Local neighbors are complaining about dense smoke coming from heaps of garbage being burned during a significant redesign and repair of a Donald Ross-designed course in western North Carolina.
In June, Bobby Weed Golf Design announced that the Waynesville Inn & Golf Club would be renovated, with intentions to decrease the facility’s 27 holes to a more manageable 18.
The first nine courses at Waynesville, near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Blue Ridge Parkway, were constructed by renowned architect Ross and opened in 1926. Later, another 18 were added.
Residents informed WLOS-TV that a pair of burn pits in the hilly terrain less than an hour west of Asheville have created a dense cloud of smoke.
A fire marshal, on the other hand, argued that the corporation is doing everything appropriately.
“People are phoning and complaining about the smoke and ash,” Waynesville Fire Marshal Darrell Calhoun said to the television station. “They have a permit to burn.” They have an excavator and a fire pit with berms on each side. They’re following the rules to a tee.”
The resort’s master plans, according to Golfweek, include a study on the possibility of adding a short course and a Himalayan-style putting green. Addressing infrastructure and capital improvement needs, a hole-by-hole analysis, a full course restoration, implementing agronomic best practices, and effective budgeting are some of the other highlights of the master plan.
Raines Company, a hotel owning organization with various locations around the Southeast, owns the facility.
The 111-room inn and adjacent hilly course will join Raines’ boutique hotel branch, Woven by Raines, after 16 to 24 months of construction.
