History

A Short History of Red Fox Country Club

The property currently known as Red Fox Run, and formerly as Rd Fox CC, was developed by a group known as Tryon Development Corp, which was comprised of several members of Tryon CC who wanted to have an 18-hole golf course, which Tryon CC had voted down. They acquired land from several farmers and began construction in 1964. Most people now commonly call the area “Red Fox”.

Red Fox Country Club, opened on Oct. 1, 1965, was designed by Ellis Maples. Before his death in 1984, Maples and his design team had created over 70 golf courses in the Southeast, including Pinehurst #5. From the time it opened, Red Fox was considered to be one of the top 100 golf courses in the country. It was consistently ranked in the top 10 among golf courses in North Carolina, and Golf Digest ranked it among the Top 100 Courses in America in 1969, 1970, 1971 and 1973. In the early 1970’s the NCAA played the National collegiate golf championships at Red Fox for a number of years, which introduced the area to numerous Northerners, many of whom bought lots, intending to build homes in Red Fox.

Some people, who lived in Spartanburg also bought land and built in Red Fox, to enjoy the golf course, and escape the heat of Spartanburg in the summer months.

Red Fox membership reached as high as 440 members in 1982, but had fallen again to 220 in 1989. It was in 1989 that the owners, Red Fox Ltd. filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The
bankruptcy court appointed Club Corp. to manage the facility and Club Corp hired Tony Jackson as general manager and director of golf. Club Corp., based in Dallas Texas, owns / manages many premier golf courses in the world including Pinehurst.

A group of local golfers, businessmen and Red Fox Club members, led by Don Eifert of Tryon and the late Larry Heath, Dave Parkinson and Bill McClellan, came together to try to purchase the club from the RTC (Resolution Trust Corporation) in the early 1990s. The group to buy also included Fred Ellis (Red Fox resident and member), Dave Halliday (Red Fox resident and member), and Dick Thompson (local resident), as well as others. The group mounted a serious bid but was narrowly outbid by Gene Holbrooks of Kannapolis at the auction held on the Polk County courthouse steps. Gene Holbrooks was an early investor in the Food Lion Grocery store chain, and residential and strip mall developer from Kannapolis NC.

Red Fox Clubhouse circa 2009

In 2009, Red Fox Future LLC, Andrey Medvedev and Tony Jackson made an offer to take full possession of the all of Red Fox from Gene Holbrooks, but the deal fell through. Read more on how this occurred at: https://www.nccourts.gov/assets/documents/opinions/2014_NCBC_42.pdf?VersionId=AghGa_CcsqtR.ME0YIZeFkZN1aE7P4GF

On November 21, 2011, the Red Fox Club House caught fire and burned down. It was never rebuilt, but the golf course continued to be a popular venue for golf residents, and pay for play golfers, until it was closed on November 10, 2018. Video of the Club house burning down here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SN5X_yYcGfA

More on the fire at: https://www.goupstate.com/story/news/2011/11/21/fire-destroys-clubhouse-at-red-fox-country-club-in-tryon-nc/29880744007/

In 2022, the Holbrooks family sold the golf course property and the residential lots that it owned within the community to Una Pickling LLC, a real estate developer. Una has been actively marketing the properties for sale and continues to make significant progress in subdividing the former golf course and selling tracts to both existing community residents and new owners.