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Opening Drive by CHRIS LANG
Great Holes in Transition
EAGLE-EYED READERS MAY NOTICE A CHANGE to the standing Great Holes feature in this issue of Virginia Golfer— most notably, the byline on the story.
David Partridge has contributed to the Great Holes feature on and off for the better part of two decades now. A Virginia Golf Hall of Famer, David’ s perspective on some of the great golf courses in the Commonwealth was welcome. As a dogged competitor with 15 VSGA titles under his belt, his words carried considerable weight. And his contributions to this magazine did not go unnoticed.
I was playing golf at a public course last summer, and when the player I was paired with learned what I did at the VSGA, the first thing he mentioned was how much he enjoyed the Great Holes feature in every issue. It wasn’ t the first time I’ d heard such praise.
To David, the Virginia golf community thanks you for your contributions to the magazine, for allowing players to experience holes they may never get to play in person and for the historical knowledge that you have provided to our members.
David first approached me on transitioning the feature several years ago, as he was ready to wind down and pass the torch to another writer. The first person who came to mind was another accomplished player with great perspective of some of Virginia’ s best layouts— past U. S. Women’ s Mid-Amateur champion Lauren Greenlief.
A seven-time VSGA Women’ s Golfer of the Year, Greenlief pens her first Great Holes piece in this issue. She won’ t be the only one writing on the subject. Josh Apple, who has spent the last several years as VG’ s Instruction editor, will contribute as well. Please welcome Lauren and Josh aboard as contributors to this long-standing feature. David has left this
VSGA Scholarship Day was held June 3 at Hermitage Country Club.
Visit VSGA. org / vip / scholarship-foundation to learn about the 45 high-school seniors and four VT Turfgrass students who earned 2025 awards.
project in good hands, and we can’ t wait to see where it goes in the future. Also in this issue:
• Very few golf associations nationwide have hosted 100 Women’ s Amateur Championships. The VSGA joins the short list in July. In this issue’ s cover story, Arthur Utley provides some historical context ahead of the 100th VSGA Women’ s Amateur, which will be played at Keswick Club in July.
• Speaking of history, Mike Stott writes about Hermitage Country Club, which celebrates its 125th anniversary this year. From its original home in Richmond’ s northside to its current location in Goochland County, Hermitage has made an indelible impact on golf in Virginia over the years.
State Open of Virginia Streaming Cont’ d...
events like Virginia’ s State Opens and the Chicago Adaptive Open.
“ Our mission as CGN is to elevate events like these by giving players, fans, family and coaches a front-row seat to the action through high-quality, accessible live coverage,” CGN executive vice president Doug Rios said.
As of early June, seven past champions had committed to play in the 2025 State Open: Amateurs Nick Taliaferro and Roger Newsom, and professionals Rick Schuller, Ryan Zylstra, Connor Burgess, Jay Woodson and Mark Lawrence Jr.
Woodson, a four-time champion, posted a final-round 62 in last year’ s event to force a playoff with eventual winner Logan Reilly, proving there’ s still plenty of gas in the tank.
Additionally, a new social media account has been created that will focus specifically on coverage of Virginia’ s State Opens. Please follow @ vastateopens on Instagram to keep up with all news and action related to the Women’ s Open, State Open and Senior Open of Virginia.
Scan the QR Codes below to watch
State Open Round 2
State Open Final Round
Chris Lang, Editor clang @ vsga. org
6 V IRGINIA G OLFER | J u ly / A u g u s t 2025 vsga. org