Andrew Green Takes on CCNC's Three-Architect Cardinal Course

Green said the plan has been approved, although significant design work remains. His team is refining the design, studying individual holes and working through the sequence of construction with the club.

“There is still important design work ahead,” Green said in the announcement. “As we move toward construction, we will continue to study each hole, test ideas, and refine details to make sure we are getting the most out of the property and the plan.”

Take the rendering of Cardinal’s second hole. The water and bunkering immediately catch your eye, but I’m more interested in how the hole will play for someone who doesn’t hit every approach exactly where they intended. Where can that golfer afford to miss? What kind of recovery will they have when they do? Those are the details I want to see Green work through, especially at a private club where the members will be playing these holes week after week, long after the excitement of the renovation has passed.

There is another connection worth watching. McDonald & Sons Golf Course Builders will handle construction. Green spent 12 years with the company before striking out on his own, and the two have worked together on numerous projects since. That history gives Green and his builders a shared working language when the drawings have to become actual playing surfaces. It cannot guarantee the result, but it gives them a head start on the details that seldom make it into a press announcement.

Those details will be debated well before a shovel touches the turf. The planned start of construction is still two years away, with fall 2029 penciled in for the reopening. Green has time to work through the choices, and the members have time to develop their own expectations of what Cardinal should become.

A Club With Championship Ambitions and Everyday Golfers

Cardinal also sits inside a club with a substantial tournament history. The Country Club of North Carolina hosted the 1980 U.S. Amateur won by Hal Sutton, the 2010 U.S. Girls’ Junior won by Doris Chen and the 2021 U.S. Junior Amateur won by Nick Dunlap. The 2027 Southern Amateur is on its calendar, as is the 2037 U.S. Women’s Amateur. Those events form the club’s history; the announcement doesn’t identify Cardinal as the course used for each championship.

“The membership is enthusiastic about watching this project come to life,” club president Charlie Rivers said. He also pointed to the potential for the new Cardinal to host high-level competition. Those are two different tests for the completed design, and both deserve attention.

Elite golfers don’t need extra yardage on every hole to feel uncomfortable. Ask them to choose the correct angle into a green and make a careless miss costly, and you can create a stern test without turning every round into a survival exercise for the membership. For a private club, I would put considerable weight on how well the renovated Cardinal plays on an ordinary Wednesday, when the people using it have to want to come back, while still leaving room for a demanding championship setup.

Green has a strong record with prominent tournament venues, including Inverness, Congressional’s Blue Course, Oak Hill’s East Course and East Lake. Golf Digest recognized his Interlachen and Chevy Chase Club projects with its 2024 and 2025 Renovation of the Year awards, respectively. Firefly is one of his original designs, while another, Kawonu Golf Club in Greenville, South Carolina, is scheduled to open in spring 2027.

Those credentials help explain the appointment; they cannot make the design decisions for him. When a member eventually stands over an approach to No. 2, with water alongside the green, Green will have to have given that golfer something more useful than an attractive picture: a shot to consider, a risk to weigh and a way to play the hole that makes sense for the game in front of them.

PGA of America Golf Professional Brendon Elliott is an award-winning coach and golf writer who serves as Athlon Sports Senior Golf Writer. Read his recent “The Starter” on RG.org, where he is their Lead Golf Writer. To stay updated on all of his latest work, sign up for his newsletter or visit his MuckRack Profile.