The Hills Are Alive: McConnell Golf acquires Holston Hills in Knoxville, Tenn.

McConnell Golf ventures outside North and South Carolina for the first time with its purchase of storied Holston Hills in Knoxville, Tenn.

(RALEIGH, NC) — As McConnell Golf makes history of its own, the Raleigh-based company has added even more history to its stable of clubs with the purchase of venerable Holston Hills Country Club in Knoxville, Tenn.

Renowned for its nearly untouched, 1927 Donald Ross-designed golf course, Holston Hills is now the 11th golf club in McConnell Golf’s stable. However, Holston Hills becomes McConnell’s first club located outside the Carolinas. The game’s greatest architects designed each of the McConnell Golf courses, including Ross, Pete Dye, Tom Fazio, Arnold Palmer, Ellis Maples, Greg Norman and Hale Irwin.

“Holston Hills is the fourth McConnell Golf course designed by Donald Ross,” said McConnell Golf Chief Operating Officer Christian Anastasiadis. “We are particularly excited to be part of the Knoxville community. We look forward to offering in Tennessee what we have provided at some of the finest private clubs in the Carolinas.”

Located just east of Knoxville near the foothills of the Smoky Mountains on 180 open acres of rolling old farmland tucked into a bend in the Holston River, Holston Hills immediately became recognized as the finest course in Tennessee when it opened and started hosting every important regional tournament including a PGA Tour event.

Holston Hills’ illustrious history of championship golf includes playing host to numerous national, regional and state tournaments including the 2004 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur, the NCAA Championship in 1955 and 1965, three Tennessee State Opens and eight Tennessee State Amateur Championships.

Byron Nelson won the Knoxville Open at Holston Hills during his magical run in 1945 — his 15th of 18 PGA Tour victories that season. The previous week Nelson had lost to Fred Haas in Memphis, ending his streak of 11 consecutive wins. Cary Middlecoff was only 19 years old in 1940 when he won his first Tennessee Amateur at Holston Hills — the first of Middlecoff’s four consecutive Tennessee Amateurs. Among his 40 professional victories, Middlecoff won the U.S. Open in 1949 and again in 1956, as well as the Masters in 1955.

The Worlds Fair was hosted by Knoxville in 1982. As part of the fair’s sporting activities, the PGA Cup Matches were played at Holston Hills. This international event matches the nine best PGA club professionals against their counterparts from Great Britain and Ireland. The winning PGA team handily won the match 13.5 points to 7.5 points for the Great Britain and Ireland team.

Holston Hills was part of Golf Magazine’s original “Top 100 Courses in the U.S.” Golf Digest consistently ranks the layout among the top three courses in Tennessee, and Holston Hills has reached as high as No. 29 in the U.S. in Golfweek’s list of Classic Courses. Ross’s layout is arrayed in a broad, fan-shaped formation, with both nines returning to the clubhouse that sits on an upslope along the north side of the property. Holston Hills features more than 100 bunkers scattered across the property, with very few houses or other visual distractions taking away from the links-style playing experience.

Founded in 2003, McConnell Golf’s stable of clubs in North Carolina includes Raleigh Country Club and TPC at Wakefield Plantation in Raleigh, Sedgefield Country Club Ross Course and Dye Course in Greensboro, Old North State Club in New London, Treyburn Country Club in Durham, Brook Valley Country Club in Greenville and The Country Club of Asheville. In South Carolina, McConnell Golf owns The Reserve Golf Club in Pawleys Island and Musgrove Mill Golf Club in Clinton. McConnell Golf also manages the Grande Dunes Members Course and Ocean Club in Myrtle Beach.

Through the years, McConnell Golf (www.McConnellGolf.com) has bolstered its bourgeoning reputation in the golf industry by investing significantly in improvements and upgrades at its clubs. In addition, McConnell Golf has recently added two new national memberships to its attractive menu of affordable, cutting-edge offerings. “McConnell Golf is focused on bringing value back to the private club experience,” said Anastasiadis. “We pride ourselves on being the market’s best private club value.”