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Tommy Williamsen

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Heronwood
« on: July 24, 2020, 12:56:34 PM »
In the last issue of the Virginia Golfer the author reviewed a 18 hole private retreat named Heronwood in Upperville, VA.

https://view.joomag.com/virginia-golfer-jul-aug-2020/0952962001594121327


It was designed by Ault/Clark. I had never even heard of it and I have lived and played in MD and VA for the last fifty years. I thought I knew about every course in the area.
It is owned by a single individual with no members. The manager of the course thought that no more than 25 people have ever played the course. By mid May only one person had played the course. The owner died and his widow is selling the estate.


Anyone ever play it?



https://www.thomasandtalbot.com/Property-HERONWOOD_FARM_AND_GOLF_COURSE


https://heronwoodfarm.com/history
« Last Edit: July 24, 2020, 06:53:09 PM by Tommy Williamsen »
Where there is no love, put love; there you will find love.
St. John of the Cross

"Deep within your soul-space is a magnificent cathedral where you are sweet beyond telling." Rumi

Greg Hohman

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Re: Heronwood
« Reply #1 on: July 24, 2020, 03:50:57 PM »
At the rentals page of herronwood.com, there is an image of a classic horseleg hole with a vintage ornamental fountain protecting, er, a blind, historical horseleg green?
« Last Edit: July 24, 2020, 04:40:10 PM by Greg Hohman »
newmonumentsgc.com


David_Tepper

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Re: Heronwood
« Reply #3 on: July 24, 2020, 04:24:33 PM »
Out of curiosity, does anyone know how many "personal" 18-hole golf courses like this one there are in the U.S.?

Bernie Bell

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Re: Heronwood
« Reply #4 on: July 24, 2020, 04:46:16 PM »
Puts me in mind of the scene in "Diner" when Fenwick says to Boog, as Jane Chisholm rides off on horseback, "Do you ever get the feeling that there's something going on that we don't know about?"
« Last Edit: July 24, 2020, 04:48:29 PM by Bernie Bell »

Greg Hohman

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Re: Heronwood
« Reply #5 on: July 24, 2020, 06:30:45 PM »
The horse facilities present a clear threat to the integrity of our game: a round of golf turning into a polo match.
newmonumentsgc.com

Greg Smith

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Re: Heronwood
« Reply #6 on: July 25, 2020, 05:10:12 PM »
Looking at the aerial on this a couple posts up, I am thinking ….  NO.   Especially as an estate course for a 15 handicap guy.  And even for owners with a BIIIG, unlimited budget, I bet they still wouldn't want to pay the salaries for a total army of course maintenance guys to keep the place in Oakmont-type nick and care for all those bunkers.

I think if I were gonna try to design such an estate course, it would end up looking a lot like … Huntercombe.  I'd want inventive, interesting greens to hold one's attention for a lifetime.  I'd want lots of strategic "hazards" (but very few sand bunkers) to keep the maintenance down.  For the 15-cap type golfer the grass bunkers, ditches, cops, and mounds would be a lot more entertaining to play from anyway.  Where I did place a sand trap, it would be only for the most strategic reasons (i.e. the perfect central hazard), with maybe the occasional "pretty" visual bunker thrown in.

If I did a "great hazard" Tillinghast-type par 5, it would be one like that hole at Ridgewood ( I forget which one it is) which has the cross hazard composed of mounds and grass bunkers in which I'd be likely to find my ball, but be penalized by an awkward lie.

I'd keep a couple of water hazards, if only for irrigation and drainage/retention purposes.  But I might keep even those out of play -- really I'd just need the water they hold.  Maybe a pretty pond right by the clubhouse would be nice -- over on the side away from the golf course, with a Japanese garden by it.

And for a course played mostly by a single golfer, the scale should be intimate, without too many multiple tees.  Heck, if the main person I'd play with is my wife, I'd want ONE set of tees for social reasons, and make all the holes an interesting play from those tees regardless of distance ability -- so therefore a minimum of fronting water hazards.  You could have some (non-water) cross hazards for sure under that plan, but nothing totally walling off the fronts of greens.

And getting back to maintenance, the grass length should all be 1920s-style, not too short.  On the fairways, that slightly longer grass helps the 15-cap get the irons up in the air.  On the greens, the longer cut and slower speeds allow for bold, interesting contours.

That course pictured on Google has too many bunkers, too many ponds, and looks relatively banal except for a couple of holes.  I'd hate to spend seven or eight figures on such a thing.
O fools!  who drudge from morn til night
And dream your way of life is wise,
Come hither!  prove a happier plight,
The golfer lives in Paradise!                      

John Somerville, The Ballade of the Links at Rye (1898)

John Emerson

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Re: Heronwood
« Reply #7 on: July 25, 2020, 07:25:02 PM »
Out of curiosity, does anyone know how many "personal" 18-hole golf courses like this one there are in the U.S.?


David,
I think there was a thread on this a month ago or so.  Can’t remember exactly when.  There was a pretty good list of courses, but how many were actually 18 holes was pretty small.  The sugarloaf social guys did something in their Instagram a few weeks ago.
“There’s links golf, then everything else.”

Tim Leahy

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Re: Heronwood?
« Reply #8 on: October 14, 2020, 07:45:21 PM »
Just read a Golf.com article on this super private course in VA. Only 25 players have played it since it was finished in 2006. Designed by Ault group it can be yours with property, mansion and course for under $20 mil. Anyone on this site played there or seen it in person?
I love golf, the fightin irish, and beautiful women depending on the season and availability.

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