The rendering shows the 15th hole on the Cardinal Course with white-sand bunkers, rolling fairway contours and water along the approach. It was released with the October announcement that Andrew Green will renovate the Cardinal. The Country Club of North Carolina made the news public on Oct. 1. Construction is scheduled to begin in fall 2028, and the course is expected to reopen in fall 2029.
The schedule tells only part of the story. The Cardinal never had one architect's complete 18-hole plan. Green has no original design to restore, so his job is to choose what survives from three earlier designers, at a club that is lining up its biggest championships for the years right after the course reopens.
A course built in three chapters
Most of us call the Cardinal by one name, but it was built over three decades. The Pilot lays out the sequence. Willard Byrd designed the first nine holes in 1970, which made CCNC a 27-hole club at the time. Robert Trent Jones Sr. added nine more in 1981 to complete the course. Arthur Hills carried out the most recent renovation in the early 2000s.
That history is what makes this project unusual. Brendon Elliott, writing for Athlon Sports, put it plainly: "there is no single, untouched original design for him to bring back." Elliott adds that the two nines were not even finished in the same decade. Green will be choosing among ideas from different designers, and some of the best ones may not come from the earliest era.
Compare the club's other 18. Kris Spence, a Greensboro-based architect, renovated the Dogwood in 2016, and he also led the roughly $2 million driving range and practice-area renovation CCNC completed this summer. The Cardinal is next in line, and it has the more complicated history.
Why Green, and why his old employer is building it
Green is known for working on established clubs with championship histories. The Pilot's report lists his recent renovations:
- Oak Hill Country Club's East Course, 2021
- Inverness Club, 2020
- Congressional Country Club's Blue Course, 2022
- Scioto Country Club, 2022
- Wannamoisett Country Club, 2022
- East Lake Golf Club, home of the PGA Tour's Tour Championship, 2023
His work at Interlachen Country Club in Minnesota and Chevy Chase Club in Maryland won Golf Digest's Renovation of the Year in 2024 and 2025.
The builder is McDonald & Sons Golf Course Builders, the Maryland-based firm where Green started his career. Golfweek notes he spent 12 years there before starting his own practice. Business North Carolina also identifies the firm as his first employer. So the architect and the construction crew on the Cardinal have a working relationship that goes back to the start of his career.
What the renderings show, and what Green says comes next
Only two holes have been shown publicly. The view of No. 2 has water beside the green complex. No. 15 shows white-sand bunkers with trees behind them. Elliott raises the questions a member would ask about any rendering. Can you recover from the wrong side of the green? Does a layup leave a useful angle? How does the hole play for someone hitting a fairway wood into it instead of a short iron?
Green told The Pilot that the plan is approved and that the work now is detail:
"With the plan approved, our attention now turns to the details and execution of the Cardinal project. We are working closely with the Club and project team to refine the design, establish the construction sequence, and coordinate the many pieces necessary to move the project forward successfully. There is still important design work ahead. 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."
That leaves almost two years of design study before any ground is broken in fall 2028. Holes 2 and 15 show the intended look. The full plan for the rest of the course will come out of that study period.
The calendar the Cardinal fits into
Club president Charlie Rivers connected the renovation directly to championship golf. "A newly invigorated Cardinal Course adds to the luster of the golf at CCNC as it offers the opportunities to host high-level competitions," he told The Pilot.
CCNC was founded in 1963 and has hosted three USGA championships. Those include the 1980 U.S. Amateur, won by Hal Sutton, and the 2021 U.S. Junior Amateur, won by Nick Dunlap. Put the club's announced dates in order, and the Cardinal project falls between two championship stretches:
| When | What | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Summer 2026 | About $2 million range and practice-area renovation under Kris Spence | CCNC practice facilities |
| Oct. 1, 2026 | Andrew Green announced as Cardinal architect | Cardinal |
| July 7–10, 2027 | 121st Southern Amateur Championship | Dogwood |
| Fall 2028 | Cardinal construction scheduled to begin | Cardinal |
| 2029 | U.S. Open returns to Pinehurst | Pinehurst Resort |
| Fall 2029 | Cardinal reopening expected | Cardinal |
| 2030 | U.S. Senior Amateur | CCNC |
| 2037 | U.S. Women's Amateur | CCNC |
The Southern Golf Association lists the 2027 Southern Amateur on the Dogwood. That date was swapped with the Trans-Mississippi Amateur Championship. Golf One Media reports it will be the eighth time CCNC has hosted the event. The USGA named CCNC for the 2030 U.S. Senior Amateur and the 2037 U.S. Women's Amateur back in 2023.
On this timeline, the new Cardinal should be about a year old when the Senior Amateur arrives in 2030. It also means the year the Cardinal is closed is the same year the U.S. Open comes back to Pinehurst. The Pilot refers to the 2029 Open in its coverage of the U.S. 15-501 planning.
Two more full seasons on the Cardinal as it plays now
The course built in three chapters still has the rest of this fall, all of 2027 and the spring and summer of 2028 before construction starts. That gives members two full seasons to play the course as Byrd, Jones and Hills left it, before Green decides which parts to keep.
Golfers who want to see Green's work before 2028 have two new courses to watch, because The Pilot reports that two of his original designs open in this same period. Firefly in Spring Hill, Tennessee, is scheduled for fall 2026, and Kawonu Golf Club in Greenville, South Carolina, for spring 2027. Those are new designs on open ground. His renovation résumé shows more about how he handles an existing course, and the Cardinal is a renovation.
The Southern Amateur also comes to the Dogwood in July 2027, between now and the start of construction. With the range rebuilt this summer, the Dogwood hosting in 2027, the Cardinal redone by 2029 and two USGA championships already scheduled, the club's golf plans are now public through the 2037 Women's Amateur.
If you're a CCNC member or homeowner thinking about how the next few seasons on the Cardinal fit your own plans, I'd love to talk it through with you. Neighbors and friends across Moore County reach out to Kelly Ward for local insight on the clubs we all care about, and I'm always glad to share what I'm hearing about CCNC. Let's Connect.
