So, when I got a call from a publicist for a new golf course in Amherst, Virginia and he invited me to come play the course, I had to think long and hard before I could commit. Amherst is, after all, over two and a half hours from the Capital Beltway, a little southwest of Charlottesville. That's over a five hour round trip - it's a day's commitment!

The publicist, Mark Glickman of the Glickman Group in Charlottesville began to tell me about the course named Poplar Grove. "It's great," he said. "It's a very special place." "Troon Golf manages it." We've all heard those types of words in advertising for this or that golf course or other consumer product. I can't tell you how many times I have been disappointed in a product labeled "great" or "special." But Glickman is no ordinary media guy. He's well respected by all of us in golf and, when he said what he said next, I knew I was going to make the trip to Amherst: "It's Sam Snead's final golf project."
When Snead died a couple of years ago, I wrote a piece praising his career and his personal passion for golf excellence. I liked the competitive athlete that Snead was. If he had a hand in this course, I knew it was worth seeing. And, after seeing and meeting all the hands involved in Poplar Grove, I'm encouraging you to make the trip as well. Poplar Grove is headed for a "special place" in Virginia golf, a place not because of just who was involved but, and this is as it should be, because of what was created. This course will someday be one of Virginia's most honored golf venues because it's that good and represents an extraordinary set of design values that many designers have never understood. And the course was almost never built!

Let's start at the beginning. Johnny Maddox and one of his development partners in Poplar Grove Associates, David Smith, were walking some land they had purchased. The thick woods and small streams were perfect for hunting. In fact, one of Maddox's sons had already been hunting deer on the land. As they walked, Maddox turned to Smith and commented, "This place would be a great golf course." The partners group had a few golfers in it and, when they heard what Maddox said, they nodded and their minds considered the possibilities. None of them knew much about golf course development but they knew this was a worthwhile opportunity that would help their homesites and they also knew that, if they were going to do golf, they wanted to do it very well.

The group asked a firm called Anderson & Associates to take a look and Brad Stipes of Anderson just loved the idea of a course on the land. More importantly, he had connections to Sam Snead and his son, Jack, a golf course design consultant. Getting the Sneads involved in the land was important to everyone. Their next move was to bring in an architect who could work with the Sneads and really optimize what they all thought was great land. That architect was Ed Carton of Carton Design Studio, a former associate of Tom Fazio.

Carton, Sam and Jack Snead began the vision part of the project - find the course in the middle of all those trees, brambles and honeysuckle briars. Johnny Maddox, talking about Ed Carton, says it best. "Ed has such good vision." Brandon Maddox, Johnny's son, told me how amazed he was that Ed Carton could see the holes and the routing when there was nothing to see but the land itself - all cluttered with bushes and trees. And there was Sam. The man who actually worked on construction of the Cascades Course at The Homestead when he was 11 years old had quite a few ideas of his own. The man who won over 80 PGA events in America knew a thing or two about what he liked on a golf course. Three men, Ed Carton, Sam and Jack Snead, spent a lot of time going over the rough layout for the course. Sam wanted playability and a fun design. Ed wanted challenge and memorability. Jack wanted the beauty he knew was in the land. All three had the design in their hearts and minds - they wanted something special! They wanted something to honor Sam. While he did not live long enough to work on the back nine, Snead was an active contributor on the front side. What he did do was put his stamp on a course that would stand the test of time. Poplar Grove, when it grows in fully and is landscaped fully, will be one of Virginia's premier courses.

There is no question that this is a shotmaker's course. Sam wanted it that way. No railroad ties in bunkers. Lot's of downhill holes (Snead's favorites) and a few uphill ones to balance the land. Run up areas and ways for the higher handicapper to get around were all important to the design group but the thing that stands out is beauty. This course will be as beautiful someday as any we have in the region.

Each hole is memorable for its own reasons. There is a rhythm and flow to the course sequence that is remarkable in its ability to present new challenges and new looks as you move from hole to hole. The fairways curve gracefully left and right as you eagerly want to see what lies ahead - what type of shot you must manufacture to par the hole. Bunkering on some holes is simply awesome. It disturbs your concentration as you stand on the tee and say to yourself, as I did on #10 and #12, "I don't want to go THERE!" Green complexes are as diverse as any you'll find. Some have a number of levels, some just a couple. Some have a gentle slope and some have a slope that can only be called "Be careful HERE!" I think of #11 where a short uphill par 5 has many bunkers confronting the short hitter and then one of the most difficult and challenging green contours you've ever played to stymie the long hitter. One par 3, #13 is a 150 yard downhill shot into a little valley to a green that is surrounded by gigantic bunkers on both sides. The hole drops nearly 40 feet from tee to green and those bunkers can be intimidating. It's called "Playing Favorites" and you wouldn't get that name unless you knew that it was designed after one of Sam's very favorite holes - the 8th at the Upper Cascades Course at The Homestead. It's a sensational golf shot.

And, for those of you thinking that this might be your typical country course, the owners installed similar heating and cooling systems as those under Augusta's greens. As I said earlier, this course was to be something special. There's still work to be done. If you hurry up and play this course before the landscaping is complete, you'll probably be able to take a shortcut to the green on the par 5, #6 hole. But, when the trees and longer grass are in place, the shot to this creek-protected green will be spectacular and much longer!

Some holes show the compromises involved in all projects. #3 comes to mind. It's a downhill par 5 with a narrow landing area and a green that is oriented to receive shots from around 150 yards rather than closer in. I think the rear of the green should have had more elevation to receive the shots from the best angle of approach. A couple of other holes have very difficult shots from the back tees. #4 and #17 come to mind. The championship tees here might have high difficulty shots if the pin placements are too unforgiving. #4 is 209 yards over water to a bunker-protected green from the "Slammer" tees as they're called here and #17 is 238 yards, also over water to a green that is protected across the front by bunkers! The par 3s here will tell you what tees you should play!

And, when you think that all this is a lot, remember who the course managers are at Poplar Grove - Troon Golf. One of the most prestigious golf management firms in the world operates Poplar Grove! Scottsdale-based Troon Golf is renown for its attention to service at high caliber facilities and David Conforti, Troon Golf's General Manager at Poplar Grove, is a VMI graduate and golf professional. He has worked at a number of Troon Golf's best courses and now works to bring recognition to Poplar Grove and its remarkable course. As far as I know, this is their first course in our area and what a pick they made!

As I mentioned earlier, Amherst is southwest of Charlottesville, Virginia and it's a small place. There are plenty of places to stay in Charlottesville for Washington/Baltimore travelers who want to make a weekend of it. For the Richmond and south golfers, Lynchburg is the place to stay for you. You'll want to check the website for directions and how to make tee times. Directions on the website are very good.

There will be attractive homesites in the near future but they will be set back from the course and will protect your golf experience. Because the course is new, there are still greens to be softened and other minor things to work out with the course and the GPS system. The GPS needs a way to show you green depth and contours. These issues are minor and part of any course's settling in period. What is not minor is the commitment of all the parties to creating a very unique experience for golfers. That is a goal worthy of the legend involved in this project - Sam Snead.

Sam's son Jack talked with me extensively about his dad. Ed Carton has audio tapes of long, course design conversations he had with Sam as they drove from The Masters one year. Johnny Maddox met Sam in the early 90s and admired the way "He said what was on his mind." If you've got a special eye for things, you might swear that you saw Sam on the course when you play there. You did! It's Sam Snead III, Sam's grandson. He's the Assistant Superintendent at Poplar Grove and folks say he looks a lot like his grandpa did when he was young. The influence is strong. Jack swears he can still hear his dad talk to him about their golf together and how he should play certain shots. Sam's buried on Jack's property in Hot Springs but a very special part of him is also in the land at Poplar Grove. The part that spoke about having fun and enjoying golf for what it was. The part that sought excellence. The part of Sam Snead that said to do something as well as you can and commit to your shot. Poplar Grove is a remarkable offering by a talented and respected group of organizations that simply wanted to do it as well as they could. It's a brilliant shot!