CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA | When the Quail Hollow Club was being conceived on the southern edge of this smaller, more provincial city in the late 1950s, Arnold Palmer told James J. Harris and friends that if the golf course were built, he’d bring professional golf here.
It happened with the Kemper Open’s arrival in 1969 but, like this city, Quail Hollow Club is dramatically different than when Tom Weiskopf won three times here in the 1970s.
The long-time host of the Wells Fargo Championship, Quail Hollow has become one of the most prominent sites in professional golf. Having hosted the 2017 PGA Championship, Quail Hollow will host the 2022 Presidents Cup, continue with the Wells Fargo Championship through at least 2024 and host the PGA Championship again in 2025.
That won’t be the end.
Given the construction, innovation and commitment made by the club in recent years, it may be just the beginning.
“We know we’re dancing until ’25,” said Johnny Harris, the club president for more than 30 years. “I can’t imagine with what we have here that we’re not going to move forward for another five years after that. Then it will be up to some other people.”
Other than Augusta National and the TPC Stadium Course at Sawgrass, there may not be another club with the built-in capability of hosting major professional golf that Quail Hollow now has.
It’s not just the golf course, which has undergone multiple changes under the guidance of designer Tom Fazio. Though some preferred the 2003 layout when the then Wachovia Championship debuted, the tweaks – big and small – have made Quail Hollow better able to handle infrastructure and galleries without feeling cramped.
It’s a place where golf is revered and, despite its pedigree, the club hums along with a low-key vibe. It’s comfortable, not stodgy.
As for a dramatic stage, the last five holes – including the rugged “Green Mile” finish – offer a spectacular backdrop around a lake and playing back toward the big white clubhouse.
Other than its physical footprint – 257 acres (all of it maintained) – Quail Hollow is not a big club. It has approximately 350 members ranging from Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper to PGA Tour players Webb Simpson, Harold Varner III and Johnson Wagner as well as business leaders of global organizations. Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson are honorary members as was Palmer.
It’s a place where golf is revered and, despite its pedigree, the club hums along with a low-key vibe. It’s comfortable, not stodgy.
(Click images below to get two closer views of No. 17)
Driven by Harris (son of the club’s creator), Quail Hollow has aggressively improved virtually every aspect of the club, for the benefit of the membership and hosting major events.
“I think having Johnny Harris here, he’s kind of the visionary not only for the 2021 Wells Fargo Championship, but what Quail Hollow could be in five, 10, 15 years,” said Webb Simpson, a member who lives on the seventh hole.
“I think he’s always had the goal to get a major championship here and he got it, and he’s going to have another one here and then a Presidents Cup. So I think he’s always had the mindset of we are going to do two things, we’re going to make the club enjoyable for members, feel like a small, home club in Charlotte, but also we’re going to be able to be big enough and infrastructure built well enough to host the biggest events in golf.”
Since the 2019 Wells Fargo Championship (the pandemic canceled the event last year), the practice ground has been completely redone, eliminating a valley in the middle of the landing area. It has also been expanded should the need ever arise to host 10,000 or so people for a tournament-week concert.
Little touches have big impacts. The turf on the practice tee is the same used in NFL stadiums, the sod cut deeper and thicker to better handle the wear and tear. It costs more but the investment in doing it right was more important.
A new entryway was built and there is now an intricate web of wide roads (that don’t intrude on and are rarely visible from the course) throughout the property allowing for easy movement of machinery.
A permanent bus loading zone (which included some city investment) has been created along with more parking. It meant relocating the tennis facility into the middle of the property but it now sits discreetly hidden behind fencing and greenery near the sixth and seventh holes.
The club even worked with Duke Energy to install several permanent power stations around the property to accommodate whatever is required in the future.
Harris said more than $30 million has been invested without assessing the membership.
“It’s kind of a blank canvas,” club general manager Tom Delozier said. “Most importantly, you have acres and acres of contiguous usable space where you can build your blocks any way you want.”
From a golf standpoint, the course is big and brawny. With the ryegrass overseed still in place, it is gorgeous this week and it will naturally draw comparisons to Augusta with its bright green and white sand look. What Quail Hollow has become is a club with its own place in the game.
In 2011, Palmer played the Wednesday pro-am here with his grandson Sam Saunders. As he was leaving, Palmer left Harris with advice he holds close today.
“The last thing Arnold said when he got in that car that day after playing with his grandson, he said your dad and mom would be really proud but don’t ever stop. Keep making it better every day,” Harris said.
“This is a place where we want to be the very best.”