I played here on 04/13/13 from the Blue tees at 72.2/134/6677. The course starts out with some decent, but average golf holes. The 1st hole is ascetically pleasing with many fairway and greenside bunkers and the 3rd is a dog leg left par 4 with a 2nd shot that drops to the green. As I said, nothing special about these holes, but the closing holes to the front nine were outstanding. The 6th plays up a hill, the 7th is a long tough par 3 with a bailout area a bit left, and the 8th is a reachable par 5 that plays up a slight rise framed by a hill off in the distance. The 9th hole is a par 3 that reminded me of something from North Carolina with all the surrounding pine trees casting shadows on the green. The back nine continued to impress with one good hole after another. The 10th dropped down a hill, the 13th was a reachable par 5 with a creek down the right, and the 14th had an impressive green with many tiers. The 16th was a downhill par 4 requiring an accurate tee shot to avoid trouble left and bunkers right. Unfortunately I did think the 18th was a weak finishing hole as it was open and didn’t match the rest of the course. The layout is as good as any that I have played in Central Virginia. The course is a Tom Fazio design and the only Fazio design that I remember playing off the top of my head is The Missouri Bluffs in the St. Louis area. I thought that was a really tough course so I was pleasantly surprised when Independence turned out to be much more player friendly. The course was open off the tee for the most part which always fits my game and put pressure on the 2nd shots. It almost had a John Fought feel in that respect. Many holes were surrounded by pine trees and the homes did not come into play. In fact, I enjoyed looking at some of the massive homes on the back.

Now onto the bad. The conditions were pretty poor. I called to see when the course was aerating the greens and they said they aerated about 5 weeks ago. Normally 3 weeks is plently of time for the greens to heal, but not in this case. The greens looked only maybe 85% recovered to me and it was tough to make any putts. The course also did a poor job of overseeding as every lie was thin with very little grass under the ball. This made it almost impossible to hit any chips solid because a lot of the ground just turned to mud with the recent rain. Plu in the fairways I had to take an inside out swing path to catch it solid. Had I know the conditions I would have given it another month or two before playing here. The course is the home course to the Virginia State Golf Association (similar to Poppy Ridge and the Northern California Golf Association) so I do not think that these conditions would be typical. This is a course that I definitely would like to get back to play again a little later in the season.

#1:

#1 approach:

#2:

#2 approach:

#3:

#3 approach:

#4:

#4 green:

#5:

#6 approach:

#6 green:

#7:

#8 approach:

#8 green:

#9:

#12:

#13:

#13 approach:

#14:

#17:

#18:

#18 approach: