Old Hickory Golf Club (Woodbridge, VA on 07/04/18)

My main round for the day was at Old Hickory Golf Club. At the start of the year Old Hickory was one of a handful of more upscale Northern Virginia courses that I had hopes of playing. I was able to play Westfields last month and I’d like to make it to nearby Laurel Hill before the year is finished! Old Hickory is just around the corner from Lake Ridge, where I played earlier in the day. I got to the course early and used that extra time to work a bit on my blog. It seems that I always end up so far behind this time of year!

I paired up with a twosome who turned out to be around my age and we ended up having a nice afternoon. They had played the course countless times before and were able to offer some advice throughout the round. That advice helped as Old Hickory was one of those courses that was tricky to play for a first-timer. We played in 4 hours 15 minutes.

Old Hickory is a newer, community course that is located a few miles west of I-95 and opened in the early 2000’s. It is much easier to get to Old Hickory from I-95 than from I-66, so I’d guess most of the play comes from Stafford up to I-95’s intersection with the beltway. The homes are noticeable on about a third of the holes so that part isn’t too bad. I guess that is one advantage of so many trees in Virginia!

Old Hickory was designed by Timothy Freeland, and this was my second experience with one of his designs. He appears to get the credit for Royal Manchester Golf Links up in Pennsylvania, which is one of my Mid-Atlantic favorites! From what I’ve read I think he worked on Musket Ridge and Raspberry Falls in some capacity. I enjoyed both of those courses too!

Old Hickory’s distinguishing characteristic is its imposing bunkers! The course ended up being much like Westfields in that regards. Typically, each hole has three to five massive, deep bunkers guarding the fairway and greens. The starter told us to avoid the bunkers and sent us over to the 1st tee. If you want another opinion, then take mine! You want to avoid the bunkers at Old Hickory! I hit it into three bunkers on the front, including one on the 1st hole, and my score added up quickly on those holes.

We played the gold tees which are 72.6/141/6615. From there the major challenges (besides the bunkers!) are going to be the undulating fairways and large greens which feature a hefty amount of slope. Between the uneven lies and the ridges and tiers in the greens I struggled to get my iron shots to a makeable range. I hit some good irons but there always seemed to be hidden slopes that I couldn’t see from the fairways. Thankfully, Old Hickory won’t beat you up much off the tee!

When it comes to intriguing holes at Old Hickory the only two that jump out to me are the par-5 3rd and par-4 4th. The 3rd is potentially reachable and has one of the most interesting green complexes on the course. The green sits over and to the right of two huge bunkers. There is fairway short and to the left, plus a sliver of fairway to the right of the bunkers. That allows all sorts of options and angles no matter if you lay up or go for it!

The 4th turned out to be my favorite hole at Old Hickory. It is 373 yards and plays downhill to a green guarded by water. You have some options off the tee but the prudent play will probably be less than driver to keep it short of the bunkers. The fairway steps down so the tee shot might get a big bounce one it lands. Then, you’ll have to judge the distance just right in hopes of avoiding the hazards (water and more bunkers) on the approach.

Regarding the conditions, gosh I was disappointed! It has been a tough year for Virginia courses I know, but Old Hickory is part of the Raspberry Golf Trail and the member courses are usually in top shape. Old Hickory on the other hand was playable but not much more. The fairways had brown spots and those spots looked like they could be lost any day. The maintenance crew was out watering the course as we played and I had a mix of firm and soft lies, making it easy to chunk an iron. The greens were chewed up and I did my best to fix as many ball marks as I could. They ended up rolling fine and at a medium pace. The par-3 tee boxes looked awful. My biggest gripe were the thin, rock filled bunkers. For a course that stands out because of its bunker design, the sand here was terrible.

I paid $42 for a late afternoon round and for that price everything was tolerable. I couldn’t imagine spending nearly $100 to play here on a weekend in its current condition! The design turned out to be too modern for my tastes, but that wasn’t a surprise considering what I had read prior to my round. If you are looking to play Old Hickory you might want to wait until the fall, when things start to cool down.

#1 (326 yard par 4):