Asheville Municipal Golf Course

The City of Asheville bought the land for a public course on February 2, 1925. Donald Ross produced the routing that year, while the Beverly Hills suburb was being laid out around the same ground, and the Asheville Citizen printed his plan on December 27, 1925. His 1925 routing map and his hole-by-hole sketch cards are held by the Tufts Archives in Pinehurst. Construction began in late summer or early fall of 1925 under J. R. Brooks, sent as Ross's representative, with city engineers building much of the course. The National Register nomination records that Ross visited the site only briefly; Brooks soon asked for Ross to come back and clarify his notes, and it is not clear whether he did. Work ran behind schedule, the course was seeded in fall 1926, the granite clubhouse by Asheville architect Christopher Gadsden Sayre was dedicated on May 14, 1927, and the course opened for play on May 21, 1927.

Ross's plan numbered the holes the other way round from today. His first nine was the hilly ground that is now the back nine, and his second nine was the river-bottom ground that is now the front nine, so today's 10th was his opening hole and today's 1st was his 10th.

Holes to Know

Only the back nine is open, and the card plays it twice. From the Blue tees it measures 3,147 yards to a par of 36: five par 4s, two par 5s at the 14th and 17th, and par 3s at the 15th and the closing 18th.

The 288-yard 10th from the Blue tees is the shortest par 4 and was Ross's opening hole. The nomination records that it was shortened by about 90 yards in the 1970s, the largest change to any hole. Its one bunker sits on the right half of the fairway about 55 yards short of a small, unbunkered green.

The 374-yard 11th from the Blue tees is the longest par 4, dead straight between tree lines to a long, narrow green about 43 yards deep. Ross's notes for the hole, his 2nd, called for a grass hollow all around the green, 3 feet deep and 12 feet wide.

The 504-yard 14th from the Blue tees is the longest hole on the course. It turns left around a stand of trees about 200 yards out and has no fairway bunkers.

The 216-yard 15th from the Blue tees is stroke index 2 and, played as the 6th on the first loop, stroke index 1. Its oval green has one bunker, at the front left. Ross's notes for this green, his 6th, specified a hollow 20 feet wide and 18 inches deep running diagonally across it, drained toward the front.

The 221-yard 18th from the Blue tees is the longest par 3 and finishes the round in front of the clubhouse. It was Ross's 9th, the end of his first nine.

Ross's Design Here

The nomination treats the course's two contrasting sites as its defining feature. The front nine runs east to west across the Swannanoa floodplain, flat to gently rolling and open, with only a narrow right-of-way between it and River Road. The back nine runs northeast to southwest over steep hillsides and wooded ground, enclosed by Beverly Hills, whose streets follow the edges of the fairways. The nomination calls the back nine the part golfers consider most distinctive, "closely following the natural terrain and providing numerous hazards and challenges to the golfer," and sums up Ross's design intent that remains as "relatively small greens, narrow fairways, and interesting doglegs."

Ross's sketch cards show how much of the work was in the greens. Besides the hollows around the 11th green and across the 15th, his note for the 14th green, his 5th, set an undulation 2 feet high at the edge of the bunker, sloping gradually to the centre of the green. The low ground originally carried water: a pond on Ross's 13th, today's 4th, and a creek through his 11th, 14th and 16th, today's 2nd, 5th and 7th.

Kris Spence, who prepared the 2022 master plan, said the club has "a good set of Ross's individual hole drawings and a good general plan of the 18 holes," that "the routing is intact," and that the evidence on the ground is that the course was built to the plan. Walking it, he found Ross bunkers abandoned decades earlier and green edges still visible but no longer maintained.

Historical Significance

The nomination describes the Muni as the first municipal golf course in North Carolina, public from the start at fees meant for the general community: 50 cents on weekdays and 75 cents on Sundays and holidays in 1927. It cost the city more than $150,000, well over the first estimate.

The course is also significant in Black golf history. Before 1954, Black golfers could play only on designated days, first Mondays and later Tuesdays as well; John Brooks Dendy, a three-time Negro National champion from Asheville, began playing the Muni on those caddie days. Play became fully integrated from 1954, and the nomination calls the Muni the first municipal course in the state to integrate. The City of Asheville describes it as the first integrated public course in the Southeast. In 1960 the Skyview Golf Association began its tournament here with 50 Black golfers; white players have taken part since 1961. The course's 2023 release credits the Skyview with helping 29 Black golfers onto the professional tours, among them Lee Elder, Jim Dent, Chuck Thorpe and Harold Varner III.

The course and clubhouse were listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 20, 2005, for landscape architecture as an intact Ross design and for local significance in recreation and Black heritage.

Changes Since Ross

The nomination lists few changes before 2004: the reversed numbering, minor alterations to holes, the filling of the pond on today's 4th and the creek through today's 2nd, 5th and 7th in the 1940s, bunkers replaced, moved or added in the 1960s and 1970s, the shortening of the 10th, cart paths in the 1970s, and houses on two pockets of land enclosed by the course, nearly all built between 1950 and 1968. The clubhouse lost its upper storey to a fire in 1956 and was capped with a flat roof.

The course ran at a loss almost from the start and was leased to operators from 1939. Offers in 1950 and 1956 would have turned the back nine into house lots; neither went through. The city sold the course to Buncombe County on June 29, 1984; the City of Asheville owns it today.

Commonwealth Golf Partners took over operations in October 2022, and a $3.5 million project began the same month, centred on stormwater, irrigation and other infrastructure, with Kris Spence, retained through the Donald Ross Society, preparing a master plan. Work completed by mid-2023 included restoring 10 bunkers, tree clearing and a new green and bunkers on the 16th, and mounding and broomsedge grass on the 1st and 6th to mirror Ross's design.

Hurricane Helene struck on September 27, 2024. The front nine was submerged, and the city lists damage to the irrigation system, stormwater piping, tee complexes, all but three bunkers, eight greens and eight fairways. The back nine lost more than 40 trees and three bunkers, since restored, and reopened on October 28, 2024. A temporary disc golf course designed with Chris Dickerson opened on the front nine on August 1, 2025. In July 2025 the city hired Biohabitats, working with Forse Golf Design under Ron Forse and Cutlip Golf Design, to design the front nine's restoration largely to its pre-storm state with added flood resilience; FEMA has allocated $7.7 million. The city's timeline shows construction in 2027 and 2028 and the front nine reopening in 2028.

Uncertainties

• The nomination calls the Muni North Carolina's first municipal course, and the city calls it the state's first public course; the course's 2023 release says it followed Ross's Wilmington Municipal by one year. The text attributes the claim to the nomination.

• The city describes the Muni as the first integrated public course in the Southeast; the nomination makes the claim only for North Carolina. The text attributes each.

• Whether Ross returned to Asheville after his brief visit is not recorded; the nomination says it is not clear.

Sources & Notes

1. Sybil Argintar Bowers, "Municipal Golf Course," National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office, December 6, 2004. https://files.nc.gov/ncdcr/nr/BN1825.pdf (land purchase, 1925 routing, Brooks, Ross's visit, sketch-card notes, opening, fees and cost, renumbering, 1940s and later changes, integration, Skyview, ownership history, clubhouse fire).

2. National Park Service, NPGallery record NRIS 05000318. https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/05000318 (listing date April 20, 2005).

3. City of Asheville, "Municipal Golf Course Front 9 Restoration" project page. https://publicinput.com/munigolfrestoration (city ownership, Helene damage, back nine reopening, design team, timeline, Southeast integration claim, documentary).

4. City of Asheville, storm recovery RFQ release, March 20, 2025. https://www.ashevillenc.gov/news/city-of-asheville-reaches-key-infrastructure-recovery-milestone-initiates-first-storm-recovery-request-for-qualifications-for-design-team/ (back-nine storm damage, October 28, 2024 reopening).

5. City of Asheville, "Asheville Muni Disc Golf Course set to open on August 1," July 8, 2025. https://www.ashevillenc.gov/news/city-of-asheville-announces-asheville-muni-disc-golf-course-set-to-open-on-august-1/ (disc golf course).

6. John Boyle, "Answer Man," Asheville Watchdog, March 13, 2026. https://avlwatchdog.org/answer-man-whats-the-latest-on-the-asheville-muni-golf-course-repair-when-will-sheetz-open-on-airport-road/ (Forse as lead golf architect, design schedule, $7.7 million FEMA allocation, SHPO review).

7. The First Call, "Asheville Municipal Golf Course, a Donald Ross Design, getting major overhaul," July 13, 2023 (course press release). https://www.firstcallgolf.com/industry-news/release/2023-07-13/asheville-municipal-golf-course-a-donald-ross-design-getting-major-overhaul (Commonwealth, $3.5 million project, Spence quotes, 2023 work, Skyview, Wilmington Municipal).

8. Asheville Municipal Golf Course, Course, Facilities, Pro Shop and Practice & Lessons pages. https://www.ashevillegc.com/course/ (par, 6,420 yards, tees, facilities, instruction).