Brambleton Golf Course
Location » Ashburn, Va.
Phone » 703-372-3403
Fees » $47 Monday-Thursday; $59 Friday-Sunday
Par/Yardage/Rating/Slope
72/6,648/71.2/125
Description » Traditional, flat municipal course, in Brambleton Regional Park, feels older than its 14 years. That’s both a good thing and bad. Course has been heavily played and facilities have a dated, planned community feel — think the towns of Reston or Columbia.
Reasons to play » Enjoyable, stress-free course where one can post a good score. Interesting historical touchstones remain from plantation era, including stone fences, a cemetery, and on No. 5, the preserved foundation of a small building, just off the fairway.
Municipal options » Brambleton is reminiscent nearby Algonkian, another course under the Northern Virginia Park Authority umbrella. The best of the NVPA courses is vastly improved Pohick in Lorton.
Arrrgggg! » The splotchy greens at Brambleton can veer some putts off line. Tee shots that land in the fairway can run through the inconsistent, sometimes hard-pan rough, and into the trees.
Signature hole
No. 4 » Par 4 » 396 Yards
Nothing particularly distinctive about this dog-leg right. En route to the tee, however, players will want to stop and visit the Civil War-era cemetery, which is surrounded by a stone fence and where members of nine families are buried.
Best hole » No. 18, Par 5, 508 Yards
Mounds that run up the right side frame this dog-leg left, giving this hole character. This is the shortest of Brambleton’s four par-fives, all strong holes. No. 7, at 589 yards from the elevated back tee and with boulders running diagonally across the fairway on the approach, is a stern, tree-lined test. No. 13, at 516 yards, is another attractive, tree-lined par-five.
Educational opportunity » If there was any doubt you were in parkland, it is removed when you approach the seventh tee where a marker educates players on dragonflies who, by the way, have 30,000 lenses in each eye and can see in all directions
