2026 Biltmore Championship Asheville at The Cliffs at Walnut Cove – Preview

The PGA TOUR returns to Asheville for the first time since 1942 this week with the inaugural Biltmore Championship Asheville. The event begins the FedExCup Fall and is the first of a four year agreement that will keep the tournament in the area through 2029.

The tournament will be played at The Cliffs at Walnut Cove, a Jack Nicklaus Signature design that opened in 2005. The par 71 course will play 7,249 yards and sits in a valley at roughly 2,100 to 2,250 feet in elevation, bordered by the Blue Ridge Parkway and Pisgah National Forest.

The layout changes considerably from the front nine to the back. The opening nine crosses former farmland over gentle, rolling terrain, with bunkers creating a variety of risk and reward decisions. The back nine becomes more wooded and follows mountain streams through native vegetation, with several forced carries adding another layer to the design. Bentgrass fairways and strategic bunkering are among the course’s defining features.

The field also includes seven players who will compete in the Presidents Cup at Medinah Country Club the following week, giving them one final PGA TOUR start before the matches begin.

The Field

The inaugural field features 24 players ranked inside the top 100 of the Official World Golf Ranking, led by Jacob Bridgeman at No. 28 and J.T. Poston at No. 37. Seven Presidents Cup players will also tee it up at The Cliffs at Walnut Cove, including Bridgeman and Jackson Koivun for the U.S. Team, along with Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Corey Conners, Nico Echavarria, Ryo Hisatsune and Nick Taylor for the International Team. Marco Penge, Michael Kim, Rasmus Hojgaard, Andrew Novak, Denny McCarthy, Tony Finau, Max Greyserman, and Eric Cole add further depth to a field that includes 59 PGA Tour winners with 134 career victories.

Course Features

The Cliffs at Walnut Cove is a very different test from the typical PGA TOUR venue. The Jack Nicklaus Signature course sits in a valley of the Blue Ridge Mountains at more than 2,000 feet of elevation, with the surrounding ridges creating a natural amphitheater. The routing follows the contours of the property rather than fighting them, producing rolling fairways, elevation changes and long views of the Southern Appalachians from throughout the course. Nicklaus summed up the setting himself: “Walnut Cove provides an extraordinary natural setting for golf. Areas on this course make you feel as if you are playing through a natural forest.”

The front nine and back nine have distinctly different personalities. The opening nine moves across open fields that were once farmland, with the holes following soft ridges and using bunkers to create different risk and reward options from the tee. The back nine moves into native woodland and repeatedly crosses or follows mountain streams. The course has wider playing corridors than many mountain layouts, but the fairways are generally long and narrow and the surrounding slopes, woods and water can make a missed target considerably more costly.

At 7,249 yards and par 71 for the PGA TOUR, Walnut Cove is not exceptionally long by modern standards, but the elevation and terrain will be an important part of how it plays. The routing includes significant changes in elevation between tee boxes, fairways and greens, while the sloping ground can produce uneven lies and different angles into the small green complexes. Unlike some mountain courses, however, Walnut Cove does not rely exclusively on forced carries and severe visual intimidation. Nicklaus gave players multiple ways to attack many holes. “We’ve given players a lot of options with this course, if they prefer not to take a shot that carries over water, they will have other shots they can take. The course is designed so players will have a lot of forced carries.”

The fairways and tees are bentgrass, the greens are a Bentgrass/Poa annua blend and the rough is Kentucky bluegrass. For the tournament, superintendent Steve Shand has allowed the rough to grow to nearly six inches, considerably longer than the normal playing conditions for members. “The biggest thing that we’re doing leading up to the event is growing our rough a little longer, and that’s going to add some challenges for the players if they get out of position,” Shand said. That should make driving accuracy more important than the relatively generous corridors might suggest, particularly when longer rough is combined with the uneven lies created by the mountain terrain.

Bunkering is another important part of the design. There are 75 bunkers in total, and Nicklaus placed a number of them around the expected landing areas. The bunker complexes were also recently upgraded with Better Billy Bunker technology. The improvements proved particularly effective during Hurricane Helene, when the course received roughly 30 inches of rain without significant bunker washouts.

Water comes into play on seven holes, including a couple of mountain creeks that are incorporated directly into the routing. No. 12, a par five, has a creek crossing the fairway and forcing players to consider the position of their second shot before deciding how aggressively to attack. No. 7 is the most demanding hole on the scorecard. The par four stretches beyond 460 yards from the back tees, with the green wrapping around the largest pond on the property. The water creates a difficult decision throughout the hole because players must balance the distance required with the danger surrounding the green.

Walnut Cove has an unusual par distribution, with five par threes, nine par fours and four par fives. The five lengthy par threes combined with the four par 5s put more emphasis on long iron play than a typical short layout, especially with each of the par 3 expected to stretch beyond 200 yards. The par fives average a paltry 545 yards and are must-score birdie holes, while the nine par fours include a wide range of distances and angles as the routing works through the valley.

The greens themselves are another significant variable. The Bentgrass/Poa annua surfaces are relatively small and heavily contoured, making approach accuracy and distance control important. The combination of elevation changes, sloping approaches and small targets means simply hitting greens in regulation will not tell the entire story. Players who consistently leave themselves on the correct side of the slopes should have a significant advantage, while aggressive approaches that miss their intended targets can quickly turn into difficult up and downs.

The setting will also provide something rarely seen on the PGA Tour. The course is surrounded by mountain ridges, native woodland and streams, with the Blue Ridge Parkway and Pisgah National Forest nearby. The property is home to abundant wildlife, including black bears, deer, eagles, hawks and osprey. Shand said the course’s bear population has even been known to play with flagsticks and carry them off into the woods. The weather will be another variable in the first professional tournament at Walnut Cove, particularly after a summer of heat and heavy rain. “One thing about weather: we can’t control it. The weather will always throw us the biggest challenges. The summer has been excessively hot and wet,” Shand said. “My team is doing a great job keeping up with the conditions of the course and making sure we’re ready to go when the balls are in the air.”

Overall, Walnut Cove should reward players who can consistently control their tee shots, manage the uneven terrain and hit precise approaches into small targets. The course gives players opportunities to be aggressive, but water, bunkers, woods and nearly six-inch rough are positioned to punish shots that get too far offline. The combination of elevation changes, long par threes, demanding green complexes and strategic hazards should make accuracy and approach play particularly important in the first event of the Fall Swing.

Most Important Stats For Success at The Cliffs at Walnut Cove

• • SG: Approach
  • SG: OTT/DFEF (Less than Driver)
  • Proximity 200+ yds
  • Birdie or Better % (Short Courses)
  • Good Drive %
  • Bogey Avoidance
  • SG: Putting (Bent/Poa Triv)
  • SG: Par 5
  • SG: ARG
  • SG: Fall Swing

Key Rabbit Hole Filters

• Course Region: Southeast
• Course Type: Mountain
• Scoring Conditions: Easy
• Course Length: Short
• Field Strength: Very Weak
• Par: 71
• Event Season: Summer
• Greens Surface: Bent/Poa
• Rough Surface: Bluegrass
• Rough Length: Long
• Architect: Jack Nicklaus
• OTT Club: Less Than Driver
• Missed Fwy Penalty: High
• Par 3 Scoring: Difficult
• Par 5 Scoring: Easy