I spent a few days in Asheville, NC with my family and we did some touristy activities while there. We toured the Biltmore, caught a minor league baseball game and took a train trip. I planned to golf around Asheville on the day we left and then make the 5.5 hour drive back to Charlottesville, after the round. I was hoping to check out Mt Mitchell Golf Club on the way home, as that is a course that has been on my list. Unfortunately though, the weather was looking sketchy. It had rained hard the night before and the future radar looked like storms were a near certainty around the time I wanted to play. The weather looked better to the east so I hit the road to find a course along the way.
Around 11:30am I stopped in Clemmons, NC for lunch as there are a handful of courses around there I’d like to get to one day. One course is doing renovations and the other didn’t have any tee times until 1pm, and I didn’t feel like waiting around. I drove on until I got just over the border into my home state of Virginia!
I took my chances and stopped at Southern Hills Golf Course, which is in Danville. I knew it wasn’t going to be anything special, however I’m trying to play as many Virginia courses as possible these days. I am creeping up on my 150th course played in the state and would like to celebrate that before the weather turns, if possible!
That was way too many paragraphs to say that I ended up playing a country course on my way back home! Danville isn’t exactly a golf hotbed and outside of Goodyear Golf Club and Tuscarora County Club (which are private) there aren’t a lot of golf courses in town. And, the public courses that exist strike me as locals’ courses.
The local feel is exactly what I got here! And, I don’t mean that in a bad way. I checked in and there was a large group of seniors chatting in the lounge area after their round. One of them was nice enough to tell me that one of the owners would be there shortly to get me checked in. Everyone was super welcoming and there was no mistake that I was in the South!
As far as the course goes, it was designed by Gene Hamm in the early 1950’s. Southern Hills has been through a handful of name and ownership changes. It was listed as Rays Creek Golf Course in my GPS and it even had a few flags with the Glen Oak Country Club name. If we go way back in time, the course was owned by Dan River Inc. (a textile company) for its employees to use. You can still see the tops of one of the manufacturing buildings from the 10th tee and 18th green.
Hamm isn’t a name that I’ve encountered much in my travels, even though he has done a lot of his work in the Carolinas and Virginia. I’ve only played one of his other courses so I don’t have much experience upon which to base my opinion. From what I’ve gathered, Hamm designed courses that are fun to play yet that aren’t significant architecturally, and Southern Hills fits that mold.
There aren’t any defining features about Southern Hills besides many short holes. It is a par-72 that plays only 6,034 yards. There are seven short par-4’s, playing less than 335 yards. The par 5’s are also quite short, so you are likely to end up with some birdies or pars out of sheer luck. I had five birdies during my round, but I birdied three of the par-5’s with just mid irons into the greens. The course is fairly friendly of the tee and all that shows with the rating of 68.0 and slope of 117, from the blue tees.
At first glance I thought the course was going to be “too easy”. However, it turned out to be a hilly little devil! Every hole had some up and down to it and required my full attention. I had plenty of bogies and a couple doubles so your score probably won’t be as low as you’d like. I ended up with all sorts of uneven lies which turned out to be the biggest challenge at Southern Hills. Other challenges include semi-blind landing areas and the long par-3’s. This is a course where you can hit it too far so if in doubt I’d suggest laying back off the tee. Considering how short the course is, the par 3’s turn up the heat! They play 208, 175, 181, and 239 yards.
The 239 yard hole is the 17th and I’m not so sure it isn’t a par-4. There was a stone marker saying it was a par-3 but a sign saying it was a par-4. The scorecard shows it as a par-3, so who knows. It was long though, as my GPS said it was about 270 yards to the green!
The par-3 12th (181 yards) was my favorite hole at Southern Hills. Because everything was so dry it doesn’t look the best in my pictures so keep that in mind. If it was greener it would look great! It plays about a club downhill to the green which is framed by trees behind and water to the left. There are two bunkers to grab shots to the left and if you bail right you can bounce one off the slope and onto the green. It is one of the more interesting, and best looking, holes at Southern Hills.
Sadly, there isn’t a way around having to say that the conditions were pretty rough. However, it was priced appropriately at $25. The course reminded me of a baked out course in the desert, both in its look and how it played. The ground was firm and there were just poofs of dust after I’d take a divot. I had a handful of nice lies, but they were not the norm. Most of the greens were respectable and while they were slow, I ran in my share of putts. The bunkers were thin and had overgrown edges.
My round here worked out well as I played in under 3 hours and was on my way with some daylight to spare. Friendly people, some pars and an affordable green fee is what you’ll find at Southern Hills! But, unless you are goofy like me, those things won’t be enough to necessitate a stop here if you are passing through.
Course Pictures (click any picture to scroll through the gallery):