GreatHoles
by DAVID PARTRIDGE
P
rincess Anne Country Club in Virginia Beach is one
of the true old-line clubs in the Commonwealth
with a long, rich heritage that dates back to found-
ing of the club over a century ago. Princess Anne
has a time-honored culture of supporting golf and
the local community, and this noble tradition is especially true
this year.
Princess Anne will host the VSGA Women’s Amateur Cham-
pionship in mid-July when the Commonwealth’s finest female
golfers will vie for the Kohler Trophy. The event is returning to
Princess Anne for the first time since 1957.
Apart from serving as the venue for the state amateur, for the
second consecutive year the club will partner with Old Dominion
University to host the Princess Anne Invitational that last year
attracted 12 strong collegiate women’s teams from across the
country. The inaugural event was a huge success in large part
to the fact that more than 70 club volunteers helped stage the
tournament, which will return this fall.
In addition to the above events, in July, Princess Anne will be
the venue for the Els for Autism Pro-Am Invitational for a third
straight year. Hall of Fame golfer, Ernie Els—aided by PGA Tour
pro Marc Leishman who lives in Virginia Beach—hosted the
event last year which raised $250,000 in the fight against autism.
Many of those funds stayed right in the community to sustain
the work of local groups dedicated to fighting the developmental
disorder as well as assisting the families affected by autism.
Princess Anne Country Club is well known for its outstanding
set of par 3s and certainly one of the best is the picturesque 7th
14
V I R G I N I A G O L F E R | M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 9
hole. Played to a point
of land toward beautiful
Linkhorn Bay, the 7th is
not long but is fraught
YARDAGES
with danger. Three bun-
kers surround the shal-
low green that falls off
Black:
Yellow:
on all sides. In addition,
119 yards
206 yards
two penalty areas—both
over and to the right of
Green:
Red:
the putting surface—
174 yards
110 yards
add to the demanding
White:
tee shot that is often
155 yards
played into the pre-
vailing wind coming off
the water.
The putting surface, which allows for a variety of superb hole
locations, slopes from right to left so pins on the right are much
harder to find. Flags on the left are far more attackable, especial-
ly with a green that will feed the ball toward the cup. However,
the putting surface is much shallower on that side adding to the
challenge of this exceptional hole. Par is always a welcome score
on this devilish little gem.
PAR 3
A five-time VSGA Player of the Year and a multi-time winner of
the VSGA Amateur, Mid-Amateur and Senior Amateur, David
Partridge is the author of this series. David lives in the Richmond
area and works as a mortgage banker.
vsga.org
No. 7
PRINCESS ANNE
COUNTRY CLUB