This is the second part of our review of River Landing in Wallace, NC.

        River Landing provides a few extras not typical of most other golf communities.  It may seem a small thing to the culinary challenged, but natural gas lines run through the community, something that for those of us who take cooking seriously could provide the tiebreaker in a choice between communities.  Those at-home chefs will find themselves with access to special wines, as River Landing plans to provide grapes from its adjacent Vineyards property for the popular Duplin Winery, which is a short drive from the community.  (Duplin’s owners live in River Landing.)

    The Murphy family also owns and runs the large Mad Boar restaurant, which features lots of wood and colorful glass panels.  Murphy’s Irish Pub is adjacent, offering club members an alternative to the comfortable bar in the River Landing clubhouse.  For a small town, Wallace offers all the services you would expect from a suburban location, with a hospital within 15 minutes of the community and supermarkets and a Walmart within five minutes.

        One especially nice touch is the cottages at the golf course and the rooms on the top floor of the clubhouse that are available to guests of members and residents at prices ranging from $99 to $150.  For those who prefer chain motels, the Murphy-family-owned Holiday Inn Express just outside the gates of River Landing is among the most lavish in the chain, and offered at discount rates to residents.

Errant golf balls and bass share the water hazards at River Landing.

        The two golf courses designed by Hilton Head’s Clyde Johnston feature lots of water in the form of lakes and the branch of the Cape Fear River.  They are good enough to have hosted eight U.S. Open qualifiers and numerous state amateur and collegiate golf events.  The courses, which are open year round, feature bent grass greens and Bermuda fairways.  The River Course opened in 1996, just before the first real estate sales; the Landings Course followed in 2006.  The North Carolina golf ratings panel has named the finishing hole on the River course, which features a waterfall and all carry over water to the green, and #9 on the Landing course as among the best par 4s in eastern North Carolina.  The same panel rated River Landing’s practice facility the best in the eastern part of the state.

        Although shorter from the tips than the Landing course by nearly 200 yards, the River Course (6,942 yards) sports a much higher slope rating (141) than the Landing (132), but a lower course rating (73.5 compared with 74.0).  The implication is that the River Course will be more of a challenge for the bogey golfer than the Landing, but the newer course might push the single-digit handicap player a bit harder.  The low score during U.S. Open qualifying last year on the Landing course was a 68.

Unusually cold weather prevented me from playing either course this trip, but a quick ride on the golf course gave me an opportunity for a few photos (things will look a lot greener in two months).

        For a cold night in February, I noticed a lot of activity in the clubhouse when I dined there.  My waiter told me that the Murphy family was hosting a thank you dinner for Wilmington doctors who had provided relief in Haiti after the January earthquake.  They were flown there on the Murphy Family Ventures airplane, courtesy of River Landing founder Wendell Murphy.  River Landing President Dell Murphy accompanied the group to Haiti.  Developers like that make River Landing both a nice and a good place to live.

        Please contact me if you would like to arrange a visit to River Landing.  The community has an attractive overnight stay program that includes accommodations on property, a round of golf, access to all amenities and a dining certificate for the clubhouse.  If you are free the weekend of March 26 – 28, River Landing is hosting a special “Wine Escape” that includes two nights lodging, a welcome wine tasting, a “taste of the south” wine dinner, golf and access to amenities, all for $139.  The only requirements are that you take a tour of the property and that you attend with your spouse (unless, of course, you are not married).  I am happy to contact River Landing in your behalf and to send you additional information.

Designer Clyde Johnston shaped his courses at River Landing around its many ponds and a branch of the Cape Fear River.

        Most everything about the North Carolina golf community of River Landing seems reasonable.  Its attractive array of single-family homes starts in the $400s.  My dinner in the large but warm clubhouse was reasonably priced and artfully prepared.  At 45 minutes on the Interstate, River Landing is a more-than-reasonably-short distance from Wilmington’s beaches and other attractions, and a little over an hour from the international airport in Raleigh.  Although the $28,000 Initiation fee may seem less than reasonable to some, it does include full access to two beautifully conditioned and challenging golf courses; and dues for a full-family membership are under $400 per month, quite modest given the two courses and wide range of other amenities included.  (Non-golfers may sign-up for a sports membership that provides access to the 12,000 square foot fitness center, indoor and outdoor pools and tennis facilities.)  Property Owner Association dues, especially given the manned gate, are also reasonable at $100 per month.

        Finally, the Murphy family, local hog farmers by background but now successfully diversified multi-business owners, provide the financial backing for their beloved River Landing.  Dell Murphy, son of founder Wendell Murphy, runs the community with help from a brother and sister.  Because of their strong ties to the area and their investment in the golf community, the family is a more than reasonable bet to stay the course and see River Landing through to completion.

River Landing's clubhouse is impressive both inside and out.

        Deep pockets and a low debt ratio have been the ingredients for survival in the leisure residential market of the last five years.  With other golf communities teetering on the brink because they were overleveraged, River Landing has taken a more conservative approach, protecting its price structure for real estate and golf membership and taking on no debt.  They have not discounted their inventory of properties, preferring to offer incentives, such as free golf membership, to interested buyers.  This approach has kept early investors at River Landing happy since their property values have not depreciated unnaturally.  When confidence returns to the market, those lot owners should feel especially encouraged to follow through and build their retirement homes at River Landing.

        Incentives like free golf joining fees also encourage new members and the extra dues payments that follow; this, of course, helps sustain maintenance of the golf course and keeps traffic flowing into the clubhouse for meals. (The monthly food minimum is comparatively high at $100, but it does include alcohol consumption and, considering the quality of my dinner, River Landing couples won’t have trouble justifying two meals or more per month in their clubhouse.)

        The 2,000-acre, 13-year old River Landing has been a little slow to develop, with just 350 homes built so far.  A total of 1,000

        River Landing’s greatest following is from the Washington, D.C. area, not only because of its proximity -– 330 miles from Alexandria, VA, all on interstate highways -– but also because North Carolina state law does not tax federal government pensions.  The bulk of other residents at River Landing are from New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia, with a sprinkling of others from New England and the Midwest.

        River Landing is somewhat eclectic in its makeup, comprising about one-third fully retired residents, one-third who work part-time in the area or from their homes, and one-third with full-time jobs in the area.  The latter group includes some families with small children, but despite the splashing pools planned for the Vineyard area, the ethos of River Landing tilts more toward the mature, but lively.  I noted two groups of 20-something young ladies conversing animatedly in the bar area when I had dinner in the clubhouse.  Older couples seemed equally happy in the warm and comfortable space.

Tomorrow:  River Landing offers some unusual extras

The approach to the par 4 2nd hole on the River Course at River Landing.

        Cliffs Communities founder Jim Anthony was one of the 40 friends of Tiger Woods invited to the fallen star’s mea culpa session on Friday.  Anthony has been extremely generous in his comments about Woods since the Thanksgiving night accident that precipitated the unraveling of the golfer’s reputation.  No one in the room at PGA headquarters, save for Woods, may have more at stake than Anthony as Woods seeks to repair his personal life and prepare to return to competitive golf.  Anthony has asked his property owners to provide up to $100 million to help him finish the Woods course and other amenities at High Carolina, and the golfer’s continued participation in marketing the community, as well as designing the course, is critical.

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        Residential construction costs in the southern U.S. are much lower than a few years ago for a few good reasons:  Builders are trying to keep their workers employed and their cash flowing; and material costs are at their lowest in years because demand is so far down.  I met with a realtor at the Currituck Club on the Outer Banks of North Carolina last week, and he told me homes in the area are being built for between $120 and $140 a square foot, compared with as much as $220 in 2006.  I have had similar conversations with realtors and developers throughout the southeast, and they report similar numbers.  A new 3,000 square foot house, dressed to the nines, should not top $500,000 to build.  With developer and resale lots at their lowest prices in 10 years, the total cost of a new home is competitive with even the most aggressively priced resale homes.

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        Take an outstanding Rees Jones 27-hole golf course, a 3 BR “craftsman” cottage with views of the course and a lagoon with the clubhouse beyond, a short golf cart ride to the beach, and free golf membership, and you might expect to pay as much as $1 million.  Now put all that on an island reached only by ferry, and how about the entire package for $399,000?  That is the price of the described home at Haig Point, on Daufuskie Island, where prices continue to fall.  If island living is for you, you may never find a better deal than that...except elsewhere on Daufuskie.  Contact me if you are interested.

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        Some of our favorite towns in the southeast are on the BestBoomerTowns.com list of "Top Places to Live."  They include:  Aiken, SC; Asheville, NC; Athens, GA; Chapel Hill, NC; Charlottesville, VA; and Pinehurst, NC.  I have visited golf communities and played the golf courses in all these areas and would be happy to make some recommendations about the best ones in the area.  Contact me, and I will be happy to furnish you with some ideas.

        Tiger Woods said all the right things at his non press conference on Friday…and then some.  We would have all been okay with just five minutes of scripted mea culpas and without his righteous indignation about the media, which seemed out of place and hypocritical.  After all, until the accident and bimbo eruptions, Woods owed his privacy and his “Privacy” (the huge yacht and symbol of his wealth) in large measure to the media’s free and adoring promotion.  Some members of the media, according to reports, were aware long before Thanksgiving night of Woods' extra curricula passion, and they knew it wasn’t hiking the Appalachian Trail.  The accident, and the National Enquirer, forced their hand.

        During the tightly choreographed conference with 40 of his close friends and a few hand-selected media representatives, the main

        One of Woods’ female employees cried during the presentation.  Was it her boss’ words, or regrets she hadn’t said something to him during his years of debauchery, or guilt for possibly having been the handler who bought an airline ticket for one of Woods mistresses to fly to Australia to be with him?  Is there a clinic and therapy for enabler addictions?

        In a few weeks, Woods will emerge from his sex addiction therapy and declare himself a new man.  Waiting for him, like a faithful girlfriend just outside the prison gates, will be his coterie of enablers.  If ever there was a public figure defined by the company he keeps, it is Eldrick “Tiger” Woods.  He will not truly be cured until he fires the lot of them.