N.C. State's Hill Makes Pro Debut At Memorial

N.C. State's record-setting Matt Hill will make his professional debut this week at The Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio.

Hill, who had one of college golf's all-time great seasons as a sophomore, decided to bypass his senior year and has signed with IMG to represent him and with Nike equipment. He had previously indicated he planned to turn pro after the 2009-10 college season ended.

A native of Bright's Grove, Ontario, hometown of former Masters champion Mike Weir, Hill had 20 top-10 finishes in 37 career tournaments for the Wolfpack. But it was his sophomore year that elevated Hill to a special place.

He won eight times as a sophomore, tying the NCAA record set by Tiger Woods in 1995-96. Hill's biggest victory was the individual title in the 2009 NCAA championship. Along the way, he earned the Jack Nicklaus award as the top college golfer in the country.

Hill's junior season was solid and included an individual victory at the Hootie at Bulls Bay tournament this spring. He also finished third in the ACC tournament but missed qualifying for the NCAA championship by one stroke.

Does Tiger Belong On The Ryder Cup Team?

My two cents' worth:

-- Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin said last weekend that Tiger Woods isn't an automatic choice to be on the U.S. Ryder Cup team this fall if he doesn't qualify on points. Only the top eight in the points list automatically make the team, leaving Pavin four at-large choices. Woods, right now, is in 11th place.

I agree with Jack Nicklaus who, while overseas, said Pavin would "need a brain scan" if he left Woods off the team.

Of course, Woods needs to be on the team unless he's physically unable to play. He's Tiger Woods. He has more major championships than everyone on the team combined will have. Maybe twice as many. You're going to take Dustin Johnson over Tiger Woods? No offense to Dustin Johnson, but no.

If Tiger wants to be in Wales in early October, he'll be there.

-- I'm not sure Mark Calcavecchia has gotten the credit he deserves for being a very good player for a very long time.

He's won 13 times on the PGA Tour, including a British Open, and he finished second 27 times. That's 40 times in the top two. That's a heckuva career.

Calc is headed to the Champions Tour after he turns 50 on June 12 and the Memorial next week will be his PGA Tour farewell. Media types, in particular, will miss him because there's no better quote than Calc.

-- A very cool thing is scheduled the day before the British Open begins at St. Andrews in July. A group of 28 former Open champions will play a four-hole exhibition on the first, second, 17th and 18th holes at the Old Course.

The group includes Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Peter Thomson, Robert de Vicenzo, Tom Watson, Lee Trevino, Greg Norman and Seve Ballesteros, among others. Given Ballesteros's health struggles, his presence should give the event an extraordinary emotional feel.

-- Concord's Cydney Clanton, who is completing her junior year at Auburn, is on the U.S. Curtis Cup team which will face the European team near Boston next month. Clanton has the game to make her a star when she turns pro.

Uptown golf offers easy escape for quick work on your game

If you’re working uptown and want to spend a few minutes working on your golf game without leaving the center city, now you can.

There’s an indoor golf facility at the Charlotte Athletic Club located on the second floor of the indoor shops near the corner of Trade and Tryon streets.

“There are hundreds of people working uptown who have trouble getting out of the office long enough to work on their golf games. It’s just not feasible,” said Jim Donnelly, developer of the 1,500-member club.

“Here, you can walk over and spend 30 minutes on your golf game and go back to work.”

Memberships are available, but it’s also open to walk-in visitors who want to stop in for the occasional session when the golf course is too far away.

The golf facility is built around the high-tech Swing Box simulator. It isn’t some high-end video game. It’s a multi-purpose bit of software that can serve as a practice range, a teaching aid or allow you to play Pebble Beach with your friends in about an hour.

Meaghan Trainor, the club’s golf instructor, played four years of college golf at Elon before playing the Duramed Futures Tour. A former assistant pro at the Quail Hollow Club, Trainor is certified by the Titleist Performance Institute.

For members, a 30-minute session on the Swing Box setup is $13. It’s $18 for nonmembers. Unlimited monthly sessions are $50 for members, $60 for nonmembers.

For more information, visit charlotteathleticclub.com

Chip Shots

-- Charlotte’s Dana Rader has been voted third-best women’s teacher in the United States by Golf Digest magazine while Peggy Kirk Bell at Pine Needles Resort in Southern Pines is ranked fourth. Julie Cole, who works at the Dana Rader Golf School, is ranked 17th and Karen Palacios-Jansen, who runs swingbladegolf.com, is ranked 27th.

The rankings were based on the votes of more than 1,100 members of the LPGA’s teaching and club professional organization, as well as PGA of America members.

-- Jack Nicklaus has added wine to his portfolio. The new Jack Nicklaus Wine collection is debuting this week in St. Andrews, Scotland and next week at the Memorial Tournament. The collection features cabernet sauvignon and will be available at wine stores and selected golf clubs.

The Kids Are All Right

It appears golf is going green.

Green as in young, fresh and unafraid.

At the Byron Nelson tournament, 22-year old Jason Day was the champion but 16-year old Jordan Spieth seemed the big winner with his 'looks like he belongs' performance that made him an instant star. Meanwhile, 16-year old Grayson Murray made the cut at the Nationwide Tour event in Raleigh last week.

Oh to be young, fearless and have a 28-inch waist.

Throw in what Rory McIlroy, Ryo Ishikawa, Rickie Fowler and a handful of other young 'uns have done this year and you get the sense that another youth movement has arrived. It happens from time to time, thankfully, and right now seems to be one of those times.

It doesn't mean they've reshuffled the world order but it does show encouraging signs about what comes after Tiger, Phil and Ernie. One week doesn't get it done and the trick is sustaining the good play and the momentum.

Consider Day. Yes, he's 22 but he's been around for a few years now and there were growing questions as to when he was going to finally win. It's the flip side of being a young dynamo, suddenly having to deal with the pressure that comes with the expectations. Day may win many more times but his struggle to win once is a reminder of how difficult it is to succeed on the PGA Tour.

At a tournament absent stars, Spieth became one with his play and his personality. He's still in high school but he acted like playing a tour event was no big deal. He's still young enough to believe every putt's going in, every shot's going to come off the way he envisions it. That's part of the fun of watching the young players. They haven't built up the layers of scar tissue that eventually factor in as years ago by, introducing a shade of doubt.

As good as this young group may be, the reality check comes at the majors. No player among the current under-30 group has won a major championship. It would be nice to see that change and it may next month at the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.

That's when we find out who's all grown up.

Questions: Best Golf Bargains, Freddie and Tiger

Five questions to consider while waiting on your weekend tee time:

1. What happened to the PGA Tour's Texas swing?

The tour is in the middle of a three-week run through the Lone Star State but it isn't exactly crackling with excitement. There was a time when the Texas swing drew most of the stars but now it's fallen into a funk. The field at the Byron Nelson event this week is among the weakest on tour this year and there weren't many stars in San Antonio last week.

There's no easy fix. Falling between the Quail Hollow-Players combination and with the Memorial still two weeks away, it's in a tough spot. The field should be better at Colonial next week but the Texas swing is in danger of becoming the tour's new dead zone on the spring schedule.

2. Can Michelle Wie save the LPGA?

She's the tour's best hope. With the loss of Annika Sorenstam and Lorena Ochoa over the past couple of years, the tour has lost its best players. It's also lost its way in the U.S. The combination of sponsor issues, an expansion into more international markets and the absence of a major star hasn't helped.

That's why Wie's success is critical. She has crossover appeal, meaning she can draw in fans who might not otherwise pay much attention to the LPGA tour. She seems destined to win big. The sooner she starts, the better for the LPGA Tour.

3. What are the best golf bargains around the Charlotte area?

I want to create a list of the best places to play around here for the best prices. If you have a course you think qualifies, send it along to me at rgreenjr@charlotteobserver.com. We'll post a list in the coming weeks.

4. Has this been the quietest week on the Tiger Woods' front since Thanksgiving weekend?

Think about it -- there's been virtually no Tiger talk since he announced he has an inflamed joint in his neck. He's entered the British Open but otherwise there's been almost nothing about TW. It's a nice break for us and for him.

5. Is Fred Couples a part-time Charlottean?

I'm not sure about that but he's been spending plenty of time around here recently. He's purchased season tickets to the Charlotte Bobcats games and he's been hanging around town. When a friend of mine stopped by Quail Hollow recently to pick up his golf clubs, there was Freddie in the pro shop, hanging around like one of the guys, fiddling with a putter. Nice guy to have hanging around town.

Driscoll Helped Make Pinehurst A Special Place

Most of you probably don't know Janeen Driscoll unless you've come across her when she's watching her beloved Pittsburgh Steelers in which case you'd probably remember her.

For the past several years, she has been the communications director at Pinehurst Resort and now she's leaving. She's going to stay in Pinehurst but work for another company that promotes golf resorts around the world and she's leaving with the blessing of the people she's worked for at Pinehurst.

Janeen is one of the people who have given Pinehurst a large measure of its grace. She's not the only one but she has been one of the resort's great ambassadors, understanding and appreciating where she worked and what it means to the game and the people who respect it. She and Pinehurst have been a perfect fit.

Golf is about more than the game, just like other sports. It's about the people, the places and the memories that come along with the game, giving it a texture that reaches beyond the course. If you've played golf and been around the game for a while, you think as much or more about those things as you do the birdies you made and the shots you hit.

When the answer the phone at the resort, the operator says, "It's a beautiful day at Pinehurst."

Janeen Driscoll has been one of the reasons why.

Linville: A beautiful place to play golf

There are more famous neighborhoods in American golf -- the sweet spots surrounding Shinnecock Hills on Long Island come to mind, as do the classics in and around 17-Mile Drive at Pebble Beach -- but there aren't many better than the collection of golf clubs in and around Linville.

With the exception of the forever charming Linville Golf Club which allows some public play through the adjacent and equally charming Eseeola Lodge, they're all private clubs, which means most of us only hear about them. But if you've ever had the good fortune to play Grandfather Golf and Country Club (in photo above), Linville, the Elk River Club, Linville Ridge or Diamond Creek, you know you've had a good day regardless of how many golf balls you may have lost among the rhododendrum.

There's an old-world mystique to the North Carolina mountains around Linville. They've been rounded by time and when the clouds cling to them on gray days, it's like pieces of the sky are dragging on the hills.

The essence of golf isn't so much the shots you hit but the experience you have and at Grandfather or Linville or Elk River, it's a good walk that even a couple of double bogeys can't spoil. They're the kind of places where you find yourself looking up at the mountains around you, suddenly staring at a hawk gliding in the distance. It's where you stop the cart and before you hit a shot, you hear a brook gurling down the slope beside you. Glance over and you might see trout in the stream.

Standing on the eighth tee at Grandfather, you may not want to leave. It's among the prettiest par-4s in golf, playing up the hill with the top of the famous mountain rising in the distance is as dramatic as the 18th tee at Pebble Beach, maybe moreso on a perfect October afternoon.

At Linville Ridge, you can play along the mountaintop and look across at Grandfather, a view that never gets old. Just a few miles apart, Linville was designed by Donald Ross and Elk River was crafted by Jack Nicklaus, both giants of the game. Ross may have spent only a day or two walking the property at Linville but he designed a work of art that has aged beautifully. Nicklaus spent plenty of time at Elk River creating his own bit of art.

At the clubs around Linville, golf is a six-month sport. The game is just coming out of a long winter thaw and it will go back into hibernation by Thanksgiving. For this part of the year, though, it's golf in full bloom. It looks different and feels different.

The fairways are soft, surrendering divots the size of footprints, and the greens are subtly sloped and dangerous. Tee shots hang in the air, framed against a mountainside, and thunder rumbles over a hill many afternoons. There's a richness to golf around Linville, both in the literal and the physical sense.

In a quiet corner of the world, just two hours from Charlotte, the game has reemerged from another winter, as beautiful as ever.