Field Notes: Ospreys

You might not think a 5,567-yard course  would be challenging. You would be wrong. Now if your golf buddies want to wail away with a driver every single darn hole, this is not the course for them--unless they're very long and exceptionally straight. On the same swing.

The Ospreys Golf Club at Belmont Bay, Woodbridge, requires a lot of thought. It's often tight, there are several daunting forced carries, and divided fairways prevent you from blithely aiming straight and just waiting for your ball to stop rolling. It includes the most demoralizing short par-3 I've ever witnessed, a 100-plus-yard jaunt over a gaping ravine to an elevated green. Here are options you should not choose: Left, right, short or far. Except for a several-yard bailout left, everything else will result in impenetrable brush or the Occoquan river.

The Occoquan reveals itself in glimpses on several holes; the photo looks down on second half of the spectacular par 5 10th. Much of The Ospreys is beautiful, though the 10th is the most dramatic. And although this golf course like many others here is being encircled by new housing, I don't feel it damaged the atmosphere very much. Golfers who have played there for years may feel different. For example, one of the par 3s on the front nine does feel a bit like playing in someone's back yard. But that's the exception. The area immediately around the course is now quite pricey--these are beautiful, expensive homes and much of the time you'll be out of their sightlines anyway.

The staff was exceptionally friendly the day I played, perhaps out of respect for what I was about to face: A forced carry on the first tee of a golf course without a driving range. Adding to the trial  were the flies. I was cheerfully told by a young man on my way out that they only hatch and agitate golfers during certain times of the year. This time naturally. If the starter tells you the flies are out, by all that is holy in golf take his advice and either use your own anti-bug spray or buy what's available in the pro shop. The course will be otherwise unplayable on the several holes where they're present. Marshes will do that sometimes.

My best ball striking was on that beautiful, terrifying 10th (photo). The first half or more of the fairway is on a plateau, and for mortals your second will be a blind shot. I nailed both, and the sloping 100-foot drop to the green left me just 50 yards short of it. Five shots later and you have a good feel for my short game. The next hole is a par 3 that takes you right back up the hill--I pushed my tee ball into bush and had to play my provisional--but most of the course's elevations are far more gentle.

Play Ospreys, inquire about Off, and grab a yardage guide--essential equipment for a chess-match of a course like this.

Score captured from FairwayFiles.com.