North Carolina Mountain Golf 9.0
- bgtriptips
- 2 days ago
- 10 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
As all of you know, my blog is dedicated to helping folks find and plan great golf trips on limited budgets. With this post, I will share with you my “best ever budget golf trip.”
The key to this type of trip is to have a friend who either lives in a great golfing location, or owns a second home there.
The destination for this trip was the mountains of North Carolina, where my good buddy Johnny a.k.a. JDawg (brother of KDawg), happens to own a home near some fine mountain golf courses. The Dawg brothers conspired to plan a golf trip, and Scott a.k.a. Doo Rag and myself (Larry, a.k.a. The Comish) were fortunate enough to be invited to fill out the foursome.
Our target destination was West Jefferson, NC, which is about a 7-hour drive from our homes in Jacksonville, FL. Fortunately, our golfing partner Scott happens to own the ideal golf trip travel vehicle and volunteered to drive. You know the kind I’m talking about, looks like a Cadillac inside, hauls 8 sets of golf clubs, 4 beer coolers, and all the luggage you can carry in the back. A step ladder is the only optional equipment for this mini-monster truck.
We left Jax early Thursday morning, planning to arrive at J's place around 4:00 pm. We arrived a bit late, only after taking a slight detour in Charlotte to lunch at Mac’s Speed Shop, on the best BarbQ in NC (my opinion).
Thursday afternoon was dedicated to chillin’ and laying out our two-hole golf course in Johnny's backyard. The Commish managed to edge out KDawg 2/1 in the final matches.
We arose early Friday morning, as J had booked us an 8:45 am tee time at Mountain Aire Golf Club. J had played the course once before, but the rest of us were totally unfamiliar.
Arriving late, we had no warm-up time and headed straight to the first tee. As I was the last player to tee off, my partners were more than happy to assist me with unhelpful guidance, assuring me there was no way I could reach the creek which crossed the fairway in front of the green.
Armed with their instruction, I spanked a high draw tee shot, which one hopped into its watery grave. The first hole was only a preview of the rest of my day. But my game, or lack thereof, is not the point of this story. The real story is how/where to find great golf in a beautiful and majestic setting, with reasonable cost.
Mountain Aire proved to be an unknown gem in the wilderness. We started on hole 10, and the first truly scenic hole we encountered was #12, which features a 400-yard par 4, downhill tee shot. Scott is shown in the photo below taking aim at the church steeple in the distance with the mountains framing the background.
Upon reaching hole 15, we were introduced to what mountain golf is really about. It’s not the downhill shots; the true test is going back up the mountain. On the scorecard. hole 15 indicates a simple 387-yard uphill shot with a generous fairway framed by stately fir trees on both sides.
In the photo below, Kevin rips one of his better drives uphill for a whopping 200 yards. After all of our second shots, we were scratching our heads when still facing a full wedge into the green with our 3rd shot. K and I both salvaged a bogey here.
Oddly, it was about this point that we started to notice the golf ball doing strange things on putts. Several times, both at Mountain Aire and Olde Beau, we noted that the golf ball would break uphill on putts. We eventually surmised that if the green was sloped downhill toward the mountain, the gravitational pull from the mountain forced the ball to break down mountain, giving the appearance of the putt breaking uphill. Just try reading the break on one of those putts.
We continued our uphill/downhill play, taking in all the mountain scenery and enjoying our day until we arrived at hole 3. What a sight to behold is this par 4 hole, measuring 427 yards on the scorecard. From the tee box, my thought was to hit a high draw, and the ball runs downhill left to the bottom, which should be an easy PW up to the green. I defend my thought process with the photo below. taken from the tee box.
Upon reaching the area of our second shots, we were faced with a foreboding sign stating:
GOLF CARTS ARE PROHIBITED FROM LEAVING THE CART PATH ON THIS HOLE
Zoom in on the photo below and note the tiny speck at the bottom. No, not the blue shirt speck, further down.
That’s me below the arrow. My rangefinder was useless, as I could not see the flag. Truthfully, I didn’t even know where the green was, it was so far up. I had taken a 6 iron with me down the mountain, so I just hit it and hoped.
If you have zoomed the photo, you have some idea of just how far down I was and the ski slope I had to climb back up to reach the golf cart. By the time I reached a flat surface on top, I felt like my lungs had been ripped from my chest.
Footnote: When first reaching the bottom, I had immediately noticed several golf balls lying in the open near mine. Now I knew why: I’m the only idiot who ever went down there after his ball.
Mountain Aire Golf Club was indeed a treat for all of us. We were pleasantly surprised to find the course challenging, scenic, and affordable. The course was in excellent condition for both fairways and greens. The greens were bent grass and probably rolling about 12 on the Stimp. A group of condos overlook several holes and would make for a very nice lodging option for any golf trip.
Dinner for the first and second day was a true "boys' night out" which consisted of beer, potato chips, and cake. Both nights, we were more focused on further designing and playing our "golf course" in Johnny's backyard (he has 30 acres, but next time, we may have to take out some oak trees).
Saturday morning was a relaxed wake-up with coffee on the back porch overlooking the mountains. Due to poor planning on my part, our tee time was not until 2:00 pm at the Boone Golf Course.
As the potato chip diet was starting to wear off, we opted to head for the Hill Billy Grill, which lays claim to the best breakfast in North Carolina. The place lived up to its name as we were seated outside on benches.
Each of us placed our orders of eggs, grits, bacon, etc. Doo Rag placed the final order, asking for Livermush with his eggs. Not much attention was paid to his order until we saw it. The photo below reveals it exactly as it was delivered. Youk!!!
Curious as I was, I looked up the definition of livermush and found:
Livermush is a Southern dish found mainly in North Carolina and consisting of pig liver, pig head parts such as snouts and ears, mixed in cornmeal and fried. Translated as anything not allowed to go into a hot dog. I would sooner eat a mountain oyster (don't ask).
For those unfamiliar, Boone, NC is home to Appalachian State University, and Boone Golf Club is the home course for their golf team, which does well in NCAA competition.
The Boone course is also in great shape and features bent grass greens, but like most mountain courses, it's down in the valley, looking up at the mountains. The course has some elevation change and is comparable to courses with rolling hills. The photo below was taken from the Boone GC Clubhouse looking down onto the 9th and 18th fairways, both of which play back up the hill to the greens and clubhouse.
Dinner that night was courtesy of Doo Rag at The Peddler Steak House in Boone. The steaks were very good, and complemented with large salads and loaded baked potatoes.
I even managed to get the boys to forgo their beer diet and partake in a fine Red with their steaks. Sadly, the Dawg boys were observed dropping cubes of ice into their wine.
For our final day of golf, I had planned the pièce de résistance, being a round of golf at Old Beau Golf Club. For those unfamiliar, Old Beau is a one-of-a-kind course, being built atop a mountain peak at 3,200 feet, rather than down in the valleys. The course makes over 1,500 feet in elevation changes over the 72 holes.
Billy Satterfield was the original landowner and developer, and the legend goes that he first approached Arnold Palmer with the idea of building a golf course on top of the mountain. Supposedly, Palmer took one look at the site and said, "It can't be done up here."
Not to be deterred, Satterfield laid out the original course himself and set out to build it. When completed, he named it in honor of his faithful English Bulldog, Old Beau.
Hole 2 at Olde Beau (see photo) is a 500-yard downhill hole that bends left for the second shot, or offers a 200+ yard "go for it" opportunity over a lake to the green.
The smart shot is to lay up, but that, too, has danger, as I found out. Anything less than a 200+ yard second shot leaves you blocked out from the green by trees. If played as 3 shots to the green, the fairway starts out bending right on the tee shot. For the second shot, it zigs to the left behind the aforementioned trees, and finally zags back to the right toward the green. The hole can be very confusing and challenging the first time played. Two of us played the safe shots, and the other two guys took the lake route. All of us made a double bogey on the hole.
Olde Beau hole #4 (shown below) measures 416 yards uphill from the Old Man's Tees, we played at 5676 yards. While this "short" par 5 will have you thinking birdie, our group carded a par, a bogey, and two doubles.
Hole #10 features another 400+ yard par 4 playing down the mountain from the clubhouse, as pictured below. A high draw shot of 250+ over the pond will put you in par range. Anything else will deliver a score ending in ....bogey.
Note the fir trees lining the fairway. Western North Carolina produces 22% of the live Christmas trees sold in the US.
Hole #11 is a short par 3 with a 159-yard carry up to the green. We like those, right? Take a look at the photo below. Anything other than a shot straight at the green will be rewarded like an errant pinball strike, with the trees serving up bank shots into who knows where.
In looking down on the next hole from the tee box, we noticed a large white rock across the lake, which seemed to make a nice aiming target, so we just assumed it was put there for that purpose. After hitting our tee shots, we rode down the hill and past the rock, when I noticed the writing....Johnny's Pond. Since we had our own Johnny, I took a picture. None of us knows the story of Johnny's Pond, but we will always treasure this photo of JDawg's Pond.
By hole 15, you truly are on top of the mountain, proving Billy Satterfield was right in that, yes, you can build a golf course on top of the mountain. In the photo below, note that we are higher than some of the mountains in the background.
Seen below, Olde Beau's memorial lies quietly beside the 15th green where he was laid to rest overlooking the valley. The stone speaks to the unconditional love always shared between man and his best friend. R.I.P. Olde Beau.
Mere words cannot describe Olde Beau hole #17; you must see it to come close to understanding it. In the sequence of photos below, I have attempted to provide a visual of the hole, but as indicated, words and photos simply cannot tell the story.
The Top Left photo is the view from the tee box. Note, all you see from the tee box is a blind fairway. In driving down the fairway about 200 yards, the view from the Top Right photo comes into focus, looking like the green is a mile away.
The fairway has a couple of steps in it to "catch" your tee shot, with the last step shown in the Bottom Left photo. Any drive past the post falls into Never Land. If you are fortunate enough to land your ball on the final step, as Scott and I did, your rangefinder will tell you it's about 200 yards to the green, which, based on the slope meter, should play shorter. BUT DOES NOT!!!
I hit the best 4 iron of my life straight at the flag, and falling 50 yards short.
The final Bottom Right photo is the view from the green backup the mountain. We guesstimated the drop from tee to green at 300 feet.
It is with great pride that I note the Olde Commish recorded the only par on this hole.
As hole 17 left you down in a valley, it was only fitting that Olde Beau's parting memory was climbing the 18th fairway back up the mountain to the clubhouse. Photo below.
Olde Beau delivered Mountain Golf at its best and is the only golf course I'm aware of that features holes on top of the mountain. With green speeds approaching 14, some might call this course unplayable, but not giving it our best was never in the cards. Perhaps there is a better mountain course somewhere, but if so, I have yet to see it.
Many of you have played what's called "mountain golf" at courses like Boone Golf Club, which are really just rolling hills looking up onto the mountains. These courses are fun to play with beautiful scenery framing the golf holes. I would tend to call these courses resort courses, which are generally designed to allow a good score and make you want to come back.
Mountain Aire and Olde Beau are both different stories, as there were no good scores to be had at either course. These two courses are the pinnacle (pun intended) of mountain golf, and all of us would go back tomorrow to play any of these 3 magnificent and affordable courses (greens fees <$99). We highly recommend these courses for a great mountain golf trip. And if you are lucky like us, maybe you have a good buddy with a mountain home there.
Thanks, JDawg and Margaret, for your kind hospitality!!
