by MARC ATCHISON | PRIMLAND RESORT

Primland Resort’s Highland golf course sits atop Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains like a crown sitting on green velvet. It’s one of America’s newest golf courses and, according to a few golf magazines – one being Travel & Leisure Golf Magazine - it’s one of the best.

A dear friend named Sandy and his gum-chopping sidekick Carlton picked us up at Charlotte’s international airport the day we arrived to play the newest member of America’s golf royalty.

“You see that peak to the right,” said Sandy, the transplanted Scot who now calls southern Florida home while pointing to a misty mountain range in the far off distance. “That’s where we’re headed – to the best new golf course in this part of the country.” Sandy had been bragging for weeks about the Highland course he had discovered nestled in the thick blue tinged spruces that give the mighty mountain range its name.

The resort course, which was designed by a legendary golf course architect named Donald Steel, who hails from the other side of the great Atlantic Ocean water hazard.
"Travel & Leisure Golf Magazine just rated Primland one of the Top 10 best new courses in America,” boasted Sandy as we passed through a tiny North Carolina hamlet known as Mount Airy, the hometown of actor Andy Griffith and the place that inspired the fictional town of Mayberry used in the Andy Griffith Show.

Soon we were at what we thought was the entrance of the 14,000-acre resort. “Oh, no,” said Carlton in a southern drawl as thick and sweet as the syrup we’d later pour on the corn bread so popular in this part of America. “We still have another half hour drive up the mountain before we reach the main lodge.”  The winding, twisting road took us past thick forest and mountain streams and afforded us jaw-dropping views of the surrounding valley.  “See those tall buildings over there,” said Carlton. “That’s Greensboro, (North Carolina). On a real clear day, you can see as far as Charlotte – about 100 miles away.”

Carlton turned his 4x4 into the main lodge where Sandy collected our keys and then led us to our accommodation – a spacious two-storey home. Most of the accommodation at Primland is made up of former hunting lodges once owned by America’s elite that have all now been purchased and spruced up (as in modernized) by the present European owners of the resort.





















A late arrival allowed us the joy of witnessing the splendor of the sun setting over the mighty Blue Ridge Mountains, one of the most majestic ranges in North America. Sandy had arranged for an early-morning tee time so we hurried off to bed but at first were kept awake by the chirping of crickets and the rustling of small animals outside our spacious abode.

The morning came quickly – too quickly – but for the first time we saw the majesty of our surroundings through clear eyes. What an amazing sight!  A toot of a horn signaled Sandy had arrived to transport us to the first tee at Primland, which made its name as a hunting lodge in the mid-20th century.
Hunters and anglers still come here for the rich harvest of fish and animals that roam these mountains. The only thing that is different here is that now golfers hunting for birdies and eagles join them.

“You now something,” said Sandy (a sore back kept him from joining us for the round) as he dropped us off at the clubhouse. “The first time Donald (Steel) stood where you are, he said this was one of the best pieces of land he ever had the opportunity to work with.” Quite a statement from a man who has designed, or redesigned, some of the great courses of the world, including my favorite Scottish layout, the legendary old course at Turnbury. We knew we were in for a special day.

Primland, quite frankly, is mountain golf at its best. Steel carved out his masterpiece by letting the natural terrain dictate the routing.  The fairways are tight and menacing, just like a great mountain course should offer, and the greens are Steel slick and just as undulating as the fairways. In fact, it’s hard to know where the fairways end and the greens begin on the Highland course.
















Steel said he baptized the resort’s course Highland because he said “once I strode over the plateau at Primland, the views reminded me of the highlands of Scotland.”  Most people say the Primland terrain is what they expect heaven to look like.  From the back tees (7,034 yards), Highland is a bear of a course and will eat any high handicapper up. So we decided to take the middle road and teed off on the third set of the five tee boxes offered, which still stretches the course out to a challenging 6,450 yards.

CONTINUED: Primland Resort - A Blue Ridge Mountain Marvel

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