Asheville Municipal ( Ross, 1927) in North Carolina

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Kris Spence is restoring Asheville Muni

The Asheville Municipal Golf Course, a 1927 Donald Ross design listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is in the midst of a $3.5 million capital improvement project, funded by the City of Asheville (North Carolina) user fees and grants.
The first phase of the project started in October 2022 and will run through the winter of 2023-24. A major component of the project concerns stormwater and irrigation management and repairing infrastructure that has deteriorated over a century.
Tees, greens and bunkers are also being improved, and the pro shop has been renovated. Architect Kris Spence, a specialist in restoring and uplifting Ross courses, was retained through the Donald Ross Society to provide a master plan for the course.
"It’s been glorious to watch," said Phil Blake, who grew up in a house on the tenth fairway and has played the course for more than fifty years. "I never in my lifetime have seen this much money thrown at this golf course. There’s a new spirit around here, for sure."
Among the highlights of the work completed:— Thinning out underbrush and cutting trees to provide air flow, sunlight and turf health— Cart path repairs— Sodding tees and fairways where needed— Extensive tree-clearing and new green and bunkers on the 16th hole— New signage and pin flags— Golf shop overhaul with new carpet, paint, fixtures and significant upgrade to the retail product offering— A new weather station to measure green surface moisture— Restoration of 10 bunkers— Mounding and broomsedge grass installation on holes one and six to mirror Ross’s original design
We have a good set of Ross’s individual hole drawings and a good general plan of the 18 holes," Spence said. "The routing is intact. The evidence on the ground is that the golf course was built according to the plan. In pulling a master plan together, my first step was to walk the golf course and try to decide the highest priorities.
"It’s not often you get to restore an original Donald Ross that has not been altered over the years. When I first walked the site with Commonwealth, we found Ross bunkers that had been abandoned decades ago. Tees that had trees growing over them. Green edges that you could clearly see and are still defined but have been abandoned. In some ways the lack of attention over the last century to this historic golf course has made the changes that much more rewarding for the players.
"The main thing was cleaning the weeds off, encouraging the Bermuda growth, clearing out trees. In time, we’ll restore the edges to the greens, and all of the bunkers around the greens, the ones in the fairways that bring back the essence of the Ross strategy. The Muni is headed in the right direction."

[Jay Mickle]

Pleased to hear of the selection of Chris Spence to rehab the course. I played it almost 2 years ago and was appalled that then course was in such shabby shape. Not sure where the money went as the tee sheet was full.

[rjsimper]

Exciting stuff. Badly needed. Hopefully the budget/maintenance can sustain the work that Kris does there

[Carl Johnson]

I played a couple of times about 15 years ago.  It was in sorry shape then, but you could see the potential.  One aesthetic issue was a row of soldier sentry trees, or maybe a couple, that had been planted between fairways on the front nine.  I'd like to go back and check it out when the work is done.  As rjsimper points out, the key is going to be how well they are able to maintain it going forward.  Regarding listing on the national register of historic places, my recollection is that that applied to clubhouse, not the course, but I could be wrong.  I also recall that only part of the original clubhouse remains. More: https://www.ashevillegc.com/

[Kris Spence]

Gents, I wanted to chime in on this old thread regarding the Asheville Muni.  Sadly, I stopped by unannounced on Tuesday and was surprised to see them proceeding with a ill conceived bunker renovation without my involvement in any way (I had requested they do so after they renovated a few bunkers incorrectly last fall).  I’m going to choose my words carefully but the work underway is not in anyway representative of my work or what I think Donald Ross would approve of either.  I’m very disappointed the company in charge decided to go in this direction, it was their call and decision to do so completely.  It appears they were at least 10-12 holes along so I doubt there is any way to change course at this point.  I plan on contacting the city official I met with previously to share my thoughts and concerns. Very disappointing to say the least.  I’m sure the players are excited to get new sand in the bunkers along with a few bunkers in original locations but that’s as far as it goes relative to Ross. 😈 my honest opinion of course

[Carl Johnson]

Sad to hear.

[Jerry Kluger]

Kris: I played Mooresville Golf Club a couple of years ago - really like the work that you had done there - a great value for old guys like me.