Beech Mountain, located in the upper elevations of western North Carolina, is much more than a golf community. For starters, it is a resort wrapped in a golf community inside a municipality (although without stoplights and with walking trails instead of sidewalks). Since 1981, the Beech Mountain Club has operated without any financial stress, and today it operates without any long-term debt. Club membership costs are about as low as we’ve seen; dues are just $150 per month for social membership and less than $300 per month for full golf membership for a couple. (Initiation fee depends on whether the home you purchase includes a membership, in which case a “transfer fee” is just $2,500.) Beech Mountain has something almost literally for everyone who prefers a mountain setting. From May to late October, the Willard Byrd designed golf course is filled with those who appreciate the extra distance they gain on their shots in thinner air; Beech Mountain’s golf course plays at close to the highest altitude of any layout east of the Rocky Mountains. That same elevation turns Beech Mountain into a skiing mecca in the winter months. Other amenities in the community are almost too numerous to mention, but they include bocce courts, clay tennis courts, an active pickleball program; a fully outfitted fitness center; summer camps for kids and grandkids; and an expansive outdoor pool complex with splash fountain. The Beech Mountain Club features two campuses: The golf campus and the tennis/recreation campus. With reasonably priced real estate and an active house rental program, those who live in places like Florida will enjoy summer temperatures that rarely pass beyond 79 degrees and the ability to rent their mountain home in the wintertime. (So confident is Beech Mountain in their cool summer temperatures that they offer a guarantee -- "Summer of 79" -- to those looking to play cool golf.) Those who both ski and play golf will find themselves that much closer to heaven.
