The inaugural Biltmore Championship brings the PGA Tour back to Western North Carolina for the first time in more than 80 years, but the golf is only part of Asheville’s appeal.

For golf fans looking for an excuse to build a weekend trip around a PGA Tour event, Asheville may have just become one of the more interesting new stops on the schedule.

The inaugural Biltmore Championship Asheville tees off Sept. 17-20 at The Cliffs at Walnut Cove, a Jack Nicklaus-designed course set against the Blue Ridge Mountains just outside the city. It marks the Tour’s first event in Asheville since the Land of the Sky Open ended in 1942.

And while Walnut Cove is private, visitors bringing their own clubs have plenty of options.

Golf in Asheville

The historic golf course at the Omni Grove Park Inn is perhaps the obvious play. The Donald Ross layout dates to the early 20th century, stretches just over 6,400 yards and mixes elevation changes with the kind of heavily contoured greens that made Ross famous.

The property itself, opened in 1913, doubles as one of Asheville’s signature resorts.

For something more relaxed, Reems Creek Golf Club north of town offers a mountain setting and a Scottish Highlands-inspired design, while Asheville Municipal Golf Course provides another dose of Ross history, although due to the ongoing post-Hurricane Helene renovations, only the back nine is available for play.

Off Course in Asheville

Asheville’s biggest advantage as a golf destination might be everything available after the clubs go back in the trunk.

The city has built a national reputation around its breweries, restaurants, arts scene and mountain lifestyle.

Biltmore Park Town Square, a modern urban village nestled within the wonder of the French Broad River Valley, provides an easy afternoon diversion, while the Blue Ridge Parkway offers some of the most recognizable mountain scenery in the Southeast.

And then there is the Biltmore Estate, the sprawling Vanderbilt property that serves as co-title sponsor of the tournament and remains the area’s marquee attraction.

September also arrives just as Western North Carolina begins transitioning toward fall, making the timing particularly good for combining golf with hiking, scenic drives and outdoor dining.

Asheville has a genuine place in golf history. It hosted the Land of the Sky Open from 1939 through 1942, and a young Ben Hogan won the event three years in a row (1940–42). His first Asheville title, in 1940, completed a 10-day sweep in North Carolina: the North and South Open (Pinehurst) on March 21, the Greater Greensboro Open on March 25, and the Land of the Sky Open on March 31. That streak announced Hogan to American golf fans and produced the first three individual wins of his career.

More than eight decades later, the PGA Tour is finally back.

That makes this week more than simply the debut of another FedExCup Fall tournament.

For traveling golf fans, it is also an introduction to a destination that can easily turn one day at a Tour event into a three- or four-day golf getaway — morning tee times, afternoons in the mountains and evenings in one of the South’s more distinctive small cities.

The Skinny

• Where to Golf: Biltmore Park Town Square, Reems Creek Golf Club, Asheville Municipal Golf Course
• Things to Do: River Arts District, Blue Ridge Parkway, Biltmore Estate