I was met in the parking lot by an employee in a golf cart who took my bag for me. Every employee I met gave me a cheerful greeting and it was almost like being a member of a country club. We teed off at about 8 am under a low, gloomy overcast. I put our chances of completing 18 holes at less than 50/50.

We settled on the white tees, largely at my suggestion. (My handicap is right around 15, but I’ve been playing to a solid 25 so far this year.) With five sets of tees, you can select the level of difficulty you want to take on. The white tees play to 6034 yards; the “Boom Boom” tees are 6897 yards.

The course was in great shape, enhancing that “country club” feel, and we had it to ourselves. I guess the threat of rain kept other golfers away that day, but we never came close to another group on the course and only saw other golfers once or twice.

Fairways and greens were in great shape and I played closer to my real handicap on this round. We had a few sprinkles during the front nine, but nothing bad until we were on the 9th green. The rain was heavy by the time we putted out, so we decided to take a longer than normal turn at the clubhouse. There was some question as to whether we’d be able to continue, but after about 40 minutes the rain abated and we were off for the back nine.

There was some more light rain during the back nine, but not enough to stop this intrepid foursome. We completed our round in just about four hours, despite using “cart path only” rules for most of the round. The course was picturesque and I like the fact that there weren’t any houses in sight from anywhere on the course.

Westfields Golf Club – Clifton, VA – westfieldsgolf.com

That has really changed. Beginning a few years ago, Goose Creek has really turned around and it’s now in the best condition I’ve ever seen it. Maybe “pristine” is too strong a word to use, but the fairways really were in great shape with no weeds or bare patches in sight. The same goes for the greens. I’m bad at guessing Stimp values, but they were pretty fast for a public course and the putts ran true (12 footer for birdie on the 17th!). About the only thing I can’t really comment on is the condition of the bunkers — I just wasn’t in them during this round (a rarity for me)

We finished our round at 4:15, taking just over three hours to play. It was a gorgeous day but there were very few other players out there, maybe because of the strong winds (gusting to over 25 mph at times). Or maybe memories of the old Goose Creek are keeping people away. If that’s the case, they need to give this course another look.

Goose Creek Golf Club – Leesburg, VA – www.goosecreekgolf.com