Review: Locust Hill Golf Course (Part 1)

Are you tired of Ed Ault yet? I hope not, because he's back again with yet another golf course. This time, we're in Charles Town, West Virginia. No, not Charleston, capital of West Virginia, or Charleston, famous city in South Carolina, Charles Town, well-known for not being either of those more significant places.

Unusually, I've never played Locust Hill, even though I've lived within an hour for the past several years. There's a couple reasons for that: for one, you need two people to make a tee time. Also, at least from above on Google Maps, Locust Hill hardly looks like an appealing or fun place to play. Lots of houses and water. Even the name itself feels unpleasant. Who wants to play at a golf course called Locust Hill? But who knows, maybe Locust Hill will surprise us. Let's find out.

The first hole is 430 yards and doglegs left around a very large fairway bunker. The fairway is split about a hundred yards from the green by a narrow ditch, and there's a pond running right of the last quarter of the hole. The water can come into play on the second shot, but it really depends on how close the flag is cut to it. For us, we had the hole on the left side of the green, which made the pond little more than an afterthought. More important are the two greenside bunkers, one short left and the other behind. Seeing as the green is not exactly generous in terms of depth, those bunkers are quite significant, and it's probably best to play safely to the middle of the green. This is a fairly tough opening hole.

The first hole.

Approaching the first green.

The first green.

The second hole is the longest hole at Locust Hill, playing 590 yards. It is also quite uninteresting. The hole is flat and plays straightaway, and while there are a couple bunkers right that drives have to contend with, there's really not much to worry about hazard wise. Oh sure, there's O.B. left and trees right, but they're more framing than actual hazards. The second shot in particular is really, really boring. Just advance the ball with no thought. The green is medium sized with bunkers front right and left.

The second hole.

Approaching the second green.

The second green.

The third hole is a mid-length par 4 with water and high grass left; the fairway subtly but definitely slopes from right to left toward the water, so a fade is the preferred option on the tee shot. There's O.B. far right, but you'd have to hit a pretty big slice to reach it. A solid drive will leave a wedge or short iron into the green, which is narrow and protected by two small bunkers left and one behind. 

The third hole.

Approaching the third green.

The third green.

The fourth hole is 415 yards with O.B. wide right of the fairway, which is otherwise pretty open. A good tee shot will leave a short iron into the green, which is carved out of the bottom of a hill. It's L-shaped and has some pretty noticeable slope and break to it. There are two bunkers left; basically, considering the general left-to-right slope of the green, left is a very bad place to miss.

The fourth hole.

Approaching the fourth green.

The fourth green.

The fifth hole is 175 yards from all the way back, though I definitely think this hole works better from the next set up. The green is quite narrow and fairly undulating, with three bunkers ringing the front section. It's quite a tough shot with a mid iron in hand. From 150 yards and the second set of tees, this becomes a fun little short par 3. That makes this next bit unfortunate, but the fifth hole is yet another entry in my long-running series "holes that clearly arose because the architect was short one on the routing." In this case, you finish the fourth, walk a short distance to the fifth tee, play the hole, then immediately double back the way you just came to reach the sixth tee, which is also near the fourth green and fifth tee. This hole quite literally pokes out into nowhere. Nothing like cart golf, right?

The fifth hole.

The fifth green.

The sixth hole is 375 yards and plays over pretty level ground to a fairway that's split at about 250 yards out for no particular reason. There's no hazard there, just rough. So as long as you're okay with a wedge from the rough, there's no reason not to use driver. That will take the fairway bunker left out of play. The green is medium sized and protected by a bunker left.

The sixth hole.

Approaching the sixth green.

The sixth green.

The seventh hole is a mid-length par 3 at 180 yards. It plays to a fairly large green with a bunker close left and a pond long and left. Bailing out right is a safe play, though of course with the right-side hole location that works a little less well.

The seventh hole.

The seventh green.

The eighth hole is 510 yards and starts off in the same area as the fifth and sixth tees (you actually need to pass in front of these tees to get to the sixth hole after finishing the fifth), with the tee shot playing downhill to a wide fairway protected by a large bunker left. That bunker can be carried on the tee shot, which brings the green more into play on the second. A pond lurks left for the last 75 yards of the hole, so both people going for the green in two and those laying up need to consider the water. The green is protected by bunkers front left and back right, along with the water which also curls around the back.

The eighth hole

Approaching the eighth green.

The eighth green.

The ninth hole is 370 yards and plays to a fairly narrow fairway with trees close in left and two bunkers on a mound right. The fairway cuts out 250 yards out (again), and while there's no big hazard there, there are a couple of rock outcroppings about 50 yards short of the green. Not exactly a hazard, but still, not something you want to hit. A 3 wood will leave a wedge or short iron into the green, which is sloped quite severely from back to front and has bunkers left and long.

The ninth hole.

The ninth green.

That's it for this week, next week we'll take a look at the back nine.