Congrats!
I’m thinking about registering for a couple 1-day vsga events. Anyone have experience with them? If so, any particular courses that I should aim for that I might not be able to play otherwise?
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unless you are a member of the dormie network, Ballyhack is getting really fucking hard to get on, and even then its too much money
I’ve never played in them before but I have on my list to play a few this year as well. I live in NOVA so will be targeting some of those. I’ve also never played Royal New Kent but love Stranz so going to try and play that one.
Here’s my list right now:
- Royal New Kent Golf Club (Wed, Mar 27, 2024) (Targeted) (Connor)
- Bull Run Golf Club (Tue, April 16, 2024) (Targeted) (Connor)
- Laurel Hill (Wed, Jul 17, 2024) (targeted)
- Richmond Country Club (August 26, 2024) (Targeted)
- Potomac Shores (Wed, October 2024) (Targeted)
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highly suggest a practice round here prior to any competitive golf
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Love an excuse to go play! Noted!
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I noticed a few in your area that are private and on Mondays which are good for me, have you played Boonsboro and Hidden Valley?
Boonsboro - excellent shape, good lay out, I will play there literally every single chance I get
Hidden Valley - literally the closest course to my home milage wise, but I am at RCC and Ashley plantation because for HV is no better than the publics in Roanoke and 4x the cost. The layout is not bad, its not a horrible day by any means don’t get me wrong, but I wouldn’t drive more than 30 mins to play there.
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Awesome, thanks! I’ll put Boonsboro on my list.
Hidden Valley used to be a special place 20 years ago. They spent millions on top of millions to build a restaurant, an aquatics center, a gym and a state of the art tennis facility. Jacked up membership dues, lost a ton of members/revenue, and the condition of the golf course has suffered tremendously as a result.
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they wanted $49 to walk 9 the other night as a guest with a buddy.
I told them I pay that for a whole month at ashley and its in better shape and they were really ready for me to leave at that point
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I was told, membership at the time got caught up in the excitement when the development over at South Peak (419 & 220 intersection area) began in the mid-2000’s. Hidden Valley thought they were going to see an influx of money from South Peak, overbuilt and it backfired.
Hunting Hills held firm on what they had and are doing fine today.
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Those two are really a unique case study for golf, I probably care far more than most of their management has over the years…
Hunting Hills owns the fact its not a good layout, its never in good shape, etc…its not a players course and no one seems to care except the people like me who turn their nose up at the lay out (if you all reading have never been, its exponentially the worst layout of my life). They have a neighborhood community who do things there and a membership who value the place and one another.
Hidden Valley on the other hand over charges everything guest wise and gouges every chance they get. Put like a million into a patio for guests and raises rates again, meanwhile the shape of the course has gotten down to the same as blue hills, ashley, or hanging. Its a lot of new money, and of the 10-12 youngerish members I’ve known, about half of them have left post covid.
@Sixcat idk how much truth there is to this, butttttttttt supposedly Ballyhack was the nail in the coffin for HV being that great. The higher end member play left HV to go over there when it came in and never went back.
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What I heard about South Peak would coincide with Ballyhack being built. Maybe a mix of the two? Ballyhack certainly gave the deep pocket old money at HV somewhere to move on to.
Hunting Hills fascinates me. The golf course is damned near unplayable yet, has this cult following I have never understood. Just a gawd-awful design on some of the worst land imaginable for a golf course community. Is it #12 and #18 that play directly over that neighborhood street? The tee boxes were right beside the street and played directly over. I think it’s since been changed or rerouted and the tee boxes playing across the street have been abandoned. Anyway, my wife cut across Crossbow back in the early 2000’s to go to WalMart. Someone teeing off on one of those holes smashed a golf ball straight through her passenger side window.
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They have indeed done away with those tee boxes. I played in a friendly outing out there a while back with my son and a couple of his friends. Its the tightest piece of property Ive ever played on. Its literally just built in ditches and low spots where they already could not put a McMansion. I still refer to it as hunting balls, and I think I netted +17 finds last time we played. The design can be be described as alphabet golf. All the holes resemble an L, U, V, Z, S, W, J, C, or N.
“if you hit that big cut 280 here, you can drive the green” - narrator he did not indeed hit a cut and it smashed the house instead.
I knew the assistant pro there for 5-6 years until some turnover, coulda played for free anytime and just didnt. 3 driver holes on the whole place for me.
The thing that goes unsaid but needs to be shouted more, whomever is out at HH is not at our course that day!
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Alphabet golf is a great description for Hunting Hills.
Hanging Rock could be a quality golf course if they could figure out some things. A couple of holes need to be blown up and completely redesigned but it does have some good golf holes too.
Haven’t played Botetourt since the new ownership took over. Heard it’s in rough shape. Also heard the sports guy (Apichelo?) from Channel 10 is one of the new owners.
Blue Hills was always going to go downhill once Billy and Johnny King passed on. They were the heartbeat of that place. But the regulars are aging out quickly and they were never welcoming of a younger crowd.
Ole Monterey is the best piece of property in Roanoke for golf purposes (I say that without having played RCC). It’s a shame that place can’t be restored to what it once was. The layout is phenomenal. Conditioning is atrocious.
Very true! I live 30 minutes from it and played it 6 times last year. Greens are huge and visually intimidating. I would plan on Viniterra and Royal New Kent on the same day for a great full day of golf.
Tough day. Early this morning my Dad died. Fuck cancer.
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So sorry for your loss. Gonna be a rough week ahead but hopefully it goes about as well as it can. There’s definitely a fuck cancer thread in here somewhere if you need to vent.
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Sorry Sam. 
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