Kilmarlic Golf Club

Outer Banks Ranks as North Carolina's No. 2 Golf Getaway

By Brian Weis

The most authoritative statewide source of golf course rankings in a state that arguably has some of the nation's best courses has spoken ... the Outer Banks boasts the No. 2 golf getaway and top coastal excursion in North Carolina.

When 135 members of the esteemed North Carolina Golf Panel, founded in 1995, were asked: If you had to put together a three-day golf trip within the state - public and semi-private courses only - where would you play?

Following a trip to Pinehurst to play No. 2, No. 8 and Pine Needles, the panel selected a getaway to the Outer Banks to experience three courses all ranked among the Top 50 You Can Play in North Carolina, including No. 20 Currituck Club, No. 25 Kilmarlic Golf Club and No. 36 Nags Head Golf Links. In addition, Kilmarlic rated as the state's Most Fun Coastal Course to Play and Nags Head checked in at No. 4.

Golf around North Carolina's storied Outer Banks represents an outstanding selection of fun and affordable yet quality golf courses - along with eclectic accommodations and a plethora of off-course activities that have transformed the Outer Banks into a mini-Mecca sportsman's paradise.

A famous expression coined long ago at Cahoon's Grocery and Variety Store in Nags Head goes, "If we don't have it, you don't need it." This OBX motto could easily be applied to its golf. From true barrier island links courses to modern parkland marvels located inland, the region is so chock full of variety, golfers truly don't have to go anywhere else. The challenges at The Pointe Golf Club, The Carolina Club, Nags Head, Kilmarlic and Currituck Club are as spectacular as the coastal views they possess. There may be no better location for an affordable and memorable spring golf getaway than the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

Every time golfers tackle historic Nags Head, they find themselves facing a different challenge. Crafted by Bob Moore, Nags Head plays hard along the inner waterway on the southern end of the Outer Banks, where capricious breezes off sound-side waters create a unique golfing experience each and every day. With its coastal winds, rugged shoreline, island holes, seaside vistas, and tees and greens are separated by rolling dunes and wild sea grass, Nags Head bears far more than a passing resemblance to the famed Scottish golf links.

Afternoon drives take on a whole new meaning along the coast just minutes north of Rees Jones's 18-hole gem known as The Currituck Club, No. 66 in North Carolina's Top 100 and the grandest design along the coast "sculpted on the type of land where golf began" among 600 acres of dunes, wetlands, maritime forests and sound seascapes.

Home to a dozen new golf cottages located near its entrance, Kilmarlic is a popular Tom Steele design nestled along the marshland of the Albemarle Sound. North Carolina's No. 83 course in the Top 100 is a wonderful mainland design amidst 605 beautiful acres of maritime forest providing a pure OBX layout with water and wetlands virtually in play at all times.

Located just across the Wright Memorial Bridge, The Pointe is the first in a sequence of championship golf courses - layouts close to the sounds and ocean but more parkland in settings. The course is also said to be the first in the country to have the A-1 bent grass - a dense, disease-resistant strain - installed across its corridors. Meanwhile, The Carolina Club's positioning as the first design heading into town from the north and last one on the way out makes it the ideal play on either side of your OBX golf getaway.

More Outer Banks golf package info found at www.PlayOBXGolf.com.

Revised: 07/16/2019 - Article Viewed 10,089 Times

About: Brian Weis

Brian Weis is the mastermind behind GolfTrips.com, a vast network of golf travel and directory sites covering everything from the rolling fairways of Wisconsin to the sunbaked desert layouts of Arizona. If there’s a golf destination worth visiting, chances are, Brian has written about it, played it, or at the very least, found a way to justify a "business trip" there.

As a card-carrying member of the Golf Writers Association of America (GWAA), International Network of Golf (ING), Golf Travel Writers of America (GTWA), International Golf Travel Writers Association (IGTWA), and The Society of Hickory Golfers (SoHG), Brian has the credentials to prove that talking about golf is his full-time job. In 2016, his peers even handed him The Shaheen Cup, a prestigious award in golf travel writing—essentially the Masters green jacket for guys who don’t hit the range but still know where the best 19th holes are.

Brian’s love for golf goes way back. As a kid, he competed in junior and high school golf, only to realize that his dreams of a college golf scholarship had about the same odds as a 30-handicap making a hole-in-one. Instead, he took the more practical route—working on the West Bend Country Club grounds crew to fund his University of Wisconsin education. Little did he know that mowing greens and fixing divots would one day lead to a career writing about the best courses on the planet.

In 2004, Brian turned his golf passion into a business, launching GolfWisconsin.com. Three years later, he expanded his vision, and GolfTrips.com was born—a one-stop shop for golf travel junkies looking for their next tee time. Today, his empire spans all 50 states, and 20+ international destinations.

On the course, Brian is a weekend warrior who oscillates between a 5 and 9 handicap, depending on how much he's been traveling (or how generous he’s feeling with his scorecard). His signature move" A high, soft fade that his playing partners affectionately (or not-so-affectionately) call "The Weis Slice." But when he catches one clean, his 300+ yard drives remind everyone that while he may write about golf for a living, he can still send a ball into the next zip code with the best of them.

Whether he’s hunting down the best public courses, digging up hidden gems, or simply outdriving his buddies, Brian Weis is living proof that golf is more than a game—it’s a way of life.