Lake Manassas is the highlight of the back nine at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club.
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We are familiar with the stars, but what about the stage?
As top women's golfers representing the United States and Europe prepare for the 2024 Solheim Cup, here are 9 things to know about the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, in Gainesville, Va., where the biannual event is being held this week .
The designer considered it his masterpiece
The great and influential designer, known as the “father” of modern golf design, Robert Trent Jones Sr. he was not ashamed of himself. But he named only one club after himself. “The place is beautiful,” Jones, Sr. said. about his eponymous work, which he completed in 1991. “I don't think we could have done anything better in any case.”
He came to earth by accident
In the early 1970s, Jones Sr. he was flying to Washington, DC, to check out the place where he was going to study when he looked down and was struck by a different world, near what is now Lake Manassas, about 40 miles west of the capital. In the years that followed, he began buying up land, parcel by parcel, until he had enough acreage to carry out his vision.
The team won the first President's Cup (with three others)
Although the club has never played in the Solheim Cup before, this is not their first appearance. It participated in the President's Cup, in 1994, and repeated that role the next three times when the event was held in the US, in 1996, 2000 and 2005. It was also the site of the PGA Tour's 2015 Quicken Loans National.
It's not a country club
There is no swimming pool. There are no tennis courts. No pickleball. No bocce. “We're not what I would describe as 'family friendly,'” said Wayne Valis, a longtime DC consultant who now serves as a consultant and has been a member of the group since it opened. “We are a golf club. We have many single digit disabilities. It is for people who are serious about this game.”
MJ is a member
It's no secret that the GOAT loves golf. It's also no mystery how he likes to play it. Of the club's roughly 400 members, perhaps the most elite newcomer is Michael Jordan, who is not known as a $2 Nassau fan. “He's a high roller,” Valis said. “If he comes here, he will play 36, if he stays, he will play 36 the next day. And it has a big impact in every way.”
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So is Barack Obama
It's hard for former US Presidents to keep a low profile. But Obama does his best when he gets to the club. “He comes with two undercover agents and he doesn't carry guns,” said Valis. “They wear long shirts that hide their guns, Obama gave them a ride in a cart so they look like golfers. And he doesn't play until the afternoon. He doesn't explain anything.” Earlier this week, the former Commander in Chief appeared at the club to wish the American team well.
Bill Clinton has a locker
Like both President Bushes, Bill Clinton made good use of the club during his time in the Oval Office, and still keeps a locker, although he doesn't go out as often as he once did. A big fan of mulligans, Clinton broke several world speed records. George HW Bush, by contrast, hit the cart quickly, going through 18 in a shade under two and a half hours, swinging clubs without pointing yards and spending just enough time on the ball to repeat the aforementioned words. Before the change, Valis says, the President said quietly, “Mr. Smooth, be with me!” Which happened at one time.
There's an RTJ burger
His name is in club and grub. However, in one dish: the Robert Trent Jones burger, a clubhouse menu staple made with a mix of beef and sausage.
It is an ingenious design
Among other things, Jones Sr. he was known for ushering in the golf warrior era, with designs that required long-range carry and high-flying, aerial attacks. In many ways, this course fits that bill. It tops out at more than 7,400 yards, and its greens, many of which slope back to the front, are guarded by bunkers that allow little room for maneuvering. However, it will not play its full length in the Solheim Cup, where the setup will be around 6,700 yards and include short par-4s and accessible par-5s with water problems: good ingredients for a playoff.
Build with momentum
Lake Manassas is a majestic, undaunted presence, growing as the cycles age. It begins demanding attention on the par-3 9th hole, which plays downhill to the green, and stays in the picture for most of the nine. Although there is a mandatory crossing of the lake itself (on the par-3 11th), the dance along the shore is on the way to the end, and the water becomes a repeated feature, perhaps the most compelling on the 480-yard 14th, a. a gettable par-5 that surrounds the drink. The par-4 18th is a good nail-biter, too, with a green that's close to the lake.
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