Kingsmill (River)

Golfers at the Kingsmill Resort in Williamsburg are served by no fewer than 63 holes spread over three 18-hole layouts and one 9-hole course laid out on the property. The River course was first to open in 1975, followed ten years later by the Arnold Palmer and Ed Seay-designed Plantation course. Respected Virginian architect Tom Clark then added the Woods 18 holes in the mid 1990s, along with a short 9-hole par three track.

Pete Dye was the architect behind the River course and he returned nearly 30 years after it opened to implement a number of modifications to the original layout. His extensive renovation program included the addition of extra tees, the introduction of new fairway bunkers and the resurfacing of greens.

Starting in 1981, the River course was an annual fixture on the PGA Tour for a couple of decades when it hosted the Michelob Championship. Multiple winners include David Duval and David Toms, each of whom won back to back events. The LPGA Tour stepped in to use the course for their Michelob ULTRA tournament in 2003 and Christie Kerr claimed the last of these championships with a score of 16 under par in 2009.

Television viewers will probably be most familiar with the closing three holes on the River course. The first of these is a left doglegged par four where the green sits below a wooden retaining wall that cuts across the fairway. The par three 17th crosses a gully to a narrow, heavily contoured green that lies to the left of the James River then the home hole dog legs left to another severely undulated green protected by water on the right side.