Laurel Ridge Country Club

Laurel Ridge is Waynesville's country club, a few minutes from Main Street on land the Hyatt family settled before the Revolution and that later held the Piedmont Inn. It operates as a semi-private club: the pool, dining room, fitness room and courts are for members, while outside golfers can book tee times that members have not taken. The 18-hole course opened in 1986 to a design by Bob Cupp, who had spent much of his career inside Jack Nicklaus's design practice before working under his own name. It plays as a par 72 to 6,904 yards from the back tees, with bentgrass tees and greens and a slope of 142, and it climbs and drops across the hillside with ponds and streams in play and long views from the upper holes.

Beyond golf, the club has Har-Tru clay tennis courts, a heated pool, a 24-hour fitness room, a dining room with a wine list, and a pavilion and event center used for weddings and galas. Membership comes in golf, sports and social tiers, so households that do not play can still join. The club also lists a four-room Inn on the Green for guests, and the Hideaway at Laurel Ridge offers log estate homes toward the top of Eagle's Nest Mountain. Houses through the community are sited along the ridges for long-range mountain views.