The Gauntlet Golf Club

The layout of the course is great. Very scenic around the water, good challenging holes. Greens are in bad shape. No read, had to bang putts. Apparently the old greens keeper let them die a few times. With some money pumped into the course could be really nice. Doesn’t match the price you pay for it.

The course is challenging but fun! With all of the rain this year it definitely took its role on the greens. Still worth coming back!

No fault of theirs the weather this pat summer was brutal and they lost greens. They are on the way back but very bumpy 2 putt rule

Fairways excellent, rough is tough layout outstanding. Greens plagues with fungus and most grade is dead. Bumpy and dirt crusted. Not worth full price until Greens come back. Paid reduced price so not horrible for cost but need to revive the Greens!

Very unique layout, course knowledge is a must. The fairways were in great shape but the greens are mostly dead and non existent. They are working to fix them and the staff was great, it’s just been a rough summer I guess. I’ll play it again and recommend it if you’re in the area.

The fairways were in excellent condition. Greens are coming along.

There are a few pain points. The greens seem to be having a tough season thus far. Tightly mowed but a little bare in spots. Some tee boxes were kinda crabby. I'm not sure I'd play ANY bunker shots for fear of damaging my club with the rocks scattered throughout them. They were also kinda packed down. We actually removed our lies from them as being unplayable. Fairways are still above average for the area and the rough is still a good playable depth. It was a bit wet out still, bringing the bugs like those big slow euro bees, and they were also watering greens at the same pace of our play. Bar renovations look nice but i liked seeing your food prepped before. Need some wasp control at the divot filler rack on, i think, hole 5. The woman in the pro shop was super nice and let us jump on the course early since the mid day wasn't that busy and we didn't want to pair up with strangers. We even sliced one into one of the mowers on 10 and he was very nice and understanding. Biggest problem more than of any of the conditions (which are much worse and common at other local courses due to weather) is that we saw a group of 6 playing together. Hate seeing that either allowed or no ranger to control it. Value was high with the golf now hot deal of the day.

Have played here a few times before. Course has a wonderful challenging layout. Credit to Peter Dye. It is a shame that it has deteriorated to such a degree. Tee boxes were spotty with no grass. mostly weeds. Fairways were OK but not great. NOW THE GREENS! They were covered with dead black areas and had small clumps of weed on them. Worse than putting on recently aerated greens. Basically the course is neglected. Such a shame. the highlight was the young lady in the pro shop that took out green fees and got us going. She was a delight.

As other reviewers have stated, the course is still recovering for all of the wet weather. However, it is definitely playable. There were only a few rough spots remaining. The staff was extremely friendly and helpful. i highly recommend giving it a try if you like a challenging course

I've played here before and knew the course had some interesting turns. Be caerful with your driver.

My wife and I had only one day to play golf on a quick trip to Culpeper, VA and found this course online. It appeared to be an upscale course in the rolling hills of Virginia, but is actually in a State Park and open to the public. There is a lot of elevation and many blind tee shots, a little water and lots of bunkers, but overall it was quite a lot of fun to play if you manage your expectations the first time around. I feel you would play much better the second time you play the course and would be happy to play it again when next in the area.

I was visiting the area and got a great rate on my 1:00 pm tee time but the course really wasn’t in great shape and the pace of play especially on the back nine was horrible. Turned into a nearly 5 1/2 hour round after making the turn in less than two hours! And they had a wedding reception there which meant no real food options. Listen happy for the couple and they had a beautiful day for the wedding but I guess I got a little “hangry” with the long waits and no food on the back nine.

Played The Gauntlet on back to back days (one practice round and one stroke play tournament round) after a few days of considerable amount of rain in the area. Play was cart path only on both days. The course is under new management as of February from what the staff told me. You can see where they are trying to make improvements on the course. That being said I like the course layout. If you do not know about P.B. Dye and his style of doglegs, blind tee shots and forced carries then I can see how you might not like this course your first time around. The front nine is definitely more unique than the back nine. The course is on the tighter side of things throughout. The greens range from small to multi tiered and large. The greens have recently been punched which was a downer because it did affect the roll of the ball. Also the staff did not mention this when I made my tee time for Friday morning. The fairways were filling in nicely from the winter and were nicely groomed considering all the rain. There are more than a few places that are "Ground Under Repair" throughout the course so again you can see where improvements are being made. Now the bunkers are a whole different issue all by themselves. The staff does know this and they are slowly addressing the situation. If you like your clubs I recommend taking free relief from the bunkers as you see fit. Enough tee boxes to match your game but they need to do some serious work on them. They are very bare in spots and full of weeds. Pace of play was fine both days. Walking is allowed here. I gave the staff 5 out of 5 (despite not telling me about the greens) because they are very friendly and working on the issues currently facing the course. The food was good and the pricing was fair. The pro shop is small and there is not a lot of merchandise. I rated the value 2 out of 5 due to the current overall conditions and being charged almost $50.00. Currently there are courses that are in much better condition near here that charge the same rate if not less. Due to the effort of the staff and new management here I gave it overall 4 out of 5. I will play it again later this year to see if things are still trending upward and update my review.

The course is under new management and they are making huge changes to the clubhouse and course itself. They are thinning out some of the overgrown areas to put more sunlight on the greens and fairways. Course requires decent accuracy and knowing how far your shots will go. A little rain on the start but cleared up after 4 holes. Played in February so weather is cool and misty. Most holes are tree lined so If you don't hit somewhat straight, bring some extra balls.

We got a warm day in January following a long cold spell so we were anxious to get out. Got a great deal at The Gauntlet and got on around noon. The course was in surprisingly good condition and very playable. We played in 3 1/2 hours and had a great round!

Let me first highlight the positives..

1) This is not your typical course hitting driver and iron off every tee....you will likely hit every club in your bag on the front nine. The course has many short doglegged par 4s that may be best played off the tee with hybrid or long iron. There is a lot of elevation change and this results in a lot of blind shots. Establish your yardages and hit to that number.

2) The layout is very scenic while the course borders a lake on most holes. The fall colors added a sense of tranquility to the round.

3) The carts were well maintained and pace of play was excellent.

4) Staff was friendly and very helpful.

Now for the negatives...

1) The greens were very slow and did not roll true. There were spikemarks and unrepaired pitchmarks on virtually every green on the front. The back nine greens were only slightly better.

2) The women's tee boxes were not in good condition with sparse grass and muddy conditions.

3) Fairways had many areas that were muddy and torn up from mowers.

We played this course on a Golfnow Hotdeal and only paid $25 each. This is an extremely fun course but the conditions were not even close to ideal. I would play here again but would really like to see a little more attention paid to the greens and tee boxes.

I came out to play two weeks in a row.. Course is in great chape and the greens are rolling true! For the price a great course to play!! Will be back soon!!