By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
Richie Belton says he’s still immersed in the local golf business, just to a smaller degree than the past decade.
Belton sold The Challenge Golf Club in Graham in March, but he’s still owner of Quaker Creek Golf Club in Mebane. That’s a course he helped build as the original owner.
“Everything went good,” Belton said of his time with The Challenge. “It was a decision to let it go and concentrate on just one course.”
The Challenge’s new ownership group operates under Piedmont Links, a group of about 10 businessmen with different specialties, Todd Smith said. Those owners are mostly based in Raleigh or in the eastern part of the state.
There’s stability at The Challenge, which has long been listed high in golf course rankings in the state, with Smith remaining as general manager/director of golf. The course is a public course, though there are memberships.
“Very subtle changes,” Smith said. “Not changing much with how we operate.”
Belton said putting all his golf resources into Quaker Creek, which opened in 2000 and grew from a nine-hole layout to 18 holes, is something that should enhance that course.
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“We’ve got a lot of improvements I want to look at out here,” he said. “Play has been tremendous. It’s one of the most-played courses in the area. It’s going to be good as long as we keep people running through here.”
The Challenge is more of a high-end course and facility. Quaker Creek has seen growing popularity for years.
“We sort of had a different clientele to a degree,” Belton said. “But there were sometimes I would see golfers out here (at Quaker Creek) and a few days later would see them at The Challenge.”
Among the differences, The Challenge’s greens were changed to Champion Bermuda and under Belton’s watch an irrigation system was added, while Quaker Creek has bentgrass greens.
Belton’s deal to purchase The Challenge closed in late 2014. He said The Challenge was kind of a “slow go” at times, though that course experienced significant increases in play during the COVID pandemic.
“I had bought it, got it up and doing pretty good,” he said. “I put a lot of money there to get it back in shape.”
There also has been growth around The Challenge, with dozens of homes built in the past decade.
The new group
Smith has been at The Challenge for seven years after a stint at Stoney Creek Golf Club in eastern Guilford County.
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The Challenge has gone through numerous ownership levels the past couple of decades. There were a couple of ownership changes and a bankruptcy prior to Belton taking over.
Smith said The Challenge marks the first venture into golf for the ownership group.
“They’ve already hit the ground running,” Smith said. “You can take any product and make it better. … They’re smart businessmen.”
Smith said updates to the clubhouse and some painting and renovations to the pool and restaurant are among the projects either started or in the works. He said there’s always a quest to enhance the view of The Challenge from where the course can be seen from I-40/85.
