James River Country Club

So yesterday I played at The James River Country Club in Newport News VA. This is the Country Club that I worked at for over 4 years, probably 12 years ago. The course is strickly private so not a lot of info/pics on their site but here is a link to my favorite part of the club, I use to wander around this room for hours when I could: The Museum at The James River Country Club

There are some "75th Anniversary" links at the bottom of the page that contain some pics of the museums highly impressive collection. Golf clubs from many big names here: Vardon, Jones, Strange, and many others. A highly impressive collection of golf balls, from "featheries", gutta percha, to the modern day style golf balls. The thing about this place is most people don't even know about this collection and even worse they will never be able to see it(unless by appointment, but good luck).

The golf course is amazing as well, originally built in 1932 by the founding fathers of the Newport News Shipyard. The course has gone through two major renovations in the last 10 years and recently just opened after being closed for a year, and is in great shape. Traditional yet challenging layout, tough but fair. 3 of the par threes were over 200+ yards and being near the River, wind and run-off influence plays a factor.

Next time I have the pleasure of playing there, I'll bring along the camera and snap a few pics.

Wow, had not realized it was 3.5 years ago I last played this course. I played with my Dad's Air Force buddy yesterday and the course was as fun as I remember. They had recently aerated the greens so they were a bit bumpy, but not bad as they use smaller puncture holes than most courses in the area so it heals quicker. I only took one photo on the course but took a few in the museum as well. The museum features dozens of golf balls, one dating back to 1790, all sorts of old clubs and over a thousand volumes of golf books. Sorry for the blurriness of some pics, not the best lighting in there and the flash didn't help, hope you enjoy.

The Colonel on the par 3 third hole



Bobby Jones 1 iron used in his grand slam year



One of Snead's clubs



Ball and club made by Old Tom Morris





Complete set of Harry Vardon's clubs



Some Featherys



Set of Spaulding clubs circa 1920

Thanks for sharing those pics CMac, looks like a museum!

James River is a fun, challenging course. The museum they is pretty cool. Whenever I ate dinner there with my grandparents, I would always get up at some point to mull around the museum area and check things out.