The Glenway Chalet sits inside the Maggie Valley Club community — the course is a mile down the hill. From there, the valley opens into a corridor of public courses within 45 minutes, and two worth a dedicated day are within an hour and a half.
Mountain golf has a particular logic to it. The elevation makes the ball fly farther than you expect. The terrain breaks in ways your home course never prepared you for. And the views from a ridge fairway at 3,500 feet make a double bogey easier to absorb. Western North Carolina has the courses. We'll help you figure out where to spend your rounds.
Around the Valley · Within 45 Minutes
The Home Stretch
The Glenway sits inside the Maggie Valley Club community, a mile down the hill, though with 1,000 feet of elevation drop between you and the first tee, you’ll want the car. From there, the valley opens into a dense golf corridor — enough variety that you can play a different round every day of a long stay without logging more than 45 minutes behind the wheel.
Maggie Valley Club
Host Pick
18 Holes · Semi-Private · Mountain Course
Holes18Semi-Private< 1 milePar72Length6,505 yds
The first-tee view sets the tone: the fairway drops away from you, and the ridgeline sits behind the green on the other side of the valley. The driving range is about halfway down if you want to warm up on the way. The course has anchored the valley since 1961, and it plays like two rounds in one — the front nine works the flatter valley floor, then the back nine climbs into genuine mountain terrain. Tree-lined fairways reward placement over distance, and the backdrops make a bogey easier to accept. Not brutally difficult, but a layout that penalizes lateral misses more than most flat-country courses.
The Waynesville Inn & Golf Club
18 Holes · Resort · Ross & Weed Nines · 3,000 ft
Holes18Resort15 min
Designed by Donald Ross (1926) · Bobby Weed (2023)
A century-old property that just got a second life. Donald Ross laid out the original Carolina nine here in 1926, and when new owners brought in Bobby Weed to rework the property, he restored that Ross nine as the front and fused the old Dogwood and Blue Ridge nines into a new composite back. The result reopened in 2023: one 18-hole round with two distinct personalities — old-school Ross tilt and rhythm going out, a modern mountain nine coming home. Nearly 3,000 feet of elevation, long views, and resort conditioning throughout. The practice setup is serious too: full driving range, a wedge course, and a lighted Himalayan putting green if you want to stay out after dark.
Lake Junaluska Golf Course
18 Holes · Public · Par 68 · Est. 1919
Holes18Public20 minPar68
One of the oldest courses in western North Carolina, the Lake Junaluska Golf Course has been part of the Assembly grounds since 1919, with a second nine added in 1994. At par 68, it plays shorter and more forgiving than most 18-hole courses in the region: fewer forced carries, more strategic iron play, and lake views on several holes that make a bogey easier to shrug off. Public, well-maintained, and genuinely fun for players at any level.
Sequoyah National Golf Club
18 Holes · Public · Robert Trent Jones Jr. · Cherokee
Holes18Public25 minPar72
Designed by Robert Trent Jones II & Notah Begay III
There’s a Cherokee creation story behind this course: these mountains were formed by the flaps of a great buzzard’s wings, dragging through the mud of a young earth. It’s easy to believe it standing on the first tee. Owned by the Eastern Band of the Cherokee and open to the public, Sequoyah National opened in 2009, a collaboration between Robert Trent Jones II and Notah Begay III, a four-time PGA Tour winner and Tiger Woods’ college teammate at Stanford. Bent grass greens, Zeon Zoysia fairways, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park views on every hole. The course underwent a full bunker renovation and regrassing in 2020 and plays in immaculate condition year-round.
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Sequoyah National is one of the best mountain courses I’ve played anywhere in the Southeast. The terrain is unlike anything near home.
Tucked into a gated residential community in the Conleys Creek valley, Smoky Mountain Country Club is easy to overlook — the address says Whittier, the vibe says nowhere near a tourist map. The course is open to the public anyway, and the layout is the reason to come: designed by Thomas Walker, formerly the lead designer at Gary Player Design, it runs along creeks on the valley floor, carves into mountainsides, and changes elevation mid-hole, with par 3s that play straight down a cliff face. Regulars will tell you the honest part, and we will too: conditioning comes and goes here, and the layout has always deserved better tee boxes and fairways than it sometimes gets. When it's in shape, it's one of the most fun rounds in this corner of the mountains. There's a driving range, chipping area, and putting green by the clubhouse, and the staff earn top marks in nearly every review: the pro has a habit of personally walking golfers through the course before they tee off.
Springdale Country Club
18 Holes · Semi-Private · Canton
Holes18Semi-Private20 min
Just over the ridge in Canton, Springdale Country Club offers some of the longest unobstructed mountain views of any course in the region, the kind of panoramic backdrop that makes you forget your score for a moment, for better or worse. Semi-private, with public tee times available, it’s consistently noted as one of the better values in western North Carolina mountain golf. A solid option when you want a full day round without the resort price tag.
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When you’re ready to make a full day of it, two courses east of the valley earn the drive: one for its pedigree, one for a single hole that defies rational explanation.
Omni Grove Park Inn
18 Holes · Resort · Donald Ross · Asheville
Holes18Resort~1 hour
Designed by Donald Ross (redesigned 1926)
The course at the Grove Park Inn was established in 1899 and redesigned by Donald Ross in 1926, the same designer behind Pinehurst No. 2, Seminole, and Oak Hill. It has hosted PGA Tour events and earns a consistent spot among North Carolina’s top 100 courses. Par 70, just over 6,000 yards, open to the public. The setting is the famous stone resort tucked against the ridge above north Asheville, with mountain views across the valley. Green fees run around $190. This is the splurge round, and it earns it.
Black Mountain Golf Club
18 Holes · Public · Donald Ross · Par 71
Holes18Public~1 hrPar71
Designed by Donald Ross
If you need one reason to make the longer drive east of Asheville, it’s hole 17: a 747-yard par 6, one of the longest holes in golf. Black Mountain Golf Club has been here since 1929, designed by Donald Ross on a layout that otherwise plays as a straightforward, well-conditioned public course at a value price. The famous hole is exactly what it sounds like: a genuine slog that requires patience, course management, and an honest conversation with yourself about what club to hit off the tee on a par 6.
Only Have the Weekend? · A Host Recommendation
Three days. Three courses. One loop.
If you’re staying Friday to Sunday and want to make the most of it, here’s how we’d play it. The courses, the timing, the logic.
Friday Afternoon
Maggie Valley Club
You’ve been in the car, but you’ll need it one more time — the course is a mile down the hill with a 1,000-foot drop. Worth it. Play nine if you’re tired, eighteen if you’re not. It’s a good way to arrive.
Saturday · The Main Event
Sequoyah National or The Waynesville Inn
Sequoyah if you want architecture, elevation, and a round worth the conversation. The Waynesville Inn if you’d rather a relaxed resort day on the restored Ross front nine and Bobby Weed’s new back. Either way, start early — Saturday afternoons have a way of filling up.
Sunday · On Your Way Out
Lake Junaluska Golf Course
Eighteen holes at Lake Junaluska before you pack the car. Par 68, public, and on the way home. The pace is easy, the lake views are good, and you’re on the road by noon — a proper way to close out a trip.
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Also in the Field Guide
Where to Eat
From the diner down the hill to James Beard winners an hour away.
