The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-01-04

To the lover Of the outdoors the eigh-
teen hole golf course OF the Ashevilie
Country Club appeals with all the
strength OF beautiful nature--rolling
hills. fields, woods. valleys, and noun
tains away to the west piling up In
rugged grandeur tier ON tier, with pisgah
and the Rat the elimination OF altitude
ut 5.149 feet, form view that comp"ls
silent admiration. with thankful adora-
ton to the Creator for his boundless
goodness to man. The Asheviiie golf
course is on n bit OF plateau near the
city and somewhat above it. on one
side is the base OF Sunset Mountain and
on the other side 10 the city of Ashcville
TO the right and straightaway to the
west is the scene just described.
The course is we'll conceived and exc
cuted. Its length is not quite 5000 yards
but II seems much longer. This is be-
cause many Of the holes are on sharply
rolling ground. Yet none OF them re-
quires the mountain climbing play that
Is ncedful In many resorts In the hills.
Students OF golf are not long in observing
that the course at Asheville was designed
for pleasure and not as "A critical test OF
golf. However. this is as 1t should be.
Asheville is "A resort. People come to the
course for pleasure and they are not al
ways anxious To work themselves 10 the
limit of strength and endurance
Many Of tn. distances are excellent
The second. sixth. eighth and seventeenth
are four fine pitch holes. The third is "a
magnificent sweep. down hill and up
again. to picturesque and exquisitely
located green. The course is well supplied
with hazards. bitches. streams. sunken
roads and the like. along with Il moderate
admiNturc Of traps and bunkcis II has
no goat getters." requires no super
human drives. but furnishes enough
trouble to put a premium on first class
81 sh.. Ia. tfns of th.. at 40
is that the first. NINTH sixteenth AMI
seventeenth holes ar< near the clubhouse
and much OF the rest Of the round Is
within sight OF the club verandas.
The turf Of the course il excellent AMI
the putting greens surprisingly good. To
those accustomed to the Bermuda grass
putting greens OF Dixie the Asheviiie
greens are II revelation. Bermuda greens
are true. but extremely SLOW" The
\ sheville greens are covered with grass
absolutely without resistance to the prog
rcss OF the ball. and in consequence are
Keen to degree. They are well kept
and always true. 1t Is doubtful IL there
is a resort course in the South where
the turf IL better.
Immediately to the west and on shelf
OF Sunset Mountain Is the sixty acre
grassy front yard OF the Grove Park Inn.
merging into and apparently forming Il
part OF the golf course. Grove Park Inn
Is unique unique In conception, design,
construction. in furnishing. in decoration,
in equipment. II was built not for the
present. but for ages to come, of thu great
boulders picked up from Sunset Noun
IA II and placed into the walls in beds of
concrete. great care being exercised that
no mark Of hammer or trowel should mar
TIN rugged appearance Of any stone that
meets the eye. 1t is without doubt the
lul la I'm Of to M N
the world. and is departure from the
usual architectural lines. conceived and
wrought into being by +. l.. Seely. son-in-
law of r.. w. Grove. its builder.
One OF its remarkabl" features is the
Big Room" so by 12O feet. the interior
Of which is lined with the same rough and
rugged boulders as those on the outside
walls. except smaller. At each end 81 the
Big Room Is "A massive chimney and fire.
place. thirty feet across from jamb to
jamb. the fireplace requiring twelve foot
logs.
On the west side Of each Of these giant
chimneys. many Of whose bouders weigh
six and eight thousand pounds. are the
| elevator shafts, the entrances to which
appear very like the opening to caves in
| the deepest mountain recesses
The Battery Park Hotel perchcd on the
very apex Of Ashevile In "A grove of giant
oak. Is famous everywhere. and was the
| first really great hotel ever built in west
ern North Carolina II not the South. 1t
| IL one of the best known hotels in the
| country and has entertained several pirsi-
dents and many prominent Europeans
| during Its history. II Is on Battery Park
| HILL which during the civil war was
known as Battery Porter. though hut
| little of the warlike aspect is To b- seen.
| The Manor In Albemarle Park of thirty
six acres is'an exciusive'inn. II Is neither
hotel nor boarding hbusc, hut is u per-
| fectly comfortable and homelike place in