The Beech Mountain at The Beech Mountain Club

The Beech Mountain Club sits at approximately 5,500 feet elevation in the North Carolina High Country, making it one of the highest-elevation golf courses east of the Mississippi River. Willard Byrd, a prolific North Carolina architect who designed numerous courses across the Carolinas and Southeast during the mid-to-late twentieth century, created the original layout. Tom Jackson later contributed design work to the course. The mountain setting presents a distinctive golfing environment characterized by cooler temperatures, dramatic elevation changes, and views across the Blue Ridge Mountains.

The routing works through heavily forested terrain with significant topographical movement, requiring players to navigate uphill and downhill lies throughout the round. The high elevation affects ball flight, with shots traveling farther in the thinner air—a factor players must account for in club selection. The course operates as part of a private club and residential community, typical of mountain resort developments in western North Carolina.

The Beech Mountain area is known primarily as a ski destination, and the club reflects this dual-season mountain resort character. The golf season runs shorter than at lower elevations, generally from late spring through early fall, with the course benefiting from the region's moderate summer temperatures. The layout serves members and property owners seeking mountain golf in a setting distinct from the Piedmont and coastal courses that dominate much of North Carolina's golf landscape.