Worthington Manor Golf Club

Worthington Manor walks a fine line between giving the player ample room to spray the ball around on most holes while providing a stern challenge. The difficulty comes mainly from the narrow-ish fairways with thoughtful bunker placement, uneven lies, and one of the most varied, difficult, and fun sets of greens one will find on a public golf course in this area.

They have automated pull carts available for rental, and those who carry or push their own bags will find they have an actual walking rate - a rarity at this caliber of course.

Worthington has quite a few forced carry shots - those who cannot reliably get the ball airborne may want to play the front tees or look elsewhere.

Worthington Manor is very much a placement golf course. For rough estimate averages I would recommend 200 or less gold, 210-230 white, 240-260 blue and 270+ (with a solid iron game) black. I think those will net most players who are honest with themselves a nice variety of short and long approach shots.

Course conditions felt like they were coming out of winter, which is about right for this time of year. I have seen better here before but they were good enough. The tee on 6 was very chewed up, but there's not much one can do as a temporary solution while the rebuilt boxes grow in. Greens were around 10 on the stimpmeter, but they do get as high as 12 sometimes in spring and fall. The following course tips are mostly with 11-12 stimp in mind.

A few tips for first time players to help you score:

Hole 2 green slopes hard from right to left. Back left pin is the easiest, as the center of the green feeds everything down to it. Missing right to a right pin requires an extremely delicate chip shot to have any chance at par.

Hole 3 may be the toughest 4 par in the state. It is so difficult that I score slightly lower on hole 5 on average, and 5 is a par 5. Either hit driver to a pinched landing area or lay back to 180yds. After negotiating the tee shot you face an uphill, sidehill appeoach shot over a natural area to a devilish green pitched severely from back to front and left to right. A miss in the drainage area right of the cart path takes reaching in regulation entirely out of play for most players. Get your bogey and get out of here.

Hole 5 green runs from front to back and left to right, you want to land short of the pin and let it feed down.

Hole 8 green has three distinct sections. If the pin is in the front, avoid missing long at all costs. Anything long of a left pin may take par out of the equation as well. Bunker may be a better miss than long, it's that severe.

9 green has a subtle spine running lengthwise through the center of the green which, like 3, is pitched severely from back to front. Go past the pin at your own risk.

Hole 10 has a pond on the right which you cannot see from the tee. Is is 265yds to reach from the tips and 220yds from the whites. For those with a right miss I would recommend hitting a club you can keep short of the pond while clearing the right bunker; left miss players can hit driver more safely. If you can, try to hug the left side of the fairway for an easier angle into the green. Putts tend to be a little more uphill / downhill than players think.

Hole 11 green as a spine running through the middle of this green that complicates recovery shots on the opposite side. Short side misses are preferred on this hole.

12 is just a beast. Lay up tee shot and a tough second into a roller coaster green that has a back middle pocket. The left half of the green feeds hard from right to left, would recommend playing just left of center if you have a sucker left pin.

Long hitters on 13 tee want to aim over the left side of the lower fairway bunker.

Hole 15 offers more room to miss than there appears to be. Putts in the front left and middle left break less than many players expect.

When the tall grasses are up, 16 can be blind from the tips. The chute off in the distance marks the right edge of this fairway - you want to be left of it.

17 is a monster par 3. If you are tipping it out, your goal here is simply survive. That said, from any box you want to take note of the diagonal green orientation. Missing short (but over the creek) is safer than any miss long, which can be dead. If the pin is back left, play to the center and try to two putt for par.

The course was probably one of the best courses I’ve ever played, only down fall were the greens. I think it was because they aerated it a week before. I can’t wait to play here in the summer time

Greens were punched so nearly all putts were knocked off line. Should be posted on site to let golfers know ahead of time before booking.

Beautiful course great staff. Challenging course, great condition.

Second time playing here and it never ceases to amaze me how good this course is. Very challenging course with some of the toughest greens in the DMV. The views and the conditions are with the money in itself, add a golf course and it’s a no brainer. Conditions were immaculate, from tee to green. Greens almost felt unfair, you can hit the middle of the green with back spin and it’ll leave you a good 30-40 yard chip. GPS on the cart is nice and saw the beverage cart at least 6 times. Play here, don’t question it, just do it!

The course is awesome. Great layout, great shape, and good value.

As always, course was in excellent shape and pin positions were reasonable. Practice range was using mats which prevented a perfect 5 star rating.

Greens were extremely fast, overall course conditions was in great shape

The title says it. Incredibly challenging and beautiful course

Enjoyed my first round, look forward to playing again

Greens were solid fairways in great condition. Tough course. Cart member tommy was helpful.

Greens were fast but rolled true. Fairways and greens were in great shape. This course is always challenging, but fair.

This is one of the best courses in the DMV!! I really appreciate the conditions and the staff. It’s just a great place to play!!