Royal New Kent Golf Club

Bucket List Course: must see and play. So glad it’s back!

This course is in great shape, super fast greens. If you haven’t played here before you need to know it’s very challenging and requires gps. Choose your tee wisely. Staff was great and food is excellent.

This golf course has been brought back from the dead, and in my opinion it is one of the best golf course layouts in Virginia. I am a huge fan of the work of Mike Strantz as and Artist and an Architect, and having played some of his other designs such as Tobacco Road and Tot Hill Farm, I can say that Royal New Kent is some of his best work. For anybody who wants to play a golf course where on every hole you’re legitimately excited to tee it up and after each hole you’re excited to see what the next hole brings. I can’t stress enough how much fun this course is to play, even with the challenge that it presents on each hole. If you’re looking to play an amazing golf course with perfect greens, Royal New Kent is worth your time. Not only this, but compared to other Strantz designs the daily fee is way lower and is very reasonable. I would 10/10 recommend this golf course as someone who has played some of the top courses in the nation. Hopefully we see this course restored to the once great reputation is had back in the late 2000’s.

Excellent course - very tough layout. I played white tees and the course “ate my lunch.” Some of the best greens I’ve putted on. Will play again.

I've played this course many times in MAPGA events when it first opened back back in the late 90's. I can tell you the current owners and staff have brought this course BACK TO LIFE, as the course is in great shape. The layout is one that will keep you thinking the entire round, all while taking in the great conditions of fairways, bunkers, and greens. The scenery, is such you will think you are in IRELAND playing golf. The greens are the new Bermuda, quick and roll excellent, I felt like I could every putt.

Royal New Kent is true test of golf, the way golf was intended to be played, and It's a MUST PLAY for all golf fans.

It had rained over the weekend and the day looked bad. My wife and I were among a handful on the course. The Good : Compared to the first time the course was in better condition overall and the greens were outstanding A++. The gentleman in the pro shop was very nice. The Issues : RNK is another quirky Stranz creation that is supposed to invoke visions of Ireland. It does not. The layout seems contrived and forced. Courses in Ireland are made to walk and offer caddies. RNK offers neither one. In the absence of caddies a routing book should be standard. Although it rained a lot, I found it surprising that a modern course retained so much water. If blind shots into greens is your idea of a good layout this is for you. One last advice - If RNK is cart path only come back another time. It makes for a poor experience.

Royal New Kent is back and better than ever!

The greens are PERFECT, and FAST.

The course is in wonderful condition tee to green.

The staff is friendly and accommodating.

Even the practice area is great.

The food is delicious, with an Irish flare. They have numerous great draft beers on tap too!

The General Manger, Chip Sullivan PGA, is a very accomplished golfer. He won the 2007 PGA Professional National Championship. His trophy is on display in the Pro Shop, make sure you check it out when you are there! Chip has over 80 PGA sanctioned wins in 40 states and 9 countries.

The rates are right in line for a top-end course, which it certainly is! Significantly less expensive than other Mike Strantz courses (Tobacco Road, True Blue, Caledonia, etc.).

No more than the typical guest rates at any private course around, and you don't have to be a member (though the membership rates are very reasonable too)! Royal New Kent is comparable or better in every category than any of the private courses around here. You get the private country club golf experience at a daily fee public golf course.

I can't wait for my next round at Royal New Kent!

The course is absolutely beautiful, challenging and left us with the desire to go back for another round. The staff provided outstanding service from beginning to end, Thank you!

First mine holes are better than Pinehurst and bethpage.

It's close to 5 stars. It might be. I've only rated 4 courses on here at 5 stars and those 4 are better than this. On my personal scale, I say this course is a 7, which puts it ahead of a few courses in the Golf Digest Top 100 and one of the 15 best courses I've ever played. I don't know how that translates to Golf Advisor stars. Moving on...

I saw the course on October when it was being renovated. The improvement from then to now is stunning. In October, the bunkers were bare, now they're perfect. The greens were growing in, now they're stellar. Fairways are smooth and uniform. Fairways are draining great. Clubhouse is great. Staff is great. Overall, course is great.

Have played at Royal New Kent since it opened and was crushed when it closed down for a little over a year and elated to see it re-open in 2019. It is one of my favorite courses in the Richmond area .... by far. Visually exciting and a course to play when you want to be challenged. When I played 3 weeks ago the greens were a 10 out of 10 !! I sure hope they can keep them that way. The course is in good (but not quite great) shape which is understandable given the course being closed down for an extended period. The course conditions should get better under the current management group. Now for my one suggestion (having played there for years): I understand the current management group being very proud of their refurbishing of the sand traps and they did do a great job, however they are Impossible to maintain, especially when it rains. I would convert the problematic traps to re-enforced sodded facing (like you see in Ireland) for those that are near the greens or very much in play and would completely sod over some of those that are not in play. Start with the green-side bunkers on the 13th hole ..... and see how they turn out. They are already washed out ..... use these as a trial for reinforced faces. In my book it is close to impossible for the course to be improved but this would be the icing on the cake ... the cherry on the sundae.

We played on the opening day of Royal New Kent after it has been revived by new owners. It was a beautiful and festive day and clearly lots of excitement about the course's reopening. The course is unique and challenging. It pushes you to carefully consider shots as opposed to just "hitting down the middle". Each hole is picturesque and the clubhouse is welcoming. Greens were fast, but they were undeniably perfect.

I first played Royal New Kent a little more than three years ago with the golf staff there. They shepherded me around all the blind shots, and I realized when I was through, that it was much easier than it looked. Since then, I have also played the much-heralded Tobacco Road near Pinehurst, so I'm starting to get the genius of Mike Strantz.

This time around, I was more prepared. What surprised me is that I remembered every hole, so I had a little better idea of what to do off the tee. What didn't surprise me is that I loved it. Part links, and mostly Strantz, I put this course right up there with Tobacco Road. First of all, with the new owners restoring and improving this course, it's in better shape than the last time I played it. And it has all the charm I remember. And it's a course that I would never get tired of playing.

For me golf is all about enjoyment, and Royal New Kent is one enjoyable ride. And yes, I understand that that there are golfers who believe this course has too many blind shots, etc., but I would counter that the landing areas are wide open, so it's plenty fair. And if you don't like blind shots, you probably don't like Irish links golf, because the great courses across the pond have plenty of them.

My favorite holes? It would depend on the day, I suppose. But if I had to pick one on the front nine, it would be the par-5 fifth, which is beautifully framed and most scenic off the tee. On the back, I'd pick the short 14th, a drivable par 4 for long hitters. It plays to a most interesting elevated green.

Overall, Royal New Kent is a fun ride from start to finish. As a golfer, I say thanks to the Wingfield Group for bringing it back to life.

A REAL beauty! So much hard work has been done here to bring this gem back to life. It’s wonderful to play here again. Tee boxes are great, fairways are beautiful, bunkers are excellent, and the greens are pristine!

The staff is so attentive and the food is great.

After being closed for 15 months the new management has restored this great course to greatness and worthy of its prior ratings of # 3 or # 5 in VA . Open only a month post renovation after a tough winter and early spring the course was in terrific shape with amazing new Champion bermuda greens that were immaculate and running at least 12 on the stimpmeter. Suspect that conditions will only further improve as the turf growing season is now just beginning.

Congratulations to all at Royal New Kent for providing the public with a world class course at a reasonable price !

I was looking forward to playing this course for a number of years and had to wait as it had been closed due to the downturn in the economy. I am a big fan of Mike Strantz designs and always felt like he created very unique layouts.

So for the positives - the staff were extremely friendly, the pace of play very relaxing and the overall conditions decent if still a little rough around the edges (I believe the new ownership may still be bringing the course back up to shape). The greens were exceptional!!! They rolled as true as I have been on in some time (play all over the country). The speed was 10-12 so very challenging if you were above the hole.

Now the negatives - this course is a visual challenge with numerous blind shots, deep holes, hollows and humps. I played by myself and was able to take my time, but had to drive around on numerous shots and find out which way the hole was playing? The course did not have a yardage book, GPS or many marked objects/sprinklers. For someone who has never played the course, this only contributed to the challenge. I am not opposed to blind shots and enjoy the added challenge they present, but this course lacks any frame of reference. I suspect this will be fixed in due time but buyer beware....

Overall - an enjoyable round and a few more modifications can easily make this a course worth playing when in the Richmond,/Williamsburg area.

Found out course just reopened 2 weeks ago after being closed for months and quite run down. All that considered, course in pretty good shape. Fairways a bit spotty and bare in spots;. could be due to recovery from the winter as well as recovering from being closed. Greens in very good condition, rolling true and good speed.

Very challenging and tricky layout, but it was expected of a Mike Strantz designed course. Lots of elevation change and blind shots. Hats off to Mathieu Lecompte, Green Superintendent for a fantastic job getting this course back in shape, as well as being very helpful opening the pro shop and getting carts out in order to start the round when no one showed up to open the pro shop for my 8 AM tee time.

This course should be supported in order to get it up and running once again.

Extremely wet from all the rain.

Greens are probably BEST in the state. Played Kingsmill on Friday and these greens at RNK were 100x better.

Just Fantastic experience and will keep coming back.