Apple Valley Golf Course at Rumbling Bald Resort on Lake Lure

Tucked into the valleys that bracket its namesake lake, Rumbling Bald is a lovely middle-end resort an hour south of Asheville. The newer of its two courses, Apple Valley, is a prime example of mountain golf: a mix of thrilling and occasionally head-scratching but overall good-natured golf holes. Two split-fairway par 4s (5, 12) add some decision-making to the round, while the gorgeous par-3 8th brings the type of scenery that courses like this promise, but don’t always deliver. With green fees topping out below $100, I found Apple Valley to be one of the better values I have encountered in resort golf lately.

Course in fair at best conditions. Not player friendly and too many blocked out shots. Unfortunate, nice layout.

Played Apple Valley for the 1st time on a nice day in April. The course was in respectable shape except for the bunkers which need some work. The clubhouse is old and dated but the staff was very friendly and helpful. The greens are Champion Bermuda and in decent shape. Typical Bermuda greens where its difficult to get a ball to hold even a short iron shot. The front nine routing is funky whereby you pass thru tunnels three - four times. The 4th & 6th holes are a very quirky/strange par 4 & par 5's. The back nine is more scenic, more traditional and more enjoyable with several very nice mountain views. It's a typical resort course. Beware....the practice range was an "afterthought". It will only accommodate about 5 golfers at a time. Get there early if you want to warm up.

I'll try and keep my remarks related to what the golf course can control. First off, the staff was very friendly and accommodating. They've taken advantage of retirees that now live here and got bored, and work at the course for something to do, and really go out of their way to treat people right.

First tip - if you come here, don't waste your money on range balls. The balls were not only very dirty and old, but they don't even fill up the bucket, and there were actually several balls in my bucket that had multiple slices in them. For a resort course like this that seems to take pride in the small details, they totally missed how pathetic and poor their range experience is.

Second tip, don't stand by the first tee box at 8:30 am, when the sprinkler goes off and soaks not only the rangers cart, but the ranger as well. What a colossal lack of communication between maintenance staff and operations staff. Why would you set off a sprinkler with people standing literally right on top of it?

Third tip, prepare for at least 4 hours and 30 minutes for your round, and that even with a foursome you should expect to wait on every shot on the back nine, as they book tee times within 5 minutes of each other. Sure, I get wanting to maximize revenue, but this is absurd when groups are just backed up all day long with nowhere to go.

Fourth tip, don't expect stellar conditions on certain greens. I noticed many patchy areas of dirt on certain greens, and for a course that charges you $66 for weekend mornings, that's a gross problem to have.

Fifth tip, take note of holes #6 and #7 and how screwed up they are now from how they have redesigned these two holes. They want #6 to play as a par 5 instead of a par 4? Well, I hit driver, 8 iron and was pin high. That makes no sense. And they cut #7 in half and made it a driveable par 4. That hole is just a gimmick hole now, and frankly, it's just stupid.

My sister lives across the street from this golf course, but I don't know if I will be back. Perhaps if it's under $40 and there aren't 100 guys lined up to play it I might reconsider. And I certainly won't ever use their range again.

The course was in good condition but greens were frustratingly slow. Bunkers not good. The golf staff was very friendly - grill staff not. Did not enjoy the round - not worth $66.

Played at Apple Valley for the first time this afternoon. Got the twilight rate of $32 and it was definitely worth it. The going rate in the morning was $66. The course is in good shape overall. Some spots in the rough haven’t grown in yet. And so tee boxes were beat up pretty good. But the fairways and greens were top notch. The course plays us and down about 3 different mountain valleys. It’s a great mix of holes. Some short. Some long. Some tight. Some wife open. The short holes generally have some trouble in the way to navigate while the longer ones don’t. Several holes require something less than driver off the tee. Overall a very good experience and worth a play for sure if you are in the area.

We had an enjoyable round here. The course was in pretty good shape for early in the season. I can imagine that once it warms up a bit, the course will be beautiful. The course has some interesting holes and layouts. We will definitely play here again when we are in the area.

A gem of a course. Rolling terrain. Fairways and greens in excellent condition. Great bent grass greens. Back nine could not be any scenic. A pleasure to play.

A very challenging, yet fair course. Plays longer than noted yardage. Course conditions are as good as they get. Greens impeccable, with a lot of undulation. Need to play at least once.

Played in off season so no backup- course in excellent shape considering rain the previous day - Par 5's felt like par 8's due to length and elevation changes but was worth it

Apple Valley is a lovely track whose greens have dramatic undulations. 3 putts is not uncommon if you are not on the proper part of the green. The course is fun to play, There are some interesting elevation changes, doglegs, water hazards and the like to keep you thinking. The staff is friendly and accommodating. The new BBQ restaurant closes at 8.

Apple valley at rumbling bald....is probably my favorite course for the area now. Was definitely challenging. Bad part of my day was the fact it was cart path only due to all the rain they had the past few days. So was difficult for a true yardage and picking right club. The fact they had grass on the fairways to hit the ball off of was a shock becaude almost 99% of courses ive played this yr hasn't had any. The gps on carts were accurate and definitely easy to operate. Pace of play was average. It was 2 of us and a 2 some went off in front of us and we waited on every hole. Luckily by hole 10 they left. Will def play again soon.

Staff provided great hospitality. Fairly easy golf course from tee to green, but a lot of undulations on the putting surfaces as well as difficult pin placements make it challenging to score. Golf course was well conditioned, and fun to play. Even though I played on a holiday pace of play was great. Rumbling Bald is a must stop for anyone in the area.