Today’s round of questions, my smart-aleck replies and the real answers:

Question: You should do a story on the Broadmoor Golf Course and how they got back open so quick after Helene. That place is like the model for post-Helene recovery. How did they do it? And how much did it cost?

My answer: Thanks folks, for asking golf questions while my back is giving me problems and I can’t play. I do appreciate a little torment from readers.

Real answer: Zeke Cooper, president and CEO of DreamCatcher Hotels, which operates Broadmoor, told me they “did it with a lot of hard work from our staff, hope, and a whole lot of faith and prayer.”

Also, a lot of money — in this case $18 million.

Golf courses are notoriously expensive to maintain, and Broadmoor, located off Airport Road near I-26, really got wiped out by Helene. Cooper said the first few months after Helene struck were “incredibly difficult,” because the Sept. 27, 2024, storm inundated the entire course, flooding the clubhouse and leaving behind 6 to 18 inches of mud and silt. 

“Helene was devastating,” Cooper said via email. “For months, we honestly didn’t know if Broadmoor would ever reopen or if it was even possible. We lost virtually everything, including the grass, equipment, materials, supplies, and much of the infrastructure.”

Cooper said they knew the course, which is one of the few mostly flat layouts in the area, meant a lot to locals, so they were motivated to bring it back.

“Once we realized reopening was possible, we made the decision that if we were going to rebuild, we weren’t going to simply restore Broadmoor,” Cooper said. “We were going to make it better than it had ever been. We wanted to create something Western North Carolina had never seen.”

Step one was removing all that mud and debris.

“We lost somewhere between 1,000 and 1,500 trees, and roughly 60 to 70 percent of the golf course was covered with 6 to 18 inches of mud and silt,” Cooper said. “Once the cleanup was complete, we reshaped much of the property, installed all new bunkers, and regrassed the entire golf course.”

For my fellow golfers out there, the new greens are 007 Bentgrass, with Tahoma 31 Bermudagrass on the tees, fairways and rough. Broadmoor also rerouted holes 10 through 12, essentially making them completely new holes. 

They also expanded the fairways from about 35 acres to more than 60 acres, which makes the game a little easier on hackers like yours truly. Cooper kindly said they wanted Broadmoor “to be fun and enjoyable for golfers of every skill level.”

The Broadmoor Golf Links clubhouse was inundated with several feet of water during Tropical Storm Helene but has since been renovated. // Watchdog photo by John Boyle.

“Beyond the golf course, we completely renovated the clubhouse, rebuilt the maintenance facility and irrigation building, replaced equipment, and essentially started over,” Cooper said.

As you can imagine, that didn’t come cheap. Cooper said the total investment has “exceeded $18 million.”

“Those funds came from a combination of insurance proceeds and our own investment,” Cooper said. “We did not receive any federal or state disaster funding despite pursuing every avenue that was available to us.”

When I stopped by the course to check it out, I was impressed with the new 20,000-square-foot putting greens, but the new driving range really caught my attention. It was killing me not to be able to swing a club.

Broadmoor Golf Links was under 6 to 18 inches of mud after Helene in September 2024, but after an $18-million renovation it looks brand new. // Watchdog photo by John Boyle.

The range features 40 covered bays, each equipped with “TopTracer” technology, which means you can see on a screen exactly how far your ball went. The range is also lit, so you can use it after dark.

You may recall from a previous column that DreamCatcher plans to put in a new hotel on the property, and that 8-story, 152-room project is still a go after a Helene.

“We’re working through the remaining approvals and look forward to breaking ground once those are complete,” Cooper said.

Question: We were driving Swannanoa River Road the other day in an area we do not drive often. What has happened to the status of the Asheville Municipal Golf Course? Is it just lost forever? I had heard something about disc golf, but the area we drove by looked like they are planning Jurassic Park — overgrown and unkempt. Even though the damage was extensive from almost two years ago, it just seems like it is gone, yet the sign remains. What’s going on there?

My answer: If the city can get FEMA to pay for some real live genetically engineered dinosaurs out there, that would be a real coup. I imagine a few velociraptors and a T-Rex would also really speed up play on the disc golf course.

Adding a Tyrannosaurus rex and some velociraptors to the Jurassic-like landscaping at Asheville’s Muni would likely speed up play, John Boyle writes. // Watchdog photo illustration

Real answer: Chris Corl, the City of Asheville’s Community and Regional Entertainment Director, acknowledged that the front nine at the Muni, which fronts Swannanoa River Road, “does have a bit of a Jurassic Park feel.”

“Don’t worry — it’s intentional,” Corl said. “Asheville Muni has been open as a nine-hole golf course since November 2024, with golf play happening throughout the back nine.”

The back nine of the Donald Ross-designed course, which opened in 1927, is hilly and wooded, and snakes through the Beverly Hills neighborhood. The front nine, located just across the road from the Swannanoa River, flooded badly during Helene, leaving a thick layer of mud behind.

The city is working toward fixing the course but decided to put the front nine to use in a different way for now.

“Last summer we opened Asheville Muni Disc Golf on the front nine while we work through the process and timeline for the FEMA Public Assistance recovery project to restore the course,” Corl said. “Disc golf is significantly different from ball golf — your reader may have noticed mowed pathways and baskets throughout the front nine area.”

The city does let the grass and weeds grow tall, but this is in the areas that are “out of play” — equivalent to out of bounds in regular golf.

“When playing in parts of the course, it feels as though the player is walking through a tunnel of vegetation,” Corl said.

A golf cart path is barely visible on the front nine of Asheville Municipal golf course on July 22. The front nine is now home to a disc golf course, with the “rough” being allowed to grow out. // Watchdog photo by John Boyle.

The city is pursuing a renovation of the front nine through Federal Emergency Management Agency “Public Assistance” funding, and that project is moving forward.

“We are currently right around the 30 percent design mark, awaiting feedback from several agencies on the initial design and stormwater mitigation opportunities our design team has suggested,” Corl said. “After the feedback is received and incorporated we hope to have a realistic timeline set to complete the design, bid, construction, and grow-in phases of the project.”

So, it’s going to be a while before ball golf returns to the front nine. The city’s timeline on the Muni’s webpage gives an estimated construction time frame of 2027-2028, with the front nine reopening in 2028.

Corl said he doesn’t have a definitive timeline yet.

“I’ve been told confidently that after we complete the current feedback step, which surrounds the 30 percent mark, we will be able to create a projected timeline for design and construction completion,” Corl said. “The current step dictates how much of the proposed mitigation efforts FEMA will approve, which will directly affect the project’s overall scope and, therefore, the timeline.”

Meantime, you can play the back once, or twice if you want to get 18 in.

Asheville Watchdog welcomes thoughtful reader comments on this story, which has been republished on our Facebook page. Please submit your comments there.

Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. Got a question? Send it to John Boyle at jboyle@avlwatchdog.org or 828-337-0941. His Answer Man columns appear each Tuesday and Friday. The Watchdog’s reporting is made possible by donations from the community. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/

Related