At the beginning of the year, I wanted to focus on two things when picking new courses to play. First, I hoped to play more courses in Northern Virginia and second, I hoped to play a handful of more “premium” tracks. Happily, I’ve been chipping away at those goals and this weekend allowed me the chance to check out the Old Course at the Omni Bedford Springs Resort! The Old Course has been on what I’ve dubbed “my Mid-Atlantic wishlist” since I moved to the East Coast in 2012. It always seems to get ranked among the top public courses in Pennsylvania and it has an impressive history of architects.

A friend joined me and we caught a sunny day on Saturday. It was odd to see the sun after all the rain the Mid-Atlantic received last week! We had a mid morning tee time and it took us a little over an hour to get to the resort from West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle. I’ve included a couple pictures of the resort and clubhouse and while we didn’t stay at the resort it looked very nice with plenty to do for a family. The golf course staff was welcoming and we even ended up with our names on our golf cart. Pretty slick!

To get to the Omni from town, you turn off a two lane road and the resort and the course sit in a small, cleared out valley. The resort is at one end of the valley while the course works its way out to the other end. So, you end up getting some nice views of the valley and the resort while golfing. Shobers Run also cuts through the course.

Before I get too far into the review I want to touch on the history of the Old Course, as that is a significant part of the golfing experience here! The course dates back to 1895, with Spencer Oldham getting credit for the original design. Then two of golf’s most well-known architects, A.W. Tillinghast and Donald Ross, left their mark on the Old Course. Most recently, in 2007, Ron Forse completed a course renovation at the same time the resort was being resorted. The result of all the course work, spanning over a century, is a mix of classic and modern design elements!

I am not a golf course architecture know-it-all by any stretch of the imagination. However, there are elements I noticed at the Old Course which you don’t normally see from modern golf course designers. There is a grass island bunker, a par-3 named “Volcano”, and fescue-covered mounding throughout the course. All the fescue gives things a nice look!

The course plays as a par-72 with five par-3’s, five par-5’s and eight par-4’s. Sometimes the downside of that many par-3’s is that they all can blend together. But, what you’ll find at the Old Course is that the par-3’s are the standout holes! Their yardages range from 136 to 223 yards and I ended up hitting four different clubs, including my hybrid and gap wedge.

It is tough for me to pick a favorite par-3, as I liked the 4th, 10th and 14th. But, if you forced me to pick one then I’d have to go with the short 10th. From the medal tees (where I played) it maxes out at 124 yards. I love a short par-3! The hole is appropriately named “Gully” as you need to carry a ravine to get to the green. The green is tucked in a hillside and is two-tiered. With a pin on the bottom level you should be trying to knock it close! That could be one of those rare hole in one opportunities, too! However, with a back pin you might have to try to take some spin off a short iron to keep the ball up on top.

It isn’t just the yardages that make the par-3’s here special, there is also a great deal of history to them. The 4th is named “Volcano” and plays 223 yards up a hill. The green falls off severely and there isn’t much of a way to run a shot onto the green. I was a few yards off the front edge and just had to stab at a chip after placing all my weight onto my left side. For my West Coast friends, think of the 3rd hole at Wolf Creek Golf Club in Nevada for a comparison. I believe Donald Ross gets credit for this hole and he has some other similar style par-3’s in his portfolio.

The 14th is 136 yards and is unique because of the mounding and bunkering surrounding the green. There are probably at least ten small mounds short of the green which can leave you with a tricky lie or stance. Bunkers and water ring around the rest of the green and give it an intimidating look for your short iron shot! The hole is called “Tiny Tim” and a short par-3 surrounded by trouble is a Tillinghast feature at many of his courses.

From the medal tees the course plays 6,785 yards with a rating of 73.4 and a slope of 140. Thankfully, it is open enough (with some parallel holes) to allow for crooked shots in the proper places. Because the layout is compact if you hear “fore” then I’d suggest paying attention, as a wayward shot can get to your hole quickly. I found the course’s main challenges to be the long par-5’s, some visually intimidating shots and the small greens. Unless you are Dustin Johnson only one of the par-5’s is what I’d call “reachable”, at 525 yards. The other par 5’s are all around 600 yards! While Shobers Run can come into play I think you’ll need to be more concerned about trying to pick lines on the water holes. The vegetation along the water obstructed sight lines and had me guessing about exactly where I wanted to hit the ball.

Like many “older” courses the greens are smaller and that is the case on the Old Course. Generally speaking, they slope from back to front so missing short leaves you with the most options. The greens slope every which way so I doubt many golfers are going to run the table with the putter here.

As you’d expect from a premium course, the conditions were very nice! This far north, the bentgrass courses seem to handle the summers better, at least when compared to bentgrass courses in Northern Virginia. The tees were like carpet and I felt bad taking a divot from the fairways. The fairways were full and my ball always sat up, even though things were soft. The greens were smooth and rolled well. I suspect the greens are rolling a bit slower than the greenskeeper would prefer due to the endless rainfall that we’ve had in the Mid-Atlantic over the last week. The rough was cut down and not much of a hassle – just the way I like it. Hopefully the weather cooperates for all the area courses so that the ground can dry out!

I’m happy we got some sunshine for our round – it turned out to be a beautiful day. The nice weather had everyone else out enjoying the day as well! There is an outdoor patio, next to the 1st tee, that was packed with people enjoying some breakfast, and possibly drinks when we teed off. With the small crowd watching, it was a relief when my ball found the fairway on the 1st hole! On the course it was fairly busy, too. We tailed a foursome and played in about 4 hours.

I know I’ve rambled a bit, but Pennsylvania golf always gets me excited and the Old Course is no exception! When you look at top-shelf public courses in Pennsylvania you typically see the Bedford Springs Old Course, Olde Stonewall and the Mystic Rock at Nemocolin Woodlands listed. I haven’t played Mystic Rock yet, however between Olde Stonewall and the Bedford Springs Old Course I preferred Bedford Springs. Olde Stonewall felt a bit forced onto the land and was more stressful to play than the Old Course. If you are a fan of golf course architecture or are just passing through on the Pennsylvania Turnpike with your clubs, then the Old Course should be on your list.

Course Pictures (click any picture to scroll through the gallery):