Raspberry Falls Golf & Hunt Club

2020 has seen great course conditions in the Northern Virgina and Maryland region. So it was a shock to see the deterioration in the condition of Raspberry Falls. Bad tee-boxes, bad fairways, bad greens, bad rough, bad bunkers. It was as though the only maintenance done was to mow the grass. According to the pro shop the greens had been aerated within the previous two weeks - in November! This does not give them a pass on the green conditions but is another indication of poor and/or underfunded course management. I have played more than 30 courses in the region this year. This course, by a mile, is in the worst condition of any of them.

What to say. Great layout that is struggling. Have played here several times a year over last 15 years but this was sad. $95 for poorly maintained course w/terrible pace of play. Only redeeming feature was grass tees on range. Greens were aerated 3 weeks ago but frankly won’t be playable until next year. 5 hr round. Raspberry Golf Mgmt has a number of courses w/good bones but the upkeep & maintenance seems to be testing their capabilities.

Raspberry Falls used to be a top echelon golf course in Northern Virginia; it's clearly deteriorated. It deserves much less than the prime time $105 rate. Any course that names its bunkers needs to live up to that attempt to impress.

It used to be that a valet would meet your car at the bag drop and put your clubs on a cart. Not any longer. It's not that I need the valet service, but it shows how service has dropped but the green fees haven't.

The driving range is a pre-round indicator of the lack of care; the mats are uneven, worn out and bald, the ball rolls around until it finds the low spot. Some of the rubber tees are destroyed, but left carelessly in the mat.

The courses I've played in Northern Virginia have all been helped by 2 months of COVID shut down, munis included. I'm not sure what Raspberry Falls did with the time. The fairways are patchy with the occasional big brown tire tracks and some completely dead areas. The rough similarly has big voids, I understand wanting a natural, raw feel, but the tall grasses and trees seemed overgrown at the perimeter. So it all just gave an impression of neglect, as if the course were running on reputation alone. Even my golf cart sent a "who cares" message - the parking brake didn't work.

I played Brambleton the previous day, and that course was in excellent shape and my foursome got four brand new golf carts. If a municipal course can be that good - why can't the Falls, which charges 40% more?

Course was in poor condition for a supposedly premium course. I played off the gold tees and a lot of par 4 were under 325 meters (355 yards).

Not worth the money or the effort.

The course conditions were good with the fairways well groomed and the greens fast on the downhill putts. However, the pace of play was slow with no marshals on the course the entire round.

One of best layouts in NoVa. Long hot summer has course a little beat up but greens are good. Worth the money just for the vistas!

The course conditions were really poor. I am sure it gets a lot of play, but they charge a premium rate to play; disappointing. The carts are really junky; the one I used had a real issue with the hill break.

I guess if you have no other choice, play here. But for $115 fee, I expected a lot more.

As an avid golfer, and one who understands the way the business works, this was very bad. I totally understand the heavy player traffic, given the influx of people wanting to get out amongst the pandemic. Leaving aside the sheer volume of play that the course shows, the conditions were not aligned with the inflated prices this course charges. Rates must be reflective of the product you’re providing, not what it has in the past. Don’t get me wrong, the course itself has an interesting layout, plenty of length and challenge for the better golfer, and tees accommodating to the higher handicappers. It just seemed like there wasn’t anything being done for the disease that has clearly crept into the grass and maintaining the intricate pieces of the course that you expect to be at a level indicative of a 100$+ rate. Personally, I thought the green complexes were the only aspect that gave the course any shine at all. Some quality undulation with good speed that we’re in good shape for the most part.( with the exception of a few spots, brown patches, unhealed aeration from over 3 weeks, and ball marks(that’s on the players)). However there was a stretch, I believe holes 10 through 14, where there was a significant improvement in the way the course was maintained. It gave hope and optimism that the course can hopefully come back to conditions like that, which would make for a drastic change in my view of the course. Again, a horrible summer of high heat and humidity followed by weeks of rain, paired with higher numbers of players doesn’t allow for the course to be “pure”, but to continually charge these rates (85 in the mid afternoon on a weekday) is where it loses my respect. I definitely won’t be back for a while, but truly hope they are able to get the course back to what it can be.

Played Sept 17, 2020. Course was in bad shape. Lots of crab grass, GIR areas. Greens showed stress and unfixed ball marks. Sad that it’s in this shape, really is a pretty layout.

Some fairways were a bit roughed up but you could find a place to play from. Greens were just okay, people just don't fix ball marks which is very disturbing in general. the people are great and it's a great layout.

I’ve played this course for years. I can’t express how disappointing this round of golf was. To start the course was absolutely destroyed. Dead black fairways and greens, non maintained bunkers some now ponds. Zero maintenance. The course was absolutely destroyed. Dead divots laying on the fairways hundreds of them on every hole so if you land in the fairway your ball can’t roll without hitting Chunks of mud divots and stopping the role and I don’t mean to just the whole that the Divet is but the actual chunk of grass just all over it doesn’t look like Divots had been picked up or mowed in weeks. You would have to relocate your putt just to find a straight line to the whole without dead spots in between, black moldy dead spots. It took us over six hours to play a round of golf. We waited for 15 min on every tee box. Another customer we got paired with called the clubhouse and nobody cared. Never saw Marshall on the course. I feel absolutely ripped off of $100 by playing in this condition and I’ll never go back.

One of the best layouts in VA. The course is a little beat up but the greens are great. Numbers 2 and 18 Tee shots are some of Tu e most memorable and beautiful tee shots in the Mid Atlantic.

Great course. Staff real friendly. Amenities great! Great layout. Only complaint is we had to wait on the group ahead of us on almost every tee box. They were a foursome and we were a threesome, but then the foursome behind us was waiting on us. This is the first time this has happened. Love the course though.

This course used to be my favorite in the area,, until they raised the price and eliminated the free range balls. The fairways are in terrible condition, and the rough and tee boxes aren’t much better. Very frustrating when you can’t find your ball that’s just off the fairway. Not worth the money, even with a discount.

Love this course but due to recent rainfall, it was not in great shape. Too bad they charged (and we paid) premium green fees for such crappy conditions. But I’ll play there again.

I had played Raspberry Falls in the past - though some years ago - and remembered it as challenging but well taken care of course with beautiful views. While the course layout and views remain as nice as ever, the course conditions and the management of play made for a very disappointing experience. The course was not nearly as well taken care of before with deficient weed management on many of the fairways and the condition of fairway and green turfs indicating that it was not getting the kind of care you would expect. In addition, for the Sunday we played, the course had far too many players on it, leading to major delays on virtually every hole on the front nine and that continued on the back nine. We were headed for 5.5-6 hour round and so we quit after the 12th hole so as not to have spend late into Sunday evening to finish. These issues with the course are fixable but the staff did not really seem interested in accommodating its guests. I would think more than twice before going there again anytime soon.