Charlotte is the nation's second-largest banking center, behind New York City. Now a major USAirways hub, Charlotte-Douglas International Airport is one of the country's busiest and most efficient. Charlotte's downtown is vibrant and busy, even when most of the bankers have retired to the suburbs to count their dough. On average, developers add two new skyscrapers to the Downtown skyline every year. The SouthPark area in south Charlotte is shaping up to be the finest shopping and fashion destination between Atlanta, St. Louis and Washington, D.C. Plus, Charlotte is an arts center, attracting mega-superstar performers from all over the globe.

All this growth led to a massive change in Charlotte's public-access golfing landscape. For many years, Charlotte lagged behind Winston-Salem, Greensboro, Columbia, and even South Carolina's Upstate for its quality and quantity of public-access courses. Most serious Charlotte golfers belonged to one of the many outstanding private clubs like Charlotte Country Club, Myers Park or Quail Hollow. Twenty years ago, the best advice to a daily-fee golfer in search of a solid course was to drive two hours east to Pinehurst or spend the weekend at the beach. Or better still, find someone to invite you to their club.

Around 1990, a national golf organization authored a study that told everyone in Charlotte what everyone already knew: There weren't enough public golf courses close to the city. A lot of developers must have read the survey, and thanks to their efforts and cash, the Charlotte area boasts no fewer than 20 brand-spanking-new public golf courses, all built since "the survey." That's two courses a year for 10 straight years.

Have the devlopers gone barmy? Some local golf professionals argue there's oversupply, but several new courses are under construction or in permitting stages. It's still tough to get a tee time on a sunny weekend in April, but it's particularly easy to play golf quickly on the weekdays in the Charlotte region. While initiation fees at Charlotte's premier country clubs have skyrocketed toward the $50,000 range (please buy more copies of this book), greens fees at public-access courses have remained steady, or even declined at courses that struggle for business. For a top-notch course, you'll pay roughly $35 to play on weekdays, $40 on Fridays and about $48 on weekends and holidays.

Even though the area's sticky clay soil makes it difficult to build and maintain courses in the Charlotte region, the rolling and wooded land is perfect for parkland golf. Charlotte continues to attract many of the country's best golf course architects--the presence of the nation's two largest banks and all their money doesn't hurt.

So while locals might whine about traffic and parking and pollution and "too many Yankees," they can no longer complain about their portfolio of public golf courses, such is the pace and quality of new construction in the past two decades.