Asheville Courses Offer Challenging Golf, Scenic Vistas
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Golf in the Asheville area is a feast for the senses - riveting vistas to tantalize the eyesight‚ fresh air funneling down from the mountain peaks and the melodious songs of birds filling the trees along emerald fairways.
Asheville’s golf roots extend to the beginnings of the game in North Carolina. The Grove Park Inn’s golf course opened in 1899 at the base of Sunset Mountain and was redesigned in 1924 by Donald Ross‚ the noted Scottish architect who had immigrated to America and designed courses nationwide from his base in Pinehurst.
This classic layout was redesigned during 2001-02 by Greensboro architect Kris Spence.
The par-70 course now plays 6‚720 yards from the tips and has been completely re-grassed with bent fairways and Penn A-4 greens. Working from a 1940 aerial photograph‚ Spence restored bunkers and grass mounds to their original positions. Today it’s essentially Ross’s original work - with modern allowances for turf grass agronomy and a longer-hitting golf ball.
Ross also designed the Buncombe County Municipal Golf Course in 1927. Located just east of the city‚ the Municipal features two nine-holes of distinct flavors. The front nine is set in a valley and requires exacting approach shots to small greens‚ but the fairways are generous in width. The back nine meanders up and then down a more rugged section of ground‚ with trees bordering tighter fairways. The par-3 18th provides a memorable finish with a long-iron shot to a green set some 75 feet below the tee.
A short drive to the east finds Black Mountain Golf Club‚ which features one of the longest holes in the world. The par-6 17th hole measures 747 yards and rarely is negotiated in less than four shots into the green. The tee shot plays downhill to a narrow fairway and gradually bends left-to-right‚ climbing back upward over the last hundred yards into a small green.
One of the newer courses in the area is Broadmoor Golf Links‚ a 1993 course designed by Karl Litten near Interstate 26 in the town of Fletcher. Situated in the Mills River Valley alongside the French Broad River‚ Broadmoor has a links flavor with no adjacent housing and no out-of-bounds.
The town of Weaverville‚ about a 15-minute drive north of downtown Asheville‚ is home to Reems Creek Golf Club. This popular golf course opened in 1989 and was designed by Hawtree and Son of Oxford‚ England. Numerous mounds and knolls and wisps of lovegrass and heather provide a British flair to the course‚ which retains a typically mountainous character with frequent hillside lies.
The owners of Reems Creek hired the Hawtrees after loving the design by Fred Hawtree of Mount Mitchell Golf Club. Located near the town of Burnsville‚ about 30 miles further north‚ Mount Mitchell is routed at the foot of its namesake‚ which looms some 3‚000 feet in the sky at 6‚684 feet above sea level. The course funnels through dense forests and skirts the South Toe River‚ providing a memorable golf experience.
Haywood County‚ to the west of Asheville‚ is home to Maggie Valley Resort‚ offering 18 holes with a flattish front nine and mountainous back‚ as well as Waynesville Country Club Inn‚ with three nines. There’s also good golf to the south of Asheville‚ in Henderson County‚ with Etowah Valley’s three nines punctuated by long par-fours and huge greens‚ and nearby Crooked Creek‚ which is shorter‚ tighter and a favorite among seniors.
Story by Lee Pace
