Municipal Golf Course Front 9 Restoration
Municipal Golf Course Front 9 Restoration
The City of Asheville is restoring the Municipal Golf Course after Hurricane Helene caused catastrophic damage to the area.
Happening Now
The City of Asheville is preparing to post a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to hire a team of design and engineering professionals to help the City restore the Municipal Golf Course front 9 holes after catastrophic damage from Hurricane Helene.
The damage to the back 9 holes included over 40 downed trees and damage to three bunkers. Downed tree removal is in progress and bunker restoration in the back 9 is complete. The course reopened as a 9-hole course on October 28, 2024.
Background
On September 27, 2024, Hurricane Helene caused catastrophic damage to the region. Areas closest to the waterways were hardest hit with flooding. The front 9 holes of the Municipal Golf Course are in the flood plain along the Swannanoa River and were completely submerged during the flooding after the storm. The torrent of water eroded away much of the course including significant damage to the irrigation system, portions of the stormwater piping, all 18 tee box complexes, all but 3 bunkers, 8 greens and 8 fairways. The bathroom house was completely washed away as well as a majority of golf cart paths and trees on property.
Visual aerial footage of the damage can be found at the following video links as cataloged by course volunteers.
September 27, 2024 & October 7, 2024 footage
The Asheville Municipal Golf Course, affectionately known locally as ‘Muni’, is a public course owned by the City of Asheville. The Donald Ross designed course was opened in 1927, and is one of the oldest golf courses in western North Carolina. The course is steeped in history; Muni was the first public golf course in North Carolina and became the first integrated public golf course in the Southeast. Muni is home to the Skyview Golf Tournament, and both the clubhouse and course were listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2005. A documentary narrated by Darius Rucker focused on the history of the course and more specifically this history of Skyview Golf Tournament was completed and released in 2020.
Donald Ross designed the course to highlight the highly variable terrain - the front 9 and the focus of this Request for Qualifications is within the floodplain and floodway and is flat, open and airy. The back nine by comparison is nestled in the steep terrain with tight, tree-lined fairways, requiring a high degree of accuracy on every shot. The course is heavily played, with over 44,000 starts per year. Of those starts, one fifth are by annual passholders. This stark difference in the front and back 9 holes provides players with a wide variety of shot opportunities during a full 18 holes of play, and is part of the uniqueness of Ross' design for the course.
The course is within the Beverly Hills community in east Asheville. It is bounded by the neighborhood on 3 sides, and the Swannanoa River on one, with Swannanoa River Road in between the course and the river. Several other City assets are adjacent to or in close proximity to Muni including Recreation Park, the Western North Carolina Nature Center and JBL Soccer Complex to the east, and the future Swannanoa River Greenway and Riverbend Park to the west.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Municipal Golf Course is just the first of many storm recovery projects. As the City works through the process to secure funding for overall storm recovery, it’s important to begin rebuilding where possible. The Municipal Golf Course is a designated historic site operated through a public-private partnership, and is a unique asset that will generally be restored to its pre-storm condition, with the exception of incorporating resiliency and mitigation measures. Moving forward with this project is an important first step to prevent the future loss of taxpayer dollars – in the current situation, the City bears the burden of added operational losses averaging $30,000 for each month that the course is not fully open with 18 operational holes.
Yes. The historic status does require coordination throughout the planning and restoration process with the State Historic Preservation Office.
We understand the importance of keeping our community informed. We will provide regular updates on this project page and through the subscriber list. Those interested in following along with the restoration efforts of Municipal Golf Course are encouraged to subscribe on the project page.
A key element of the City’s overall storm recovery strategy is resilience. The RFQ process will allow the City to select a design team with the expertise needed to maximize eligibility for mitigation funding, ensuring that projects are not only restored but also fortified against future environmental challenges.
No. The location has been permitted as a debris site, for use only if necessary. At this point in the debris removal process the City is confident that the Municipal Golf Course will not be utilized as a debris site
City staff is currently working with recovery consultants to determine options to resolve silt runoff and dust. Any ground cover measures will need to be acceptable under FEMA for reimbursement.
Contact
Susannah Horton
Project Manager
shorton@ashevillenc.gov
Chris Corl
Director of Community and Regional Entertainment Facilities
ccorl@ashevillenc.gov