VSGA member clubs
As for the quality of golf itself, it gets better
all the time. One of the great success stories
involves Bull Run in Haymarket, built in 1999.
The public course suffered from low budgets
and accompanying spotty maintenance in
its early years, only to undergo a major
transformation under the guidance, since
2010, of the same management team that
operates Raspberry Falls. Over the last three
years, they’ve gone from 12,000 rounds a
year to 30,000. The course has been in
spectacular shape, with well-manicured
fairways and greens, a formidable practice
area and instruction at its own golf academy,
an extension of the Raspberry academy.
“When we took over, it had fallen
into disrepair,” says Mike Tate, general
manager at Bull Run. “It wasn’t being run
like a business. It was not in great shape,
and it was just about bankrupt. We’re at
30,000 rounds now and we think 35,000 is
definitely possible. We give people a really
good experience, and they keep coming
back for more.”
Creighton Farms is the newest addition
to the trail, opening in 2007. Jack Nicklaus
designed the golf course and is an occasional
visitor. Surrounded by rolling lush and verdant
Virginia hunt country farmland, the course is
the focal point of an upscale community
featuring homes in the $1.5 million and over
category. Newlywed Washington Redskins
quarterback Robert Griffin III recently
bought a place inside the gated community
for $2.5 million, but obviously has precious
little time for golf these days.
While it’s a private club in every sense of
20
the word, Creighton Farms also has recently
entered into an agreement with the new
Salamander Resort and Spa in Middleburg,
only six miles away, that will allow guests at
the 140-room facility to use the golf course
and practice areas for a set fee. Club members
also will have some reciprocal privileges at
the posh resort that opened on Aug. 29.
At the southern end of the trail sits Robert
Trent Jones Golf Club, arguably the jewel in
the crown of this golf trail.
The late Robert Trent Jones Sr. once
called the course “my masterpiece,” and said
it was the best golf course land he’d ever seen.
“The terrain is aesthetically perfect,” he
added. “I don’t think we could have done
better anywhere.”
The layout is located along the shores of
Lake Manassas, and can stretch out as long
as 7,400 yards, with other teeing grounds
The Club at Creighton Farms, a private Jack Nicklaussculpted gem, is the newest addition that helps to
highlight the layouts in the northern Virginia corridor.
Virginia golfer | September/OctOber 2013
Master_VSGA_Sept13_MASTER2.indd 20
measuring 7,010 yards and 6,625 yards, as
well as a more palpable 6,170 and 5,570 yards
to accommodate all skill levels. Membership
is by invitation only, and it is also the only
course among the 10 that has its own stable
of eagle-eyed caddies.
Right next door is Stonewall, a slightly
newer venue that shares the same main
entrance off Route 29, less than a mile
from Route 15, as RTJ. To Stonewall, take
a right; to RTJ, a left. Stonewall has lots of
housing around a course filled with many
challenging holes. RTJ is basically homefree, replete with magnificent views and
brutally difficult holes.
“We have a lot of truly great golf courses
on this corridor,” says Jonathan Schoenfeld,
the PGA head golf professional at Stonewall.
“It’s a lot of fun for me. I get to play good
courses all the time. Don’t ask me to pick the
best one. That wouldn’t be fair.
“We’re on Lake Manassas, just across the
way from RTJ. We have a great working
relationship with their people. I really love
their ninth hole. Standing on that green is the
greatest feeling in the world. You can see the
whole shore line. I think I three-putt No. 9
every time I play it.”
A longtime sportswriter for The
Washington Post, award-winning journalist
Leonard Shapiro is a regular contributor to
Virginia Golfer.
TOP: DICK DURRANCE; INSET: STONEWALL GOLF CLUB; AIDAN BRADLEY
Robert Trent Jones Golf Club is one of the premier
courses in the commonwealth and the private
course is highlighted by its signature par-3 ninth
hole. INSET: Daily-fee Stonewall sits in the shadow
of RTJ and features captivating views of bordering
Lake Manassas.
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8/30/13 8:37 AM