cattle Co. (No. 1 Residential) and Cap Cana-Punta Espada (No. 1 Caribbean & Mexico) only strengthens my already high confidence in our ratings.

“I also like how, with a property like Forest Creek, our raters can see the merits of two diverse Fazio-designed course styles side-by-side: The sandy, scrubby look of the North Course (No. 36 in the rankings) contrasts powerfully with the mature parkland sensibility of the South Course (No. 50 in the rankings), and our raters appreciated both of them,” added Klein.

Golfweek’s 2012 rankings are part of the magazine’s seventh-annual issue dedicated entirely to golf course living and great escapes while exploring golf architecture, travel and real estate. The “2012 Ultimate Guide to Golf Course Living and Great Escapes” also features the 2012 Golfweek’s Best Resort Courses and Caribbean/Mexico Courses lists.

The Golfweek honor continues an outstanding 2011 at Forest Creek. In September Forest Creek was selected by the United States Golf Association (USGA) to host the 2013 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship. The championship will be conducted Oct. 5-10. The U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship is open to amateur golfers at least 25 years of age who hold a USGA Handicap Index no higher than 3.4, and the 2012 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship will be played Sept. 8-13 at Conway Farms Golf Club in Lake Forest, Ill.

The 2013 Mid-Am will mark the first USGA championship for Forest Creek, though the club has previously hosted sectional qualifying for the U.S. Women’s Open and U.S. Girls’ Junior Championships. In October 2011, Forest Creek played host to the 66th Captain’s Putter Team Match, a championship conducted by the Carolinas Golf Association (CGA) that matches 16 male amateurs and eight senior male amateurs from Virginia and West Virginia against a team from North Carolina and South Carolina. In 2012, Forest Creek will host the CGA Senior Amateur Championship.

The club has also hosted the American Junior Golf Association’s 2011 Golf Pride Junior Classic, the 2010 U.S. Kids Golf World Championship and the CGA’s 2006 North Carolina Amateur (won by current Champions Tour player Mike Goodes).

As a complement to the 2012 Golfweek’s Best rankings, the Ultimate Guide to Golf Course Living and Great Escapes offers detailed information about many of the featured properties found on each list, as well as exclusive articles covering some of the hottest trends and topics in golf travel, course design and real estate.

Since beginning its rating system in 1997, Golfweek has developed the most respected ranking structure in the industry. Every year, Golfweek’s nationwide team of course raters, which currently boasts 705 evaluators, surveys more than 3,000 courses − rating each nominated course on the basis of Golfweek’s 10 strict standards of evaluation. Collectively, Golfweek raters have turned in more than 55,000 votes. The full criteria for evaluating the golf courses may be found at Golfweek.com/GolfweeksBest.

Contact: AmericanGolferBlog@gmail.com