WILLIAMSBURG — Colonial Williamsburg Resorts held a preview event Wednesday for The Shoe, its new Rees Jones-designed nine-hole, par-three course at Golden Horseshoe Golf Club.
In December 2022, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation officially closed the nine-hole Robert Trent Jones-designed Spotswood Course — once called the “best short nine-hole course in the country” by Golf Magazine — with plans to redevelop the property into residential housing.
At the time, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation said the course was underutilized and had become a strain on its ability to deliver its core educational mission.
The plan to redevelop the property met with opposition from the community and was later withdrawn by developer Frye Properties. Shortly after, it emerged CWF was aiming to develop an executive nine-hole course on part of the property, and the resort officially broke ground in July of last year.
In deciding to go with a short course, the foundation noted their increasing popularity nationwide, with the National Golf Foundation reporting that 50% of new course openings in the United States over the last decade have been nine-hole layouts.
Thus, the new course is shorter than the course it replaces, which featured two par-4 holes and one par-5. However, the course still comes in at 760 yards, with holes ranging from 43 to 137 yards, making it an official nine-hole course, according to the United States Golf Association. The goal was to create something on the level of The Hay at Pebble Beach or The Cradle at Pinehurst.
The course aims to be both family-friendly and to address the growing interest of experienced golfers in short, executive courses, and has a much smaller footprint than the Spotswood course — taking up one-third of the property on the east side of England Street.
What to do with the remainder of the property is still under consideration.
“Par-3 courses are more up and coming. They’re more popular. Not everyone has five hours of play a round of golf. This course takes about an hour and 15 minutes. It gives everyone a chance to get up there and play,” explained John Kueser, Executive Director, Hotels and Recreation at Colonial Williamsburg.
“You have kids,” he continued. “You have people who are up in their age who couldn’t play the gold or green course anymore. It gives them a chance to come out and still play a round of golf in a short amount of time. It’s still challenging to good golfers, but it has been made accessible.”
The new course officially opens July 4.
“We are doing what we call a bit of a soft opening. The golf course has been growing in for less than a full golf season. They planted the greens late October last year, which is kind of late start for that,” explained Director of Golf Jeremy Hyjek. “The sodded the golf course in late November, which is extremely late for warm-season grasses. So, we’ve gotten through the spring season, we’ve got green grass everywher, we have conditions that we played on, but it’s still very tender. So, we’ll have limited tee times available daily.”
The course is designed to be approachable for both the beginner or for someone who can’t hit it as far as they used to. By design, bunkers don’t guard the front of the green, and a player doesn’t have to hit over a bunker or water feature. It offers multiple tee boxes for players at different levels of their development. And some of the features are designed to be forgiving, offering second chances. Yet the greens offer undulations that can be challenging to the experienced golfer, as well.
Young golfers were something the designers had in mind from the start.
“Our very first thought was to get the youth and this community out, learning how to play golf, getting interested in golf, whether it’s the First Tee program or something we’re going to develop ourselves,” said Keith Jackson, Vice President, Hospitality
Vice President of Operations Rhonda Khabir added that as the home of William & Mary golf, they are already looking at how the university can be involved.
“We had some preliminary conversations yesterday about their role in this and how those young athletes get to play and utilize this course,” she said. “But we’re also looking at camps. How do we set up camps where kids can come, especially during these summer months, and learn to engage in the game of golf and have fun out here, really, that is the core of why this course is here.”
Khabir also noted the course offers opportunities for special programming for group events.
“We do a lot of groups and meetings here at Colonial Williamsburg. We have groups as large as 1,000 people come here,” she explained. “So, we have already started programming some of those special events where they get to use the courses for their their group exclusively, so that those are already happening. Things like night golf or blow golf, where you get to go out and have fun with your group and do team building exercises.”
The focus on fun was a common theme during the presentation. There is also a nine-hole putting course, as opposed to a standard putting green, that offers more opportunities for golfers to have a good time. So far, members and guests who have previewed the course seem to have bought in on the concept.
“I would say it was a monster success, and these are hardcore golfers, right? Sometimes they’re the hardest to please. They’re not always about the fun, so, what was really, really cool was that not only did all these guys go around that putting course once, most of them went around it 2, 3, 4 times,” said Hyjek.
“Our membership component also exceeded our initial expectations in our proforma, so we had more people sign up for the membership than we expected, so we’re really pleased, and we’ve been receiving a tremendous amount of positive comments from the community,” added Khabir.
The cost is $50 for a round and there is a $10 cart fee. It is expected the new course will become part of hospitality packages moving forward. Memberships are available. Representatives say reservations can be made by calling the golf shop or through the website. Learn more on the Golden Horseshoe website.
