Cedarbrook Country Club

Elkin sits in the Yadkin Valley at the foot of the Blue Ridge, where the mountains begin their serious push westward from the Carolina Piedmont. It's a part of North Carolina that most traveling golfers drive past on their way somewhere else — which suits the locals just fine. The valley's rolling terrain, hardwood ridges, and mild four-season climate make it natural country for a golf course, with the kind of topography that gives architects something to work with and players something to remember.

Cedarbrook Country Club has the feel of a genuine members' club — the sort of place where you know the starter by name and the back-nine bet has been running for decades. Private clubs in towns this size tend to develop a personality all their own, shaped less by any grand design philosophy than by the community that built and maintained them over the years.

The Yadkin Valley has earned a growing reputation for outdoor recreation, and golf fits naturally alongside the region's vineyards and river culture. A par-72 layout at a club like this rewards local knowledge — read: the members have an edge.