Once an afterthought, food
is now integral to virtually
any golf course visit.
“If one goes somewhere to play, the entire day is going to
be filled with touchpoints that are going to make or break
the adventure,” says Marc Guiseppi, PGA general manager
at Williamsburg’s Golden Horseshoe. “You could be greeted
beautifully and have the round of your life on a magnificent,
well-conditioned course, then capped by a meal that’s less
than you were expecting. What’s that going to do to your day?
Food—it’s part of selling the overall club experience.”
Golf course cuisine is no longer just a dog at the turn.
Courses throughout the Commonwealth—resorts, country
clubs or daily fee courses—are upping their gastronomic
games to offer members and guests plates to please any palate.
Below are just a handful of examples of what innovative
Virginia chefs and culinary teams are doing to enhance the
golf experience.
BELLE HAVEN COUNTRY CLUB, ALEXANDRIA
Diners in Old Town Alexandria can go many places to get
excellent food, but Belle Haven members John Hawkins
and John Todd swear by the dishes served up by Chef Duane
Keller. Menu creativity and fresh sourcing (thanks to a gar-
den off the driving range) help create a direct farm-to-table
link, says Hawkins.
Keller sources food and ingredients far and wide. He
goes locally whenever possible and makes extensive use
of the Internet, searching for the freshest fish, meat and
organic farm vegetables. In May Belle Haven members
were served king salmon, only two days removed from
waters off British Columbia. A week earlier he served
wagyu tomahawk steaks, highly prized beef from Snake
River Farm in eastern Idaho.
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