The Club At Viniterra

Viniterra is the case study of everything that is great and awful about modern golf course architecture. On the positive side, the course is aesthetically beautiful. The elevation changes, hazards, and angles all come together perfectly to thrill the eye. The problem is that these also mean you can only play the course one way: driver off the tee that avoids a bunker or two in the landing area while also carrying a good distance to get over the gorge between the tee and fairway, then an elevated shot to a green that probably has a significant dip in front that prevents employing any sort of run-it-up strategy. Plus, with the course being so spread out, you not only can't walk, but you can't play fast. I played in a threesome of decent to good players who all played fast, and it still took us over four hours to play.

Even if this type of complaint doesn't bother you, I don't really understand who is playing this course and why. Brickshire, Kiskiack, and Colonial Heritage are both nearby, and both offer similar but better designs, as well as much better conditions. Viniterra has clearly fallen prey to the same problems that New Kent and Stonehouse did: they are either unwilling or unable to hire talented maintenance staff that can effectively deal with the steep slopes and massive elevation changes. Almost every bunker was washed out, while hills often had huge dead spots. Even the fairways were sparse, as somehow the Bermuda is struggling to fill in the gaps.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed my round here. And for $37 on GolfNow, it's a bargain. But I also wouldn't return unless someone really wanted to play here. Go once for something new, but I don't think you'll want to return.

Played on a day with cart path only, this made for a tiring round.. course was not in the best condition, has the potential to be a wonderful course, was hoping that after 10 years it would be more lush.

I range from a 9-11 handicap and play every course from the tips. This course was more than I could handle from the Green tees, which are two levels up from the back tees. I have played here twice, and to be fair, the Bermuda was dormant both times. I want to like the course, but despite the very wide fairways, it's difficult to get yourself into a good spot to reach the greens. There is also too much high grass as you approach each new hole, and it just left me with the feeling that this isn't a well manicured facility. I was also blown away by the lack of ball mark repairs on the greens. One hole had a ball divot inside of a foot from the hole. Who doesn't fix that ball mark? Players who think the course doesn't warrant the care.

We got a great deal through golf now. We paid less than half price on a very nice course. I highly recommend this service and course to anyone.

Love this course and the scenic, rolling hills. Our delayed Spring has prevented the grass to fully grow on the fairways, but the greens are spectacular. Overall, still VERY GOOD. Superb and friendly staff made the experience even better.

One of my favorite courses to play- several options on length and layout offers lots of fun and challenges.

Must play in Williamsburg area!

Without question one of the best courses in Richmond or surrounding area. You can pay more but won’t find a stronger layout. Rees Jones at his best.

Not the best year for growing grass, but it will be perfect by June.

Just moved to the aea and am looking for a course to join. Liked the course layout but 5 1/2 hrs to play and no rangers seen on the entire course. Granted it was a Saturday pm round, but this pace was unacceptable. I will play again during the week to assess the possibility of making this my home course.

I have play this course many of times and I plan to play it more in the future.

Great course that is challenging and in great shape.

viniterra is beautiful. consistently great. Dante from clerks is the pro. hes not even supposed to be here today! top notch design...go get some!

*This is an updated review. For more thoughts on this course, see my full review from 5/28/17*

This is my first time back to Viniterra since last summer, and not much has changed but I wanted to give an update on conditions. The greens have been aerated so they are a little bumpy and much slower than normal but generally your putts will roll true. Otherwise, the maintenance team has done a great job with the conditions here despite minimal rainfall the past month or more. The Bermuda grass in the fairways and rough is still dormant and that can occasionally be a pain. But the bunkers are raked and smooth and the fairways are devoid of divots.

I’m still not crazy about the change they made last year to flip the nines. You start and end with a par-5 which can be challenging. More daunting is the fact that a large group of fairway bunkers now greet you at the first hole before your driver is fully warmed up. If you land in them it’ll be good practice since it takes some fine shot-making to not land in bunkers on every hole here.

Something I seemed to have overlooked in my first review: this course plays loooong. I generally play from the second-longest tees on any given course but here that means 7000+ yards! I’ll accept that I didn’t play from the correct tees for my distance (I was hitting 3w and hybrids on every par-4, save 17) but the tees in front of me still measure nearly 6700 yards, so just reaching the green in regulation can be quite a challenge.

For me the challenge is a fun one and I still highly recommend this course to others. Just come prepared to spend a lot of time digging out of bunkers and using those longer clubs in your bag!

Never a fan of cart path only and don’t think it was needed. Course layout is amazing! Still needs a month before it’s worthy of 65$

The course played hard. The greens had been airated , some of the sand traps had sand that was not ranked. The sand was heavy as if they just dumped a truck load of sand in the trap. The replay was $15 dollars from 9 holes.

Greens were aerated not that long ago and cold weather not helping grass grow in yet. At least the fee for playing was commensurate with the conditions. Greens still sandy and grass around the greens is still dormant. Should be in good shape in a few weeks. Wind was brutal and made it an extra challenge.

All holes on course still had sand, preventing true putting.

The course was getting worked on which resulted in all holes having sand slightly placed on preventing true ball travel to hole

Overall course was in good shape. Pace. Of play was great. Enjoyed the day.