Sugar Rush
Gilley’s tee shot graces the
Washington Monument at East
Potomac Golf Course in D.C.
RIGHT: Lewis at at Jefferson
Lakeside Country Club.
“Talking with Harrison and Ian about
their vision is incredible,” Crabbe says.
“They’re creative, thoughtful people and
sharp as a tack.”
Crabbe met Gilley and Lewis when they
stumbled upon Jefferson Lakeside earlier
this year and promptly joined the 1920s-
era club that boasts a lovingly conditioned
Donald Ross course.
Gilley says their new home checks all
of their boxes: golden-age architect, eas-
ily walkable, character in its bones and
history in its air. They are even sharing
promotional ideas with Crabbe, pro bono,
to promote Jefferson Lakeside’s name and
inherent splendor.
Crabbe says their efforts have already
reaped a handful of new memberships,
and he expects more after the rollout of
an unspecified marketing project.
“We’re a hidden gem in Richmond,”
Crabbe says, “but I don’t want to be a
hidden gem anymore.”
Not coincidentally, uncovering hidden
gems is a prong of Sugarloaf ’s mission.
The “Hidden Gem Project” on the Sug-
arloaf website pinpoints cool, largely
overlooked courses—nine-hole, 18-hole,
par-3s—from Hawaii to Palm Beach, Fla.
All, the site says, are “affordable, acces-
sible, architecturally interesting … and
100-percent Sugarloaf approved,” either
from their own playing experience or
from sources they know and trust.
vsga.org
Five Virginia gems are listed, although
one, Cannon Ridge in Fredericksburg, has
closed. The others are Vista Links in Buena
Vista, Sperryville’s Schoolhouse Nine,
Pendleton Golf Club in Ruther Glen and
Belmont Golf Course in Henrico.
BRIGHT FUTURE
Gilley and Lewis feel their tangible influ-
ence most when they dive into the actual
Sugarloaf community. They hold popular
Sugarloaf events throughout the year.
And when they tip followers to when and
where they intend to play, they are met by
dozens of instant golf buddies.
Where the Sugarloaf boys take those
followers from here is an open road,
although the notion of building and
operating their own course is never far
from their minds.
“(Bringing) our entire ethos to one
place in the real world” is especially allur-
ing, says Gilley, who since childhood has
sketched golf holes to relax.
“If Ian and some of our close pals in
the architecture world put their heads
together and create a course, and equally
important the experience around that
course, it will be a smash hit,” Lewis says.
“I’m more confident in very few things.”
That would be quite a feather for Gilley,
who pulled himself back from the edge
of competitive golf burnout in college by
reconnecting with his inner nerd.
A semester spent in Edinburgh, Scot-
land and a summer as a kids’ golf instruc-
tor in Indiana, knocking about with one
club, rekindled his enthusiasm and clari-
fied golf’s purpose in his life.
“I realized there’s a shared thread of
creativity, egalitarianism and the oppor-
tunity to express your own identity
through this game we all love,” Gilley says.
“It’s really just about understanding
where golf came from, just a couple guys
with sticks in a public park in Edinburgh,
the poor and the rich coming together and
experiencing this game across the Leith
Links. We’re doing that to this day, all over
the world.”
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