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Buncombe GC - Donald Ross

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Frank_Stanger:
To the Donald Ross experts out there...

I will be traveling to Asheville soon and hope to squeeze in a round of golf or two...  I'm particularly interested in checking out Buncombe Municipal Golf Course, originally designed by Donald Ross.

I was wondering if anyone could comment on the condition of the course and whether is still maintains any "Ross" characteristics...

I would be particularly interested if someone could point out features to look for and pay attention to...  Anything about the course "typical" of a Ross design?

Many thanks in advance to anyone who can comment.

F.S.

A_Clay_Man:
Frank- While I have not seen Buncombe, it comes from a very good source, that there is probably alot of Ross there. His reasoning is that since it's a municipal course, he doubts that they ever had the money to remove most of Ross' original work.

The course is reported to be built on two distinct land types. The back being heavily undulating compared to the front. To quote my source, "the greens, the greens, are amazing". ANd this gentleman is not an archie buff (or should I say, wasn't until finding gca.com)

I have seen one picture, and it looks as though they have a "tree" issue. Not to imply it's just one tree. Also, on doing some research, I hope Buncombe, is what was being referred to as "the muni" back in the day.  That's all I know, except that the annual pass is ridiculously cheap.



 

Steve_ Shaffer:
Asheville is on my list of places to visit. Buncombe seems like a great place to play from this:

www.visitnc.com/glf/glf_article.asp?articleid=233&sectiongroupid=4

An Uncommon Course for the Common Golfer: Buncombe County Municipal  

If you prefer to hang out in fancy clubhouses then Buncombe County Municipal probably isn't the golf course for you.

But if you like a fun golf challenge and enjoy the company of people from all walks of life, then Buncombe is your kind of golf course.

As the name implies, Buncombe is a good, old-fashioned municipal course, otherwise know as a "muni" - about as public as a public course can get.

But what sets it apart from your run-of-the-mill muni is that this one was designed by the Michelangelo of golf architecture, Donald Ross. In fact, Ross' distinctive touches can still be seen almost 80 years after he left the premises.

The course also happens to be spread out over a pretty interesting plot of land (just outside of Asheville) - giving its two nines distinctly different personalities.

The front nine is basically situated on a flattish piece of bottomland, and features the flowing, very economical routing for which Ross was famous. Mature pine trees line several of the fairways, but in most cases, they're only one deep - which means you can take the head cover off your driver and not hit it into too much trouble.

The first three holes get you off to an easy enough start (another Ross trademark): a par 4, 396 from the blues, a par 5, 475 from the tips, and a par 4 of only 269 yards, respectively. But though the greens are easily reachable in regulation (or maybe less), and appear relatively flat and benign, you begin to notice something right away: the breaks in Buncombe's greens are wickedly subtle.

"I've been playing here since I was 12," says Pro Shop Assistant Mike Shipman, a man probably in his early forties, " and I'm still not sure I've learned to read these greens."

(Perhaps this explains why the players on the Carolina Blonde Tour named Buncombe's the best greens on their circuit.)

What's nice about these first nine holes is the variety of shots they call for - the fourth hole, a 542-yard par 5 putting a premium on the ability to hit a gentle fade; and then the next hole, a 422-yard par 4 rewarding a slight draw on the tee shot.

After the short par 3, sixth hole, the seventh, a 409-yard par 4, requires a good power fade on your tee shot (out of bounds lurks on your left).

Perhaps the most interesting - and visually intimidating - hole on the front is the par 3 eighth. For about the first 170 yards of this 188-yard beauty, the ground underneath your ball is pancake-flat, then suddenly it slopes sharply upward a good 25-30 feet, the flag precipitously perched on an elevated green. From the tee, it looks like you're lofting your ball onto the bottom of a big, inverted bowl requiring you to hit the shot Ross believed was the most difficult, and therefore the most dramatic, in the game - a beautifully-struck, high-arching long iron.

The front then concludes with a solid 410-yard par 4.

As soon as you walk onto the tenth tee, you know you're in for something completely different on the back nine.

Whereas the front could be found somewhere outside of Ross' ultimate hometown of Pinehurst, the back is quintessential mountain golf - all slopes, angles and vertical drops.

And all a joy to play.

Only 297 yards in length, the par 4 tenth tempts you to try and overpower it. But a long iron off the tee - curving gently right to left between the two steep hills that frame the narrow fairway - is probably the smart play, setting up a short wedge to the small, elevated green.

The par 4 eleventh may be the most visually striking hole on the course. From the tee, the fairway looks almost like an enormous grassy rain gutter tilted upward at about a 35-degree angle, lined on either side by trees, and running in a straight line all the way to the flag. Hit your drive a little off line to the left, and the slope will feed your ball back to the middle of the fairway. (Same result, obviously, if your tee ball wanders a little right.) You then hit your approach up to a green that's cut into the foot of a steep hill, giving it a perfectly rounded backstop. The putting surface tilts from back to front.

The next two holes are also shortish par 4s, but offer a nice contrast to one another.

On the tee of the 354-yard twelfth, you can't see the flag because of a ridge in the fairway about 200 yards out. Dare to smash a good, accurate driver over the crest of that ridge, however, and it's conceivable that you could almost drive the green (a left-to-right slope will tend to feed this shot away from the green toward a trap, though.)

At the thirteenth, on the other hand, you can easily see the flag from the elevated tee box. But once you've carved your tee shot slightly left to right between two thick walls of trees to a narrow landing area, you're faced with a pretty severe upslope, where, if the pin is tucked in the back of the green, it's hidden from view.

On the 506-yard fourteenth, the optimum drive is a draw around a cluster of pines, and then once again, a ridge in the fairway blocks your vision of the green. The green is guarded on both sides by traps and directly behind by two grass bunkers.

The fifteenth is another classic "Rossian" par 3, 216 yards from the blues (185 from the whites) with your tee shot carrying over a fairly steep ravine to a slightly elevated green - again requiring a well-struck, high-arching long iron to hold the putting surface.

This is followed by a short par 4 doglegging right, and then a good long par 5, curving even more severely left to right off the tee.

The back nine finishes in dramatic fashion with a long par 3 (there's that favorite long iron shot again), featuring a vertical drop to the green of a good 75-90 feet. (Two hundred twenty -four yards from the blues, this hole plays more like 200.)

Buncombe County Municipal may not be the most prestigious Donald Ross course, but it's a well-designed course with a history to be proud of - it was racially diverse before Tiger Woods was a twinkle in his dad's eye.

"Harry Jeter [a member of the Black Hall of Fame] holds the course record from the blues - a 62," says Shipman, with palpable pride in his voice. "In fact, he's shot 62 here five times. I doubt that record will ever be broken." [John Mitchell, Shipman's fellow assistant, and the man considered to be the course's resident 'pro,' has twice shot 61 from the whites.]

"That's one of the things I've always liked about this place. It's open to everybody."

If you're open to golf's good, simple pleasures, then Buncombe County Municipal is your kind of golf course.
 

Frank_Stanger:
Adam and Steve,

Thank you both for for the info you provided about Buncombe...  I'm going to take my digital camera and try to get some pictures that I can share here...  It will be interesting indeed to see the Ross that remains!

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