Potomac Shores Golf Club

I had waited a long time to play this popular course. It was $50 on Tuesday morning, which I thought was reasonable. I failed to read the fine print about the aeration that was being done. The entire course had huge holes including the fairways! The greens and fairways had lots of sand. The course should not have been open. I played as a single because I was paired with a twosome and one of them arrived late. I was being patient but when he got there he needed to hit some balls and said "just let him go by himself". So based on this attitude from the snobby member I went out alone, to a new course, exactly what I told the starter I didn't want to do. The layout was challenging but I would never go back, not worth the money, and the lack of explanation regarding the conditions is just plain wrong.

Definitely on par with Laurel Hills in Lorton or even Raspberry Falls minus the staff expertise. The course offers amazing elevation changes and vistas. However, the Potomac River is not easily seen belying the course name. Aeration took place recently but was happy to accept a coupon for a discounted round later in Spring as recompense. A must play for the serious Capitol Region public course golfer.

This was my third time playing Po Sho. Conditions are excellent thanks to an attentive grounds crew. It is a challenging golf course, but not as brutal as the previous Jack Nicklaus designed courses.

I pulled up to the curb, opened my trunk, and an attendant snatched up my clubs and loaded them on a cart. Check-in was fast and efficient. The driving range was in good condition, and the range balls are included in the greens fee.

It was a busy day, the parking lot was full. We didn't have to slow down for a group in front of us, or have a group on our heels. It was as if we had the golf course to ourselves.

The food in the grill room is a significant step up from the typical golf cafe, and the food prices were reasonable.

Great layout. It's a long and tough course, but the holes are picture perfect and it was in great shape for late December. Can't wait to play it again.

Course was in good shape for late fall. Greens were very fast. My only complaint was the driving range is too far from the clubhouse

This is a neighborhood course with little housing presence, long, quite a tough course in spots, long, lots of verticality and very-deep rough, long, ball-eating rough near the greens. The greens are decent speed and slope, nothing outrageous, but you really have to be careful with the rough and the drop-offs on the sides of the fairway and behind the green. It's quite a meandering course, a good ride through the woods. But I don't think that you'll be disappointed by the layout. It is very, very good for a neighborhood course and has a clubhouse to match. It may not be the absolute best public neighborhood course in the DC area, but it's right up there.

The main thing about it is that it looks like a normal-sized course with normal proportions but it plays very big with lots and lots of verticality, carries and waste.

By the way, no real views of the Potomac :)

the only thing that really disappointed me about this course was the number of drunk guys sitting on the deck of the clubhouse by the 18th green

The course is very well kept with just a couple of traps that are in poor condition. Rained the day before and they were full of water. First time playing it was a true adventure. There are several holes with blind tee shots that need exact length and/or position that you don't know until it's too late. There are several areas of high weeds that are hidden from view and will eat you ball. Many holes are quite breath taking and you kind off loose you concentration. Your main objective has to be hitting the fairway because the ruff is about a 2 club extra if you can even get it in the air.

This course was recommended to me and more than met expectations. Although challenging it is fair. It rewards good shots and penalizes bad ones. Playing it again with the knowledge I gained from playing it for the first time will increase the enjoyment. The staff was exceptional. I highly recommend Potomac Shores.

The course was very challenging. The layout was great "of course it is Jack's design." Plenty of room on the fairways to hit driver and you get a lot of forgiveness but the approach shots on the other hand well lets just saw unless you are shooting darts at the flag. I hope you have a good short game and can get up and down 75 percent of the time. I had a great time course was in awesome shape.

If your game isn't up to par, this course will eat you alive. However, this course has a great layout and great conditions. You can't walk the course because the holes are spread out quite a bit. I'll be back to this course whenever I get a round in.

Best course ever played in NOVA. First class facility. Played on a Thursday for $69.00. Well worth the money. Staff and facilities are outstanding. Overall course in great shape given the heat of this summer. Challenging, rolling fairways and greens, typical Jack Nicklaus design. Most greens in great condition, some fringe areas recently re-sodded but that's ok, course is been open for only 2 years and still growing in.Practice balls included in fees. Practice area is a distance from the clubhouse and first tee.

Some holes are long distances from others and require a cart, cannot walk.

Check the course layout on line before you play, many blind shots and no hole by hole layout provided. More signs should be added from greens to next tee.

Will be back again, highly recommend.

Heard much (good and indifferent) stuff about this course and finally got to experience it myself. WOW! What an awesome and challenging course. Jack Nicklaus did a fabulous job in routing 18 holes on this hilly terrain. The bentgrass greens were in excellent condition, playing fast and true. The only "strange" thing about this course is that the driving range is two holes away from the clubhouse and it takes a few miniutes to get there. My tip is to be well prepared and warm up, take an extra half an hour to ready yourself for the challenges. Can't wait to return. The staff is warm, professional and helpful. The Clubhouse is something to be proud of (for a public course). Troon Golf is to be commended to support this high level of golfing experience. Can't wait to get back to VA to enjoy an encore!

Kurt, Columbia, SC

Is this course nice? Yes - $110 nice? Not even close. Look, it's a great course but for me, an avid 3+ times a week golfer, I've seen my share of nice golf courses relative to price and this course is way over priced. Do what my group did and play during the week for $69.

Overall: We played from the Gold tees and shot well. Course plays shorter than the scorecard of 6,500 from gold. Fairways are great, open where it needs to be and bunkered nicely, however my playing partner found himself in several unraked bunkers leaving him with mounds of sand to hit out of. The course layout is weird. It's like they designed it so they can build as many houses on it as possible - every hole seems to take you a couple of minutes in a golf cart.

Greens: Rolled fairly true but we're pretty slow for a Nicklaus course. Divots were very much present during our round. Since it was a Tuesday we were 2 of about 25 players out there so I'm not sure why the greens had not been repaired by the greens keeper. The back 9 had a bunch of repair going on (did not affect play) but still was a bit of an eye sore. Again, I feel for a $110, greens should roll true and should have a good pace, this course did not.

Fairways: Highlight of the corse for me. Some repair going on but again, didn't affect play. Grass was a little sticky so we weren't getting much roll with our drives but again, course plays shorter (in my option).

This was my third time playing here. I had a family member in town and decided I'd take him to a "premium" public track here in Northern Virginia. I see the previous two reviews that played on 8/20 and I can't agree more. We've had some thunderstorms, but this course was beyond soggy - multiple balls plugged in the fairway and around greens... They may we over watering to avoid losing some of the holes, but it was way too wet for a mid summer round with temps in the high 80's. Traps were unraked and a few were washed out from storms we had days ago... Where is the maintenance? Multiple aprons around the greens were totally ripped out and just sand. Multiple holes with areas of new sod around the greens and, overall, the greens were not as true or as fast as they have been. It's a true test and a real challenge but for $109, it should be in MUCH better shape. Shame on the staff and superintendent for letting this course fall apart like it is. If your plans are to get it back to a $109 course, charge $70 until it's back in $109 condition.

For $109, I would expect a course in much better condition. There were a number of fairways that had diseased turf, a few of the greens where they were replacing the grass on the green and around the green, and a number of bunkers that had some erosion.

I think they should have offered a discount due to the condition of the course, but they were not.

I would highly recommend you not playing unless they reduce the rate to $50-60 or less.

Played Potomac Shores right after it opened a couple years ago, and it was okay. Played today, and geez, have things gone downhill. For a place with greens fees around $100, I'd expect the course to be in much better shape. You can't walk this course, and half the holes are marked "cart path only" for one reason or another. I think they have drainage problems -- the place was really soggy and we haven't had a ton of rain recently. Lots of dead spots on the fairways, lots of greens with sh1tty turf patches and way too many blind tee shots. If you don't know this course already, forget it -- you'll just be frustrated because figuring out where the green is from the tee box is almost as hard as finding the clubhouse from Route 1. Yardage markers were almost invisible. Little stakes with a patch of white or red (no 200 yard markers that I could see). And like many courses in Virginia, they have huge fans blowing on the greens because there's no airflow when you don;t cut down a significant number of the trees around the greens -- lose the fans, get some chainsaws, and clear the place out. Jack might've been a great golfer, but his course design is so-so. Not impressed by Potomac Shores.

Forget the"Shores" part.Ther is only one brief glance of the river and you wouldn't know otherwise there is ariver anywhere nearby.More importantly,they charge premium prices for a course that is currently in poor shape- almost every green apron is just dirt,many tee boxes have little grass and many greens are in poor shape.Definitely Not worth the price!

Finally, the design is the typical Nicklaus design that is fine if you hit a high fade 3 iron 200+ yards but not so good for a 10 who relies on ground roll and bump and run. The course is also unwalkable with 1/4 to 1/2 miles between some greens and tees.They brag about the 8 miles of cart paths!

Also,saw the cart girl once on a 95 degree day.

All in all, definitely not worth the price- go to Laurel Hill for a much better maintained , fairer course.

This is a beautiful course that apparently does not receive the attention it deserves. It is not a course for walking, ask it is spread out and very hilly. As with most Nicklaus courses, it requires thinking and rewards good shots and penalizes bad ones. My only criticism is that there was no food service on a Sunday morning, which the pro shop said reflected the slow morning traffic. The staff also put the golf bags on the cart backwards (with all the pockets facing inwards, so that they were totally inaccessible). That was a first I've never experienced before. For the green fee we paid,($109), they need to bring up the level of service. But the course is so good, I'll come back again to try it once more.

Fantastic clubhouse and friendly staff made for a great first impression. The course is challenging but plays fair- you don't want to be long with approach shots and there are a few blind drives that add to the challenge. Undulated greens make you think twice, but I found that once I stopped playing the break, I made more putts!

I had been anxiously awaiting the opportunity to play Jack Nicklaus' first public course in the DC-area for a couple years. I skipped the opening season (2015) and played during an unseasonably windy day (20-30mph) where it was also 90+ degrees. This was a wicked combination for my first time seeing the course.

There are many blind or semi-blind tee shots and approach shots. You really have to rely on a yardage book your first time and then be careful pulling a driver even when you think there's enough space. The course is very interesting and has many Nicklaus Design features (generous fairways, different shaped greens, undulations, elevation changes, etc.). The land used has plenty of elevation changes that make getting accurate yardages difficult (especially in the wind).

Skilled golfers will enjoy thinking their way around the course, whereas hackers will find themselves looking for lost balls more than normal. There aren't any water hazards, but a few gorges that you need to carry on tee shots or approach shots.

The clubhouse is gorgeous. Excellent grille room, restrooms, pro shop, et al.

Gripes: The driving range is nowhere close to the clubhouse nor 1st tee. This is going to be a major problem if it stays this way. The course layout of not coming back to the clubhouse just doesn't make sense. Especially because there's no half-way house or snack shack around the turn. Additionally, there are only two water stations on the entire course. On a hot day this is just unacceptable (which most days are in the summer in VA). Even with 2 bev carts going around, they should consider having additional carts with water driving around the course. And finally, this course is impossible to walk. With 8 MILES of cart path and a country mile between holes, it's like Nicklaus Design got a blank check and didn't even consider making it possible to walk. Really embarrassing in this day in age where walking courses and designing courses with the lay of the land are the trend.