I tossed and turned Saturday night and didn’t sleep very well. Because I couldn’t sleep, I fiddled with the phone and the radar showed some moderate rain was moving through the area. That was a bit surprising since Saturday was such a nice night for a baseball game! I finally got a little sleep and we were up early for our 8am tee time.
The rain started to clear out on our drive over to Langston Golf Course, which was the site for our morning round. An interesting fact is that the course is named after John Mercer Langston who was the first African American elected to office.
I know there are much better courses in the DC area but I thought that it would be neat to golf in Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia while we were in the area on the Fourth of July weekend! And, Langston turned out to be our DC stop.
Because of the rain, it was quiet out and we headed straight to the first tee. It was a comfortable temperature, though. There was a group behind us and we played through a group on the 16th, but other than that I think the rain scared everyone away! I expected it to be packed on a holiday weekend, but we played at our own pace. For reference we played the blue tees which are 70.9/121/6652.
The front nine is shorter and features parkland style holes in an urban setting. On the front nine, a creek cuts across two holes and three holes have a little elevation change. The holes are spaced far enough apart that you really have to hit a foul ball to get it to another fairway. You’ll also get a few glimpses of Robert F. Kennedy stadium (completely unimpressive I might add), where the D.C. United currently play.
I think the 3rd is the most interesting hole on the front nine. It is the #1 handicap and probably for good reason. It only tops out at 508 yards, but it plays longer as the last half is uphill. The fairway angles to the right for the drive and then back to the left, around trees and across a creek, before getting to the green.
The back nine is where Langston gets a little better! It is longer than the front nine and has more interesting surroundings. Some of the back nine sprawls its way across Kingman Island, which sits in the middle of Kingman Lake and the Anacostia River. In case you are curious the Anacostia feeds into the nearby Potomac. The 10th and the 13th are the most interesting holes on the back nine as they play across Kingman Lake.
Like the other D.C. courses, Langston is part of the National Park Service. I was expecting conditions similar to what I’d find at any local muni and that is what we encountered. The fairways and greens were full for the most part, although there were patches of ground under repair. The greens were slow and yielded some funny bounces. Besides the bunkers, which looked old and dirty, the course played just fine!
Unless you are a golf course nut like me (or a local) there isn’t a huge reason to play Langston. It is cheap ($32 to walk on a weekend morning), convenient and player friendly but that is about it. If you are looking for a DC course then I’d recommend East Potomac’s Blue Course over Langston.
Course Pictures (click any picture to scroll through the gallery):