Birdwood ranked among state’s Top 10 golf courses by Golf Magazine
Posted on Thursday, Dec. 24, 2020, 9:12 am
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By Jerry Ratcliffe
Photo courtesy Birdwood Golf Course at Boar’s Head Resort.
Somewhere, Davis Love III and his design team, are smiling today.
Love’s newest golf creation, Birdwood Golf Course at Boar’s Head Resort in Charlottesville, has made the top 10 in Golf Magazine’s listing for top golf courses in Virginia. Birdwood came in at No. 7 out of nearly 350 courses in the Commonwealth.
“We are not surprised by this rating based on early reviews,” said Martin Winters, Birdwood’s director of golf. “When we hired Love Golf Design, we knew that we were dealing with the best of the best, and all of our combined hard work is now paying off as raters, members and the golf community finally get to experience one of Virginia’s marquee courses right here in Charlottesville.”
Love’s mission was to perform a complete redesign of Birdwood, which he accomplished by adding several brand new holes on 80 acres if previously unused Birdwood property, eliminating some old holes and redesigning other existing holes.
He unveiled his work with the official opening in July to rave reviews, particularly with the new holes surrounding historic Birdwood Mansion.
“We wanted this course to look like it had been on the property for a long time,” Love said. “We didn’t want it to look modern. We wanted it to look classic and timeless and fit the property.
“I always want somebody to play at one of my golf courses and say, ‘Well, who built this?’ I don’t want them to be able to say it’s a cookie-cutter course.”
The “new” Birdwood is certainly not and perhaps that is one of the reasons the membership sold out before the course re-opened.
Birdwood also serves as the home of the University of Virginia men’s and women’s golf teams and features six sets of tee boxes that measures from 4,000 to 7,200 yards. Also included, is a unique, walk-only, par-3 approach course and a gigantic putting course that stretches to almost an acre.
The new Birdwood boasts some of the best Zoysia fairways in the state, along with V8 Bent greens, new concrete cart paths and the most modern and comfortable golf carts (with GPS tracking), not to mention breathtaking views of the Blue Ridge.
“I always say we designed for my mom, who just kind of wanted it down the middle, bounced everything up on the green and was hoping to get up-and-down for par on a lot of holes,” Love chuckled.
“She didn’t want to have a carry of 250 yards over and over again to get over trouble or play short of it,” Love said. “You force yourself into playing an extra shot just because the architects made you play over things over and over again.”
Birdwood resides on the grounds of the spectacular Boar’s Head Resort, which boasts 168 luxurious guest rooms along with a state-of-the-art sports club and a world-renowned racquet sports facility.
For more information on Boar’s Head Resort, visit www.boarsheadresort.com
