“This will be an excellent course with views that you won't see anywhere in the immediate area.” – Clem Gailliot, spokesman for the Gailliot family, owners of Hilltop Golf Club.
If you're a beginner, you're going to like having golf lessons at Hilltop Golf Club and then going out to play the club's new short course where you can put everything you've learned to work. If you're an experienced player, you'll find that Hilltop Golf Club is going to provide you with nine intriguing tests of your skills. It's just the place to work on your approach shots and your chipping and pitching.
“Our course is unique and challenging for all levels of players,” says Mike Whitfield, the vice president of Hilltop Golf Club, about the club's nine-hole course, that opened in the fall of 2003.
Golfers who play here won't have to use every club in their bags, “but they will use as significant number of them,” says Clem Gailliot, spokesman for the Gailliot family, owners of the golf club property since 1917.
And everyone is going to like the convenience of this course, so close to the Beltway and accessible to many local cities.
Architect Lindsay Bruce Ervin created this course in the Scottish links style with lots of berms and bunkers to challenge golfers. There are four par-4 holes and five par-3s. “We've used pot bunkers and mounding around the holes and long fescue grass in the rough to give it a real Scottish-Irish look,” Ervin says.
Click here to book your tee time today or call us at (703) 719-6504 for more information.
Ervin's general advice for players here: “You don't have to hit it long, but you do have to hit it straight.”
What many golfers will be surprised at are the panoramic views from elevated holes on the new course, says Mike Whitfield. “The course takes you up from an elevation of about 80 feet to 240 feet,” he says, “and you'll see a panorama of vistas -- from the Potomac River to the Maryland shoreline. You can even see some of the oaks at Mount Vernon.”
Ervin agreed that there are breathtaking views from some of the holes that are at a higher elevation. “I took the pro up to the top recently,” Ervin says, “and he told me, ‘This is just a drop-dead, beautiful golf hole.' ”
The No. 1 hole lies near the driving range at the golf club and is a par-3 that measures 113 yards from the back tees. The trick here, says Whitfield, is managing the four-foot slope that crosses the green with your tee shot. No. 2 is another short par-3 (110 yards from the back) that requires a little bit of an uphill shot to the green. “The problem here is that you have to hit a narrow green with a pond on the left and woods on one side,” Whitfield says. 
Golfers will cross a streambed to get to the tee for No. 3, a par-4 that measures 442 yards from the back tees. At that point, you're at about 120 feet of elevation but you have to make your tee shot about 180 to 200 yards uphill in an effort to reach a green that's around the corner of a sharp dogleg right. “In the middle of the fairway, you're going to find some sod-wall bunkers,” says Whitfield.
On the fourth hole, on the top of the course, you're going to find that the wind comes into play on this 170-yard par-3 that's at the edge of a big berm. This hole, with views that are really special is a favorite of the architect and just about everyone else. “You're up in the sky playing here,” says Mike Whitfield.
At No. 5, you face a par-4 that's about 350 yards in length. According to Whitfield, the fairway will be wide and generous but with bunkers to the right and left. On the right side, well down the fairway, the terrain begins to fall off. “So if you miss long,” he says, “you'll have no recovery.”
No. 6, a long par-3 that's about 210 yards long, begins to take you downhill again along a tree line. A creek also runs the length of the hole.
No. 7 is another par-4 (about 350 yards) that runs parallel to No. 5. You won't be able to see the green from the tee because this is a sharp dogleg right. There are lots of berms on this traditional-style hole with bunkers on both sides forming a throat of fairway as it approaches the green. Use extra care in your approach shot because of those tricky bunkers.
The longest par-3 is the downhill No. 8 (210 yards from the back tees). From the tee, you're aiming at a kidney-shaped green that has a lot of elevation change as it undulates around. The hole actually plays shorter than it might seem because of the down slope.
The finishing hole, No. 9, is a 330-yard dogleg left, a downhill par-4. There's a 5,000 square-foot green protected by a pond and woods as well. Some big hitters might try to cut the dogleg and drive into the green. But it's easy to reach the green with two iron shots. If you're afraid to cut the dogleg, you can take a more traditional shot to the right.
“I believe golfers are really going to enjoy this course,” says Lindsay Bruce Ervin.
Click here to book your tee time today or call us at (703) 719-6504 for more information.
