TRAVEL FEATURE
Jackson
County golf will
have you flying high
By Patrick Jones,
Senior Writer
JACKSON COUNTY, N.C. (June 18, 2004) -- After-dinner excitement at the historic, upscale and rustic High Hampton Inn in the town of Cashiers is getting to call out BINGO on a full stomach. Once the card game concludes in the inn's lobby, it's time to meander out to the large wraparound porch and find a comfortable rocking chair. Next on the total relaxation agenda is to feel the coolness of the mountain evening descend and envelope you as you relive the highlights of the day's golf round.
By 9 p.m. or so, it's time to wander back to your room - sans television, phone and HVAC amenities - crack the windows to draw in the chilled night air, pull out your favorite golf publication for a quick tip, quiet the lights and drift off to a peaceful sleep with dreams of eagle putts dancing in your head. In this Walton's Mountain-ish setting, you might find yourself involuntarily mumbling "Good night, John Boy" before your head hits the pillow.
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With publicly accessible layouts named Highlands Cove, Trillium, Sapphire Mountain, Smoky Mountain Country Club and, of course, High Hampton, this locale in the far southwest corner of North Carolina offers a lineup of distinctive courses in rarefied air at elevations rising above 4,000 feet.
Carved in, on top and around the Blue Ridge Mountains, Jackson County golf offers inspirational views and dizzying drops. For instance, from the tee box on No. 9 of the Highlands Nine at Highlands Cove, you come eye to eye with 4,900-foot Whiteside Mountain, a monolith that boasts the highest vertical sheer-face drop east of the Mississippi River. The tee shot on this 397-yard, par-4 hole skydives 300 feet down to the fairway, meaning a mid-iron is all you need to hit to put yourself in good position for a short approach shot.
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Trillium Links & Lake Club, designed by Morris Hatalsky, a four-time winner on the PGA Tour, also has its share of sheer drop-offs from tee to green, most notably the 179-yard, par-3 ninth. Named the Valley Trail hole on the scorecard, it could just as easily be called Look Out Below for its steep plunge down the mountainside. Aviator goggles are optional equipment for Top Flites seeking a suitable spot to land.
In the array of breathtaking holes in Jackson County that require physics formulas and slide rules for proper club selection, the mother of all mothers, the end of the search for the Holy Travail, is No. 2 at Sapphire Mountain. Regulars call the 203-yard, par-3 the Oh, S_ _t hole. That's the epithet first-time golfers tend to utter when they get a glimpse of the demands about to be made on their nerves and playing (in)ability.
The tee shot must clear a gaping ravine to reach a narrow sliver of a green. Miss the putting surface slightly right and your ball rolls down a steep embankment toward a creek. Miss the green barely left and your ball ricochets wildly off a wall of granite. To get a feel for quaking at the knees over this tee shot, imagine yourself as a disoriented fighter pilot with a sputtering engine trying to land at night on the deck of an aircraft carrier in choppy seas.
In an unusual act of kindness, architect Ron Garl, a Florida flatlander no less, abutted the drop area to the front of the green, allowing golfers the chance to chip and save bogey if their tee shot goes into a tailspin.
Jackson County, without question, offers its share of thrilling, challenging and scenic golf shots.
The city of Sylva, home to Western Carolina University and its Catamounts of the Southern Conference, is the county seat. Dillsboro and Cashiers are the other towns of note. The state lines of Georgia and South Carolina both lie just over the horizon from Cashiers.
You may already be familiar with this area without even knowing it, particularly if you are a movie buff. Many of the early scenes from "The Fugitive," starring Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones, were filmed here. The train wreck scene when Dr. Richard Kimble (played by Ford) escapes was shot near the Tuckasegee River outside of Dillsboro. Jack Lemmon and James Garner stood outside the Jackson County Courthouse in the comedy "My Fellow Americans." Sandra Bullock and Ben Affleck starred here in "Forces of Nature."
While we're dropping names, tennis champion Andre Agassi spent his honeymoon and hit the links with his first wife, starlet Brooke Shields, at the High Hampton Inn.
Burt Reynolds has frequented the area. He is a big fan of local artist Bill Whiteside, who produced a life-sized Egg Tempera painting of Reynold's character in the movie "Deliverance." The headwaters of the Chattooga River, where the movie was shot, are nearby.
Whiteside's white church chapel art studio can be found just outside Cashiers on the road to Highlands. Whiteside has immortalized the mountain scenery and a number of the area's top golf holes with his realism artistry.
But let's focus on the resident golf courses starring in the area.
Highlands Cove
It's a 400-foot climb up the cart path to the first hole of the Highlands Nine. Be prepared to drop out of the stratosphere on No. 2, a 190-par, par-3 that plays 40 yards shorter because of the descent. The showcase hole, No. 9, is a definite Kodak moment for those who are awed by nature's handiwork. Whiteside Mountain and the exposed rock faces of Chimney Top and Rock mountains complete the jaw-dropping panorama from the tee box.
The Cove Nine gently rolls through lakes and streams on the valley's floor. Though not as intimate to the heavens as the Highlands Nine, it is nonetheless blessed with challenges. This Tom Jackson layout opened in 2002.
Trillium
Links & Lake Club
A pencil sketch of Morris Hatalsky's smiling face fronts the Trillium scorecard. It is a sly-looking grin - almost a knowing smirk that you are in for a rollercoaster ride. This course has a number of scenic holes, but with a few blind tee shots - the 447-yard, par-4 sixth in particular - it would be wise to buy a yardage book, scout ahead when necessary or play with someone who has been around the track before.
Trillium plays to 71.3/140 from the tips, so choose your tees wisely. Some
of the holes that you'll surely remember as among the most scenic
in the area are No. 8, called Blue Ridge, and No. 12, appropriately
named Hawks View. On a clear day, you can almost see nirvana.
Sapphire
Mountain Golf Club
Along with the previously mentioned epithet No. 2 hole, which is among the most difficult you will ever encounter, there are four other memorable par 3s on this course, which was once called Holly Forest under previous ownership. The 13th hole, a 401-yard, par-4, has a tumbling waterfall from Fairfield Lake on the right side of the steep uphill approach shot. The sloping greens at Sapphire Mountain put putting touch at a premium.
High
Hampton Inn & Country Club
High Hampton is a George Cobb design that sits at the foot of Rock Mountain
and Chimney Mountain. Playing to a maximum length of barely over
6,000 yards (just 3,750 from the red tees), High Hampton was designed
as a friendly layout for the resort's guests. The McKee family,
which has owned the inn for generations, knew that if visitors
came in and had a good round, chances are they would be back.
No. 8, a 166-yard, par-3, that juts out into the lake under Rock
Mountain's gaze, deserves its ranking among Golf Digest's "America's
Great Golf Holes."
Smoky
Mountains Country Club
Smoky Mountain attracts entertainers from Harrah's Cherokee Casino because
of its location in northern Jackson County. Musicians Charlie
Daniels and Frankie Avalon have been spotted on this Thomas Walker
design in the town of Whittier. If you spot Frankie over a crucial
putt, best not to remind him that he starred in that, uh, classic
1965 flick, "How to Stuff a Wild Bikini."
Other Jackson County attractions
A ride on The Great Smoky Mountains Railroad is a step back in time. Make sure to add it to your itinerary. Whether it's Thomas the Train for kids or gourmet dinner rides for the adults, it's a worthwhile side trip. Visit www.gsmr.com for a schedule of events.
A hike to the top of Whiteside Mountain will offer some of the most spectacular views anywhere on the East Coast.
The Cherokee Indian Reservation sits inside Jackson County. You can roll the dice at Harrah's Casino or troll for culture and crafts at the Ocanaluftee Indian Village.
Hiking trails, plunging waterfalls and whitewater rafting abound in this area.
Dining information
Fresh mountain trout - butterflied, baked, stuffed or sauced - from the Tuckasegee River is the regions's native delicacy. At the Balsam Mountain Inn, you can have trout cakes or stuffed trout with shiitake mushrooms among other options.
At the High Hampton Inn, reservations include buffet meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The delicious home-cooked entrees and desserts are always on the mark and you can eat until your heart is content.
In Dillsboro, be sure to try the Jarrett House. The Dillsboro Smokehouse and Dillsboro Steak & Seafood are other good options.
Sylva offers everything from fast food to an array of ethnic options. For the adventurous trout lover, the funky named Soul Infusion Tea House & Bistro offers a smoked trout quesadilla.
Mountainlovers.com
For more information on Jackson County and a free visitor's guide, be sure to visit www.mountainlovers.com.
Any opinions expressed above are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of the management. The information in this story was accurate at the time of publication. All contact information, directions and prices should be confirmed directly with the golf course or resort before making reservations and/or travel plans.
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