Business with pleasure: the governor calls on the state's best courses to help him court commerce.

• Author: Campbell, Spencer
• Position: TOP 100 GOLF COURSES

Perhaps you're wondering why we publish the North Carolina Golf Panel's annual ranking of the top 100 Tar Heel golf courses. Maybe you think that Business North Carolina should stop playing hooky and get back to writing about what makes the state work. Your argument is valid. But we don't think golf and business are mutually exclusive--and the governor agrees. "We have the best golf courses around, and we must integrate that now much more into our travel and tourism package," Pat McCrory said in February. "And not just for travel and tourism dollars but also for business travel--to encourage more business conventions to come to North Carolina." Those seeking "the best golf courses around" need only to turn the page. The panel--about 135 journalists, golf pros, college coaches, noted amateurs and business leaders--have ranked North Carolina courses based on routing, design, strategy, memorability, fairness, variety, conditioning and aesthetics. A minimum of 40 had to vote for a course for it to qualify; panelists could only vote for ones they've played. Pinehurst No. 2 once again grabbed the top spot and will play a huge role in business recruitment this summer, when it hosts the men's and women's U.S. Opens. For example, many golfers in the ladies' event will come from Southeast Asia, giving McCrory an opportunity to woo Far East companies. "I've wiped my schedule clear for two weeks."

"As much as I dislike Yankees, it in inexcusable to have gouged them this way."

--WALTER HINES PAGE, whose family sold 5,800 acres in Moore County to Bostonian James W. Tufts for $5,800 in 1895. The Yankee turned the sandy wasteland into Pinehurst.

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Number of courses on the Top 100 that are in the Triangle, most of any region, followed by the West and East (tied at 18), Charlotte (17) and Triad (14).

Yardage Course (back rating/ 2014 2013 Course Par tees) slope 1 1 Pinehurst No. 2, Pinehurst 72 7,497 76.4/141 2 2 Grandfather Golf and Country 72 7,085 74.3/145 Club, Linville 3 5 The Country Club of North 72 7,204 75.2/134 Carolina (Dogwood), Pinehurst 4 3 Old North State Club, New 72 7,102 74.8/142 London 5 4 Quail Hollow Club, Charlotte 72 7,396 75.0/140 6 Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club Southern Pines 2013 rank: 6 71 7,015 73.5/135 Pinehurst No. 2 isn't the only North Carolina course that has hosted a national championship (page 72). The USGA held the U.S. Women's Open here in 1996,2001 and 2007. 7 7 Elk River Club, Banner Elk 72 6,826 73.4/141 8 8...