Players Club at St. James Plantation

The Players course at St. James Plantation was designed by Carolinian Tim Cates, who is known for assembling layouts with left-handers and back-teers in mind; hence, the name, the Players. In fact, The Players' slope rating of 150 is just one digit lower than The Founders, the St. James course that routinely mesmerizes and frustrates with its complicated and unnerving green complexes.

The Players' puts unsightly numbers on your scorecard for different reasons. It is demanding off the tee, for one thing, with narrow fairways and several long carries. It is the third and newest course at the plantation, which lays out along the Intracoastal Waterway about five miles outside of Southport, not far from Wilmington.

The course is not overly long, at 6,855 yards from the back, gold tees. Nor does Cates throw smoke and mirrors at you when you hit it close, like P.B. Dye does at The Founders. There is some debate on which course is the harder of the two, The Founders or Players. To some, they're equally as tough; it's just a matter if you want to struggle off the tee or around the green.