BACKYARD ADVENTURE lie , also a fine teaching pro , have their own instructional area in their backyard in nearby Aldie .
“ He ’ s an interesting guy ,” said Guttenberg , now director of instruction for the Raspberry Falls golf group out of Bull Run Golf Club in Haymarket . “ In the beginning , I could never find out what he did . He told me he was a writer . He says , ‘ I write a lot of checks .’”
Phipps also told Guttenberg he had a lot of land and was thinking about installing a practice green near his art studio . Guttenberg came out one day , saw the property and suggested positioning the green at the end of what was then a hay field , far from the studio and safe from possible errant window-shattering missed shots .
“ Everyone who plays wants to be an architect ,” Guttenberg said . “ I designed a two-tiered green for him . I drew out the shape , where the traps would go . And then we created a 270-yard tee shot and then a 150-yard shot . I loved being part of the process . I ’ m not Nicklaus or Crenshaw , but this was a great thing for me .”
The golf hole itself is nothing fancy — a well-manicured , straightforward fairway , generously wide with a first cut of rough , then longer grass . A lawn service keeps it mowed to regular fairway length . It ’ s framed on both sides by tall trees that really don ’ t come into play and it ’ s slightly downhill to the green that was installed by Winchester ’ s Rich Shoemaker . And if Phipps ever decided to put other tees left , right , or behind , there ’ s probably enough land to make nine different holes aimed at that single green .
For now , he ’ s more than satisfied with what he ’ s got .
“ Hubert can hit it pretty far ,” Guttenberg said . “ Scoring wise , he ’ s probably a 90s shooter . In all the time he ’ s taken lessons from me , he probably only plays about one or two rounds a year on a regular course . He just wanted to play golf in his backyard .”
“ He just wanted to play golf in his backyard .”
PHOTO CREDIT HERE vsga . org S EPTEMBER / O CTOBER 2017 | V IRGINIA G OLFER 31