Asheville North Carolina is the home of the Grove Park Inn, a wonderful old hotel that has been recently refurbished and modernized. The Inn sits at the top of Sunset Mountain facing west. From the lobby floor outside dining area the sunset is no less than magnificent. Unlike most hotels, when one takes the elevator down from the lobby to the guest rooms.

In the front yard of the Inn is a Donald Ross designed golf course (circa 1924). The course had been the home of the Asheville Country Club for many years complete with a handsome clubhouse and other normal club amenities. Unfortunately for the course there were other priorities at the Inn other than golf and the golf course suffered tremendously. Tennis courts and parking areas were built with little regard to the course. Valuable acreage was lost from the original design to accommodate the needs of the hotel. By the mid 1990’s the course was frankly a major mess. Holes had been shortened, par had been changed and the essential Ross features had been destroyed. The operators of the hotel were not golf people, their focus was on the Inn and the other activities offered by the hotel. By the mid 90’s the golf course had sunk to a low point.

There were little or no markings that distinguished the course as a work of Ross. In essence, the Grove Park Inn golf course had little or no appeal to any golfer of any ability. After finishing the 12 holes, I drove in and sat with Dal Raiford. He asked for an honest opinion. I told him that it was the worst Ross layout I had ever seen. He asked me to put that in writing because he needed an outside opinion to bring to his non-golfing Directors. I did as he asked.

In January of this year Dal called and said that Kris Spence and a course building team out of Charlotte had redone the course. I was skeptical at best. So many courses have been redone and I thought I had met the Architects that best accomplished this type of work. I nonetheless planned a trip to Asheville to see the result.

What a rebirth. Kris Spence researched the records and found the plans. He then proceeded to return the course to the style of Donald Ross of the mid 1920’s. The tees were squared, all of the excess trees were removed and the fairways were regrassed and properly shaped. The greens were expanded to their original sizes and shapes. The work was letter-perfect restoration. Kris did not build any new wings on bunkers or circular tees or any of the other interpretive work that so many Architects find necessary to put their own mark on the course. He stuck with pure Ross. The course is in front of you the entire way around. There are no hidden bunkers or hazards. It is straightforward and quite a pleasure to play. All of the features remain faithful to the era of the courses origination. Spence also began a program of reinstatement of native grasses that highlight the features of the course and give this 6,500-yard links some teeth.

The course is a pleasure to play for golfers of all abilities and a tribute to Mr. Ross. Dal Raiford, Kris Spence and the Directors of the Grove Park Inn should be proud of their project. The Grove Park Inn will always be a destination for those seeking the perfect sunset. Now the course will give greater incentive to visit the wonderful landmark.

The Donald Ross Society is planning their 2004 Annual Meeting at the Grove Park Inn. Don’t miss it.

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