Diamond Creek

Tom Fazio's mountain course near Banner Elk, at about 4,000 feet on a former sheep ranch, built so most of the elevation change falls between holes rather than on them.

Diamond Creek lies in a secluded glen near Banner Elk in North Carolina's High Country, on land that used to be a sheep ranch. Tom Fazio designed it, and Golf Digest lists 2003 as its opening year. The course sits at about 4,000 feet with Sugar Mountain, Beech Mountain and the Roan highlands in view, and rock outcrops on Four Diamond Ridge overhead.

The main design idea was to keep mountain golf from feeling like mountain golf. Fazio moved about a million cubic yards of earth so that most of the roughly 250 feet of elevation change happens on the walks and drives between holes. The holes themselves play fairly level. That allowed firm, fast conditions and a ground game that is rare at this altitude, rather than the forced uphill and downhill shots common in the region.

The best-known moment is the par-3 17th, where Fazio set the green almost at the base of a sheer granite quarry wall with a thin waterfall dropping more than 100 feet. Diamond Creek is very private: members and their invited guests only. It has been among North Carolina's top courses since soon after it opened. Golf Digest ranks it 95th in its 2025–26 list.

Holes to know

17

Par 3

The green sits nearly at the foot of a sheer granite quarry wall, with a thin stream of water falling more than 100 feet behind it.