Complimentary Golf Awarded as Thermometer Hits 80°

News Release
by Craig Distl

Nearly two dozen golfers received a surprise visit during their round on Tuesday, June 14, at the Beech Mountain Club. Each was greeted by head golf professional John Carrin, informed that the temperature had reached 79.9 degrees, and presented a certificate for a free round of golf.

 

Beech Mountain’s Summer of 79° stay-and-play promotion guarantees that golfers will play in temperatures that do not exceed 79 degrees. On the rare occasions when it does exceed that mark, a complimentary round of golf is awarded.

 

“We tell all guests at Beech Mountain Club that we are the coolest place in the Southeast to play golf,” Carrin explained. “Anytime the temperature exceeds 79 degrees, we don’t call that ‘cool’ anymore so we give them a certificate to come back and play at no charge.”

 

Many of the 23 golfers who received certificates that afternoon were shocked. It was a pleasant, blue-sky day with light breezes and low humidity. They didn’t seem to mind that the officially recorded high that day was 80 degrees.

 

“As I handed out the certificates, I said: ‘This is on behalf of the Beech Mountain Club with our deepest apologies for the weather.’ They just laughed,” Carrin said. “There was a group from Florida and a father-son twosome from Dallas, Texas. They’re probably not going to see 80 degrees before October in either of those two places.”

 

The Summer of 79 program launched in 2012. In that first summer, the mercury exceeded 79 degrees three times, but it did not reach that threshold again until June 14 of this year.

 

Carrin, the long-time golf professional at Beech Mountain Club, hopes the recent 80-degree scorcher is the final one this summer: “Not because we don’t want to give away golf, but because we really love the cool temperatures we enjoy all summer up here. If history is an indication, it will be unlikely we get that hot again.”

 

The town of Beech Mountain is the highest incorporated town east of the Rockies at an altitude of 5,506 feet above sea level. The high temperature has exceeded 79 degrees only 12 times since a National Weather Service reporting station was installed in 1992.

 

For details about the Summer of 79 stay-and-play program, visit www.Summerof79.com or call (800) 468-5506.