The Homestead offers world-class golf luxury in bucolic mountain setting

Have you ever been to The Omni Homestead, one of the nation’s finest golf resorts?

Maybe not, despite its location in the remote Allegheny Mountains of southwestern Virginia, only three and a half hours or so from Winston-Salem.

After all, many Triad golfers find no reason to leave the state for a golf trip. There’s spectacular mountain golf in the Roaring Gap, Linville and Cashiers areas. Wilmington and the Outer Banks offer fantastic coastal layouts.

And, of course, there’s Pinehurst only an hour or two away. 

Well, in many ways, The Omni Homestead Resort is the Pinehurst Resort of Virginia, though the similarities decrease each year. Or maybe, it’s somewhat like Roaring Gap with a palatial, full-service hotel. In the 1990s, Pinehurst, The Homestead and The Greenbriar, a similar grand hotel with an acclaimed golf course in nearby White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, were each owned by Club Corp.

Imagine Pinehurst 60 years ago, offering scenic mountains and cool summers instead of its mild winters, tall pines and rolling sandhills. 

That’s a rough description of Hot Springs, Virginia, where the two-land sides of the approaching, twisting roads remain free of chain restaurants and hotels – or much local business, for that matter. There’s one place to get gas and basic groceries. That’s it.

An important tip: stay on U.S. 220 all the way from Roanoke. Ignore Siri if she tells you to veer off at Clifton Forge. That shortcut, with nine-plus miles on a twisting, narrow and rough road, can be harrowing, especially at night.

The Homestead, whose late-19^th century developers included J.P. Morgan, and Pinehurst share the allure of grand old destination hotels from the gilded age with world-famous golf courses and world-class amenities, including spas. 

Not as centered around golf as Pinehurst, The Homestead also offers hot springs baths, hiking and fishing and a variety of restaurants and specialty shops.

Though the Homestead and Carolina (Pinehurst) hotels are similar, the historic locations are very different.

Imagine Pinehurst 60 years ago, offering scenic mountains, babbling streams and cool summers instead of its tall pines, mild winters and rolling sandhills.

While Pinehurst was home to Donald Ross and now the USGA, The Homestead can claim Ross as an architect and Sam Snead as a legend. 

The Homestead has two courses – both ranked among the top 10 in Virginia – dating back to 1892 (with the nation’s oldest, continuous first tee). The soothing feel of the bucolic setting is a welcome change to the bustle at many other golf resorts.

A third course, Lower Cascades, a Robert Trent Jones design opened in 1961, was closed in 2013.

Both Homestead courses have bluegrass fairways and bent greens. Placement within the landing areas can be especially important with sloping fairways often filtering drives toward gnarly rough, the primary cause of lost balls. Streams come into play on a few holes. 

The Old Course is an enjoyable, historic treasure. President William McKinley played the Old Course in 1899. Several others followed. Like he did at Pinehurst No. 2, Ross tinkered with the course during its early years. William S. Flynn and Rees Jones contributed updates.

The Cascades, designed by Flynn in 1923, ranked as high as No. 39 on Golf Digest’s overall U.S. rankings in 2004, has hosted nine USGA national championships, including the 2025 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur. The U.S. Senior Men’s Amateur is scheduled there in 2029.

After navigating the hotel’s long hallways, resort guests need only a short walk outside to reach the Old Course clubhouse and first tee. 

Only 6,099 yards from the tips, it is an enjoyable, often testing layout that made Golf Digest’s most recent list of the top 15 public-access courses in the state.

Ross expanded an original six-hole routing to 18 in 1901. Several holes run adjacent to two-lane U.S. 220 and can be viewed by occasional passing motorists. The layout, with an equal distribution of par-3, par-4 and par-5 holes, is a fun assortment, including several short, but hilly, par-5s and moderately long par-3s to go with par-4s under 400 yards.

There’s no water to worry about, but the undulating terrain and moderate-sized greens add challenge. The final two holes, a reachable par-4 with a blind tee shot over a hill, and a par-3 framed by the hotel, provide an ideal opportunity to cap off an enjoyable round.

Cascades, a few miles south of the hotel off U.S. 220, is a destination course. Flynn weaved a subtle classic through streams and over rolling terrain needing little, if any, alteration. From the tips, the course plays to more than 6,900 yards with a 72.8 rating and a 135 slope. Golf Digest rates Cascades the No. 6 overall course in Virginia.

Golf fees in fall 2025 were $203 at the Old Course and $303 at Cascades.

The front nine features some significant elevation changes, including at No. 4, a downhill, 210-yard, par-3 with a gaping bunker guarding most of the front and left side of the green.

Like the Old Course, Cascades features a unique group of finishing holes, capped by a 203-yard par-3, requiring an approach over a small pond to a small green surrounded by sand.

Cascades’ four-hole homestretch starts and ends with par-5s sandwiched between long par-3s.  

At 17, a flowing stream runs long the right side of the dogleg left, feeding into a pond alongside the right side of the green with a bunker guarding the left.

The 19^th hole is Rubino’s on the upper floor of the historic white brick home with the pro shop on the first floor. Rubino’s has a dual personality with a simple, yet elegant dining room leading out to a deck ideal for lunch or drinks on mild, mountain afternoon.