The state of Virginia is chockablock with excellent golf communities, and they span just four hours from Virginia Beach to the Shenandoahs. Over the next month, I will be exploring golf communities in the central part of the state, less than two hours from Washington, D.C. and including the former capital of the Confederacy, Richmond, as well as a few courses and communities in the mountains, including the Wintergreen Resort, where on a clear day in January, some residents have skied in the morning and played the Rees Jones course at the bottom of the mountain in the afternoon.
Here are some of the communities on my schedule over the coming weeks, which will be interrupted by a visit to the family compound (condo, actually) in Pawleys Island, SC. If you have an interest in these Virginia golf communities or in any in the Myrtle Beach area, contact me and I will pay particular attention to any aspects of interest to you.
Dominion Valley Country Club, Haymarket, VA with an Arnold Palmer designed course. This is the first Toll Brothers community I will have reviewed. Membership at DVCC brings reciprocal privileges at other Toll golf courses.
Lakeview Golf Club, Harrisonburg, VA, a 36-hole public facility just off I-81 in the Shenandoah Valley. The courses were designed by different architects, including Lester George, whose Ballyhack Golf Club in Roanoke is one of the most exciting recent designs in the southeast.
The Federal Club, Glen Allen, VA, has been "saved" by a local businessman who bought it at bargain prices and intends to give it the TLC it needs to return to its former upscale glory. It opened as a private club, but the Arnold Palmer/Ed Seay designed course now gladly welcomes the public.
Some golf raters believe Kinloch Golf Club, Manakin-Sabot, VA, is the best course in the entire state. The design is the combined product of famed amateur player Vinny Giles and the aforementioned Lester George. According to Golf Digest last year, Kinloch is one of the top 50 courses in the U.S.
When it opened in 2007, The Manor Resort Golf Club, in Farmville, VA, was named one of the best new courses by Golf Digest. Now the Rick Robbins designed layout faces a revised future as the creditors of the surrounding resort scramble to figure out what to do in the wake of the developer’s bankruptcy. Nearby Hampden-Sydney College owns a few cottages on the property and is hosting a college golf event at The Manor during my visit.
Lester George, who designed the exciting course Ballyhack in Roanoke (above), also combined with long-time amateur golfer Vinny Giles to lay out Kinloch, regarded by many as the best course in Virginia.