Kinloch Golf Club

Kinloch Golf Club is situated twelve miles north west of Richmond, Virginia and it’s a beautiful parkland course set in 274 acres with a 70-acre lake as its centerpiece. Opened in 2001, Lester George and Vinny Giles designed the course and it’s mandatory to use a caddie when playing Kinloch.

Astute observers will note the St Andrews cross and US Amateur Trophy on the club crest – these relate to the amateur record of design consultant Giles who won the US Amateur in 1972 (and its British equivalent in 1975) as well as competing at St Andrews in the Walker Cup for the winning USA team in 1975.

The Kinloch course is routed through hardwood and pine trees and the natural look was retained with minimal earth moving and mound creation. Greens are subtle and understated with seamless transition from fairway to putting surface, enabling good old-fashioned bump and run approach shots to be played if so desired. Bunkers are shallow faced and not intended to be overly penal.

The front and back nine holes differ in appearance but complement each other – holes 1 to 9 are constructed through forest with a cliff running through the 6th, 7th and 9th whilst holes 10 to 18 are played around the lake with water in view at every hole. The signature hole is the 8th, a 437-yard par four, which invites a draw off the tee over the crest of a hill then an approach to a green, positioned at a 45 degree angle behind a pond. Many think this hole resembles the 11th at Augusta but then many are also of the opinion that the conditioning at Kinloch matches that at Augusta too.

One unique feature at Kinloch is the 19th hole and no, it's not the clubhouse. It's a 188-yard par three, better known as the “settle-the-bet” one-shotter which is played over the lake to decide any ties after 18 holes.

In summer 2019 Kinloch Golf Club closed to implement the second phase of a master plan devised by the original architects, Lester George and Marvin ‘Vinny’ Giles. The renovation includes bunker modifications and turf repair and the layout is scheduled to reopen in 2020.