Staff WriterBobby Jones Links has built its reputation on the notion that golf is not just about tee times, turf conditions and whether your driver behaves like a trained spaniel or a shopping trolley with a grudge.
At Woodlake Country Club in Vass, North Carolina, that philosophy has now earned national recognition, with the revived venue named No. 2 on GolfPass’ “America’s 25 Friendliest Public Golf Courses – Golfers’ Choice 2026.”
That sort of honour does not arrive by carrier pigeon or blind luck. It tends to come from the old-fashioned business of getting the small things right, then doing them again tomorrow.
A revived club with a clear identity
Woodlake Country Club is already a place with a story etched into the ground beneath it. In 2016, Hurricane Matthew tore through the area and fundamentally altered the property, wiping out the lake beside the course and forcing a reimagining of the club itself. What followed was not merely a tidy-up job with fresh paint and hopeful language. The place had to be rebuilt in spirit as much as structure.
Now, a little more than two years after a full renovation, Woodlake is emerging as one of those clubs that understands a basic truth often forgotten in golf: people remember how a place made them feel long after they have forgotten what they shot.
“Our staff from top to bottom goes above and beyond, so I won’t say I was surprised, but at the same time, I was surprised when I got the email,” said Jeff Crabbe, general manager at Woodlake Country Club, which has been open for a little more than two years after a complete renovation. “It was validation of the hard work that the staff puts in every day.”
The GolfPass recognition came with a particularly telling subheadline: “Like a restaurant or small business, golf courses rely on good service to keep loyal customers coming back round after round. These courses did it best in 2025.”
That gets to the heart of it. Plenty of clubs can mow stripes into fairways and polish a scorecard. Fewer understand that hospitality is not decorative trim. It is the engine.
Why service, not slogans, is driving Woodlake forward
At Woodlake, the emphasis is not simply on being pleasant in the generic, corporate sense. This is not a place where friendliness is wheeled out like a buffet at a conference. The aim is to make members and guests feel seen, welcomed and looked after from the moment they arrive to the moment their clubs are handed back at the end of the round.
Among the Woodlake reviews on the Golfpass website, one customer states: “All the staff were super nice and very helpful. The layout is beautiful, and the facilities were top-notch. Can’t say enough about it. Highly recommend it.”
That sort of feedback does not materialise because somebody remembered to smile once near the first tee. It reflects a culture, and culture in golf operations is usually the difference between a club that people tolerate and one they actively look forward to revisiting.
Woodlake is a private club with limited public play, but that distinction matters less than you might think. The challenge for any golf destination offering member privileges alongside public access is consistency. Members expect familiarity. Visitors hope not to feel like they have wandered into a wedding reception by mistake. Woodlake, by all accounts, is trying to treat both groups with the same degree of care.
The Bobby Jones Links method
This is where Bobby Jones Links enters the picture in more than name alone. The Atlanta-based management company oversees roughly three dozen facilities and has placed unusual weight on one deceptively simple idea: mapping the guest experience in detail.
That internal framework is known as the “Member Journey,” or the “Customer Journey” at public facilities, and it is central to how the company shapes service standards across its clubs.
“The Member Journey is our service delivery map. We customize one of those for each of our properties because each property is different,” she said. “One thing that I think sets us apart from a Bobby Jones Links perspective is our training philosophy and where we like to focus.
Of course, when we hear training, we’re thinking of technical training, standard operating procedures, and things like that. And we do all that. But most of that is actually done on the club level, meaning that the department heads are training their teams. “The Member Journey is our service delivery roadmap. We customize it for each property because every club is unique,” she said.
“What truly sets us apart at Bobby Jones Links is our training philosophy and where we place our focus. When people hear ‘training,’ they often think of technical skills and standard operating procedures—and we absolutely cover those areas. However, most of that hands-on, technical training happens at the club level, where department heads lead and train their own teams.”
That is a mouthful, but the central idea is clear enough: technical competence gets people through the day; service philosophy determines whether guests ever want to come back.
The next layer, according to Bobby Jones Links Vice President of Experiences Allyson Kahl Darling, is about making each interaction feel human rather than rehearsed.
“I focus on what we call service training. Our service training program is dedicated and designed around the full guest experience and member journey. We emphasize thoughtful and consistent care from the very first interaction to the final farewell. So, we’re trying to walk through that journey with a member and elevate those touch points so we can be sure our team is being genuine, that we’re interacting, not just pushing people through the club.” “We focus on service training specifically.
Our service training programs are intentionally designed around the full guest experience and the entire member journey. We emphasize thoughtful, consistent care from the first interaction to the final farewell. Our goal is to walk through that journey from the member’s perspective and elevate each touchpoint—ensuring our team delivers genuine, meaningful interactions rather than simply moving people through the club.”
There is something refreshing about that in modern golf, where too many facilities risk becoming efficient but soulless. The best clubs understand that speed matters, but warmth matters more.
The details that make golfers feel at home
Kahl Darling emphasized that it can be as simple as ensuring that when a golfer or member walks in, they immediately see a staff member who makes eye contact, smiles, and steps out from behind the counter to greet them.
Simple, yes. Insignificant, no.
First impressions in golf are a bit like the opening tee shot. You can recover from a bad one, but you would rather not have to. At Woodlake, service begins at bag drop, where staff are trained to engage rather than merely process.
That may mean noticing a team logo on a golf bag and using it as an opening line, or reading when a customer wants help and when they would rather be left alone with their pre-round thoughts and whatever remains of their confidence.
That blend of awareness and restraint is harder than it sounds. Plenty of clubs manage one or the other. Fewer manage both.
Crabbe believes the difference lies partly in the staff culture that has developed on site.
“Our more experienced staff members take our newer team members under their wing and take time to teach some of the work ethic best practices that help yield a great customer experience,” Crabbe said. “We’re constantly coaching them up. The points of contact we really want to drive home – customer service, are a constant for our team: from the parking lot to the golf shop to the first tee.”
That sort of continuity matters. A golf club does not become memorable because one person at the front desk had a good morning. It becomes memorable when the same standard follows a guest from arrival to departure, through the golf shop, restaurant, starter’s area and post-round clean-up.
A story that says more than any mission statement
There is also, it seems, an instinctive decency at work at Woodlake that no training manual can fully manufacture.
Crabbe recalled one visitor who had booked through GolfNow and driven an hour and a half from Greensboro, only to realise upon arrival that he had forgotten his putter. For many golfers, this is the sort of discovery that produces a face like a man who has just watched his dog drive away in his car.
What happened next said plenty.
“Without even looking at me, he (Billingsley) just said, ‘Hey, I’ve got my clubs in my car; let me go grab my putter,'” Crabbe recalled.
Crabbe said the golfer offered to pay, or at the very least leave his driver’s license. Instead, Billingsley said, according to Crabbe, “No, I don’t need anything. When you get finished, just bring it back.”
“It was just thinking on your feet and doing the right thing,” Crabbe said. “That was a cool thing.”
That, more than any poster on a staff-room wall, explains why Bobby Jones Links and Woodlake are getting noticed. Service culture becomes real when somebody solves a problem before it grows teeth.
What makes Woodlake stand out in golf travel
For golfers considering where to play in North Carolina, Woodlake’s appeal is not just its restored course and improving infrastructure. It is the sense that the place is being built with intention. There is a difference between a club that has been renovated and a club that has been rethought. Woodlake appears to be the latter.
The future restoration of the adjacent lake promises to add another visual and experiential dimension to a property already carrying momentum. In golf travel terms, that matters. Scenery may lure golfers once, but hospitality is what turns a pleasant round into a repeat visit.
And that is where Bobby Jones Links seems particularly shrewd. While many golf destinations compete on architecture, exclusivity or postcard appeal, the company is also betting on something less glamorous and arguably more durable: consistent, attentive service.
According to Kahl Darling, the philosophy is straightforward: Bobby Jones Links service training is designed around the full guest and member journey. We emphasize thoughtful, consistent care and concern from the very first interaction to the final farewell.
Our training reinforces that every touchpoint matters – whether it’s a warm greeting upon arrival, attentive service throughout the experience, or a sincere thank-you at departure.
Team members are coached to engage with guests in a genuine, warm, and friendly manner. We do focus on operational efficiencies; however, we do try to create authentic connections rather than scripted exchanges.
We do this by focusing on awareness, anticipation, proactive service, and empathy.
The purpose of all our programs is to ensure guests and members feel welcomed, valued, and cared for at every step, resulting in experiences that are not only seamless but also memorable.
Kahl Darling said she wasn’t surprised that Woodlake got its due. “They definitely earned it, and we’re very proud of our team and our partnership with them.”
More than a ranking
Rankings are useful, of course. They generate attention, flatter egos and give marketing departments something to frame. But in the long run, golfers are not loyal to lists. They are loyal to places that get under their skin for the right reasons.
For Woodlake Country Club, this GolfPass honour feels less like a finish line and more like evidence that the foundations are sound. The course has already endured the sort of disruption that can erase momentum and identity in one sweep. Now, with the support of Bobby Jones Links, it is building both back through service, training and a quietly determined culture.
“It doesn’t matter what your title is; Woodland Woodlake Country Club is on all of our titles,” he said. “So, we do whatever we can to encourage people to come here and want to come back.”
That may be the most revealing line of all. In a game increasingly cluttered with transaction and noise, Woodlake’s rise suggests that the clubs which thrive will not simply be the ones with the best greens or smartest websites. They will be the ones that understand golf, at its best, still begins and ends with people.
