G olf at Colonial Williamsburg , now in its 75th year , is the result of infinitely more than magnate John D . Rockefeller ’ s devotion to pre-Revolutionary War life and famed course designer Robert Trent Jones ’ revolutionary vision of the future .
Three family interactions essential to the game arriving — and surviving — in Williamsburg began with recommending a golf-course designer to his clergy cousin . Woven throughout the story is the collective determination needed to traverse a maze of challenges , including a world war . It ’ s about unvarnished practicality : How to lure more people to a place thought to be off the beaten path ?
TOP : The iconic No . 16 at The Golden
Horseshoe . BOTTOM : Golfers playing on the original Williamsburg Inn Gold Course in May
1948 .
“ It ’ s as fine a Trent Jones course as I ’ ve ever seen . It ’ s not so long that it ’ s uninteresting to play ... It ’ s plenty challenging and , of course , in a beautiful setting .”
— Jack Nicklaus
THE GOLDEN HORSESHOE ( MODERN ); THE COLONIAL WILLIAMSBURG FOUNDATION ( HISTORICAL )
Ultimately , it ’ s the story of how when nursed by a dedicated army of Rockefeller lieutenants and local elites , an experience was born that stands the test of time .
Opened in 1963 , and later modernized by Rees Jones , just one Virginia course older than the Golden Horseshoe-Gold is ranked higher by Golf Digest : The Cascades in Hot Springs .
While visitors have long enjoyed the Golden Horseshoe triad — Gold , Green and the Spotswood executive course — the idea of bringing golf to Williamsburg emanated from an unexpected source .
In January 1928 , the Reverend Doctor W . A . R . Goodwin , rector of Bruton Parish and the man who persuaded Rockefeller to restore Colonial Williamsburg , issued a memo wondering if there was suitable land for a golf course that would serve as a welcome diversion for guests .
Some of Rockefeller ’ s closest advisors favored the idea . Others warned that CW ’ s mission as a living history museum would be diminished .
There was the start of World War II in 1939 and government restrictions on gas and construction that weren ’ t lifted until August 1945 .
The first-class hotel considered essential to success — the Williamsburg Inn — hadn ’ t been built and wouldn ’ t open until 1937 . Most visitors stayed in Richmond and drove down .
Finally , estimated construction costs were $ 250,000 , more than triple what it took to build the James River Course at Country Club of Virginia or Farmington CC in Charlottesville — excellence CW sought to emulate .
But CW was painfully aware that there was an entertainment void waiting to be filled . The National Park Service had purchased the land on which Yorktown Country Club sat to recreate the battlefield . The course closest to Williamsburg was 23 miles away .
In October 1944 , Kenneth Chorley , a key Rockefeller aide and then-president of Colonial Williamsburg , received a jarring note from Vernon Geddy , a local attorney and former CW president . Geddy cited 15 years of research involving hundreds of male guests that showed that the majority “ could hardly wait to get to Hot Springs , White Sulphur Springs , Pinehurst or Virginia Beach for the balance of their vacation . The reason was almost unanimous : Golf .
Chorley relayed the information to Rockefeller , who okayed hiring a designer for a nine-hole layout . It was not Trent Jones . In 1935 , Goodwin , known as “ The Father of Colonial Williamsburg ,” received “ a strange request ” from his cousin — Frederick Goodwin , then coadjutor Bishop of the
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