Rumbling Bald Selects Champion Bermuda for Greens at Apple Valley Golf Course By Brian Weis

Rumbling Bald Selects Champion Bermuda for Greens at Apple Valley Golf Course

36-Hole Resort on Stunning Lake Lure to Roll-Out Superior Putting Experience

By Brian Weis

LAKE LURE, N.C. - Rumbling Bald, the 36-hole golf resort on North Carolina's stunning Lake Lure, has selected Champion Bermuda turf grass for the greens on Apple Valley, its marquee course.

Designed by noted golf course architect and Pinehurst native Dan Maples, Apple Valley will start its transition from its original bentgrass greens to smooth-rolling Champion Bermuda in June. Champion was chosen for its superior performance profile, heat tolerance and maintainability. It has speeds up to two feet faster than other ultradwarf cultivars as measured by stimpmeter.

"We provide our golfers with the best possible experiences and Champion Bermuda checked all the boxes," says Rumbling Bald General Manager Jeff Geisler. "Dan Maples' layout and routing at Apple Valley is so pure from tee to green that smooth, true rolling Champion greens are the perfect fit."

Apple Valley is in elite company with its conversion from bentgrass to Champion Bermuda. Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, site of the 2017 PGA Championship, and Pinehurst No. 2, host of the 1999, 2005, 2014 and 2024 U.S. Opens, have undergone the transition in recent years.

"We did our homework and Champion Bermuda came out ahead by a longshot," says Rumbling Bald Director of Golf Course Maintenance Matt Lovell, CGCS. "We're excited to see golfers' reactions and receive their feedback once the conversion is complete this summer."

Located along the eastern escarpment of the Blue Ridge Mountains, golf is played year-round at Rumbling Bald. Champion Bermuda demands less irrigation, fertilizer and pesticides than bentgrass, and is suitable to North Carolina's warm summer nights and temperate winter climate.

In addition to Apple Valley, golfers enjoy Bald Mountain, the resort's original 18-hole mountain-style course. Designed by George Cobb protégé W.B. Lewis, Bald Mountain is a 6,300-yard shotmaker's venue conveniently located next to lodging and amenities.

Apple Valley will close in early June and is scheduled to reopen in late August. For a full list of course maintenance dates and to learn more about Rumbling Bald's golf courses and packages, visit www.rumblingbald.com.

Revised: 01/27/2020 - Article Viewed 9,678 Times - View Course Profile

About: Brian Weis

Brian Weis is the mastermind behind GolfTrips.com, a vast network of golf travel and directory sites covering everything from the rolling fairways of Wisconsin to the sunbaked desert layouts of Arizona. If there’s a golf destination worth visiting, chances are, Brian has written about it, played it, or at the very least, found a way to justify a "business trip" there.

As a card-carrying member of the Golf Writers Association of America (GWAA), International Network of Golf (ING), Golf Travel Writers of America (GTWA), International Golf Travel Writers Association (IGTWA), and The Society of Hickory Golfers (SoHG), Brian has the credentials to prove that talking about golf is his full-time job. In 2016, his peers even handed him The Shaheen Cup, a prestigious award in golf travel writing—essentially the Masters green jacket for guys who don’t hit the range but still know where the best 19th holes are.

Brian’s love for golf goes way back. As a kid, he competed in junior and high school golf, only to realize that his dreams of a college golf scholarship had about the same odds as a 30-handicap making a hole-in-one. Instead, he took the more practical route—working on the West Bend Country Club grounds crew to fund his University of Wisconsin education. Little did he know that mowing greens and fixing divots would one day lead to a career writing about the best courses on the planet.

In 2004, Brian turned his golf passion into a business, launching GolfWisconsin.com. Three years later, he expanded his vision, and GolfTrips.com was born—a one-stop shop for golf travel junkies looking for their next tee time. Today, his empire spans all 50 states, and 20+ international destinations.

On the course, Brian is a weekend warrior who oscillates between a 5 and 9 handicap, depending on how much he's been traveling (or how generous he’s feeling with his scorecard). His signature move" A high, soft fade that his playing partners affectionately (or not-so-affectionately) call "The Weis Slice." But when he catches one clean, his 300+ yard drives remind everyone that while he may write about golf for a living, he can still send a ball into the next zip code with the best of them.

Whether he’s hunting down the best public courses, digging up hidden gems, or simply outdriving his buddies, Brian Weis is living proof that golf is more than a game—it’s a way of life.