Royal New Kent Golf Club

I had the pleasure to play Royal New Kent for the first time. The golf course was a gem in terms of scenery and Tim McArthur and staff were so friendly. You have to be on your game to manage your way around Royal New Kent, but for someone who wants to truly test their skills, this was a ton of fun! Greens were coming back from aerification, but that didn’t take away from the overall experience.

A few of the approaches were blind so I took a little extra time riding up ahead to find out what was required in terms of shot selection.

It is helpful if you have a range finder with slope as the elevation changes play an important role in club selection.

I loved the nature experience as there was hardly a house in sight. I hope to come back one day and test my skills again. Thank you Tim and staff!

Ulrika

Awesome course. Definitely one of the hardest courses in the state. Amazingly friendly staff. Will definitely return.

This course is amazing! It really does feel like an Irish course and plays like one - well maintained conditions! The course is laid out with so much enticement for risk takers - but at your peril - hit it wrong and the course becomes unforgiving pretty quickly! Really makes you think through club selections! Overall - it’s always fun to play here! And the views are pretty amazing as well!

Greens were just punched in the last 5 days. Still rolled pretty good but a lil bumpy

Fantastic lay-out . Didn’t know ir being informed greens were aerated. Disappointed !Expected course and greens to be better shape since I looked very much forward to play this and drove 2 hours. Staff excellent and very friendly. Great practice facility and goid pricing on range balls

Played here about 10 yrs ago.....it was amazing...

Always love Strantz golf courses.

It closed for about 3 yrs,but has now re-opened....and it is IMMACULATE !!!!

It was a joy to play today !!

I became a huge fan of Mike Strantz after playing Tobacco Road and have made it a bucket list item to play as many of his courses as possible. Royal New Kent lived up to expectations and made for a fantastic final day of our Williamsburg Golf Trip.

Would say the course is a more forgiving, watered-down Tobacco Road (in a good way). Much less polarizing and fun to play the first time around without sacrificing what makes a Strantz course unique. Course conditions were maybe a half step below Tabacco Road, but don’t let that push you away from playing this course. It was still my favorite course of the week (including both horseshoe courses).

Side note: we played the day after tropical storm Elsa came through and 3 days after they aerated the greens. We had about as “worst case” of a scenario as far as conditions are concerned but still found the course in great shape. Greens were very playable and we were back in the fairway with the cart by the time we made the turn. I would love to give the course another go when she is firing on all cylinders, but we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to play since Williamsburg isn’t on our normal golf trip rotation.

It never changes, that Royal New Kent is the best course in this area, but one of the grounds maintenance guys needs to find some common sense!! I had pulled my cart off the cart path because I saw his tractor coming, but it was so slow, I ended up pulling off before he got to me. He actually scolded me for being off the path by the tee!!! I told him not to be ridiculous, but it was still annoying!!

A visual feast. Entertaining, fun, tough. My favorite course. Always a challenge, but so much fun!!

Always a visual feast. Beat me up as usual, but boy what fun. My altime favorite course.

Course was in pretty good condition. Quite a good challenge. Pretty wide layout on most holes, so if you miss the fairway you're in for a tough recovery. Greens were fast and rolled nicely, and hitting the right tier of the greens was essential for scoring. Also, missing the raised greens on the approach shot typically made for a tricky up and down. Only complaint was that I was told I could go out early since they were pretty wide open as they had a shotgun tournament going on, but then the starter had me wait to go out behind a group of 4 that was playing extremely slow, around 3.5 hours on the front 9.

This course is a true gem. I will definitely play it again.

Mike Strantz is by far my favorite course designer and this course is one of the reason's why. Royal New Kent is such a breath of fresh air situated in a somewhat remote part of Virginia.

The course is modeled after an Irish Links and although I have never played golf in Ireland, I can certainly say it's far different than every other course I've ever played in Virginia.

Huge mounds and humps grace every massive fairway (although some don't look massive from the tee) and wild green complexes make for an outstanding round... as long as you are prepared.

I can understand why some golfers feel Strantz is a little tricked up or not real golf, but I absolutely love it. Some of my favorite holes include the par 3 3rd, which has at least 10 different tee boxes and a semi blind approach (if the pin is in the front) where you have pretty much no choice but to hit the green. 5 is my favorite hole on the course and features massive mounds and bunkers splitting the fairway. On the back, 18 has a dramatic approach to a green surrounded with water.

We got a little unlucky with the weather, as they had received 4 inches of rain the previous two days, but I would love to play the course when it is firm and fast. One of my favorite in Virginia.

Along with Stonehouse, Royal New Kent is not what it once was and it's too bad. Golf is not as popular as it once was and intricate courses without play just can't be maintained to the old standards.