I believe that the course was supposed to be a very expensive and upscale corporate facility that went bankrupt.
The Blue Course at Congressional finished with a par 3 but the USGA was not happy with that. Previously they had either not used it at all and instead incorporated some holes from the Gold course or played it as #10 and they had the players double back and play the 10th hole through the 17th. Not everyone is happy with the new 10th hole from an architectural point of view as well as a routing issue. The other problem is the famous 17th that Venturi played while dehydrated is now perhaps too short to challenge the top players. At the last AT@T many of the players were using very short clubs for their second shots.
The 2nd course at Congressional (the Gold course) currently finishes with a par 3 with a carry (over a different part of the same small lake that these others holes play over/next to). So until the recent change to the Blue course, both courses at Congressional finished with par 3's over water . . . can't think of any other 36-hole facilities like that.
Another problem with the 10th hole is that for those who play only or start on the back 9, you lead off with a long Par 3 over water. OUCH.
As an aside, does anyone know what the greens fees for 1757 will be? Their website only lists the greens fees for playing the 10 holes that were originally done. [EDIT: Nevermind, I now see this on another story about the club:
1757 Golf Club is just outside Dulles Airport, adjacent to Dulles 28 Centre and on Waxpool Road off Route 28. Greens fees (including cart rental) are:
* Monday – Thursday: $65 before 2 p.m., $55 after 2 p.m. and $39 after 4 p.m. $49 for seniors all day.
* Friday – Sunday and holidays: $95 before 2 p.m., $65 after 2 p.m. and $49 after 4 p.m.]
Sigh. Being a DC golfer without a private club just sucks. There's no course for 40 miles that isn't a guaranteed 6 hour round for under $60 weekends, almost all public courses make you use carts on weekends, and even the $100 daily fees - of which there seem to be too many - are at least 4 hour rounds.