Course Review: Cannon Ridge Golf Club

"An 18-hole links course crammed into a 9-hole executive footprint"

Cannon Ridge Golf Club

9000 Celebrate Virginia Parkway
Fredericksburg, VA 22406-5445
(540) 735-8000

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Rates (Weekday / Weekend):

Off Season - $59 / $69

In Season - $69 / $79

Twilight: Yes

Off Season - 2PM

In Season - 3PM

We've been playing golf in the Washington DC / Northern Virginia / Southern Maryland region for a number of years now, and it's a rare treat to play a new course. Cannon Ridge may not be the newest kid on the block (opened in 2003) but it was new to us, and I was excited to tee it up on a fresh face.

Cannon Ridge is a difficult course to review because there are so many positive aspects and only one real negative. The course boasts an impressive number of accolades including the 4-star "Best Places to Play" from Golf Digest ('06, '08, '08) as well as #1 Public Course on the East Coast (Golf Digest 2004) and the Top 3 Affordable New Public Course (Golf Digest 2004). Despite almost an hour drive from Washington DC, the friendly staff, well maintained fairways, smooth greens, nice practice facilities, and solid value make this course worthy of fighting I-95 traffic. Well...almost. All of these positive qualities just couldn't make up for the frustratingly claustrophobic layout.

I'll dig into my concerns with the layout in a bit, but first the positives. Perhaps more than any course in the area, Cannon Ridge does an excellent job of providing the all around golf experience. By this, I mean they do all of the little things which made it feel as though we were on a destination golf trip, rather than just your typical weekend tee time. Walking up to the course, the first thing we noticed was the large fire pit adjacent to the bag drop. Not only did this provide warmth on an unseasonably cold spring morning, it also gave off a rustic and antebellum charm - perfectly in sync with Cannon Ridge's civil war battlefield setting. The frost delay gave us an opportunity to explore the practice facilities, which were solid and well above average for the area. The range made use of grass tees (always a nice treat) and while the practice balls seemed old and beat up, we just figured they didn't want to break out the good balls in the soggy weather. Considering how everything else was top notch, we'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

The clubhouse isn't big, but they make good use of the limited space by providing a quaint feel. The bar area is also small, but the staff is friendly and mix a super solid bloody Mary. Drink specials included 6-pack specials for $12 (including PBR....yum!), and the grill made one of the best grilled cheese sandwiches we've seen.

Ok, so we've mentioned the value, the quaint / rustic charm, the friendly staff and the overall experience. Sounds perfect, right? Well it was....until we got to the first tee box. Looking out from the first tee, we honestly couldn't tell where to aim. #1, #2, #10 and #18 are stacked so closely together, that even though one of our foursome had played here in the past, he still aimed down #10. Not only was aiming difficult, but because the greens were right next to the tee boxes, it was almost impossible to keep your focus from all of the chatter. And it didn't get any better as you moved farther away from the clubhouse. Almost every tee box sits right atop the previous green - you'll get to know the group ahead and behind very well. Stacking the holes so closely also made the course feel more crowded. The course played slow for us (5.5 hour round), but I feel much of that can be blamed on the frost delay. Even if the course played faster, I still don't believe it would feel any less crowded. There was just too much stuff packed into too small of an area. Beyond the distraction of playing right on top of other golfers, the course layout was down right dangerous at times. #13 and #14 run up and back, but share a cart path. These two holes are also cart path only (no matter the conditions). As you drive away from #13 tee box, you will find yourself staring straight down the barrel of the tee box on #14. It doesn't even take a wild shot to put golfers in jeopardy.

The worst part however, is the individual hole layouts were brilliant. Architect Deane Beman does an excellent job of working with the land's natural contours and undulations. Every hole has its own personality - with multiple elevation changes and forced carries over ravines (make sure you play the appropriate tee box!). The course looks like it was carved into the landscape rather than simply bulldozed and planted. There are also several markers detailing various civil war related points of interest. When you take each hole in isolation, the course is damn near perfect. When you put it all together, it's just too damn cramped.

Some may argue the tightly packed layout is just a characteristic of a links style course - and while short tee to green distances are an hallmark of this style, I can't accept that the designer wanted golfers to feel this uncomfortable. More likely, the close proximity of the holes came about due to a desire to make optimal use of the available land. According to their website, Cannon Ridge is planning to add a second 18 sometime in the near future (though, this course would be private), and walking around the course you can see where they've already cleared the land to be developed. Soon they'll have 27 holes crammed into a space that should really hold 18.

Is it worth the drive? The value is there and so is the personality...but it's so cramped. It's a real shame, because they've absolutely nailed the little things. At the end of the day, while I enjoyed myself at the course, I just didn't enjoy myself on the course.

Simple Math

I've talked with many beginners about their fears of playing golf with low handicappers, and the most common response I hear is they don't want to be embarrassed. While this is understandable, it's also complete crap. Low handicappers really don't care how poorly you play. In fact, the reason someone is able to consistently shoot in the 70s or 80s is because they are really focused on what they are doing. No, what annoys a low handicapper is not how many balls you fire into the woods, it's the time spent looking for the balls you fire into the woods. Nothing kills a round of golf faster than slow play. It's the age old adage: if you're going to suck, suck fast.

"That's total BS," you're probably saying "I've seen low handicappers looking for their ball in the woods. In fact, I've played with guys who spend what seems like forever before they give up and take a penalty stroke. It's not fair."

There's a reason low handicappers are "allowed" to spend a few minutes looking for a lost ball - they're better at golf! Take a breath and relax, I'm not advocating any kind of golfer elitism. Much like Ferris Bueller, I don't condone ism's. It's really a matter of simple math. A low handicapper might take as many as 20 to 30 fewer strokes than a beginner. If the two golfers finish the round in the same time, the beginner must play faster in order to pack those extra strokes into the round.

And now for some math...

Let's take an "average" round of 4 hours and 45 minutes or 285 minutes. In order to play 18 holes in this time, a golfer needs to play each hole in a little under 16 minutes. Looking at it another way, an average course comes in around 6,600 yards - to cover this distance the golfer needs to average 1 yard for every 2:35 seconds.

So:

For an average par 3 ~180 yards, you would assume 7 minutes and 46 seconds

For an average par 4 ~380 yards, you would assume 16 minutes and 25 seconds

For an average par 5 ~500 yards, you would assume 21 minutes and 35 seconds

Are you with me so far? Pretty basic, but now we're going to toss in a couple of wrinkles. You see, the time assumption can't be applied so simply since the majority of time on each hole is taken on the tee box and on the putting green. We're assuming it splits thusly:

10% of the time is spent on the tee box

40% of the time is spent between the tee box and the green

50% of the time is spent on the green

Let's go back to our initial estimate of 16 minutes per hole (4 hours 45 minutes / 18 holes). Using the assumptions identified above, you would see the following:

~1.5 minutes on the tee box

~9 minutes on the green

~6.3 minutes between tee and green

Over the course of a 4 hour and 45 minute round, the average golfer will spend around 28 minutes on the tee boxes, and 143 minutes on the greens.

Oh, and you still need to get from the tee to the green. For this exercise we'll assume the use of golf carts with an average speed of 12 miles per hour or 21,120 yards per hour or 352 yards per minute. Now, lets also take that average course length of 6,600 yards and gross it up by 10% (since you rarely go from the tee box to the green in a straight line), which gives us an estimated driving distance of 7,260 yards. In a golf cart traveling 352 yards per minute, the average golfer will spend 28.6 minutes driving around the course.

So now we've got:

28 minutes on the tee box

143 minutes on the greens

28 minutes driving in the golf cart

Subtotal: 191.6 minutes

All of this leaves a little over 93 minutes to reach the green after you've left the tee box!

But wait, there's more. Since a par 3 only requires a tee shot to reach the green (or at least the area around the green), we'll take them out. Assuming the average course has four par 3's, we'll take those remaining 93 minutes and divide them by the remaining 14 holes, giving us 6.7 minutes.

What does that mean? Simply put, in order to finish a round of golf under the 4 hour 45 minute mark, a golfer has less than 7 minutes to get to the green once they leave the tee box on each hole.

Based on a golfers handicap, we can assume the following:

Handicap: Avg Number of Shots to Reach the Green:

0-5 1.0

6-10 1.5

11-15 2.0

16-20 2.5

21-25 3.0

25+ 4.0

Here's where all that complicated math gets simple. Since the low handicapper will probably only require 1 or 2 shots to reach the green. This means they can can take the time to look for the occasional ball in the woods. The law of averages says that if they spend 5 minutes looking for a ball on one hole, they'll make that time up somewhere along the round. The high handicapper on the other hand, will have to cram 3 or 4 shots into that 7 minute window - which means they simply don't have time to spend looking for a ball.

Here's a graph:

Whereas the low handicapper can spend the full 7 minutes on the shot, a 25+ golfer will need to average under 2 minutes per shot. That doesn't leave much time for practice swings, club selection, shot gunning beers, looking for lost balls, apologizing to home owners, and filling out insurance forms. If your handicap is in the 20s or even if you're a 10 to 15, you just don't have time to mess around out there. If you're worried about losing balls, either buy cheaper balls (there are a lot of good ones out there) or get better. When you hit a ball into the woods, give it a quick look, then take the drop and penalty. Heck, the penalty stroke is probably going to HELP your scorecard rather than spending 4 strokes trying to punch out of the woods.

There you have it, mathematical proof that if you are going to suck, suck fast. So to all you beginners out there, the next time your low handicap buddy invites you out, take him up on the offer. No one minds playing with beginners, so long as they don't kill the round with slow play.

~Saps

How will it all end?

There are some dangerous events on the horizon, but just how will it all end? Make your guess and see if you're right! At the very least it'll give you something to brag about during armageddon!!