RALEIGH — N.C. State’s golf course is finally getting its clubhouse.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held Wednesday at Lonnie Poole Golf Course for the Carol Johnson Poole Clubhouse. Construction on the 25,000-square-foot clubhouse – named for the wife of Lonnie Poole – will begin next month and should be completed in about 10 months.

"It was something that was incomplete, but with the new clubhouse will be complete," Lonnie Poole said. "Just as my wife made my life complete, she will now make the golf course complete."

The clubhouse is being funded, in part, by a $2.5 million portion of the Poole family’s $40 million gift to N.C. State in 2010. Lonnie Poole is the founder of Raleigh-based Waste Industries.

Groundbreaking for the golf course was held in July 2007, when course designer Arnold Palmer, former Wolfpack golfer Carl Pettersson and Poole all hit ceremonial drives. Pettersson, a PGA Tour player, easily outdistanced Palmer and Poole that day, and it was another two years before the course opened.

The course has been making use of a temporary building Poole referred to as the "double-wide" as a clubhouse. The new clubhouse has a total cost of $5 million – with about $700,000 still to be raised – and will have locker rooms, coaching offices, dining facilities and a large balcony that overlooks the 18th green.

Adding a clubhouse will enable the Wolfpack to bid for and possibly host such events as NCAA golf regionals, and should further enhance recruiting for the men’s and women’s golf programs.

"In my business, we say facilities are a silent statement of commitment, and this is truly one," Wolfpack athletic director Debbie Yow said.

Lonnie Poole Golf Course also is used as a research and training facility for the school’s Center for Turfgrass Environmental Research and Education, and for NCSU’s Professional Golf Management Program.

"This is an important part of N.C. State’s brand," chancellor Randy Woodson said.

Carol Johnson Poole deferred to her husband Wednesday in addressing the crowd gathered for the clubhouse groundbreaking, but said, “It is special.”

Alexander: 919-829-8945