College towns feed mind, soul and golf game

    Twenty years ago, a good friend and her significant other stopped to visit my wife and me at our Connecticut home.  Our friends and their Winnebago were on the final leg of a yearlong journey across America that started in the Chicago home they were leaving and was to wind up in a place they would put down their roots.  I asked each to share their personal favorite places for a permanent home.  “The Chapel Hill (NC) area,” my friend said.  “San Diego,” her significant other added.  Yikes, I thought, this cannot work. 
    So, where did they finally settle?  Las Vegas, where they still live, quite happily I might add. (I should note also that they are neither golfers nor gamblers; both are therapists, and a place like Las Vegas, a magnet for vices and addictions, seemed a practical choice for them).

College towns:  More than a compromise

Many couples face a similar conundrum today.  My wife, for example, would be content with a full-time home within a couple of miles of a beach.  I am good with that on a part-time basis, but not year round; there is just so much sun and heat a person can stand.  If I am on vacation all the time, I get too mellow, to steal a line from Woody Allen, “and I tend to rot.”
    If you face a similar dilemma about where to put down roots in a golf-oriented area, consider one of the great college towns of the southeastern U.S.  Almost without exception, a town with a top university offers virtually everything a city does, including excellent restaurants, museums, theaters, good shopping options and the opportunity to root for the home team (collegiate rather than professional).  College towns are lacking, blessedly, in pollution and traffic, although the same town officials who promoted some of these great southern towns didn’t believe their own marketing.  People arrived, lots of people, but the town planners did a lousy job of building roads to accommodate them.  The otherwise wonderful Charlottesville, VA, for example, can require a lot of finesse on its clogged roadways at certain times of the day.

Editor’s choice:  Favorite college towns, with golf

    But, by and large, college town living is an outstanding compromise for those golfing couples split between the choice of urban and rural living, or for those who just want an active, dynamic environment where daily exercise of body and mind does not have to end on the 18th green. 
I have visited most of the major university towns in the south, as well as their nearby golf communities.  Here are my top three personal best choices, in rank order.  For my 4th and 5th picks, please visit GolfCommunityReviews.com.  If you want much more detail on any of these areas, please do not hesitate to contact me.

#4    Asheville, NC

    I think many raters would put Asheville at the top of their lists, and I understand why.  The area features the most dramatic landscape of all the top university towns, nestled as it is in Blue Ridge Mountains, and many fall in love with the place because of its laid back, arts and crafts nature and outdoor orientation.  But besides its unique Center for Creative Retirement, the local branch of the University of North Carolina does not provide anywhere near the magnetism of Duke, UVA and the main campus of UNC at Chapel Hill.  And after a few visits to Asheville, I am still fascinated, in a negative way, by the incomprehensible jumble of three Interstate roadways that ascend and descend on the city, which makes a commute both challenging and annoying.  The best choices of golf communities, unfortunately, are at some remove from Asheville, aside from the pricey Cliffs at Walnut Grove, just 10 miles from downtown.  One of the most mature and stable, Champion Hills in Hendersonville, is a good 35 minutes from the city, although Hendersonville is large enough to provide most necessary services and the Asheville airport is within 15 minutes.  Champion Hills is the home course of its designer, Tom Fazio, who was raised in the area, and its members lavish it with much attention.  The most unusual community in the Asheville area is north of the city.  Mountain Air is a favorite of mostly well-heeled second-home owners who don’t care for cold winters.  The community attracts a fair share of retired pilots because a super-convenient (but scary) landing strip, as well as the golf course, cuts across the very top of its mountain.  When I played there, I was tempted to try to hit a golf ball down the runway from one end of the mountain to the other.  I’ll bet a few members have tried.

#5     Aiken, SC

    The horse country of South Carolina ekes out the fifth position from other strong contenders, including Williamsburg, VA, Charleston, SC, and Knoxville, TN, all of which are fine options.  But Aiken offers most of the same choices as its rival larger cities without the hustle and bustle.  These include an excellent Lifelong Learning program at the local branch of the University of South Carolina, as well as a small but select group of private golf communities that each offers multiple golf courses.  Mount Vintage Plantation makes an immediate impression, with its rolling landscape lined with bright white fences, some of them decorative and others designed to keep the horses from straying from some large front lawns.  Tom Jackson’s 27-hole layout is as easy on the eyes as are the surrounding hills and large plantation style homes.  Woodside Plantation offers even more golf, with three courses and another one set to open, but you will need two separate memberships to play them all. Cedar Creek is a little more downscale in pricing than the others and without a gated entrance or private club, but its residents are proud of their community and it shows in the landscaping and upkeep.  Cedar Creek’s Arthur Hills course gets a lot of play because the layout is both interesting and challenging (and members pay a mere pittance for all the golf they can play).  For those who dream of classic golf, you could try to wangle yourself an invitation to play and join the legendary Palmetto Club, whose first few holes were laid out in 1892, and whose 18 holes have been massaged over the last century by such as Ross, Mackenzie and, most recently, Tom Doak and Gil Hanse.

Note:  I feel compelled to explain why Charleston, SC, did not make the list.  Frankly, Charleston has as many excellent golf communities close to the city as any of the top 5 choices.   But its only liberal arts college, College of Charleston, is located inside the city and not nearly as easily accessible as, say, the University of North Carolina.  Charleston can be crowded, parking is almost exclusively off street in the area of the college, and frankly the town is overrun with tourists most of the year.  (I know, I have been one of them.)  That said, it is a charming town with fabulous restaurants and the campus is as beautiful as they come.  The string of golf communities up and down Highway 17 is impressive, although most are available for public play, but they are within 20 minutes of city center.  For a fully private golf experience and a range of intriguing housing options, try Daniel Island, with its two courses by Tom Fazio and Rees Jones and its off-the-path location but close proximity to the city, excellent shopping, and the airport, just five minutes away.

FREE OFFER:  A few years ago, I published a series of newsletters that featured all the communities mentioned here.  I would be happy to email them to anyone who requests it.  Just CLICK HERE and then indicate which area(s) you are interested in.  If you would like more up-to-date information on real estate prices and golf club membership fees, I will be pleased to provide that as well.