Review: Bristow Manor Golf Club (Part 2)

It's time to take a look at Bristow Manor's back nine, go here to see the front.

The tenth hole is a mid-length par 4 that doglegs significantly from left to right around a series of bunkers the hole essentially shares with the eighteenth. You can choose to carry as many or as few of these bunkers on the tee shot as you'd like, potentially shortening the hole significantly in the process. Just don't hit a slice and accidentally turn this big dogleg-right into a dogleg left like I did. I mean, I suppose it worked for me in the end, but I wouldn't recommend it. Anyway, the second shot is slightly uphill over a wild series of mounds to a green significantly sloped from back to front. Seriously, I have no idea why the mounds are there, because they don't come into play on either the drive or second shot. They're just sort of there. Oh well, missed opportunity.

The tenth hole.

Approaching the tenth green. You can see some, but not all, of the series of mounds in front of the green.

The tenth green.

The eleventh hole is 200 yards and plays over a pair of large bunkers, with another bunker off to the right. The green is fairly undulating, but there's not much to this hole beyond the impossibility of running a ball onto the green. It's not a challenge to a low-handicap golfer, hitting this green, but for true short-hitters, it's impossible. As my brother and I waited on this tee, we watched the group in front of us tee off; in that group, a woman used driver off of the front tee and literally landed the golf ball in the tiny space between the bunkers and green. It still rolled over the back, and it wasn't close. For people like this, hitting this green in regulation is impossible, and I'm not a fan of that. 

The eleventh hole.

The twelfth hole is 560 yards and plays gently uphill to a wide fairway. Well, wide playing corridor, since the fairway peters out about 250 yards out for no reason whatsoever. Seriously, it's just slightly bumpy rough, and it's like that for about 100 yards. I genuinely don't understand. Anyway, the second shot is also pretty much just a case of hitting as far as you can. The green, at least, is interesting, having some reasonable undulation and being surrounded by four bunkers. This hole more than many showcases the pure and simple fact that rough on its own is not an interesting hazard.

The twelfth hole.

Approaching the twelfth green.

The twelfth green.

The thirteenth hole is a straightforward mid-length par 4 playing along the same line of trees as the previous hole. There's a bunker in play right, but a solid drive can clear that, giving you much more space to work with. I wouldn't recommend the right side, as there's a cluster of small trees about 20-30 yards short right of the green that I imagine are supposed to interfere with approach shots from the right. They're not very tall though, so they don't really come in to play and are mostly just sort of there. The green has a ridge coming in from the left through the middle, and there's also bunkers on each side.

The thirteenth hole.

Approaching the thirteenth green.

The thirteenth green.

The fourteenth hole is a mid-length par 3 of 190 yards. There's two bunkers left of the green, which slopes from back to front, particularly in the front portion of the green. You can miss this green right and short and be fine. Not much to this hole.

The fourteenth hole.

The fourteenth green.

The fifteenth hole is 395 yards and plays straight away over essentially level terrain. The fairway here is offset slightly to the right, with a large fairway bunker placed close to the direct line between tee and green. A pond and a native area lurk right of the fairway, so in my opinion, it's almost best to ignore the fairway and just play straight at the green. The fairway bunker is easily cleared from the tee with a solid driver, and there's a lot of space left in case you hook it. Either way, the second shot will be over rough and a second large bunker (with a second bunker right and a third long) to a shallow green.

The fifteenth hole.

Approaching the fifteenth green.

The fifteenth green.

The sixteenth hole is Bristow Manor's final par 5, and once again, a lay-up off the tee is necessary. That's fine once, but three out of four? No. That's ridiculous. Anyway, you want to hit a gentle fade on this one or hug the tree line right, as the hole bends right after it crosses a marshy area alongside a pond. Even though this hole is shorter than the other three par 5s at 525 yards, it's still not really reachable in two. So, when you're laying up, you have two choices: Either stay well back of a fairway bunker about 75 yards short of the green, or hit into a narrow portion of fairway squeezed between the bunker right and native area left. There are two more bunkers short right of the green, which is medium sized and fairly undulating.

The sixteenth hole.

Approaching the sixteenth green.

The sixteenth green.

The seventeenth hole is just under 390 yards, and this fairway is quite possibly the silliest one yet. There's no reason at all for it to stop 260 yards out, but it does, leaving over 100 yards of literally nothing between the end of the fairway and the green. Unless you're obsessing over fairways hit on the stats, there's no reason not to ignore the end of the fairway and hit driver. The playing corridor is plenty wide. A good driver will leave just a wedge into the green, which has some undulation to it and is protected by a bunker left.

The seventeenth hole.

The seventeenth green.

The eighteenth hole fulfills the modern golf course stereotype: Finishing with a long par 4 with water on one side. While the fairway is very wide, it ends about 260-270 yards out, and this time, there's actually tall grass and bunkers encroaching in – along with water left – meaning you can't just hit driver. A lay-up is necessary here, favoring the right side. That leaves a slightly longer shot, but you won't have to go over the water as much on the second. The green is fairly large but perched precariously over the pond, with a bunker right further complicating matters. It's not an absolutely killer hole, since it's not tremendously long (430 yards), but you have to accept you'll be hitting a mid or even long iron second shot. Play it carefully, and you'll be fine. 

The eighteenth hole.

Approaching the eighteenth green.

The eighteenth green.

After the round, I asked my younger brother what he thought of the course (as I always do), and he said something I hadn't thought about that stuck with me. Bristow Manor is not lacking in interesting features. It could be a good golf course. But it isn't. And that's because the courses doesn't get anything out of the landscape. At best, the water and terrain is just sort of there; at worst, the course actively fights the landscape. The two par 5s on the front are particularly noteworthy in this regard. The creek cutting across the fairways of those holes could have been used very effectively if the holes had been laid out diagonally to the stream. Or even if the designer had put the fairway on one side and just had the green on the other. Having the stream cut across the fairway at driver distance, preventing anyone from clearing them, is quite literally the worst thing you could do with it. There's no challenge or thought beyond "don't go too far, and don't chunk the next shot into the water." And it's not like the other holes on the front use the stream any better. Every hole from 4 to 9 crosses the creek, and yet never once is it actually a hazard.

The weird mounding in front of the tenth green is another example. Obviously, those mounds weren't natural, which actually makes the problem worse. The designer went to the trouble of making those mounds, and then decided to not make the golfer use them. Sure, some people end up in those mounds, but only if you play the hole badly. If you play the hole as its intended, you'd never have to deal with them, and that's just so weird to me. Of course, there's also the weird non-contiguous fairways, but honestly that's barely even a factor in my overall opinion of the course, more just a weird quirk. 

In terms of value, the round cost $60 on a Friday afternoon, which is more than it should be, but at the same time it's fairly in line with other courses in the broad D.C. metropolitan area. Conditions were decent if not spectacular. But Bristow Manor is just not a good golf course. Average, at best. Lots of missed opportunities. And in the end, I'm not about to drive 75 minutes to play a $60 average golf course again.