Omni Grove Park Inn & Spa

About Omni Grove Park Inn & Spa

The golf course at the Grove Park Inn is older than a century and as old as the resort, and Donald Ross redesigned it in the 1920s. It sits below the granite Arts and Crafts inn on the north side of Asheville, and from the high points you look across the Blue Ridge and back up at the hotel. It's short by modern standards, par 70 and 6,113 yards, but it plays up and down the hills, and the map survey shows trees along 16 of the 18 holes. Course character from OpenStreetMap contributors' survey data.

The history is deep. It was a stop on the PGA Tour from 1933 to 1951, and Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan and Jack Nicklaus have all played it. Barack Obama played a round here before his second 2008 debate with John McCain. In 2011 Conde Nast Traveler put it on its Top 20 Southern US Golf Resorts list.

In 2001 and 2002 the resort closed it for a $2.3 million restoration with architect Kris Spence, aimed at bringing back Ross's original design: greens enlarged and reshaped to their old contours, fairways turned from Bermuda to bentgrass, and new back tees on 4, 9, 12 and 17. When it reopened on May 1, 2002, the USGA rated it 71.7 with a 134 slope, and the resort put up a life-size bronze statue of Ross.

It's one of 11 courses Yoink watches in the Asheville & the NC Mountains area, and the closest alternative is Black Mountain Golf Course, about 12 miles away — handy when your first choice is booked solid.

What it's like to play Omni Grove Park Inn & Spa

There are about 213 bunkers out there, well above average, so a good bunker game pays. There's real elevation change: some holes rise or fall about 112 feet from tee to green.

Course character from OpenStreetMap contributors' survey data (ODbL).

How to get a tee time at Omni Grove Park Inn & Spa