The golden hours are returning, those autumn afternoons when fairways, greens, and the surrounding environs are set aglow by the sun’s Midas touch. From the Appalachians to the Texas Hill Country, these Southern golf courses shine sublimely come fall.
Omni Homestead Golf Resort, the Old Course
Hot Springs, Virginia
New England’s Green Mountains have nothing on Warm Springs Mountain in Virginia, where a quintet of oak tree species dabs the hillsides with reds, yellows, and especially oranges. The Old Course captures postcard-worthy nostalgia. Completed in 1892, the 6,099-yard track seems to whisper, we should borrow our grandfather’s hickory clubs from the attic. This is a walk in the park with a golf course down the middle.
Lake Lure, North Carolina
There is nothing like playing golf on fairways draped in vibrantly colored trees reflected in lakes and ponds with barely a building in sight. Rumbling Bald offers two courses that demand quite different shot-making as they wind their way through the Blue Ridge. The circumspect Bald Mountain climbs and descends the alpine topography, while Apple Valley settles into the holler, playing longer from flat lies.
White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia
Golf course restoration remains an exciting renovation trend. Keith Foster’s design homage to Charles Blair Macdonald and Seth Raynor’s original layout of Old White is among the finest examples in America; fourteen holes now draw directly from Macdonald’s blueprint. A little trivia: 2024’s two-time major winner Xander Schauffele won his first-ever PGA event here at the 2017 Greenbrier Classic.
Hollister, Missouri
The hardwood forests lay a vibrant tapestry over the Ozarks every autumn, when the white oaks and river birches flash yellow, sycamores glow jack-o’-lantern orange, and sugar maples add to the spectrum. Like all of their designs, Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw crafted Ozarks National to celebrate its environs. When approaching the green, Masters champion Crenshaw insists golfers take a moment to look at the “beautiful, beautiful scenery” before the “business of putting.”
Lenoir City, Tennessee
A Bob Cupp design in the shadow of the Great Smoky Mountains? Yes, please. The first Audubon-certified course in Tennessee, birdies can be found here in the bushes, the trees, and on the greens. WindRiver is not just avian-friendly; six sets of tees from 4,146 yards to a whopping 7,453 yards make this track perfect for parents and their entire clutch.
San Antonio, Texas
You require a hill to have an eighty-foot drop from the tee box. La Cantera has plenty of them. The fabled Hill Country characteristics come into play all over these thirty-six holes. You’ll negotiate creeks and other water features, meander through live oak groves, and pray no errant drives encounter limestone ricochets (like you might usually fear a cart path bounce).
Pawleys Plantation Golf & Country Club
Pawleys Island, South Carolina
Water lurks on four of the front nine holes, a mere prelude to the back nine’s symphony, where you’ll be besotted with wetlands, herons, and, come late afternoon, the sun’s autumnal radiance. Remember to pause and gaze upon the Atlantic, then gather yourself and return to this Nicklaus-issued fourteen-club exam where no two holes look alike.
