After my round in Farmville I headed over to the Lynchburg area to check out Poplar Forest Golf Course. I had a couple options for my second round, but it turned out to be one of those “six of one and half dozen of another” choices! Sadly, the courses that I haven’t played around Farmville are all very spread out.

I called over to Poplar Forest to ask about their hours and the proshop told me that they were running short on carts for the afternoon. I planned on walking so that wasn’t a big deal, but it tipped me off to the fact that things would be busy! And, sure enough, things were pretty crazy!

The small parking lot at Poplar Forest was almost full, the range was packed and I could see groups all around the nine hole course. I paid the $13 to walk and headed over to the 1st tee where a foursome just finished teeing off. Another single rolled up so we played together to help the pace of play. It only took two hours to get around the course but it felt a lot longer because we waited on almost every shot!

Poplar Forest’s claim to fame is that the course is located on the property of Thomas Jefferson’s summer home! I didn’t see anything while playing to commemorate this, but it is a pretty cool bit of information.

As you’ll find at most courses close to the Blue Ridge Mountains, Poplar Grove is quite hilly. The 1st tee sits at a high point and the course play down a hill, before climbing back to the clubhouse on the 9th.

In-between the 1st and 9th holes the course features some rolling hills. I had to catch my breath a couple times after getting to a tee box, so you’ll feel the walk here! There is a nice mix of uphill and downhill holes and some pretty, elevated tee boxes that show off the area.

Poplar Forest is a regulation length nine hole course, playing 3,310 yards from the blue tees, as a par-36. The rating is 71.3 and the slope is 128, should you choose to go around twice. There are some small sections on the greens to challenge you and you cannot miss the greens long if you want to score.

You’ll find the usual number of par-3’s (2), par-4’s (5), and par-5’s (2) at Poplar Forest. Their yardages are mixed nicely and there is even a 550 yard par-5! That is the uphill 4th, which was also playing into the wind the day I played. It was a beast!

I don’t have any complaints about the conditions. The course probably looked a little better than it played, but the overall maintenance was nice. The greens seemed like poa annua as they had a tiny bit of bumpiness to them, but they rolled very well. I had some lies nestle down in some “earthy” areas, however almost all of the grass in the fairways and the rough was starting to get a lush look to it.

If you are in the area or passing through then I think Poplar Forest is worth checking out as it is an above average nine hole course. The course had a locals’ vibe to it and I sure wish that Charlottesville had something like it!

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