Currituck Club

Few golf destinations on the East Coast pair championship-caliber design with a setting quite like this one. The Currituck Club was designed by Rees Jones and opened in 1999, carved through the maritime forests and wetlands of the Outer Banks' northernmost stretch. Jones routed the course to work with the natural landscape rather than impose upon it — expect holes that dodge through stands of live oak and loblolly pine, open suddenly onto marshland vistas, and occasionally catch the Atlantic breezes that roll in off the nearby dunes.

Corolla itself sits at the quieter, wilder end of the Outer Banks, above the four-wheel-drive beaches where wild horses still roam. The area draws visitors looking for something less commercial than the busier towns to the south, and the Currituck Club fits that character — a resort course that feels earned rather than manufactured.

Playing conditions here shift meaningfully with the wind, which the layout is designed to expose and exploit. Bring a full bag of shot shapes and expect your scorecard to reflect how the afternoon breeze decided to behave.