A Golf Revival in Virginia

Wintergreen Resort is an unparalleled fall golfing experience 
By David Droschak

Our society is bent on bigger and better, newer and nicer. So it can be easy to overlook a four-season vacation option nestled in the rugged Virginia mountains, a stone’s throw from the Blue Ridge Parkway. But if you haven’t been to Wintergreen Resort recently, you’re missing a truly special experience.

Wintergreen, about 45 minutes southwest of the University of Virginia campus, has been well-known by avid skiers for more than 30 years. It has 14 slopes and a new $4 million, computerized snow-making machine, which is truly a technological marvel.

That’s a given.

What has been a huge secret throughout much of the Southeast, though, has been the golfing experience at this pristine mountain setting encompassing 11,000 acres. After seeing and playing the resort’s 45 holes, why more folks don’t pass on coastal resorts in Hilton Head, Myrtle Beach, and Florida – especially in the fall -- and indulge in some golfing greatness here is a mystery.

“We had a convention recently and one of the organizers looked at me and asked if we had golf,” said Sean Taylor, Wintergreen’s director of golf. “He said, ‘What do you have, a little executive golf course?’ I had to laugh.”

Wintergreen’s two golf courses – Devils Knob and Stoney Creek – offer guests variety not seen in many places along the East Coast. Its architects are well-known names with huge resumes: Ellis Maples and Rees Jones, nicknamed “The Open Doctor” for his work in tweaking U.S. Open venues..

Devils Knob, with its menacing name, is the highest-in-elevation golf course in Virginia and boasts the highest hole in the state at an elevation of 3,828 feet. Twenty minutes away in the valley below, Stoney Creek offers 27 holes designed by Jones,

Officials at Wintergreen say about 50 percent of the winter, guests can ski in the morning and get in a round of golf at Stoney Creek in the afternoon. In fact, The Weather Channel did a feature on the resort last year and one of its reporters did just that. “It’s an incredibly diverse experience, especially during the different times of the year,” said Taylor, who arrived from Grand Cypress Resort in Orlando in January 2006 with some of his staff to pump more life into the Wintergreen golfing experience. You are always going to play golf in ideal temperatures and there are not many places out there like that.”

“When it is 112 degrees down below everybody is here because it’s 80,” added Devils Knob pro Tim Crandall. “It’s like going to Hawaii; you never catch a bad day at Wintergreen. It tends to be 12 degrees cooler up here. It’s definitely the coolest place to play in the summer in Virginia.”

Each course has a different feel; chirping birds and trees stimulate the senses, not passing cars or encroaching condos. 

Devils Knob has the atmosphere of an old-time country club with rock outcroppings, tight, tree-lined fairways, and lightening fast greens. Since the course measures just 6,382 from the tips, you may be able to use an iron off the tee on a few holes. Watch your three-putting since the superintendent on the mountain likes to keep the greens at 12 on the Stimpmeter.

In addition to some good mountain golf (most of the holes are pretty flat considering the high setting) the views will leave a lasting impression, as will the deer, scurrying squirrels, and chipmunks, and yes, an occasional bear. The best look is on the 14th tee, which offers a panoramic 60-mile view on a clear day. You have a short walk to a rock outcropping now for your gaze off into the Blue Ridge range, but there are plans to lengthen the driving area in 2008 that will give golfers a spectacular tee shot off the cliff. “What a backdrop. Different times of day you get different coloring,” Crandall said. 

The 14th hole begins what is a stunning finish to Devils Knob, which opened this year on April 13 (it snowed a few days later) and closes on Nov. 1. The 15th hole is the highest in the state at close to 4,000 feet, while No. 16 heads straight downhill like one of the resort’s ski slopes. Hang time here on a drive can hit 12 seconds. “The hole just drops right out from underneath you,” Crandall said. “All you need to do is get your ball started. It just hangs there forever.”

The 17th hole is one of two wonderful par 3s on the course that features water, while the 18th is a sweeping dogleg right that offers a view of the clubhouse and outside deck once around the corner of the hole. (Don’t miss the grilled hotdogs at the turn or after your round on weekends. Best hot dog I’ve ever eaten at a golf course!)

Stoney Creek in the valley below is actually the higher ranked course as more traps come into play, as does a creek which weaves its way through many of the holes. “It’s really a beautiful setting,” Taylor said. “You literally step up on some of the tee boxes and there is a huge mountain staring you in the face. You feel like you can go out there and touch it with your hand. You’ve got so many different golfing combinations here that you’ll never get tired of it.”

If you’re planning to visit Wintergreen for golf, the best time is fall. From late September through October, the mountains come alive with hundreds of shades of reds, oranges and purples. “We call it the green wave with the leaves in the spring and the orange wave in the fall,” Taylor said. “It starts way at the top of the mountain and works it way down. In the last week of September all the way through October it is stunning here.”

Wintergreen has built its three-decade reputation not on golf, but snow. And it holds a well-deserved place among ski resorts along the East Coast. There are 400 powerful snow guns in place to give down hillers the best possible experience from Thanksgiving through late March. “Our ability to make great snow is incredible,” said Wintergreen spokesman Lloyd Williams. “You don’t have those granular days here. We’re in the Southeast, so you can hit a stretch of 41-degree temperatures and while other places are melting down our state-of-the-art system gives us the ability to recover.”

In addition to the $4 million snow-making system installed a few years ago, Williams said the resort recently invested $9 million in two high-speed lifts. And there are two tubing trails that will send you down the mountain at more than 30 mph. “The impact of the high-speed lift is you get more runs in and people get tired, so they are done by noon and then they go to the spa,” Williams said.

Wintergreen used to have a small, five-room spa. No longer. It has been upgraded to the tune of 13 treatment rooms at a cost of $4 million. (And you’ll feel like you’re swimming in the Gulf of Mexico in late summer at Wintergreen’s outside pool, which is kept at 81 degrees.)

If you’re into marble and glitzy accommodations, Wintergreen may not be to your liking. While the condos are roomy, they are rustic and offer wood-burning fireplaces. However, plans may soon be unveiled for a new 200-room hotel on the mountain.

While driving along Highway 151 to the resort’s entrance, it’s hard not to slow down to take in the grandeur of dozens of horse farms or take a side road to one of the eight nearby wineries.” People are tying together the whole golf, spa, cuisine, and wine experience,” Williams said. “It draws a great crowd for us. They like to say that senior citizens in Florida travel in packs, well there are lots of three, four and five couples that have a great time here.”    Also within about an hour’s drive are some of the best caverns along the East Coast, including Luray and Shenandoah, and Civil War buffs have a great choice of battlefields to visit.

Your final stop on Highway 151 must be The Blue Ridge Pig, where pork, beef and chicken are smoked out back by Strawberry, the owner. I sampled some of Strawberry’s ham and ribs when I visited the area 15 years ago and still consider it the best BBQ anywhere. (And that’s saying something for a guy who has lived in North Carolina now for 25 years.)

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