STAYING THE COURSE: Equestrian investors are restoring a foothills-area golf-course development with a rugged 50-year history.

• Author: King, Brad
• Position: NC TREND: Development

Like its rolling golf course in the foothills of North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains, Cleghorn Golf and Sports Club in Rutherford County has experienced ups and downs through its half-century in business.

Despite its location on a major highway, about an hour from Charlotte, Asheville and Greenville, South Carolina, a variety of owners have struggled as Cleghorn battled for a niche in western North Carolina tourism. When Indiana golf pro Dave Long arrived in 2013 after his wife accepted a finance job nearby, the club had been closed for two years following the harsh recession of 2008-09.

"The course was overgrown, and it was a bit of a mess," Long says. "It was really unfortunate. My wife and I used to come out and walk the course when we moved here because it was closed down. As we walked around, I couldn't believe how spectacular the layout was. That's kind of what got me here."

Now, the tide may have turned amid surging interest in golf and second-home properties.

In April 2016, Cleghorn was acquired by Tryon International Equestrian Center & Resort, which has attracted some of the world's best riders since opening in Mill Spring in 2015. The group, led by Managing Parmer Mark Bellissimo and President Sharon Decker, has invested more than $300 million at the Polk County site, about six miles from Cleghorn.

The equestrian center offers shuttles to the golf course, making it "a bit like going to The Greenbrier or The Homestead," says Decker, referring to famous golf resorts in West Virginia and Virginia. Nearby attractions include Blue Ridge Parkway and Lake Lure. Decker is a former Duke Energy and Tanner Cos. executive. She also was secretary of the N.C. Department of Commerce.

Cleghorn dropped "plantation" from the resort's name as part of a rebranding and increased the course's maintenance budget and staff, including hiring Dan Fradley as turf director to restore the putting greens and fairways. "Dan has great pedigree, coming from Quail Hollow and Charlotte Country Club," Long says.

Last year, Cleghorn Golf and Sports Club enjoyed its most profitable season ever.

"We had a great opportunity and kind of a strange opportunity to come in and open the golf course back up," says Long, who had been a general manager of a course in northern Indiana before moving south. "I wasn't sure if I made the right decision at the time. But it has definitely become the right decision now."

Colonial roots

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