This review is only for the golf facilities at Currahee Club. Overall, this is a very impressive…read morefacility and is well worth a visit.
There is adequate parking in front of the clubhouse and a bag drop is provided. The clubhouse was nice and the men's locker room was impressive.
The driving range has a sufficient number of hitting areas and the practice putting green is very large. As I played the course in late fall, the practice facilities showed their wear from a season of use. Still, the conditions were acceptable. The practice area includes a dedicated area for bunker practice and pitching practice. While many course have a practice bunker, few have their practice facilities set up well for hitting pitch shots like Currahee Club does. One drawback to the layout is that the bunker sits between the hitting area for pitches and the green, so some coordination and care is necessary if more than a few of people are using the bunker and pitching practice area.
There is a refreshment shack located at the driving range where food and drink can be purchased. Next to it is an outdoor seating area for anyone wishing to take in the view of the scenery or simply take a break from practicing. Golfers pass by this refreshment shack when going from 9th green to 10th tee.
Electric golf carts were provided. As a practical matter, this course is not walkable. The green-to-tee distances are all long to very long. Many of the tee-to-fairway distances are also long.
There are five sets of tees with the scorecard course lengths ranging from 5,051 to 7,394 yards. The course and slope ratings for men range from 65.9/122 to 76.1/151. This course is as difficult as the course and slope ratings indicate. The combination of forced carries, undulating terrain, large elevation changes, mounding, and minimum off-fairway forgiveness make it easy to get in trouble and stay in it. Come prepared to play or prepared to take a lot of drops and forget the scorecard.
The course itself features elevation changes ranging from the small to the massive, as is to be expected at a mountain course. Most holes will have a notable uphill or downhill component with a few playing both uphill and downhill. There are a few holes that are relatively level. As is also typical of mountain courses, there are many long forced carries off the tee, particularly from the back tees.
The fairway width typically ranges from wide to very wide, though there are a handful of holes where the fairway is of modest width. Generally, there is little margin for error if the fairway is missed. Some holes do have a fair amount of clean rough between the fairway and the woods or brush, but many holes have little to none. Balls landing in the woods or brush have a very high chance of being lost. On a few holes, out of bounds is located very close to the edge of the fairway. The fairways are undulating and peppered with mounds and large slopes, with most fairways throw in a fairway bunker or two for good measure.
On most holes, the direction of play from tee to green is obvious. There are one or two holes with a blind tee shot. There are a few holes where the second shot may be a blind shot depending on where the tee shot comes to rest. On a few holes the direction of play from tee to green is unclear when in the tee box, though the landing area for the tee shot is visible.
While there are some water hazards on the course, there are only a few holes where water hazards are a major factor.
The greens are very large and well guarded with bunkers and mounding. Many greens are situated well above the fairway, requiring an extra club or two for the distance. The greens have a lot of slope and undulations. Some of the greens with larger slopes make it difficult to stop the ball near the hole if you are on the "wrong side" of the slope. The bottom of some of the green-side bunkers is well below the surface of the green, perhaps 15 feet, if not more.
Surprisingly, the course only has a few holes with really good views of the surrounding area. Most of the time your view is blocked by trees. The back tees have the best views by far. If you are playing from one of the forward tees, be sure to take in the view as you pass by the back tees and be ready to stop and snap a photo when a good view appears. A couple of the fairways offer good views as well. You'll want your camera (and nerves) ready at the par 3 #17.
My overall rating is 4* because the course had some rough spots on it. I saw a couple of tee boxes that I'd expect to see at 2* course and a few greens with conditioning closer to what I see at a 3* course. The fairway conditioning was close to 5*. Perhaps due to the inclement weather the day I played, the bunkers had not been raked by the course staff and in a few of the bunkers the previous golfers had not raked their own footprints smooth.
Overall, I would play this course again and recommend the course to other golfers.
