Field Notes: Prince William

Prince William Golf Course in Nokesville, Va. is one of the cheapest 18-hole regulation golf courses around here for a reason, but if you're not too finicky there's some fine golf to be had.

Cheap in Greater Washington means $44 for 18 holes with a cart on the weekend.

Some people will find Prince William a bit short (6,016 yards from the whites, 6,367 from the back), even for a par 70/72. But the true cliche is that looks can be deceiving. Even from the back tees the flat, straight and open par-4 first is only 330 yards. But it has a tiny sloped green with tricky sidehill putts if you find it and bunkers strangling the right and left if you don't.

Bad news first: Conditioning on the fairways. It's just too uneven, at least as of this date, as it has been for years. Some of them are fine, others not so much, maybe the worst case being the first third of the par 4 15th. The fairway rolls up and down a couple times, which is fine, but a straight short- or medium-length drive ends up on hardpan. One or two other fairways have a similar problem--only in sections, but that doesn't help you when you've done your job and the golf course lets you down.

They're working on it, though, having laid in some irrigation. We'll see.

There are also two greens canted to the point of being unfair when their speed isn't closely attended to by the groundskeeper--the par 3 4th and the par four 16th. The latter is actually one of my favorite holes and at least where I'm landing, has one of the best fairways, a gentle right curve with lost-ball oblivion to the right and a relatively small green, like many at this old-style course. When Prince William lets these greens go too fast, however, you'll be steaming along with Payne Stewart as a ball hit directly uphill loses momemtum and rolls back. For awhile.

And yet I go there often. As you might guess, the atmosphere is more relaxed here, the staff friendly (at least to me--maybe you have issues), the holes varied. This is a much more well-rounded golf experience than say Algonkian, which is in better shape but kind of the poster child for a monotonous front nine. In Nokesville, outside Manassas, the holes are wedged between Vint Hill Road, some small number of houses,  and sometimes other holes, but this is not a claustrophobic place to play. One of the more interesting challenges is the par 4 third, which requires a straight shot for a good angle to the green off to the right over a pond. Short and to the right puts a tree in your way. Pull left and you can see the green but on a downhill lie. Another example: Prince William gulls you into a false sense of security with short par 3s on the front, then asks you to play 208 yards from the whites on the par 3-11th. With a gully in front of the green. Some may be better off laying up here--but how many of us will lay up on a par 3? Other than Billy Casper?

My outing last week was better than most, despite fleeing the approaching thunderstorm monsoons on the last couple of holes (the photo now accompanying this post is looking across the 17th's green from an unlikely angle). It's amazing how much fun you can have if you just land on a few damn greens.

Score taken from my data at FairwayFiles.com