Carved out of the
Pisgah National Forest and around the flowing South Toe River, Mount Mitchell Golf Course
includes beautiful mountain scenery, pine trees, laurel and rhododendron, rivers and
rocks, sand and bent grass as plush as a new Cadillac. A relatively flat 18 holes
built in a valley of the forest, this entire Fred Hawtree design is an incredible blending
of nature and golf course architecture.From short par-4s that put a premium on accuracy
over length to longer par-4s that insist on a booming drive, from reachable par-5s to
definite three-shot par-5s, from short, dramatic par-3s to longer par-3s in which water
and sand come into play, this course has it all.
There is nothing tricky about the green, which has subtle but no severe breaks and
rolls true, a testament to a superintendent's group headed by Jim Laughridge that keeps
Mount Mitchell in consistently excellent shape.
"We regard (Nos.) 12 through 15 as our most important holes because they follow
the South Toe and all the holes (12, 13 and 14) dogleg left around the river,"
General Manager Jim Floyd said. "People get a lot of enjoyment out of that stretch of
holes because there is such a serene, peaceful feeling through there. Because of the
scenery and the river, No. 14 is the most memorable for the people who play it."
