Visiting new courses for golfers is always fun. It’s a chance to play a course you’ve never played before, and maybe this time you’ll play from the fairways instead of from “you know where.” After all, the new course doesn’t know that you are a lousy golfer. It’s just happy to have your greens fee.
My former neighbor, Ed Dent, invited me over to play his home course in McGaheysville – the Woodstone Meadows Course at Massanutten Resort. From Charlottesville, it’s about a 45-minute drive.
Looking at the scorecard, I noticed a total of nine par three holes. This is an “Executive Course”, with just two par 5’s and 7 par 4’s. The course is a modest 5,065 from the blue tees and 4,518 yards from the whites. The ladies course measures 3,605 yards. One of the nicest parts about a shorter, executive-type course is the length of a round.
“You can play this course in less than three hours,” Ed mentioned, as we were teeing off.
Another appealing part about a course like Woodstone Meadows is that you actually get to play golf. It’s not simply a matter of booming big drives. Position, strategy and the short game – not the big Bertha drivers – are the critical factors.
Woodstone Meadows is positioned in the Woodstone Meadows Condo Development – part of the Massanutten Resort. The time-share owners are in and out, and the best time for visitors to play is actually on the weekends. The scenery among the mountains is spectacular – fall and spring.
The course – as would be expected at a quality venue such as Massanutten – is always in superb shape. The greens are large and a little on the quick side with subtle, but not impossible breaks. The fairways are lush, maybe a little too lush in places. This is boggy real estate. You don’t get a lot of roll on your drives. But as a shorter course, that isn’t really necessary. The first hole, for example, is a downhill 320 yards up to an elevated green. But any kind of decent drive leaves an average golfer with a short iron to the green. Position, though, is very important. The 9th hole is tough, very tough – a long par 3 over a lake, and uphill. The 171 yards shot requires a strong poke with a long iron or fairway wood, since the wind is generally in your face.
The par 3’s range from 113 to 171 yards, but there are no “gimmies”. It is a fair but challenging test of golf. I expect you could get in a 9-hole round in less than an hour and a half if you only had a short time to play.
Woodstone accepts VSGA cards throughout the week and even on weekends. A visit to Woodstone Meadows is definitely worth the trip and weekends are the best times to tee it up. To book a tee time or for more information, go to (540) 289-4919.
