Golf in Charlottesville

Course architect Gary Player remarked that Raspberry Plain, once an 18th-century plantation, “was made for a golf course.” Inspired by this ideal setting, he dreamed up the links-style course at Raspberry Falls Golf & Hunt Club, whose meandering brooks, stone walls, and stacked-sod bunkers evoke Scotland, while its vista of the Catoctin Mountains remind players they’re in Virginia. Farther south, Augustine Golf Club's award-winning course rivals Raspberry Falls’ natural beauty with its distinctive par 4s sculpted by Rick Jacobson. Although the greens at Augustine declined for a few years, recent renovations have restored the course to its former glory, once again luring golfers to its babbling streams and forest.

These golf havens have more than picturesque views in common—they are two of six award-winning courses united by Raspberry Golf Management’s portfolio, which stretches from Virginia to Pennsylvania and skips over to Arizona. Gary Player’s design team for Raspberry Falls included Tim Freeland, who went on to design two of the firm’s other courses: Royal Manchester Golf Links, whose bentgrass fairways sidle up to the Susquehanna River, and Old Hickory Golf Club, a parkland-style course crisscrossed by Beaver Creek. The management company's other gems include The Legacy Golf Resort, where cowboys used to ride their rocking horses around a 7,500-acre ranch, and Bull Run Golf Club, which sprawls across more than 450 acres of meadows and woodlands at the foot of the Bull Run Mountains.

As its name implies, the course at River's Bend Golf Club nestles into a curve of the James River, whose waters rush alongside three of the fairways. Its design sprang from the mind of accomplished course architect Steve Smyers, who drew inspiration from the legendary architects of the 1920s and 1930s and their penchant for Herbert Hoover–shaped sand traps. For River’s Bend, Smyers incorporated naturally sloped terrain and woodlands to create fairways that challenge both novices and experts. Players pass rustic wooden bridges and white fences as they play, eventually facing off with a substantial pond tucked among the three final holes of the front nine.

Before teeing off at the first hole, players can warm up their swing at the driving range or take advantage of dedicated chipping and putting practice areas. For more guided practice, clubbers can sign up for lessons with golf pro Brandon Kelley, who covers everything from fundamentals to preshot mental routines, such as visualizing the golf ball as a miniature moon that needs to be returned to orbit.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par-71 course

• Length of 6,671 yards

• Course rating of 71.9

• Slope rating of 132

• Four tee options

Designed by famed course architect P.B. Dye, The Gauntlet Golf Club's 18-hole course is cleaved between dense woodlands and the lake at Curtis Memorial Park for 6,857 yards of challenging golf. Across the par-72 layout, golfers dig their spikes into zoysia fairways and steer balls over smooth, bentgrass greens while lecturing wedges about effective lawn-care techniques. The course’s signature hole—the par-4 fourth—begins with a forced carry over marshland and precise approach shots onto a three-tiered green, showcasing a number of memorable shot-making opportunities.

The verdant grounds also feature a 20-stall driving range, practice bunker, and chipping area. Three instructors are also on hand ready to spread their golf wisdom in lessons, clinics, and heart-warming memoirs about how they overcame the yips.

Course at a Glance:

• Designed by P.B. Dye
• 18-hole, par-72 course
• Zoysia fairways, bentgrass greens
• Length of 6,857 yards from the farthest tees
• Course rating of 73.4 from the farthest tees
• Slope rating of 139 from the farthest tees
• Four tee options
• Scorecard