Stonehouse Golf Club

Strantz won Golf Digest’s Best New Upscale Public Course in 1996 for his design at Stonehouse, 40 miles east of Richmond. Magazine panelists clearly scored it high, but it’s possible they did so because they didn’t know what else to make of it. Of all Strantz’s designs, this one is the least coherent because it’s the least cohesive. The holes make a wandering six-mile circuit around a heavily wooded property with significant ups and downs that feel mountainous in places. Some sections are sleek and slithering, and others are broad and cresting as if imported from another part of the world. Unfavorable economics in the 2000s contributed to the slow deterioration of Stonehouse, and the course closed temporarily in 2017 before new ownership revived it in 2019. What a relief—though a little out-of-sync overall, its eccentric architecture makes it a must-play when in the Richmond-Norfolk area.