Washington Golf and Country Club

[mike_beene]

Can't recall this ever being discussed:This is an old club in Alexandria or Arlington which is stated to be a Ross design.I don't know anything about it,but the DC clubs I hear of that are near downtown are in Maryland,excepting Army-Navy.How does this course compare?

[mike_beene]

I will give this one bump.Anybody know anything?

[Tommy Williamsen]

It has been many years since I have played there.  The course is just ok.  I don't think there is much Ross left, at least when I played it.  It is pretty exclusive with some high profile honorary members.  It keeps a pretty low profile.

[Mark Bourgeois]

Exclusive? Tommy, it's got like 750 members!

[Bill_McBride]

I was a member of Country Club of Fairfax about five miles south on the same main road in Fairfax.  Never played there, never heard enough good talk about it to make the effort.  I think it must be pretty ho-hum if that were the case.

[Tommy Williamsen]

Exclusive? Tommy, it's got like 750 members!

I didn't know the number of members but it does have a long waiting list and a pretty high initiation fee.  It seems to me that Chevy Chase Club and Columbia have a large number of members as well.

[rchesnut]

I've played there  a couple times,  it's in Arlington VA.  It's not really that exclusive, a friend of mine with no real connections got in a couple years ago after being on a waiting list for a couple years.  But it has a lot of second and third generation members, a number of Presidents and politicians have been members there over the years, more because of its proximity to DC than the quality of the golf.  It's a large membership, nice old clubhouse.   Built back in 1894, it's a Donald Ross course but I wouldn't have known it if they hadn't told me.  Short, tight course, about 6100 from the back tees, fair number of elevation changes...some interesting holes but it's not outstanding...maybe a Doak 4 or 5 at best. 

[Jonathan Cummings]

Nice old clubhouse was recently replaced.  The course was also recently redone (I believe by Hills but not sure).  According to Klein's book, the Ross course was built in 1915 at it's current site as a new course.  The original club (1894) may not have had a golf course, or a 9-holer at another location.  WG&CC is known as the oldest club in DC area.

I've played it a few times and was taken by how cramped it was.  Your tee shot off #1 is with an iron because there is no room to hit a drive.

JC

[BCrosby]

My father in law was a member. I played it a couple of times 20 years ago. Tight, very hilly and short. I remember a couple of interesting blind shots and what might be called a Spion Kop green or two.

I would not have guessed it was a Ross course.

It was (is?) a nice, urban club that you could actually get to after work for a quick round.

Bob

[Scott Furlong]

They hired a great Superintendent 3 years ago, Corey Haney, and conditions could not be better.  Tight golf course, like a lot of the older clubs in the area, but it is fun to play.   

[Craig Disher]

Cramped is an understatement. The old trees hide how tight the routing really is.

The course was actually re-designed by William Flynn in the early 1920s when the club obtained some additional land on the north side of the property.

[Carl Nichols]

It was rumored that Washington Golf used to give Supreme Court Justices (and presumably other notable Washingtonians) free memberships.  I don´t know if that was true, but I do know that a few Justices were/are members.

[CJ Carder]

I recently had the privilege of playing Washington G&CC and thought I'd provide some thoughts and pictures since it didn't seem as though there was a whole lot of discussion about the place previously.

Overall, I would echo what most have said - it's tight (cramped), some good holes, some rather boring holes (due to the small space), but overall not a terrible golf course.  I'm not sure I could play it day in and day out, particularly with some of the other neighbors, but I could see where it would be pretty fun after you've played it a few times.  The conditioning was top notch and firm/fast was definitely available on a number of holes.  To me, I was most struck by the topography.  Given the amount of land the course has, I'm not sure they could have done a better job of the routing.  I also liked that while the card read 6133, I felt like it played closer to 6500, which is always nice.

I did find it odd that a few people noted they would not have guessed that Ross had a hand in the design.  My question - what exactly were you looking for?  Perhaps I had the benefit of knowing it was a Ross going in, but I found a number of similarities to his other courses not named Pinehurst #2.  There was good use of bunkering to provide optical illusions, ample driving areas, and on I'd say 60% of the holes, the ground game option was very visible.  Sure, none of these are pure Ross traits, but if you compare this course to say, Mid Pines or maybe the Old Course at The Homestead (yes I haven't played a ton of Ross), I think they are quite similar.

In any event, here are a few pictures I took that will hopefully spark a bit more discussion.

The opener:


Par 3 2nd (the crampiness really starts to come into play here):


Long Par 4 3rd - I thought perhaps the most interesting hole on the course:


Par 5 4th tee shot - not a real good par 5 - more of a position tee shot and no real shot at hitting the green in 2:


4th Green:


Par 4 5th hole - two greens!


Par 4 7th:


Par 3 11th - long and downhill, which doesn't really reduce the long:


Par 4 13th - bowling alley!


Par 4 16th - love the topography:


Par 4 17th tee shot - you can see how close some of the holes are to each other:


17th green:


Home Hole with the new clubhouse in the background - approach was at least 1.5 clubs uphill:

[Garland Bayley]

I wouldn't mind belonging there and being able to drop in after work. Looks pretty good to me from the pictures. You know after all, 99.9% of you are not going to find an Old MacDonald in your back yard. The only one with Old MacDonald in his back yard would appear to be Joe Bentham. Silly Duck.

[mike_beene]

Thanks for the bump.At the time I asked this I was trying to weigh the options of frequent commuting to DC with what golf would be available if you lived there. American airlines from DFW-DCA is very easy,and it seems like the quality of Dallas private golf when you factor the cost is pretty hard to beat. I dont guess anyone knows anything about that club on chain bridge road a few miles south of Tyson's Corner? I played in a few tournaments there years ago and it was not spectacular but in nice shape.

[Mark McKeever]

I see a lot of Ross traits in the pictures especially the bunkering.  Looks like a cool track!

Mark

[Gary Slatter]

I played it a few years ago, it was really fun and good t-shots were important.  They did not allow pull carts (the Pro Rob McPherson called them rocket launchers) which was a first for me but after playing I realized pull carts would constantly be falling over (unlike in Scotland where they tend to be blown over).   

The pre-golf lunch was good and I got to see how Washington operates, at the start of lunch Elton John was hired to do a show for $1 million, by the end of lunch the price was $3 million and both the client and the promoter were very happy!   I won $6.00 from one of the guys who had just made a million.

At the time I likened the course to Islington Golf Club in Toronto.  Good test of golf and nice walk!  with energy left for 19th.

[Ira Fishman]

Bump. I played the course several times and enjoyed it quite a bit because it did a lot with a small space. There were a few awkward holes particularly a Par 5 on the Back (Number 13 or 14 I think). In any event, it has been closed for a while for a renovation by one of Tom Doak’s folks (there is a thread somewhere). I am interested in how much the routing has changed and how the renovation is progressing.


Ira

[Tom_Doak]

Bump. I played the course several times and enjoyed it quite a bit because it did a lot with a small space. There were a few awkward holes particularly a Par 5 on the Back (Number 13 or 14 I think). In any event, it has been closed for a while for a renovation by one of Tom Doak’s folks (there is a thread somewhere). I am interested in how much the routing has changed and how the renovation is progressing.

Ira:



Eric Iverson, Blake Conant and my former associate Mike McCartin [whose parents have been members there for years] did all the work at Washington Golf.


The work was supposed to be completed last fall, but with all the rain the east coast got last summer and fall, that proved impossible.  They've actually just finished the work in the past month, with limited member play possible this fall, but they don't plan to re-open until the spring of 2020.


The routing has not changed dramatically:  we added a par-3 hole on the front nine after the old 5th, replacing the old 9th; that space was used to lengthen the uphill 10th hole into a real par-5.


The golf course has changed more dramatically than that, though.  The greens and bunkering are all redesigned, a fair number of trees have come down to open things up, and the 15th hole [through a stream valley, which was eroding and was a really pesky hole for higher handicappers] has been substantially changed.  I think that's the hole you may have been remembering.

[Ira Fishman]

Tom,


Thanks for the update. The rain continued all spring in the DC area which wiped out the Spring golf season. I last played Washington Golf more than 15 years ago so my memory fades, but opening up the course with tree removal seems like a very good move. On the other hand, my memory is that the greens had quite a bit of contour and movement and that the club kept them at the proper speed.


DC is a great place to live, but a pretty lousy golf area so I hope the new Washington Golf elevates the region.


Ira

[James Brown]

The club did some major work a couple of seasons ago and was closed for the winter.  Would be nice to see it again.  It’s an interesting track.

[Ira Fishman]

I hear that the course has reopened. Has anyone played it?


Ira

[Alex Bullock]

The course reopened in mid-April and has been busy ever since.  Tom and his team did a great job with the project.  Even in a very small plot of land, they were able to add length to the course subtly.  (It plays a lot longer than the card indicates.) The new bunkering, more expansive views, and the work done on the creeks that run through the property have had a tremendously positive impact on the overall look of the course.  It is a (very challenging) pleasure to putt on the new greens.  The vision to add a short par 3 (No. 6) and combining the old 9th and 10th holes into one solid par 5 (No. 10) has strengthened the course overall.  (Unfortunately, I still play the new 15th hole (par 4) as poorly as the old par 5, which is purely a commentary on why I've always needed a day job!)  Thanks to Tom and everyone at RGD for persevering through rain, heat, and flooding to give us a fun and enjoyable golf course.