Appalachian State’s football team’s huge win over Michigan during the first week of September is not the only big news coming out of this community in the far northwestern corner of North Carolina – there’s also golf set to tee off soon in these mountains.
Work is continuing on the construction of the golf course at the much-ballyhooed Ginn Laurelmor Resort, which is the first resort development in this area in more than 20 years. Ginn Laurelmor will incorporate ridgetop locations and elevation variations to create one of the most dramatic golf experiences on the East Coast.
The first piece of the puzzle will be a dynamic and inviting championship golf course designed by Austin, Texas-based Kite Bechtol Russell Golf design. The trio has fashioned a number of exclusive courses and is working to integrate Ginn Laurelmor's diverse terrain and sweeping views into this most ambitious project.
“We have been working with the land on this site for the better part of a year, but – during this trip and our walk around the site – was really the first time we could see the golf course take shape,” says Roy Bechtol, principal of Bechtol Golf Design and principal in the Kite Bechtol Russell trio of designers. “This was our best site visit yet, and I am excited about the chance to get out and play this track when everything is done.”
Scheduled to open in mid-2009, the Ginn Laurelmor Resort is set within and atop the Blue Ridge Mountains. The resort and its Kite Bechtol Russell golf course are located just off the Blue Ridge Parkway between the charming mountain villages of Boone and Blowing Rock, N.C.
The year-round Ginn Laurelmor golf experience will also include a full-service practice facility and some of the most pleasing golf holes in the region, and perhaps the nation.
“From the tops of some of the ridges on this golf course, you are going to be able to see 60 miles in all directions,” says Bobby Ginn, founder of Ginn Clubs and Resorts. “I am afraid some people might never finish their rounds because they will be stopping to take pictures and forget where they are. It is going to be a wonderful golf course.”
Laurelmor is expected to ignite the reemergence of the true mountain resort experience. Positioned on 6,300 acres of mountain splendor, the dramatic changes in elevation will offer picturesque views and the opportunity to create a unique life style.
North Carolina has received a huge amount of news lately for the golf courses under construction in the state. Both Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson have announced their design firms will build courses in the Blue Ridge Mountains, but Laurelmor will be the first one ready for play.
“In the past months, the construction team at Laurelmor has been routing the course through and around the mountains of rock on the site, and we are now able to see the grandeur that we hoped we would have with the finished product,” Bechtol says. “This is going to be a great course, and I am ready to go toe-to-toe with the other pending courses being built in the state by those other guys.”
Other highly regarded tracks fashioned by the Bechtol and Kite include Gaillardia Country Club in Oklahoma City, Somersett Country Club in Reno, Comanche Trace in Kerrville, Texas and Legends on Lake LBJ in Kingsland, Texas.
