Conventional wisdom about mountain golf has always been simple: come up when it got hot, go home when the leaves fell. Sometimes conventional wisdom, depending on location, is wrong.
On a January morning in Hendersonville, N.C., the frost gives way to sunshine, temperatures climb toward 50 degrees, and the view from the ninth tee at Champion Hills stretches across the Blue Ridge Mountains, their bare hardwoods revealing vistas hidden during the warmer months.
At the private club, perched approximately 2,500 feet above a town that bills itself as the City of Four Seasons, members enjoy the acclaimed Tom Fazio design throughout the year.
The thermal belt advantage
Geography is the key to golf being a 12-month activity at Champion Hills.
Hendersonville benefits from its location in the Blue Ridge Mountains' thermal belt, where cold air often settles into the valleys, leaving some higher elevations comparatively warmer. The result is a climate that helps make golf a year-round pursuit at Champion Hills.
Yes, it’s cool, but the area mostly avoids the crippling cold that keeps golfers away from the course in the Northeast and Midwest.
One of Fazio's Signature Layouts
Legendary architect Tom Fazio has long regarded Champion Hills as his “Mountain Masterpiece.” He and his team carved the layout across 350 feet of elevation change with six holes play slightly uphill while the others tumble through white pines, tulip poplars, rhododendron and mountain laurel.
Champion Hills’ most photographed hole is the par-3 ninth, where the tee sits approximately 125 feet above the green and a panoramic view of the Blue Ridge Mountains fills the horizon. The par-4 18th closes with a stream along the right side and an uphill approach to a two-tiered green.
Golfweek ranks Champion Hills No. 47 among America's Top 200 Residential Courses and No. 153 among its Top 200 Modern Courses, making it the highest-ranked year-round residential course in North Carolina.
A year on the mountain
Perhaps the best evidence of Champion Hills' year-round appeal is found in its membership.
A decade ago, approximately 40 percent of members lived at Champion Hills full time. Today, that number has climbed to nearly two-thirds, reflecting a shift in how members view life in the mountains.
So, there is no off-season at Champion Hills.
Spring fills the mountainside with blooming trees and flowers. Summer delivers the cool mornings that help make mountain golf so popular. Fall turns the ninth tee into one of the most photographed golf holes in the South. Winter opens long views through bare hardwoods, and the social calendar stays full, from chili cook-offs to evenings around the firepit on the clubhouse patio.
Hendersonville, NC
Beyond the 18th green
Hendersonville's walkable Main Street is just minutes away, while Asheville offers dining, shopping and cultural attractions a short drive from the club. Nearby Flat Rock is home to the Carl Sandburg Home, and the waterfalls and hiking trails of DuPont State Forest and Pisgah National Forest provide plenty of reasons to venture outdoors, even in winter.
The new mountain calendar
For generations, mountain golf was viewed as a seasonal pursuit, but at Champion Hills that calendar no longer applies.
The mountains change with the seasons, but the reasons to call them home remain remarkably consistent.
To explore more about Golf and Membership at Champion Hills: click here
or call (828) 696-1962.
