Charlotte Country Club wins top honor

Charlotte Country Club's recent renovation project has earned it a high honor -- it has been named the top remodeled golf course in 2009 by Golf Digest magazine.

It's one of the premier honors in the golf course business and further enhances the reputation of the course. Ron Prichard handled the remodeling project, working to bring back the classic elements created in the original design by Donald Ross.

Charlotte Country Club was ranked ahead of Olympia Fields outside Chicago, which hosted the 2003 U.S. Open, the California Golf Club of San Francisco and Austin (Tex.) Country Club in the remodel category.

The Pete Dye Course at the French Lick Resort was named best new public course while Pikewood National Golf Club in Morgantown, W.Va., was named best new private club. Sagebrush Golf & Sporting Club was named best new course in Canada.

“America’s Best New Courses of 2009 are all about old school. All four winners were designed by senior golfers with decades of experience…and all four courses built for the purest of reasons, the sheer enjoyment of the game," wrote Ron Whitten, Golf Digest's senior editor for architecture.

More than 900 panelists were involved in the selection process.