Carolina National Golf Club was the third Fred Couples designed golf course in the United States and the second Couples golf course designed by Kipp Schulties in 1997. Carolina National is located near Southport, North Carolina just upstream from Cape Fear and the Atlantic Ocean.

Taking advantage of wild elevation changes, panoramic vistas, riverside and marshland areas, Kipp Schulties sculpted a brand-new, 27-hole semiprivate course for Bluegreen Corporation. As an independent designer working for Couples-Bates Golf Course Design, he crafted a 7,086-yard layout that won Golf Digest’s accolades as North Carolina’s Best New Affordable Public Course in 1997 and the magazine’s No. 1 Best New Affordable Public Course in the U.S. and Canada in 1998. Sporting a low-country feel with oak and pine trees and sandy waste areas, it has been called “a stunning combination of challenging golf and aesthetic splendor.”