Blue Ridge-Carolina

Waynesville sits in the folds of the Smoky Mountains, close enough to the Blue Ridge Parkway that the surrounding ridgelines feel ever-present. Golf in this corner of western North Carolina comes with natural air conditioning — elevation keeps summer temperatures well below what lowland courses endure — and the mountain terrain means no 2 holes are likely to play the same way twice once the wind finds its way through the gaps.

A name like Blue Ridge-Carolina signals that this course was built to work with the landscape rather than against it. That's the practical reality of mountain golf: bulldozers can only do so much when the land has strong opinions. Expect elevation change, views that pull your attention away from the shot at hand, and the kind of turf conditions that cooler, drier mountain air tends to produce through the summer months.

Waynesville itself is a small arts-and-outdoors town that draws visitors to the Smokies for hiking, leaf-peeping, and increasingly, golf. The region has developed a quiet reputation as one of the Southeast's more appealing warm-weather mountain golf destinations.