Field Notes: Brambleton

Brambleton in Ashburn, Va., is part of the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority, whose two other courses are Algonkian in Sterling and the hilly Pohick Bay down in Lorton. Brambleton is a more interesting version of Algonkian (reviewed here). That means it's fairly level, but not nearly so much as Algonkian and with some long gradual marches uphill that will cut your carry and roll. It's also much more varied and has one of my favorite golf-course features: A scandalously easy first hole that does everything it can to launch golfers quickly on their merry way. Although last week, I scored a 7. Not so merry.

It's the closest thing I have to a home course, so let me reel this off the top of head: 1 is an easy straight par 4; No. 2 is a par 4 that doglegs slightly to the right with what amounts to a forced carry; 3 is a technically modest medium par 3; No. 4 a gentle dogleg par 4; No. 5 a short, quirky right-angle par 4 dogleg that rewards local knowledge and exact placement; No. 6 an open dogleft to the left that usually tempts even slightly long hitters to go straight over water; No. 7 the dreaded evil long and narrow par 5, with a rock-fringed creek preventing long runups; No. 8 another simple par 3; and 9 an open par 5. And so, on the front nine, you have probably experienced more variety than you will all day at Algonkian. Brambleton mixes it up on the back as well. Like Algonkian, its staff is almost always friendly and helpful, if sometimes harried by marauding golfers.

The photo shows No. 12, a short par 3 protected only by a pond in front of the green. It's the easiest hole on the back, at least according to the scorecard, but water has magical power to deflect balls all over the place. The photo doesn't show you the tee shot, which is direct, clear and slightly elevated; my cheap, go-for-the-melodrama photograph is from the cart path as you're walking down to the green.

You'll see a little more development around some of the holes, compared to Algonkian which is better sheltered by its park. The hundreds of McMansions you'll be driving by on your way there--and I do mean hundreds--have replaced what used to be a forest. But you can't see much of that from the course--the most jarring visual is a school to the left of the fourth hole, maybe two drivers away. They've cleared land to the left of the 7th, and eventually that may be depressing but for now it's helped dry the fairway, notorious for years as a wet one.

Speaking of wet, when I played there most recently it was difficult to judge the current quality of the turf, since we'd just emerged from a five-day deluge. But some of the fairways were more beat up than I'm used to this time of year; the 11th in particular needs work, regardless of local weather disasters. The greens were beautiful. Superficially they're among the easiest greens in the region, but the architect must have adopted some deceiving visual cues because they can break when they're not supposed to, and vice-versa.

My last outing was not a bad one, after my ignominious first hole. The back nine especially was almost perfect scrambling bogey golf, and bogey all around puts you right at 90. Soon, my friends, soon. Scorecard from FairwayFiles.com