A short stretch of two-lane road separates the gates of Elk River Club from downtown Banner Elk, a one-stoplight town of about 1,200 people in Western North Carolina. In September 2024, Helene dropped more than 30 inches of rain in Avery County in a matter of days. The Elk River overflowed, and roughly 60 percent of the golf course — the first Jack Nicklaus Signature Course in North Carolina, built in the mid-1980s in a fly-in community with its own airstrip — was damaged or destroyed.
Five greens were lost, drainage systems failed, and the lower level of the clubhouse was buried under several feet of mud. General manager Toni Littleton described the scene as “looking like a bomb had gone off.” The storm shuttered downtown Banner Elk on the eve of leaf season, the stretch of weeks the town’s businesses count on to carry them through the rest of the year.
With Avery County’s roads blocked and no commercial airport nearby, the club’s private airstrip became the county’s lifeline. More than 600 relief flights landed there in the weeks after the storm, and supplies bound for the hardest-hit corners of the county moved through hangars that members had emptied to make room.
Only after the valley was stable did the golf course rebuild begin in earnest. The club had been sitting on a renovation master plan for years, but with a six-month operating season there had never been a way to close without losing a year of revenue. After Helene, a full season of closure was no longer a decision to make — it was the reality — and the membership committed to funding the entire plan at once, a project Triad Golf reports may approach $20 million.
The work touched nearly everything. Every green was rebuilt with a few shifted for better angles; tees were reconstructed with new back markers stretching the course; and the bunkers and the drainage that failed under Helene were rebuilt throughout, with a system of fairway grates that now keeps carts off the paths after rain.
For those who know the course, the surprise might be how familiar it seems. The routing is unchanged, winding through a river valley on the front and climbing into tighter mountain terrain on the back, where the closing holes — named The Three Bears in honor of the Golden Bear who designed them — dance around the Elk River. The clearest sign that anything changed is the sightlines: With hundreds of trees gone, mountain views that were screened for decades are open again.
The reopening of Elk River Club closes a long chapter after Helene: A Nicklaus course, whole again, on ground that had to be dug out before it could be rebuilt.
At the turn…
Free First Tee summer camps in WNC — Upcoming youth clinics run by the First Tee will take place at Asheville Municipal Golf Course (with a session for girls on July 13), Waynesville Inn & Golf Club, and Mountain Glen Golf Club (with a session for girls on July 24). The full schedule and online registration are available now.
Asheville Muni joins Birdies for Charity — Friends of Asheville Muni (FOAM) is part of the Biltmore Championship’s Birdies for Charity program ahead of the PGA Tour stop at The Cliffs at Walnut Cove in September. A $20 donation goes entirely to FOAM and enters you to guess the tournament’s total birdies. The closest guess without going over wins a three-night stay at the Inn on Biltmore Estate.
Noto battles the conditions at Scioto — Asheville’s David Noto, whose qualifying run we covered previously, played in the U.S. Senior Open at Scioto Country Club this past weekend. He fought searing heat and tall rough over two rounds, missing the cut. Padraig Harrington defended his title there — fittingly, at the course where a young Jack Nicklaus learned the game.
Brews in the High Country — Just a short drive from Elk River Club in Banner Elk, Kettell Beerworks brews on-site at 3,715 feet. Locals favor the Rollcast, a crisp German-style Kölsch that pairs well with a soft pretzel.
Elk River Helping Hands: Built for small emergencies, tested by a catastrophe.
The distance between Elk River Club and the town of Banner Elk has never counted for much. Ever since the club opened, its members have been regulars in the town’s shops and restaurants, and every year the club hosts a charity golf tournament that raises money for the Banner Elk police department.
With the neighboring community in mind, a handful of Elk River Club residents formed Elk River Helping Hands just weeks before Helene, expecting to handle the occasional local emergency, such as a medical crisis or job loss. After the storm, the group was inundated with hundreds of requests and virtually no infrastructure.
The charity was built to move fast, and the volunteers — working from Banner Elk Town Hall — were instrumental in getting cash quickly into the hands of people who needed basic, immediate necessities. First responders and community leaders flagged families in trouble, volunteers reached out directly to those too proud to ask, and grants were hand-delivered in person rather than mailed. Many of the people they reached lost homes, vehicles, or loved ones and carried no insurance.
Over $1.5 million in aid has reached more than 300 recipients, in grants averaging around $5,000. The money has taken the shape of the need: Replacement vehicles for people whose cars washed away, new mobile homes for displaced households, rebuilt private bridges, even funeral expenses. Roughly a third of the fund remains for the recovery work still ahead. The work isn’t finished, and you can donate here.
The full story of the club and the town rebuilding together is worth watching here.
