Sunday turned out to be a special day for me, as I was able to play my 700th golf course. My biggest goal for No. 700 was to play the round with a friend. That ended up happening as my friend worked to set up a round at Piedmont Club, which is a private club in Northern Virginia. Our host was nice enough to have us out for the day, which turned out to be sunny and crisp.

Piedmont Club is in Haymarket, actually not far from Dominion Valley where I played last month. Like Dominion Valley, Piedmont Club is also a newer community course that has been built towards the edge of the Northern Virginia urban sprawl. The course was designed Tom Fazio in the early 2000’s and is one of the centerpieces of the community.

Anytime a builder wants an upscale, premium course Tom Fazio has to be near the top of the list. I’ve played a few Fazio courses and usually like them. From my experience, Fazio knows how to make a course look great without sacrificing the playability.

Piedmont Club winds through the homes and while the homes are noticeable, I never felt as if they were in play. Ample space is one of the strengths of Piedmont Club. Considering the flat terrain, I thought the course had a good look to it with fescue grass separating holes and many beautiful bunkers. Some re-blooming azaleas along with a taste of fall color didn’t hurt the course’s presentation either!

I tried the blue tees which play 6,499 yards, with a rating of 71.2 and a slope of 132. There are some combo tees which result in 300 yard differences all the way up from the white to the gold tees, so there are lots of options.

Piedmont Club has a nice variety of challenges such as undulation in the fairways, well-bunkered green complexes and some semi-hidden hazards. During the round, it didn’t look like the most difficult course but precise iron shots were needed to score. And, if you end up in one of the large bunkers then advancing the ball any significant distance will be difficult. For such a modern course, I think it is a place where someone could get hot with the putter because of the non-overwhelming contours of most greens.

When it comes to favorite holes, the 6th, 7th and 11th were solid. The 6th is a 170 yard par-3 that plays over a hazard. This time of year there was some good contrast! A bunker lies between the hazard and the green, so missing long is the best choice. That is what I did and ended up with an incredibly fast putt down a hill!

The 7th is a mid-length par-4 that has the most interesting green on the course! The green is shaped like an upside down bowl with the left side dropping down probably five feet into a chipping area. Make sure you don’t hit putts firmly towards that left side!

At 319 yards the 11th is the shortest par-4 at Piedmont Club. I liked it so much because of the various options off the tee. You can lay it up with a mid-iron or try the more risky play with a driver or 3-wood to get up by the green. I’m sure the bigger hitters could end up driving the green. There is a hazard to catch misses to the left.

Piedmont Club was in solid shape, but not without stress from the challenging year in the Mid-Atlantic. The course was soft from some recent rain and the fairway bunkers had puddles in them. The greenside bunkers were free of water, just on the firm side. The fairways were nice and the greens rolled well. The tees were one of the recovering areas so we played off mats on the par-3’s.

If you have access to Northern Virginia private clubs I’d put Piedmont Club on your list. It won’t blow you away, however it was a great place to celebrate 700 courses with my friend and host.

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