Greensboro, Winston-Salem and the Piedmont
An engagement ring missing after a round of golf, a garden wedding or a venue reception
Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Clemmons, Hillsborough and Pinehurst
The Village of Pinehurst counts over 40 golf courses within 15 miles (24 km) of the village. Greensboro takes wedding bookings for four public gardens, and Tanglewood Park in Clemmons has golf, gardens and a Manor House that hosts weddings. So this page is mostly about grass: a lost engagement ring in the rough, in a flower bed beside a gazebo, or on a lawn where the chairs stood.
Ring Seekers is a lost ring and jewelry recovery service that connects people who lost a ring, wedding band, watch, keys or phone in Greensboro, Winston-Salem and the Piedmont with a metal detectorist who can search there. Tell us what happened and where. We find a detectorist who can reach the place, brief them with your map and photos, and tell you honestly if the odds are poor.
The same goes for a wedding band, an Oura ring, earrings, a necklace or bracelet, an Apple Watch, a phone, a key fob, metal-framed glasses or a hearing aid.
Count back through the holes, or through the running order of the day
On a golf course, write down the holes where your hands were busy: where a glove came off, where you reached into the bag, where you signed the card. Circle them on the scorecard.
In a garden or at a venue, go by the order of the day: ceremony, photographs, meal, dancing. Mark on a screenshot where each part took place.
Leave your name and number at the pro shop or clubhouse first, or with the garden office or venue manager. Then send us the scorecard or screenshot, two photos of the ground and a picture of the ring on WhatsApp.
Places we cover in Greensboro, Winston-Salem and the Piedmont
- Greensboro
- Winston-Salem
- Hillsborough
- Pinehurst
- Clemmons and Tanglewood Park
- Golf courses around Pinehurst and the Sandhills
- Village Arboretum, Pinehurst
- Tufts Memorial Park, the Village Green
- Lake Pinehurst
- Tanger Family Bicentennial Garden and the Bog Garden
- Greensboro Arboretum
- Gateway Gardens
- Country Park
- Bur-Mil Park
- Lake Brandt, Lake Higgins and Lake Townsend
- Reynolda Gardens
- Salem Lake
- Hillsborough Riverwalk and Gold Park
- Occoneechee Mountain, Hillsborough
- Wedding venues and private gardens
Mostly grass, with some bunker sand, boardwalk and lake water
Golf in the Sandhills, gardens in Greensboro and Winston-Salem, a riverside path in Hillsborough.
Golf on every side of Pinehurst village
Pinehurst sits in what Visit NC calls the land of the longleaf pine, with golf in every direction. What helps a search is the hole, the side of the fairway, and whether you were on short grass, in the rough, in a bunker or under the pines. A ring could come off with a glove.
The Village Arboretum, the Village Green and Lake Pinehurst
Inside Rassie Wicker Park, the Village Arboretum has a pergola, a meadow, trails with bridges, two gardens used for ceremonies and the open-air Timmel Pavilion. Tufts Memorial Park, the Village Green, is open grass with benches round its edge. Lake Pinehurst is for boating, fishing and swimming, so say how deep the water was on you.
Four Greensboro gardens that host weddings
Tanger Family Bicentennial Garden, the Bog Garden, the Greensboro Arboretum and Gateway Gardens can all be reserved through the city for a ceremony. Tanger, on Hobbs Road, is 7.5 acres (3 hectares) with a wedding gazebo, a sensory garden and two open lawns next door in David Caldwell Historic Park. The Bog Garden across the road has a raised plank walkway. Bed, lawn or boardwalk: say which the ring was nearest.
Country Park, Bur-Mil and the three city lakes
Country Park has five picnic shelters, a dog park and two fishing lakes with piers and pedal boats. Bur-Mil Park, 250 acres (about 100 hectares) beside Lake Brandt, has a golf shop, a driving range and a clubhouse that can be rented. Lake Brandt, Lake Higgins and Lake Townsend are city reservoirs used for paddling, sailing and fishing. A loss there is likely to be from a boat, a ramp, a pier or the bank, so tell us which.
Tanglewood in Clemmons, Reynolda Gardens and Salem Lake
Tanglewood Park, a Forsyth County park in Clemmons, has golf, gardens, an arboretum, stables, a dog park and a Manor House that hosts weddings. In Winston-Salem, Reynolda Gardens of Wake Forest University covers 134 acres (54 hectares), with formal gardens, walking trails, woods and a waterfall. Salem Lake is circled by a 7-mile (11 km) trail, mostly dirt, shared by walkers, runners, cyclists and horse riders.
Hillsborough's Riverwalk beside the Eno
The Riverwalk is a paved, accessible greenway along the Eno River that passes through Gold Park and the county's River Park. Something small dropped here, an earring, a key fob or a hearing aid, is either on the hard surface or in the grass beside it. Tell us where you set out and where you turned round. The Riverwalk also connects to Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area, which has three miles (5 km) of trails through mountain laurel and rhododendron, a summit overlook and two fishing ponds.
Why write to us before walking the fairway a third time
Nobody passes you along
Your WhatsApp thread stays with the person who first replied, from the scorecard you send to the message after the search.
Your marked-up scorecard becomes the briefing
Whatever you marked, holes, flower beds, tables or a pier, goes to the detectorist with your photos before they leave home.
An honest word on how much ground there is
Between a gazebo and the parking lot there is not much ground to cover. A lost ring that came off somewhere in 18 holes, with no idea which, is another matter: a long shot, and you would hear that from us first. Every hole you can rule out improves it.
Costs come up while you are still deciding
We explain the costs before any search is booked.
Kept grass and still water, in July heat or a January chill
What an afternoon outdoors is like
Summer afternoons in the Piedmont average around 88 F (31 C) and midwinter afternoons around 48 F (9 C), on the National Weather Service's long-term figures for Greensboro. Give us the date as well as the place.
Ground that somebody looks after
Fairways, greens, bunker sand, garden beds and the manicured lawns beside Tanger Garden all get mown, raked or replanted. Find out from the greenkeeper, gardener or venue manager what has been done since your visit, because mowing or leaf blowing may have moved a ring a little.
Reservoirs and fishing lakes
Salem Lake has a fishing pier and a marina, Lake Townsend a fishing pier and two boat ramps, and Lake Pinehurst has swimming as well as boats. For anything that went into water, tell us what you were standing or sitting on, how far from the pier, ramp or bank, and roughly how deep it was.
Example messages from the course, the garden and the lake
My engagement ring was on at the first tee near Pinehurst and gone after 18. My glove came off on maybe five holes. What do I do with that tonight?
Put it on the scorecard while you still remember. Against each of the five holes, write where the glove came off: on the green, beside the cart or at the bag. Five holes you can describe is far less ground than 18.
My earring came out during group photos on the David Caldwell Lawn beside Tanger Garden. Can a lost diamond stud be found on 21,700 square feet of grass?
Possibly. What counts is how little of that lawn you really used. If the photographer lined you up in two or three spots, mark those on a screenshot and send a picture of the other stud.
He proposed at the pergola in the Village Arboretum yesterday, and the ring, a size too big, came off in the meadow afterwards. We are thinking about metal detector rental for a day. What would you do?
Try it, if you can point to the spot within a few steps: a fresh loss on a lawn or dry sand is where renting one yourself can work. A whole meadow is a large area, and for that, as for a small item, wet sand or water, a detectorist makes more sense.
I took the dog to Tanglewoof at Tanglewood Park, then walked a trail, and my key fob is in none of my pockets. I can get back there for an hour this week. Where should that hour go?
On the dog park, the smaller of the two. Ask at the park office first whether anyone has brought a fob in. Then tell us which gate you used and where on the trail you stopped, sat or pulled out your phone.
My Apple Watch came off as I climbed into my kayak at Lake Townsend, right beside the ramp. How do I describe a spot like that?
By the ramp. Lake Townsend has a large ramp for motorboats and another for small sailboats, so say which one, which side of it, and how far down the kayak sat. A photo from the top of the ramp helps more than a pin.
My gold chain broke somewhere on the Hillsborough Riverwalk between Gold Park and downtown. I walked it both ways. Which parts of the path would you want marked?
The places where you stopped: to sit, to tie a lace, to photograph the Eno. You have been over the paved surface twice, so what remains is the strip of grass and leaves beside the path at those points.
My grandmother's bracelet is missing in the last set of our engagement photos at Reynolda Gardens, by the waterfall. The photographer has hundreds of time-stamped pictures. How do we use them?
Go through them in order, looking only at your wrist. The picture where the bracelet is last seen and the next one without it give two places in the gardens, and the search is the walk between them. Reynolda is 134 acres (54 hectares), so that narrowing matters.
Greensboro, Winston-Salem and the Piedmont
Send the scorecard, the garden map or the seating plan
Marked up by hand is fine.
A circled hole at Pinehurst, a cross on the lawn beside Tanger Garden or a note about where you stopped past Gold Park gives a detectorist somewhere to start. Send it on WhatsApp with a photo of the lost ring, watch or keys, and we will reply with what we think can be done.