July 11th Day 36 - Rock Harbor Golf Club, Boulder Course, Winchester VA
                                                                   drove 227 miles

After playing a dog track like Langston, what could be better than playing a GREAT golf course the next day! The Rock Harbor Golf Club is about a 30 minute drive south of my West Virginia motel. It is in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley and it's a 36 hole facility. This place had been on my radar from last year's aborted trip and initially I had planned to play both courses. My strong desire to get home earlier derailed that plan. I WANTED to play the Rock Course as (on paper) it looked to be a little more golfer friendly. The club was having a company tournament / outing on the Rock Course this Sunday, but I was able to get on the Boulder Course. It cost less than $70 with cart on a Sunday. Bargain!

I was paired with a couple (David & Allison) who had not played the course before, but both of them appeared to be pretty good golfers on the holes I played with them. After two holes the rain (predicted) started coming down and it wasn't long until it was POURING. They decided to go back to the clubhouse to wait it out and I moved on to the 3rd tee box area and found a big tree to park my cart under. 

After about 20 minutes the rain stopped and I waited a few minutes to see if they would reappear. They didn't so I teed off on number three and moved on, solo. On hole #7 I caught up with another couple and while they offered to let me play through, I asked if I might join them. Linda wasn't playing, just keeping an eye on her hubby Phil, who I later learned  has some medical issues. Phil is a member of this club though he lives in West Virginia not far from where I spent the night. He was a pretty good player and I imagine he was quite good when he was younger. The sun came out and the weather was perfect the rest of the day.

They're a nice couple, both retired CIA. I remarked they must have had boring dinner conversation as I thought it unlikely they would talk about what they were doing at work. Linda laughed at that and told me she typed up all of Phil's reports so she KNEW what he was doing, but she knew what a LOT of people were working on that he didn't as well. I enjoyed the company of both of them.

Phil's knowledge of the golf course was really helpful and I played better after I joined them. This is a great course to play and I would love to play it again and the Rock Course too. I played the white tees, 6281 yards, rating of 70.4 and slope of 130. Tough course, but I thought it fair and the next yardage down is 5513 and that is shorter than I wanted to play. I shot a 49 / 45 and felt pretty good about it. 

The two courses are not completely separate so I got to see some of the Rock course too. The Boulder course opened in 2015, the Rock course in 2003. Both courses feature 6 sets of tees and the fairly large greens can all accommodate 9 hole locations. The guy who built the courses owns a stone quarry that is just past the outside edge of the Boulder course. There is plenty of water, an island green (on the Rock course), enough sand and trees to keep things interesting and on various places the a LARGE boulders that were left in place as the course was built. Lots of elevation changes on the Boulder course, I'm not sure about the Rock course. I would join this semi-private golf club IN A HEARTBEAT!!

They have a modest clubhouse with the pro shop, restaurant and bar conveniently located together. Enough gushing about this course, but I ranked it #2 of all the courses I've played on this trip (so far).
I had a bite to eat after the round then had a fairly long drive south to get closer to my North Carolina round on Monday. Virginia is a beautiful state to drive through so that made the ride downstate more pleasant. 

 
          Randy’s golf course             ratings          play again               could recommend           Price

Prairieview GC (Byron, IL)               5                  YES                           YES                            $

The Boulder Course (Winchester, VA)  5           YES                           YES                            $$

Wine Valley (Walla Walla, WA)         5                  YES                           YES                            $$$

Dakota Winds (Hankinson, ND)        5                   YES                          YES                            $$

The Links at Greystone (Walworth, NY)   4.5        YES                          YES                            $$

Raccoon Creek (Littleton, CO)         4.5                 YES                          YES                            $$

Brooks Golf (Okoboji, IA)                 4                   YES                          YES                            $$

The Legacy (Springfield, TN)            4                   YES                          YES                            $

Awarii Dunes (Kearney, NE)              4                   YES                          YES                            $$

Chicopee CC (Chicopee, MA)           4                    YES                          YES                            $ 

The Architects Club (Phillipsburg, NJ)   4               YES                          YES                            $$

Lake Panorama Nat. (Panora, IA)      4                   no*1                           YES                           $$

Heritage Shores (Bridgeville, DE)   4                   YES                           YES                           $$

Houston Oaks (Paris, KY)                  4                   YES                           YES                            $  

Eagles Landing (Ocean City, MD)   4                  YES                            YES                          $$    

Brandon GC (Brandon, SD)               4                   YES                             YES                          $

Viroqua Hills GC (Viroqua, WI)        4                   YES                             YES                          $

Portland GC (Portland, CT)               4                    YES                             YES                          $

Green Valley CC (Portsmouth, RI)    4                    YES                             YES                          $$

Snow Hill CC (New Vienna, OH)      4                    YES                            YES                          $

Links at Union Vale (Lagrangeville, NY)   4           YES*2                         YES                         $$$

Pilgrim's Oak (Peach Bottom, PA)    3.5                  YES                             YES                         $

Bear Slide GC (Cicero, IN)               3.5                   no                               YES                         $$

Lochmere G & CC (Tilton, NH)       3.5                  YES                             YES                         $$

Rivers Edge (Burley, ID)                  3.5                   YES ?                          YES                        $

Eastern Hills (Kalamazoo, MI)         3.5                   YES                             YES                        $

Brattleboro CC (Brattleboro, VT)     3.5                  YES  ?                          YES                        $$          

Martindale CC (Auburn, ME)           3.5                  YES   ?                         YES                        $$$       

Birch Creek (Smithfield,UT)             3.5                    no                       good golfers only          $

Kimball Golf Club (Kimball, MN)     3                      no                                 no                        $

Buffalo Golf Club (Buffalo, WY)       3                      no                                 no                        $$

Pryor Creek (Huntley, MT)                 3                      no                                 no                        $        Johnny Walker Course (there’s also a Country Club course, but you need to play with a member!)

The Brookside Club (Bourne, MA)    2                      no                                 no                        $$

Jones Course (Wheeling, WV)           1                       no                                 no                       $$$

Langston GC (Washington D.C.)       1                       no                                 no                        $$

*1 = would play again if a different yardage was offered, with slope and course ratings

*2 = would move up a tee and NOT pay weekend green fee. M-Th fee is $ 77 and $ 61 after 2 p.m.

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