The BEST Golf Course In North Carolina

The BEST Golf Course In North Carolina

[Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] What is up y’all? Hope you’re all having a wonderful day. We are here in North Carolina in the mountains at Balsam Mountain Preserve. This place is absolutely spectacular. We’re going to get to go fly fishing, eat some phenomenal food, and most importantly, we’re going to play some golf. And this golf course is pure. First on the list is we’re going to go fly fishing. My goal is hopefully to catch a fish. My first time fly fishing. Let’s see if we could do that here today. Hey everybody, big mess. And this morning we in western North Carolina, actually at Boston Mountain Preserve at Dark Ridge, which you see here behind me. This creek is an amazing fishery. that’s located inside the Boston Mountain Preserve. It has got a lot of wild rainbow trout, a lot of wild brook trout specs as us local call them here. We’re going to get Zach out here today, Xander. See if we can get them to hook up with the dryfly, get a pretty cool top water eat. So, be sure to stick around and see what kind of action we can get into today. This is my very first time fly fishing. I could not be more excited. I’ve fished many times before, h some before, but this is the first time fly fishing and we’ve got an epic spot here at the Balsam Mountain. Absolutely loving our time here. And uh let’s see if we can’t catch something. How do I get this? There we go. We got it. We got it. Maybe we should work on our flexibility. How do I look? Looking good. We ready. Ready to roll. Should have got the 13s. Dude, I didn’t I wasn’t sure if they were going to have big enough shoes for us. So, the the fly we’re going to start off with this morning is this little purple parachute. We’re going to put a little bit of dryfly dressing, get down here, make some drifts, and see if we can get a good old hungry fish come up and give us some love taps, man. See what happens. But we can ease over here nice and easy. That’s how you catch a unique rabbit. Unique up on it. So, we’re going to unique up on this fish. Nice and easy. All right, Xander. What we have over here on River Left, uh, we’ve got a nice little run here is fairly open, so no squirrels here. If you catch a squirrel up there, we have a big problem. Okay. And I’m not going to get it. You’re on deck, brother. No pressure. Just everybody’s watching on YouTube. See what happens when you miss a fish, Xander. What happens? Catch a squirrel. Catch a squirrel, baby. So, let’s go get some squirrel out of this. How do you feel about your first squirrel? Oh, I got too excited. He hit it real quick. I wasn’t expecting it. Hopefully, he won’t bite my fingers thinking they’re nuts or something. All right, so we’re going to do one more and we’re going to we’re going to shift just a little bit. Oh, Dicky Mo, baby. Look at there. Cool, man. This is uh awesome, brother. This sweet. But the colors on this guy are magnificent, man. Look at that. That is just spectacular. A lot of folks come here have never seen those, man. Yeah. Really outstanding job. Absolutely. You should be excited. I am. Oh, okay. Try to bounce it off that back, bro. There you go. I’m not going to say too much, but I feel like that was my best one yet. It was your best. Okay. I didn’t want to say too much. I I didn’t want the head to That’s right. We don’t need that. Uhoh. Uhoh. You know, squirrels do live in the water, too. They do. We got a leaf. We got a leaf. We We caught a squirrel. Yep. Oh, we got him. He’s still on. We got him. He’s not in the new zip code. We got him. Let’s go. Oh, he’s through the net, baby. Uhoh. He’s so small. He’s so good. That’s beautiful. You’re so delicate, man. There you go, brother. You did it. We did it. You did it. We did it. You did it. All right. I didn’t know you did. I couldn’t have done it without a masterful guide. Absolutely not. I really appreciate you taking us out, dude. It’s a bomb, dude. So, I I really do. If y’all want to come here, Tuckfly Shop. Tuckly Shopop. Tuckly shop. All you have to do to reach Tuckfly Shop is go tuckflyshop.com. You can book any of the trips that we offer 24 hours a day. Uh we do wade fishing trips like this, half day, full days. We’ll provide everything for you except your license. This was absolutely incredible and make sure to check them out if you want to go fishing. I will definitely be doing this again. And this was just such an awesome morning. Beautiful morning. Perfect weather. And I caught one to Ty Xander. I needed it for the team morale going into some golf. The golf time, right? The golf time. Oh yeah. I needed it. I needed it to be all square going into it. We’re going to go grab some lunch now and just continue enjoying the Balsam Mountain. Absolutely beautiful. Thank you. Appreciate it. Time for some lunch. We’re here at the boarding house. This place is awesome. Epic views out the back off the porch. Absolutely perfect place to grab some lunch before some golf. Hi there, my name is Emily. Welcome to the boarding house marketplace. This is uh my restaurant alongside with my husband, the chef. Um something that makes this place very special, not only because it’s on Balsam Mountain Preserve, which is majestic in more ways imaginable. Uh we try and source as many local goods, artisans products that we can find in Western Carolina. The marketplace is a very special place and maybe one day you could see it, too. All right, so y’all know me. Love a good latte. However, I never put any sort of flavoring in it. But here at Balsson Mountain at the boarding house, they have an applespiced latte. Had to give it a try. Let’s uh see what we’re working with here. Oh man, I feel like it’s an apple pie latte. That’s actually delicious. And that’s coming from someone who normally puts no flavoring in their coffee. But that right there could change my mind. Got a teriyak chicken stir fry here. This looks spectacular. Oh yeah. Absolutely hitting the spot. Need to replenish the energy level for some golf this afternoon. We want to take it low here at Balsam Mountain. I think we’re going to especially with this lunch. We’ll see you over at the course. We have arrived here on the first hole at Balsam Mountain Preserve. This golf course looks so pure. Perfect afternoon here in September. And these views behind absolutely spectacular. Hope y’all are ready for some incredible views and hopefully some good golf. Let me try to make some birdies for y’all. Let’s just let it fly. I gave that thumbs up a little too early. I thought I was going to carry that corner. It’s going to be fine. Maybe right rough, maybe bunker, but uh it’s down there. All right, I got 129 down the hill. Going to go with a little sand wedge here. The ball does fly a long ways here in the mountains. We got a birdie luck. And always make sure to repair your ball marks. Take care of the course that will take care of you. Will be fun to start off with a birdie here. Let’s just put a good roll on it. All right. Should have been a little more aggressive. That was going back up the hill. However, in with the four. Now, this is my kind of par4 right here. Dog leg right over 400 yards. Aim straight and just let it cut. All right. Now, that one gets a thumbs up. The first hole that was in the rough. That was a little early call, but that one right there is what we’re looking for. All right, 105 here. Perfect position. Got a little sand wedge. Just kind of want to smooth it up there. Down. Down. Oh my goodness. I thought I smoothed it. That’s going to be over the green. We will see. We will see. Go. Landed a little softer than I thought. However, we will take it. That was a big putt right there for the team morale. Let’s go. What an incredible downhill par three. 188 yards playing downhill to 144. Not very often do you get to play a par three or really any golf shot that plays downhill 40 yards. This is absolutely incredible. And these views out here at Balsom do not get old. I’m going with a pitching wedge here. Wind’s kind of helping off the right. So see if we can’t find this green. Come on. Push it left. Uh, found the bunker. Another bunker shot. No way. No way. No way. Oh, that would have been a fun moment early in the round. I love this sand out here. You got to make sure to rake the bunkers and rake them properly. All righty. Two for two on bunker saves. Let’s go. All right, let’s take a quick look at the scorecard. We’ve got the black T’s which I’m playing the tips 6784. So, good distance right there. And then you’ve got four other T’s depending on your handicap ranging from 6286 down to 4626. The back T’s rating is 73.8 with a slope of 152. 152 slope. That’s strong. This is also an Arnold Palmer designed course established in the year 2000. Little quote right there. Swing your swing. Love it. Stay right there. Okay. Favorable bounce. It’s in the rough. Hopped a little left. It’s going to be a long ways in from there. All right. Long ways home. 237. I’ve got four iron up the hill. This is probably uh a little further back than we would have liked to have been. Oh, well, I think it stayed short of the tall stuff. This stuff is thick. Wow. That uh that was a bit of a top. All right, I’ve got 170 here up the hill. We’re just going to put that shot in the past. Nine iron. Okay. I saw it bounce. We’ll have to see. It was a little left of the flag. All right. This is a dicey chip right here. Caught a little bit of a flyer. Need to land it right there in the rough to be honest. I mean, it’s about all you could hope for from there. No, not a great T- shot. Really poor second shot. And then uh yeah, y’all saw it. Sloppy bogey right there on somewhat of an easier par five. I feel like I gave away a couple right there. One over. Really good par4 right here. and my playing partner Xander behind the camera who y’all saw fly fishing with me. He is my brother-in-law. He just made his first eagle ever. He hulled out for a three. That was pretty epic. I wish I would have had that rolling. Unfortunately, not. But let’s tee it high and let it fly. That’s a stinger for y’all right there. Now trundle left. Oh, it tundled just through the fairway. However, that looked pretty cool. All right, just ran through the fairway. I’ve got 140. I’m going to chip a little gap wedge and try to keep it to the right. All right, that was uh maybe short in the bunker right there. Not our best. Caught that a little heavy. All right, another bunker shot. Two for two so far. Go. Get back there. Nope. This would be a huge save right here. Actually hit that right where I wanted it. Thought that was breaking pretty good. All right, backtoback bogeies. Let’s get off this train. Even though we made backtoback bogeies, you can never be mad when you’re here at Balsam Mountain Preserve. These views, absolutely incredible. And what I love so much is how peaceful it is out here. Really, you drive in through the gate, you can just breathe. That’s what I love about Balsam. Par four here. Bends to the left. I’m going to go with three iron cuz driver I think’s going to run out of room up there. All righty. Should be in good shape right there. They also have an equestrian center that we visited. Absolutely incredible. They can house, I think, roughly 18 horses where we went and saw, which is absolutely incredible at a place like this. They also have a wildlife reserve here on property. So, we went checked out some of the animals they had there. That was a lot of fun. We’ve got 155 down the hill, gap wedge. Let’s knock this close. Let’s hit a green. Let’s hit a green. Oh boy, that was actually pretty close to the number. There is a massive swell there to the right. It’s on the green. We did hit a green. All right, this would be a very good two putt from here. Let’s just put a good roll on it. I don’t hate it. Actually thought once I got up there it was going to go a little left, but I’ll take it. All righty. Good two putt from there. Another epic downhill par three. Got 235 playing downhill 30. We’re going with seven iron because we are up in the mountains and I’ve been long a little bit when I’ve made good contact. Don’t cut too much. All right, we’re putting back to back greens. Right side of the green. That was a proper club choice right there. Sixiron would have been long. All right, lengthy putt. Should be breaking overall to our left. Just want to make sure the speed’s right. All right, couple feet by. That was big for the confidence right there. Two over through seven. This might be one of the coolest T- shots I’ve ever seen. Playing way downhill. Might also be the most downhill T- shot I’ve ever hit. Par four down the hill and then to the left. This really isn’t driver because I’m guessing this plays downhill like 50 yards. So, we’ve got three iron. That looked so cool, Xander. I think that’s going to be perfect. That looks so cool cuz it didn’t get above the mountain and its dark backdrop wasn’t a stinger, but it felt like one. What an incredible golf hole right here. This is my favorite so far. Got 150. Playing downhill about 15. So 135. So should just be a smooth gap wedge. Down a little. Hey, perfect number. Love to see it. I knew I need to get down just a smidge. I know it’s tough to tell on camera, but there’s the T all the way up there. That is awesome how much downhill that plays. This would be for our first pin slammer of the day. Let’s put a good roll on this. I thought that was breaking hard to the left. All right, in with par on the par street. Two over par through eight. Number nine, I believe on the scorecard, is the number one handicap hole. Dog leg to the right. Approach plays back uphill. We’re just going to let it fly with driver. I don’t know if you could place it much better than that right there. 155 playing uphill about 10. Little puff of breeze into. Oh, I love it. I love it. And it’s starting to rain here. had some nice spin on it and uh trundle back down the hill. This is our best opportunity for a birdie thus far. Just put a good roll on it. I can’t believe that didn’t go a little right. Oh, all right. In with four. Awesome. Par three here. 171 back into the breeze. Gonna go with eight iron. Want to take a moment talk about the community here at Balsam Mountain Preserve. This place is incredible. All the amenities you would ever need. Awesome fitness center, spa, pool, tennis courts, pickle ball courts are coming along with the equestrian that we already covered and the wildlife reserve. We’re also staying at some cottages and a house here right next to the golf course. The views, unbelievable. And these homes, absolutely love them. I’m going to show you right now. Welcome to my crib here at Balsam Mountain. Come on in. Doing a little cribs style here. This place is absolutely spectacular. Let me tell you, the kitchen, the dining room, and the living room. This open concept that they got going on here. Big, big fan. They’ve got coffee for me. I’m ready to roll on into the bedroom here. Beautiful bed. Out the back is an awesome deck with some incredible views. And this bathroom is special. Especially this shower. Might be the biggest shower that I’ve seen in a minute. Absolutely love it. Now coming upstairs. This is a vibe right here. Probably my favorite moment of the house. Little cup of coffee here in the morning. Looking out the windows. The views are absolutely incredible here. Got two bedrooms as well. One on the left, one on the right. Their own bathrooms, so you could host several people here. This is one of my favorite places I’ve ever been, have to say. Let’s knock this close. Come off the hill. Oh, I thought we might get a little trundle off the hill. All righty. Got a good look here down the hill. Breaking to our left. Definitely want to see a bird fall. This is a par 70, so we need three birdies to shoot in the 60s here on the back. So I played too much break and then not enough subtle. Oh, you hate to see the three putt. The history here at Balsam is incredible. This is an old mine right here. The ruins left over from a very long time ago. That’s pretty sweet. That was another bogey. Three over through 10. Not our best golf so far, but we are having a blast out here at Balsam. I mean, with these views, even when you’re making bogeies, you got to still smile. Got three iron, par4. Little outside of drivable. So, we’re just going to be trying to lay up short of that bunker. Hopefully get our first birdie of the day. Couldn’t have placed it any better right there. 72 yards. Like I said, couldn’t have placed it any better. Let’s make a birdie. It’s time to make a birdie. I kind of like it. Kind of like it. We’re going to fill this in. Can’t see the surface of the green from right here. That was quite the divot, by the way. Yep. And we are going to replace that right there like nothing ever happened. All right. Little past. However, we’ve got a good look and it’s time to make a putt. All right. In with four par five here. It’s birdie time. Let’s go. Stay right there. Okay. Cut just over that corner there. I think it’s going to be okay. Got around it and it looks like there’s a little bit of grass over there. So, we got very fortunate here. My guess is it landed right there and with the cut just kind of trundled across the cart path. My heels are on the cart path. The lie is not terrible. I might just hit it. I think we’re just going to hit it because if I drop it there, I’m not sure. Oh, kind of a stinger. Just got no height out of it. Well, it’s up there. All right. I needed a lot more height on that shot to get up that hill. However, got a little bowl there around the flag. See if we can’t knock it up there close. Did it hang up there? Oh, nice. We played the slope exactly how we wanted to and we got a birdie luck. Let’s make it. That was huge for the team morale. Drop a like down below if you enjoyed watching that birdie as much as I enjoyed making it because it’s been a long time coming today. Pin slammer here at Balsam. All right, par three here. 13 two over. Birdie on the last felt really good. Got seven iron. It’s 217. Playing downhill slightly with a helping breeze. Seven iron should be the club. No, that’s going to be in the bunker. Clipped that tree branch, but it did go down into the bunker. Go. Stay up there. All right. Don’t do it to me. Oh, you make a birdie and you give it right back. However, can’t be disappointed with these views. This course is so pure. Just need to hit some better shots. Another par five birdie time. Bends to the left. What an incredible view right there. I know I’ve said this a million times out here, but every single hole is so different from the other. This is one of my favorite courses I’ve ever played. Let’s tee it high. Let it fly. I think that should be about perfect. We’re going to give it a thumbs up. It was down that left side. Bends to the left downhill. Let’s make birdie. Let’s even give ourselves a little eagle. Look. I’ve got 252. Actually a pretty good lie. I’m going to go with a 4 iron. Little helping breeze. Expecting a little bit of a jumper here. Oh, this rough is giving me some struggles. All right, it’s up there. It was straight. Just kind of caught it a little heavy. Like I said, didn’t hit that one the best. Little short right here. Got some green. Kind of want to throw this up a little bit higher. Land soft down. Just flew that a little too far. Come back. Come back. Okay. All right. We got a putt. No. Oh, I hit that right where I wanted it. All right. And with par, if you get the opportunity to come play here at Balsam, when you’re on the green, just kind of look back down the fairway on some of the holes. The views back down the fairway are just as good as the views behind the green. This place is awesome. And the views just don’t stop. Hole 15, par 4. I mean, every hole is pretty much stinger out here. So, we’re going to try to hit a little stinger driver. That is the stinger driver you dream of right there. Especially on a hole like this. 67 yards. Position A. Let’s make a bird. Oh, I wanted to land that just onto the green and I landed it like a yard short of the green. All right, we got a putt. Putting back up the hill here. Should go a little to our left, but overall fairly straight with a little more speed. I think that was a good line. Just kind of tailed off on me at the end. All right, another par. Do I even have to say it again? I don’t, but I’m going to. What a view. Every single shot. Absolutely love it. Let’s let it fly. kind of lost it in the clouds there. It was coming down kind of right side of the fairway. Should be fine. We played one box up on this hole because it was tough to capture the landing area from the back box. I have 72 yards here and from the TE’s we played 447 yards. It does play downhill, but this is a back pin. 72 yards. Just saying. be good. That’s what we’re looking for right there. Thumbs up is do. And it is birdie time. Let’s go. We were ramming that in the back of the cup. We wanted a tweeter. Second one of the day. Back to two over. And from the side of the green here, you can see the village with the pro shop and restaurants there as well. Absolutely incredible vibe. 17 par4 just under 400 yards. Doesn’t really seem like driver, so we’re going to go with three iron. Oh, that was hit so good. Just pulled fly ball. Can I get over that bunker? No, I can’t even get to it. It’s just short. Back up the hill. 135 playing to like 142. So, we’re going to go with a little gap wedge here. Let’s not get close. Get back to back birds. Oh, thought that was absolutely money. It’s a little right of the flag. I think it landed short and might have rolled back off the green. You know, I really just wanted to give y’all another look at the view going back down the fairway from behind the green. So, we accomplished that. We’ve got a little work to do here. All right. I was hoping for a little more trundle. But not bad. That was big. That was big right there. One hole remaining. I want to thank the Balsam Mountain Preserve team so much for hosting us. This has been absolutely incredible. Very special experience. If you have the opportunity to take part in this community here at Balsam Mountain, I highly recommend it. I mean, this is the last hole, but what a day it’s been. Got seven iron. 205 playing downhill to 190 down. That was absolutely smoked for a seven iron. It sounded like green, but I never saw it land. It was just left of the flag. We’ll see. I think it’s on the green. This is going to make dinner taste so much better if this putt were to fall. Do it to me. Don’t do it to me. I said do it to me and then it did. I thought that was in that whole way. That looked so good. What a round. Didn’t have our best, but we had so much fun. 72 two over here at Balsson Mountain Preserve. We’re going to go get some dinner and just relax and enjoy the views. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music]

This goes down as one of my favorite golf courses and experiences I’ve ever had! Balsam Mountain Preserve is an incredible community and would highly recommend a visit if you have the opportunity. Here below is their website if you would like to check it out:

https://balsammountainpreserve.com/

Tuck Fly Shop:

https://www.tuckflyshop.com/

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https://www.instagram.com/realzacradford
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