Olde Beau Resort & Golf Club — Hotel in Sparta

Very disappointed! I've been around golf courses for 35 years and have been playing for over 25 years. I've been told for years that I had to play Olde Beau. "You'll love it" and "it may be the best course you've ever played" were the most common responses I received. After this past weekend, I will have to say Olde Beau is a one and done for me. We get to the pro shop and there's a sign that's 8x11 that tells us that #17 is closed for 3 weeks. Closed? That's the signature hole! Why did no one tell us this prior to our arrival when we booked our trip in July? The staff was great and very cordial minus the man in the pro shop Sunday morning. I'll get back to him. From the head pro(Steve Edwards), to the gentleman that greeted me in lodging when I went to pick my key up, all the way to the gentleman who was just hanging out in the pro shop; they were all very friendly and helpful. I walked out on the balcony of the villa I was staying in and saw the beauty of the NC mountains sitting on top of the golf course I would play with a couple of friends of mine for the next 2 days. We teed off at noon on Saturday and the weather was perfect. From the slightly elevated tee box, the course looked great. We get to the fairway and saw a lot of clovers in the fairway which is a no no, especially for a course that charges $65 on the weekend with a straight face and has a reputation like Olde Beau does. We get on the green and they rolled pretty true but there were black spots a plenty which comes from overseeding. So on the first hole we have an overseeded green and a clover filled fairway. Maybe it's just one hole. We'll see. Nope. The entire course was this way. Some greens were better than others and some were actually in good shape but clover filled fairways that are 3-4 different colors in a 20 yard radius is unacceptable, especially for the geography of this course. Needless to say, after our round Saturday, we were a little dejected when we went back to our room. Sunday is a new day so we showed up at 8:15 for our tee time and my buddies went in to square away our round. They let the different gentleman know that our time was 8:30 and they were told it was $65. They told the gentleman that I had made arrangements with Steve Edwards of a cheaper price because we stayed in a villa for the weekend. They were then told "That's not true. We don't charge anyone that price. It's $65." The ever so polite gentleman was also told that "we paid the same price yesterday and the head pro was here and charged us that". "The only way we would even think of charging someone that is if you had 48+ people playing in a group. Do you have 48 people coming in behind you?" Needless to say, my friends just walked out and waited on me to provide the email exchange between the head pro and myself 2 months earlier. When he asked me for the email, I handed it to him. He appeared to dissect every word from top to bottom looking for a loophole to keep him from following what the head pro had agreed to charge us. After realizing he was wrong and probably embarrassed for his behavior, he asked me if he could keep the email so he could discuss it with Steve. At that point, I could only laugh, smile, and turn to walk out to hopefully enjoy my last round at OB. Same course on Sunday except for when we had to wait for 30 minutes on #7 to keep from getting shredded by the sprinkler system. Turn the sprinklers on in the morning before people tee off. A man went to mow and rolls the greens Sunday morning but never moved the pins. That's either lazy or irresponsible. Also, the groundskeeper on #9 emptied out upwards of 20 gallons of water from his hose in 1 area behind the green while being consumed with his phone call. Look at the course sir. You need to drop the call and spread that water around. I didn't come here to look at the views more than I came to play golf. Minus Steve in the Pro Shop and the gentleman I got our room key from, it was definitely a trip that was marred in disappointment. I hope they fix this place and make it what it...

Played olde Beau for the first time today. Cant believe I only live an hour and 15 minutes away and have never played here. BEAUTIFUL property! Played as a single and had a 12:40 tee time. Got there an hour early and there was hardly anybody on the course so I hit some.balls and went off early. Tee boxes, fairways and greens were great. The greens are beautiful, bent grass whch is hard to find around this area. Firm but the ball checked up fine. Absolutely breathtaking views on the back nine! I will say some holes were a little gimmicky(17) with HUGE elevation changes but it's mountain golf so it kind of expected. It's actually a whole lot fun once you figure out what yardages to play to off the tee. You WILL lose a ball or two even if you're a good player playing it the first time. I'm a scratch golfer and lost two balls because I wasn't sure how much room I had on a few blind shots. Some markers giving the yardage to hazards and the end of the fairway would be really helpful on this course. A yardage book is a necessity. Can't wait to go back and play this course now that I know where all the trouble is. The par threes are beautiful and a lot of fun. Still can't believe I didn't see one other person there on an 80 degree day...

My parents and I stayed in Villa 304 while in town visiting family and we have nothing but good things to say! The views from our villa and while walking around the grounds were all beautiful! It was so quiet there, it felt like we were the only people staying there (even though there were cars parked near us, so I know that's not true). 304 was very clean and up to date; we had everything we needed. My parents, who are in their 70's, also appreciated that no stairs were necessary to access the unit.

The booking process is probably a little old-school compared to booking a room at a major hotel, but I think that's to be expected at a resort in a small mountain town - I booked online and then got a phone call a few days later asking for a credit card # to hold the reservation, but I didn't have any issues or concerns with booking. We were going to be checking in after 4pm, so I talked to someone at Olde Beau the day before check-in and she gave me a gate code and instructions to find the villa, which would be left unlocked for us. They also mentioned that someone at the restaurant in the club house could help us check in, if needed. The whole process was easy.

I would stay at Olde Beau again anytime I'm in the area, I...