I finished up my morning round with plenty of the day left to do whatever. And, for me, that “whatever” was more golf! My only goals for an afternoon round were to find a moderately-priced course and one that did not have freshly aerated greens.

I made a couple calls and decided to take a longer way back home. I stopped at Winton Country Club, which is about an hour south of Charlottesville. It was $28 to walk and the greens were aerated 6 weeks ago. Perfect!

The course was able to get me out right away, but there were quite a few groups on the course. So, the pace was wasn’t the quickest on the overcast and breezy afternoon.

Winton opened in 1970 per the course’s website, but it has aged well and I found it a blast to play. The course has some older characteristics such as elevated greens and doglegs, but I would not call this your traditional country club course. I played the blue tees at 72.4/133/6780 which turned out to be a bit more difficult than expected, because the course is a par-71.

It turned out to be a fairly easy walk and while most tees were close to the greens, each hole was separated adequately from the others. There is a fair amount of room off the tee.

The course starts with five straight par-4’s, a par-3, and another par-4 before you get to the 1st par-5, which is the 8th hole. This is a bit unusual, but the opening par-4’s are short enough that they do allow for some scoring.

Then you get to the par-3 9th, which was one of my favorite holes on the course, as it plays from an elevated tee. There are good views of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the distance.

The 12th is the next memorable hole as it is a 475 yard par-4 with trouble left. The 12th is one of those holes where someone can really check the status of their game because of the quality shots it demands.

The 17th was my least favorite hole as it is a 317 yard par-4 that requires a 175 yard tee shot to the fairway, where the hole goes 90 degrees left. Too much or too little club and you are blocked out by trees on each side of the fairway. Unfortunately, there is no way hit it over the trees from the tee.

The course conditions were good as the greens had recovered from the aeration and were great to putt. The fairways looked like they were still waking up from winter, but my lies were good. Drives ran out and second shots released.

I enjoyed my round at Winton Country Club and think it would be a good course to call home!

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