One good thing about being too poor to afford a golf membership at a ritzy country club is that you get to play a lot of different courses. And for those frugal golfers who invest a few bucks in a VSGA card each spring, you can often play some great courses at a fraction of the normal greens fees.
Kevin and Greg, two of my regular golf amigos, wanted to play a different course last week and Kevin had a coupon to Mountain Greens in Massanutten, so we gave that course a shot.
Two things about Mountain Greens. It is breathtakingly beautiful and it’s tough. It’s especially tough when your driver can’t find the fairway. Stay in the short grass and you’re okay. It’s not a terribly long course, but swat a few in the rough and trees and it’ll cost you at Mountain Greens.
The greens were playing fast, despite having recently been aerated. If you had a downhill putt, you were in big trouble. The fairways were excellent as were the tee boxes. I judge a course by the condition and size of the tee boxes. There is nothing worse than having to tee it up where the box looks like it recently underwent an attack of the five irons. This mountain course had splendid tee boxes.
The championship tees play at 6,443. The regular tees (Kevin hits from those) play at 6,087 yards and the old farts tees (Greg and I hit from there) play a reasonable 5,608 yards. So, if you hit even a decent drive and stay in the fairway, you’ve got a shot to hit a par 4 hole in two strokes. You also have a good shot to 3 and 4 putt if you don’t stay below the hole. This is definitely a mountain course and very hilly, even on the greens.
The normal greens fees are about $65 with cart. Kevin’s coupon allowed us to play at $35 per man, so watch for the coupons. For information or tee times, call Brett Mowbray, Director of Golf, at 540-289-4941 or email at mtngreens@massresort.com.
Would I recommend Mountain Greens at Massanutten? Absolutely!