Work Continues on Ginn Laurelmor Resort

Appalachian State's football team's huge win over Michigan in early September is not the only big news coming out of the city of Boone in the northwestern corner of North Carolina. There's also a large golf resort underway in the nearby Blue Ridge Mountains.

Work is continuing on the construction of the golf course at Ginn Laurelmor, the first resort development in the area in more than 20 years. Ginn Laurelmor will incorporate ridge-top locations and elevation variations to create a dramatic golf experience.

The first piece of the puzzle will be the golf course designed by Austin, Texas-based Kite Bechtol Russell Golf design. The trio is working to integrate Ginn Laurelmor's diverse terrain and sweeping views into the project.

"We have been working with the land on this site for the better part of a year, but - during this trip and our walk around the site - was really the first time we could see the golf course take shape," said Roy Bechtol, principal of Bechtol Golf Design and principal in the Kite Bechtol Russell collaboration. "This was our best site visit yet, and I am excited about the chance to get out and play this track when everything is done."

Scheduled to open in mid-2009, the Ginn Laurelmor Resort is set within and atop the Blue Ridge Mountains. The resort and the course are located just off the Blue Ridge Parkway between the mountain villages of Boone and Blowing Rock, N.C.

Upon completion, the year-round, 6,000-acre resort will include a practice facility, clubhouse, various recreational amenities and around 2,000 housing units. A second 18-hole golf course may also be developed in the future.

"From the tops of some of the ridges on this golf course, you are going to be able to see 60 miles in all directions," said Bobby Ginn, founder of Ginn Clubs and Resorts. "I am afraid some people might never finish their rounds because they will be stopping to take pictures and forget where they are. It is going to be a wonderful golf course."

North Carolina has received a huge amount of news lately for the golf courses under development in the state. Both Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson have announced their design firms will build courses in the Blue Ridge Mountains, but Laurelmor will be the first one ready for play.

"In the past months, the construction team at Laurelmor has been routing the course through and around the mountains of rock on the site, and we are now able to see the grandeur that we hoped we would have with the finished product," Bechtol said. "This is going to be a great course, and I am ready to go toe-to-toe with the other pending courses being built in the state by those other guys."

For more details about the project, visit www.laurelmor.com.