Carolina’s men’s golf team was set to leave for Chicago and the Fighting Illini Invitational at Olympia Fields Country Club the second Wednesday in September, and Kenan Poole, a graduate student from Raleigh in his fifth year on the team, had some free time that morning and ventured out to the new practice facility at Finley Golf Club.
The 16-acre expanse sits where the 10th and 11th holes of the golf course once stood and now offers in the words of one course official a “Disney World of golf”—vast hitting areas, uneven lies, dozens of target greens, varying grass lengths, trees strategically positioned for shaping shots, and practice greens planted with Bermuda and bent grasses.
Poole wanted to fine-tune his driver before the Tar Heels, ranked No. 1 in the nation, teed off against a strong field at a course that has hosted a U.S. Open and is known for its length and tight driving corridors. The 18th at Olympia Fields was particularly lurking in his mind—a 498-yard par-4, dogleg left, trees hugging the left side and an expansive bunker on the right. Assistant coach Noah Goldman happened to be on the practice range, and they began wondering how they could best use the fairway lines, target greens and tees to replicate the 18th at Olympia Fields.
They found one of the new tees tucked into the woods near where the green of the 10th hole once stood. There is a fairway 25 yards wide (the average of a U.S. Open driving corridor) in the distance, a stand of trees to the left, a pair of tall pine trees in the middle and the facility clubhouse in the deep background. The sightlines almost perfectly reflected the view the golfers would have that weekend on the finishing hole.
“I had played Olympia Fields and remembered how narrow that hole is,” Poole says. “We tried to replicate that tee shot. I hit drivers trying to hug the tree on the left as close as possible and hit a tight draw. The American flag in front of the clubhouse was my target, where I wanted the ball to come down. I hit drivers for probably 45 minutes. Noah wouldn’t let me leave until I hit three perfect ones in a row. I’d cut one a little and he’d say, ‘Nope, that’s in the bunker, try again.’
“We got to Olympia Fields and I stood on the 18th tee. I felt totally comfortable with the look, I knew exactly what shot I needed to hit. It’s pretty crazy….
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