Kingsmill Resort
When one thinks of Williamsburg the first thing that comes to mind is its role in the colonization of Virginia, which led to the eventual forming of the United States.
The settlement, situated on high ground on the Virginia Peninsula, was in those days a handy starting point for westward movement up the isthmus separating the York and James Rivers as they run east to Chesapeake Bay.
Today, Williamsburg is a hotbed for tourism and a haven for great golf.
The area is the home of Colonial Williamsburg, a restored section of the city that attracts more than five million visitors a year as part of the area’s Historic Triangle that also includes Jamestown and Yorktown. Founded in 1632, Williamsburg is essentially a living museum, depicting the lifestyles and culture of the colonial period in American history.
In the 20th and 21st centuries, the city spawned upscale suburban communities for Richmond (to the northwest) and Norfolk (to the southeast). With both tourism and residential relevance, the area became a cool place to getaway and experience outstanding golf.
Most notable among the venues in the area are Golden Horseshoe Golf Club, whose famed Gold course is literally across the street from Colonial Williamsburg, and the Kingsmill Resort, on which two of its three courses and its main lodging and amenities center is located on land that once served as a central part of the area’s plantation life in the 1600-1800s.
Golden Horseshoe’s duo showcases RTJ and Rees at their prime
Golden Horseshoe’s name derives from an episode in American history. In 1716, Colonial Governor Alexander Spotswood led a small group of men over the Blue Ridge Mountains and into the Shenandoah Valley on an expedition. The journey’s survivors received a horseshoe made of gold.
While a trip around the facility’s two 18-hole golf courses is not as dangerous or as arduous as a colonial expedition, but the challenges produced by the two layouts here are varied and ample.
The courses, the Robert Trent Jones-designed Gold and Green, which was fashioned by his son Rees, feel like they were etched into the thick forests, hilly terrain and ravines. There’s not a house in sight. Both courses have received top ratings, including Golf Magazine’s Gold Medal Award, 4½-stars ranking in Golf Digest’s “Places to Play,” and a listing constant mention as two of “America’s Top Golf Courses.”
Golden Horseshoe’s courses illustrate core golf at its finest and, because of the facility’s commitment to the environment, both have been designated Audubon sanctuaries.
Opened in 1963, the par-71 Gold has been considered one of the master architect’s top courses. Extending 6,817 yards from the back set of four tees, the bucolic layout demands length off the tee, course management and a heaping helping of guts.
Jones himself called it his “finest design.” The narrow fairways contain sloped landing areas before ending at tiny, tilting putting surfaces. Seven holes play across water hazards or ponds, including the downhill, 169-yard par-3 16th, notable as one of golf’s first island greens.
Other fine one-shotters at Gold include the 201-yard third, which plays downhill over water to a diagonal green; the 206-yard seventh with its perched putting surface; and the knee-knocking, 188-yard 12th, a cape design with a green that slopes back toward water.
The course also features two short par-4s on the front nine, the 348-yard fifth and 337-yard eighth, both of which require strategy over brawn. On the home half, there are three par-4s of 444 yards or more (capped by the 466-yard 10th) and the massive (634-yard) par-5 15th. Gold’s 435-yard par-4 17th has been listed with its 16th in Golf Magazine’s “Top 500 Golf Holes in the World.”
The bottom line is that the course requires precision and power, offering a spectacular setting with many risk/reward decisions. It was freshened in 2017 by a team led by Rees Jones, and it’s better and more of a test than ever.
The Green Course opened in 1991 and gave the club a terrific one-two punch. The Green follows the same terrain as Gold, but it’s longer and not as relentless as it rolls along ridges and across ravines within a mature forest. “The real quality of this course is in its framing,” Rees said. “We wanted to complement the Gold but to give guests a little variety. We also wanted to make it a little more forgiving.”
Green is a shot-maker’s delight, allowing players several options. It is very rugged and isolated as it plays through huge trees, primarily beech, oak and pines.
Located a mile and a half from Gold, Green has its own clubhouse. The par-72 measures 7,120 yards from the tips and water enters play on six holes while four others are bordered by lateral hazards.
The Green par-3s are not as penal as Gold, but the 195-yard downhill 11th – with a tee shot over water to an amphitheater green framed by four bunkers at the rear – might be the best one-shot hole at the Golden Horseshoe.
On the back nine there are several tough par-4s, including three of the top-four handicap holes, and one of the most challenging stretches at the entire facility. No. 14, stretching 466 yards, veers right to left around a pond to a small oval putting surface.
That’s followed by a 616-yard par-5, which doglegs hard left to right to a green guarded front-left by a large, sculpted sand bunker, and the 220-yard par-3 17th, which involves a full carry over a ravine to find a giant green squeezed front-right by a deep bunker.
The Green is tough enough to have served as the site of the 2004 U.S Women’s Public Links Championship and it’s plenty testing for even the best golfer.
Kingsmill Resort
Kingsmill boasts courses from Dye, Palmer and Clark
Just south of the city proper on Cobham Bay and within a short drive of historic Jamestown is Kingsmill Resort, a place where luxury and golf meet in splendid isolation. When the first soggy Englishman’s foot trod on ground that would become Virginia, it was here. Today, the Kingsmill Resort retains the traits inherent in the land’s early life with grand accommodations and top-drawer service.
Anheuser-Busch developed Kingsmill as part of a 3,900-acre tract it acquired in 1969. Portions of the resort are bordered by an A-B brewery and the world-famous Busch Gardens amusement park.
Kingsmill and its three golf courses – designed by Pete Dye, Arnold Palmer, Tom Clark (with input from Curtis Strange) – occupy gently rolling hills and hardwood forests along James River.
Bordered by the calm waters of the James, the Dye-designed River Course is a championship track that served as a popular PGA Tour site for 22 years and was home to the LPGA Tour’s Michelob ULTRA Open from 2002-10, the Kingsmill Championship 2012-2018 and the Pure Silk Championship in 2019 and 2021. It tested the skills of the game’s great pros and demands its pound of flesh from the best amateurs.
Dye signatures abound on the 6,831-yard par-71 layout, with devilish twists and turns, uphill approaches to match every downhill drive and greens with plenty of movement. There’s not a single hole on the River Course that will accept a run-up approach as many of the putting surfaces are elevated and some sit high above deep ravines so thick with rough any wayward shot turns into a lost-ball situation.
The real tests at the River Course begin at the 369-yard par-4 sixth, which winds uphill to a green guarded front-left by a deep bunker. The 525-yard par-5 seventh is a true three-shot hole, heading first downhill, then up and ending at a green that is left of the fairway; from above the hole looks like a “7.”
Despite its moniker, only three of the River Course‘s holes – the final stretch at Nos. 16, 17 and 18 – have the James in sight. The majority of the routing winds over and through a beautiful countryside with meandering creeks, ponds and majestic pines, oaks and cedar.
The River Course opened in 1975 and was renovated in 2005 by Dye, who brought out the subtle details that make for a truly unforgettable round of golf.
Kingsmill Resort’s Plantation Course opened in 1985 and is routed across what was once the original Kingsmill Plantation. Landmarks from Richard Kingsmill’s 1736 plantation pepper the grounds, making a round here feel a little like an American history lesson.
Palmer and longtime partner Ed Seay created a venue that is both challenging for low handicappers while accessible for women and senior players; in fact, Golf Digest has cited Plantation as one of its Top 10 courses for women. The track features a 6,432-yard par-72 routing through towering forests, along deep ravines and streams and ponds entering play on eight holes.
Strong iron play and a steady putter will be rewarded at Plantation, whose green complexes are not excessively punitive. But you’ll need to be on the correct side of the hole to have a measure of success. Plantation‘s fairways, though tree-lined for the most part, are wide enough to accommodate an occasional wayward shot.
No. 7 on the Plantation Course is a tantalizing 336-yard par-4 that can be reached from the tee with an accurate drive but ends at a green that is undulating and mounded, making any putt difficult. On the 501-yard, par-5 eighth, a tall oak tree stands in the left edge of the fairway on this fine double-dogleg.
The front nine finishes with a 117-yard par-3 over a wetland area; the entire hole seems apart from civilization.
The Plantation Course‘s toughest stretch is the 421-yard, dogleg-right 10th, the 434-yard uphill 11th and the short, 460-yard par-5 12th, which is crossed near the green by a water-filled trough. All are toughened by fairways that roll down and up and then down again. Getting through this three-hole stretch with pars will help the round.
Opened in 1985, Plantation carries a rating of 71.6 and a slope of 127, but it’s more difficult than those figures.
Kingsmill Resort’s Woods Course (which is set up the road from the rest of the resort) was co-designed by Clark and two-time U.S. Open champion Strange. The duo created a parkland-style course in a serene, secluded corner where players will find themselves using every club in the bag while playing the pleasing mix of holes.
No housing marks this visually impressive, 6,659-yard par-72 layout that opened in 1995. Woods hits the golfer straight in the mouth on the 457-yard, par-4 third hole, a slight dogleg-right around a small lake. The 316-yard par-4 fourth can be challenged from the tee, but the wide green is fronted left by sand and right by water, so be prepared to do the time if you do the crime.
The back nine winds through a thick forest and the course’s signature hole may be the 184-yard, par-3 12th, which ends on a double-green shared with No. 15. A bunker splits the two halves of the huge putting surface, which is dramatically lower on the No. 12 side. A pond with cattails and aquatic plants protects the greens complex.
The course concludes with a tough 453-yard par-4 that is fairly open. The putting surface, surrounded on three sides by sand but open at the front, sits behind a pond that also guards the ninth green.
Woods is certainly isolated and is the hardest at Kingsmill. The newest of the resort’s tracks, it immediately garnered stellar reviews from golf publications, rating services and players; Zagat Survey rates it as one of America’s Top Golf Courses.
The Woods Course is open to full golf and national golf members and their guests only but ask nicely if you’re staying at the resort and you’re likely to score a round.