History With A View
History With A View
111th VSGA Amateur Championship
Belle Haven Country Club , Alexandria June 24-28
Schedule : 36 holes of stroke-play qualifying ( Monday and Tuesday ); top 32 players advance to match play ; rounds of 32 and 16 on Wednesday ; quarterfinals and semifinals on Thursday ; 36-hole championship match on Friday . Par : 72 | Yardage : 6870 Defending champion : Grayson Wood ( Fredericksburg ) 2023 final : Wood def . Jake Albert , 1 up , at Boonsboro Country Club . Both are in the field in 2024 . Previous Amateur held at Belle Haven : 2010 : Brinson Paolini ( pictured below ) def . Mike Kirby , 1 up Note : Kirby , the 2010 finalist , is currently the chair of Belle Haven ’ s golf committee . His thoughts : “ It ’ s a true test of golf if you play from the back tees . I think that ’ s what you want . It ’ s one of the reasons we ’ ve been successful in hosting the Four-Ball for 75 years . We can make our course a true test to the highest level of amateurs . It ’ s not a pitch-and-putt course ; it can certainly stand up to a championship-level event . If you think of some of the top clubs in the country and the world , you can remember some of the holes on it and it allows you to use your entire bag . Belle Haven definitely provides that .”
“ There are a few holes you can get around hitting irons off the tee from a dogleg perspective . But you can certainly use driver on most holes — particularly in what we call ‘ the gauntlet ,’ that ’ s holes 8 through 14 . That ’ s the hardest stretch of holes at Belle Haven . They ’ re extremely hard . If you can get through 8 to 14 at even par you ’ re doing good .”
“ One of the unique things about Belle Haven is we ’ re right on the Potomac River overlooking D . C . and there ’ s no other club in Northern Virginia that offers that ,” said Mike Kirby , a 2010 VSGA Amateur finalist at Belle Haven and now chair of the club ’ s golf committee . “ You can see the Capitol building on hole 16 . On our back nine , you can see other major D . C . landmarks . It ’ s like this quaint little area that has a championship golf course right in the middle of everything .”
From 2002 to 2003 , the course was closed for a complete renovation by renowned architect Arthur Hills , who designed more than 200 new courses and renovated or redesigned 120 others before passing away in 2021 . That work was completed as part of a master plan that also included renovation of the
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