Golf Course Review: Greenbrier

Periodically, the Curmudgeon reviews public golf courses in the hope that you'll get a chance to play them as well.

Today's review is of the golf at the Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.

The Greenbrier is an old-line resort with a history going back to 1778. Centered around a magnificent hotel with more than 800 guest rooms, the Greenbrier today serves primarily as a getaway spot for corporate meetings and conferences, which is what brought the Curmudgeon there. While Mrs. Curmudgeon sat through meeting after meeting at her law firm's annual partner retreat, the Curmudgeon playing the dutiful spouse, got in as much golf as possible (between the cocktail parties).

The Greenbrier has three golf courses: the Greenbrier (natch), the Old White and the Meadows. Sadly, we only had the opportunity to play two of them--the Greenbrier, which we played twice, and the Old White, on which we played 10 holes before cutting it short due to darkness.

We were there in mid-October, a beautiful time of year in the mountains of West Virginia, as the trees were a riot of color. Unfortunately, after a couple of perfect warm days before we left, the weather took a brisk turn, with a bit of rain and a lot of wind. Nothing that was going to keep us off the golf courses, however.

The Greenbrier Course

The Greenbrier course, built in 1924 and redesigned by Jack Nicklaus in 1977, hosted both the Ryder Cup, in 1979, and the Solheim Cup (the women's equivalent of the Ryder) in 1994. We doubt the Greenbrier could manage the crowds associated with today's Ryder Cup matches, but at least the Americans won it back in '79.

Although relatively short by modern standards, at 6675 yards, the Greenbrier is an excellent golf challenge for most golfers. (Slope rating of 134 from the 6400 yard blue tees.) Forest-lined fairways and a number of strategically placed water hazards force a golfer to make good tee shots. The course design also makes it play like it's longer than 6700 yards with some forced lay-ups and hard doglegs. The course has an unconventional lay-out, with five par 5's and five par 3's. The par 3's tend to be long, the par 5's short, but hazardous.

It's a pretty course, winding along a valley floor between heavily forested hills. Unfortunately, the resort has been selling off some of its acreage around the golf course for development, so that those hills are beginning to sport a few vacation homes. Fortunately, most of the homes are well away from the course and tastefully done, but one stretch along the back nine features smaller homes crammed together much too close to the fairways.

The course was well-maintained and greens reasonably fast. The folks working there were super-friendly and helpful. We were promptly greeted upon entering the pro shop and efficiently ushered out to the nearby driving range and practice green. The starter was nice and the ladies in the lunch hut were great.

The only problem we had, on the first round, was a frequent one at resorts that host business conferences: getting stuck behind the ubiquitous golf scramble featuring novice players. We were the first group after the Navy Federal Credit Union scramble, which made for some slow play, but on a nice fall day with good playing companions, who cared? (Ok, the jerk behind us, who didn't realize we were stuck behind a scramble, made a pointed remark, across a fairway, about our slow play, only to regret it when his group was forced to join us at the tee on a particularly backed up par 3 a couple holes later where it was obvious we weren't the hold up.)

One last thing we really liked about the Greenbrier course--it has a traditional set-up, where the first hole leaves from the clubhouse and the last green is right in front. Indeed, all three courses radiate from the clubhouse, with a smallish, but adequate practice range wedged in nearby, so that it is easy to come and go. (However, the ninth holes don't end up at the clubhouse--each course winds far away before coming back.)

The Old White Course

We also played 10 holes on the Old White course, a 6800 yard par 70. Not quite as picturesque as the Greenbrier, the Old White meanders along a flatter part of valley surrounded by smaller hills. Still, if you just happened on this course without playing the Greenbrier first, you'd be pretty impressed with its beauty.

We enjoyed the Old White, probably because we were having a career round before darkness closed in (and saved us from the inevitable blow-up at the end).

However, there was one aspect of the Old White that could turn off some golfers. Quite a few of the greens have almost bizarre features in them, such as a standing wave in the middle of the 18th green that must be at least 8 feet high, and a trough in another green that was more like a huge ditch. Putting on these greens was a little like some of the more challenging miniature golf holes at Myrtle Beach, albeit on a macro scale. We're not sure why the course's redesigners (it has been part of an ongoing renovation) felt a need to trick up the greens so much.

The Old White is much more forgiving of wayward drives than the Greenbrier course--most fairways are lined by only a few isolated trees, rather than a forest. (However, we were hitting the ball much straighter on the Old White, so maybe that was just us.) The topography was also more forgiving--fewer awkward sidehill lies in the fairways, as most were pretty flat.

All told, we thought the Old White was a good complement to The Greenbrier course--no reason you wouldn't want to play both.

We're sorry we didn't make it to the Meadows course, a 6800 yard par 71 track that, from its description and slope rating, sounds easier than the other two. Maybe next time.

One final thing: what about the fees? Well, if you're staying at the Greenbrier in the first place, you should be able to afford some stiff fees. They were high, but not out of the range of comparable resorts: during the main season, resort guests pay $185, which includes a cart for 18 holes and unlimited play. We sure wouldn't countenance paying the $350 for a non-resort guest!