Forgot they are part of Dormie now.
My buddy knew someone who got us 2 tee times last fall, If I ever snag another one like that I wanna have a few va refugees down.
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Anybody know? Up near Great Falls, apparently.
I think that’s River Creek Club in Leesburg.
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Absolutely correct. If you were to pan left just a bit, you’d see Lansdowne’s Norman Course.
Correct.
I got to play with @Shankapotomous today at my home club, Stoneleigh GC in Round Hill. Great weather, and great company, and a couple of good shots for each of us. Its always nice to make a new friend.
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Yes. Thank you for the invite today
Stoneleigh was incredible
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Hey guys, I’m down the Road at Lansdowne, and would be delighted to get together.
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Any courses a short drive from DC that people know are doing solid work on distancing? Finally have a means of transport but don’t want to contribute to bad practices
Would love to meet up. Haven’t played Landsdown in probably 15 years.
Most are putting separate household folks in separate cars with some kind of hole adjustment. Cup up, pool noodle in etc
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Theres not much public open a short drive away from DC, but I’ve played Westfields, Stonewall, Bull Run, Bristow, and Raspberry in the last few weeks. Generally all doing spacing in clubhouse and the things you’d expect…noodles in holes, no rakes, etc. Westfields is encouraging walking and they are taking things serious…BR, Rasp, and Stonewall are doing the same, though they only guarantee two carts per group (if you ask for your own cart generally think you’ll get it unless its sat at noon, and I understand I mean how many carts can you provide on a full tee sheet) but they are doing everything else… all in all I feel almost all are doing a good job. I’m just walking, in and out of the clubhouse, and feel good about it at all those places. I will say, there are plenty of people riding in carts together, seemingly not caring about the distancing. That and the courses are all packed, both weekdays and weekends. Some of that might be because theres limited VA courses open, some of it might be the MD and PA addicts also coming down to play…Ive talked to A LOT from out of state. Think PA is opening up soon so that might help. Stonewall was the only place I wont go back to, was there maybe 3 or 4 weeks ago and the patio was packed with people eating and having after round drinks, as if nothing was going on. And nothing in the cups, noodles or otherwise. Shocking. Things might have changed since, same owners as BR and Rasp, but dont know.
If you go, you’ll likely have to touch the door to the clubhouse, touch the swiper for the CC and to make your signature/hit accept, but other than that you dont have to come in contact with anything anyone else touches (aside from your ball hitting the same pin and cup as others balls have). As the weather warms, doors will get propped open, so contact with anything can really be pretty minimal. The flip side is that you could also touch a lot: use a cart, use the restroom, get range balls (touch tokens, buckets, keypad), grab scorecards out of a bin, use a broken tee on the ground, pick up a lost ball. I know that’s in the weeds, but it was normal behavior for me while golfing, that, for me, I wanted to actively think about and change. Your risk tolerance might be different/YMMV, but you can do it safely and as distancing as you want to make it.
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Appreciate the thorough reply. At this point having to go inside and conduct the transaction on the same machine as a bunch of other folks is a bit much for me, but maybe I’ll call around and see if anyone is doing totally contactless starting. Kind of bummed to hear that the courses are packed, too. I haven’t been keeping up very much but today was my first time outside of like a three block radius from my apartment since the beginning of March, and the number of people jogging/biking/fishing/just out and about was really disheartening.
Yeah no problem, thought a lot of people might have the same questions on the state of things.
It’s a whole different risk, but cant imagine those courses wouldnt take your CC number by phone. Cant be hard to pay in advance and just show up and walk to the first tee, starters should be all walkie talkied up to verify with the clubhouse that you’ve already paid. Think Westfields had an email out about doing that very thing.
Everyone’s going to be different, but FWIW, as an Alexandria resident in a densely populated area, I feel safer walking by myself at the course than I do grocery shopping.
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Add Pleasant Valley in Chantilly to the list as well. I played it for the first time last week and loved it. I typically play at Westfields but it looks like their in-season rates have taken effect. The course was well maintained and had some great holes that were playing firm and fast. I would imagine you’d be able to call the pro shop and pay via credit card before you arrive and would just need to check in with the starter.
As other have said, it is crowded and the parking lot is full of our friends from nearby states. The weekend tee sheets fill up fast, but it’s still relatively easy to get a tee time if you take a look at the forecast and plan ahead.
Also, if you are fine with not really warming up (hitting range balls or visiting the putting green), it’s pretty easy to check in and hang in the parking lot/near the first tee until your tee time.
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I’m sure something could be worked out, although for the moment we’re limited to one guest at a time at Stoneleigh. Give my best to Nick.
I’m 3.5 hours but you’re always welcome to a round on me down here in Roanoke if gets bad enough
Down here all local tracks have reduced tee times, single carts only, pulled cups or insets, no rakes, etc…
I learned the lesson on forgetting drinks the hard way tho, no more water coolers on the track and its getting warmer.
experimenting with an 8 man skins game that got approved by the course saturday. Venmo all payments, scoring on grint is live and thus no meeting up afterward, all pre paid and ish. Trying to at least adapt here
I’ve been going down to VA from MD every weekend. Played Raspberry Falls and 1757 once, Bristow Manor and Reston National a bunch of times. Making the drive to Royal New Kent this weekend.
Will not be going back to 1757. Besides the fact that I don’t really like the course, they barely took any precautions. They had raised cups but that was it - cart girl out, halfway house open, had to hand my CC to the guy at the counter, etc. We were about the only group walking, everyone else was doubled up in carts. This was maybe 5 weeks ago, so they could have gotten their act together since, but I don’t care to find out.
Everywhere else has been taking it seriously. Raspberry lets you call from the parking lot to pay (bear of a walk though). Reston lets you pay in advance when booking the time. They’re probably your best bet in terms of drive time from DC and level of precautions taken, though they do get a lot of play during peak hours.
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