Suffolk News-Herald

The city’s newest golf course is officially one of the nation’s best.

The January 2005 issue of Golf Digest, on newsstands now, named the newly renovated Sleepy Hole Golf Course as one of the country’s best new affordable courses. Sleepy Hole ranked eighth out of nearly 150 courses that opened nationwide between May 1, 2003 and April 30, 2004.

The award is a tremendous honor, said Mayor Bobby Ralph.

Ralph, who hit the inaugural drive at the course at its opening ceremony in May, presented Al Moor, the city’s public utilities director who oversaw the course’s $1.2 million renovation, with a plaque from the magazine during Wednesday’s Suffolk City Council meeting,

&uot;No other course in Suffolk – and few others in Virginia – ever reach that status,&uot; said Ralph.

The course will reap major rewards for the publicity generated by the recognition, he said.

&uot;You can’t buy advertising to best this,&uot; Ralph said. &uot;Golf Digest is the largest golfing publication in America. More than 1.5 million issues are circulated around the country.&uot;

J.T. Belcher, assistant golf professional at Sleepy Hole, said several people coming by the course indicated they had seen the article.

&uot;It is great publicity,&uot; Belcher said. &uot;We were very, very happy to find out we had won.&uot;

Officials submitted the course’s qualifications to annual Golf Digest competition earlier this year. Sleepy Hole was selected after 10 golf professionals played rounds and rated the course for the magazine.

The courses were evaluated on shot values, design variety, memorability, resistance to scoring and aesthetics.