Updated July 13, 2026, 10:42 a.m. ET
WEST END, N.C. – One of the best phrases in golf? “We had the entire place to ourselves.”
Nobody in front to slow you down. No singles zipping up behind, staring at you through a rangefinder, waiting to be waved through. Just fairway after fairway to yourself. Play at your own pace and focus on your own game. Glorious.
Golfweek’s Gabe Gudgel and I experienced it for ourselves at Dormie Club, just a few miles northwest of Pinehurst. Part of the Dormie Network – a collection of seven clubs stretched from Texas up to Nebraska and over to New Jersey – the Dormie Club brings an incredibly relaxed vibe to the Carolina Sandhills.
It started in the Dormie Club’s parking lot, from which our bags were whisked to a luxurious four-bedroom cottage stocked with everything from whiskey and cigars to energy drinks and a jar of bitesize Bit-O-Honey candies. We had a tee time in 30 minutes but there was no rush, just well-rehearsed organization that led us through the well-stocked pro shop, into the adjacent restaurant for a quick hydration break, then onto a range we had all to ourselves on this late-May afternoon. Twenty swings later, we headed to the main attraction.
All the slick service in the world cannot hide a golf course lacking in character. No worries of that here, as Gudgel and I had the first tee all to ourselves and our caddie, John. The course laid out before us was designed by the famed team of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw and ranks among the top 12 private clubs in North Carolina and the top 200 modern courses in the United States.
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Sure, the bag drop experience was great, as far as such things go and much better than at so many bustling destinations these days that might feel a bit like a factory. But the golf course was even better, and with two nights booked in that cottage overlooking the fourth fairway, the trajectory of this trip just kept rising from that first tee.
That’s the goal of the Dormie Network. To allow players to do what they want, when they want, all at a reasonable pace. To wow with what comes across to members and guests as simple efficiency, then stun with days of interesting golf. To make a foursome feel like the only people on the entire golf course. To offer a prime table for dinner. To provide a cool drink on the 18th green before it is even requested. To make every single thing effortless, a whole trip seamless. I’ve experienced it at other Dormie Network clubs as well, but the staff members at Dormie Club were on their game.
“As much as we can cater to make people happy,” said Brandon Kammerer, the hospitality manager at Dormie Club, “our goal is just to see you smile.”
The golf course at Dormie Club
It definitely was all grins for Gudgel and me as we lobbed birdies and bogeys at each other across the front nine, which starts with a series of five strong par 4s. Coore and Crenshaw’s creation, which was built in 2010 and acquired by Dormie Network in 2017, checks all the boxes for great Sandhills golf. Firm conditions, rolling ground, an exposed and natural aesthetic, and fun shot after fun shot keep first-time players wondering what interesting hole is around the next corner through the pines.
Coore and Crenshaw are masters at what has come to be known by many as minimalist design. Coore has better described it as trying to make a course fit into its natural environment without artificial features. At Dormie Club, the design duo had a beautiful 1,000-acre canvas on which to work, with rolling and sandy hills that allow a ball to bounce and roll after it lands.
The bent grass greens are the stars of the show. Often low and open at their fronts, the putting surfaces tend to increase in severity and interest as they stretch from front to back. The runoffs to the sides and bunkering also frequently increase from front to back, challenging players who want to attack pins set deeper into the greens.
Such design allows weaker players to bounce balls into the fronts of greens while still challenging skilled golfers. What often appears simple proves to be anything but, for those who let aggression drive all their decisions. It’s brilliant stuff and one of the main reasons Coore and Crenshaw are considered among the best modern golf architects. Their work at Dormie Club is never boring, never repetitive. I could play it for days on end, trying new approach tactics.
On our two-night trip to Dormie Club, we played the course over and over at our fairly quick pace while never dealing with another group of players. The Dormie Network spaces groups well apart by using at least 15-minute intervals on the tee sheet, ensuring a course is never packed. Many rushed public-access facilities shove as many players as possible onto a course with 8-minute intervals between groups, sometimes even worse. Many private clubs utilize 10- or 12-minute intervals, and even that pace can slow things down and lead to rounds of four and half hours or more.
The only times we encountered other groups was at the centralized comfort station, which players pass three times during a round at Dormie Club. This well-stocked outpost features just about anything you might want to eat or drink, with the club specialty being a fried bologna sandwich – it’s a regional treat and, trust me, better than it might sound. There was no way we could put one down on each passing of the comfort station, but the jarred candy offerings led to discussions of which flavors were best with a couple foursomes we met parked in the shade. These quick encounters were the only evidence there were other golfers on what felt like our own personal course.
There was one character we encountered each day that offered a welcome break: Snickers the duck. This pale fowl wandered up to the clubhouse one night and endeared itself to Kammerer on the practice green. Snickers has since become the adopted mascot of the Dormie Club, appearing on various merchandise in the pro shop and earning his own house next to a pond at the fifth tee. Snickers even has food in a giant gumball machine, offering golfers a chance to provide a snack.
The lodging at Dormie Club
Not far from Snicker’s home was our lodging among the 15 four-bedroom cottages at Dormie Club, each of which is set into the trees overlooking the course. There are 10 one-level Dormie cottages of 1,670 square feet featuring king-size bedrooms with private baths, each cornered around a central living room. The club also features four Executive cottages of king bedrooms with 2,150 square feet total. At the top of the offerings is the two-level Owner’s cottage, which features four king bedrooms, an extended kitchen, steam showers, a game room, meeting space for eight people and 4,800 square feet total.
All the Dormie Club cottages are perfect for sequestering with a foursome, providing plenty of indoor and outdoor patio space away from the clubhouse to hang out with a group. Similar to that feeling of having a golf course all to your group, the cottages likewise provide plenty of elbow room in an elegant setting.
The club’s dining is centered around the 16,600-square-foot clubhouse, which features a high-end menu packed with giant steaks and other surprising regional dishes. Built to evoke a sense of old North Carolina tobacco barns, the clubhouse also features several breakout rooms for private parties, including patio spaces and an eight-seat circular wine room. Special menus can be requested.
A word of warning: Bring an appetite, because it’s easy to go big at dinner. Steaks run to 48 ounces on the menu, and they appear even heftier on a plate. If more golf is on the schedule for the following morning, the staff might suggest sharing those giant and tasty slabs of prime meat. Even in such a setting, the potential for more birdies outweighs the beef. The same can be said for all the drinks options.
In keeping with the seamless experience, Dormie Club makes it easy to indulge, as everything is set up as an all-inclusive package. Want that huge steak? Go for it. Want more golf? That’s available too – whatever a member or guest might choose. With the exclusion of some high-priced liquor or wines, everything is included. There are no prices listed on menus, because costs aren’t relevant as you choose your entree.
Gudgel and I kept it modest at dinner each night, with a couple of shared appetizers to sample various flavors and smaller portions requested to keep us in fighting form for the next day’s golf. We have competed for years, and neither of us wants to give any ground. With a wide-open tee sheet plus Coore and Crenshaw golf this good, our goal was to focus on the game. The staff at Dormie Club made this, and everything else, easy.
“We have a really good staff behind us,” said Dormie Club head professional Kalan Fread. “All of our staff cares and is invested in what we’re doing.”
That much is evident from arrival to departure. The Dormie Network system makes it all incredibly easy for members and guests. Show up, play all the golf you can handle, eat and drink all you might want, crash into a comfortable king bed in a quiet, luxurious cottage. There’s a lot of golf available in the Sandhills, but once you’re inside, there really is no reason to leave the gates of the Dormie Club.
Jason Lusk is Golfweek’s travel and golf course architecture editor, as well as the magazine’s creative director. He has written for and designed Golfweek for more than two decades.