Heronwood
THE MYSTERY OF
AN INSIDE LOOK AT AN ULTRA-EXCLUSIVE COURSE
BUILT ON A 500-ACRE UPPERVILLE FARM
by LEONARD SHAPIRO
No more than 25 golfers have
played Heronwood since it was
completed in 2007.
Every golfer on the planet, high or
low handicapper, sweet or sour
swinger, has a dreamy wish list of
courses they’d dearly love to play.
St. Andrews.
Augusta National.
Pebble Beach.
As a longtime golf writer, been there,
done that, and grateful for the opportunity
to play on those three storied venues
and a few others after covering a major
championship.
All those rounds marked memorable
days, especially that par on Augusta
National’s toughest hole, No. 11 at the
start of Amen Corner. But there’s always
been one course on the list that remained
elusive. Even more frustrating, it’s located
in the tiny, tony town of Upperville, an
hour west of the nation’s capital but only
five short miles from home.
It’s an 18-hole truly pristine beauty
located on a 500-acre property named
Heronwood Farm that also is less than
a mile from the estate of the late philanthropists
Paul and Bunny Mellon on
Rokeby Road, one of the most gorgeous
thoroughfares in all of Virginia.
It may also be the most private golf
course in America, if not the world.
EXCLUSIVE CLUB
Ben Rogers, the farm manager at Heronwood
the last 18 years, said that no more
than 25 golfers, men and women, have
ever played the course since it was completed
in 2007. At 6,300 yards from the
tips—which easily could be expanded—it
plays to a par of 71 and includes four sets
of Bermuda grass tees on each hole. Fairways
also are Bermuda, and the expansive
greens are all bentgrass.
COURTESY OF THE COURSE
26 V IRGINIA G OLFER | J ULY/A UGUST 2020
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