Golden Horseshoe Golf Club, Gold Course, Williamsburg, Virginia - a Classic American Golf Course Updated for Resort Play

When the Gold Course opened at the Colonial Williamsburg resort in 1963, the original course architect, Robert Trent Jones, called it his "finest design.'' And, over the years, the course received much acclaim in terms of its beauty, playability and quality of design. In the mid-1990s, however, it was decided that the Gold Course, which had also gained a reputation as being a difficult layout, be altered to make it more friendly for the average resort player.

Rees Jones was brought in for the project, which included a lot of fairway grading, which typically wasn't done in course construction thirty years earlier. The holes were graded to flow in the direction of play, helping with playability.

Other changes included creating greater visibility for the greens, and adding some championship hole locations for tournament play. The younger Jones also eliminated some of the "fall-off'' characteristics of the greens, since they were already pretty small, while adding contours on some and flattening others.

Bunkers were also deepened, a new state-of-the-art irrigation system was installed, and the cart paths were paved around the entire layout. After the renovations, the 18-hole, par-71 course re-opened in 1998 and now plays to 6,817 yards from the longest tees, with a slope rating of 144.

Even with the improvements aimed at making the course more player friendly, it's still one of the more difficult challenges in the Mid-Atlantic region. As Glen Byrnes, Director of Golf at the Golden Horseshoe Golf Club described it: "It's target golf in a beautiful setting. There's a very small area on every hole that you're aiming at off the tee, so it plays a lot more difficult than it appears - because it looks so open. The greens are small and undulated, so scoring is easier said than done out there.

"The Gold Course is more than just a set of golf holes. The visual beauty that you experience on the golf course throughout the day, coupled with the incredibly well-designed flow of the layout - which offers you holes of every length and shape... you'll use every club in your bag. Whether you have your best or worst hole, you'll still enjoy the opportunity to play it.''

Some of the most noteworthy holes on the course include its collection of par-3 holes, including the star of the show, No. 16. One of the first island greens ever built, the hole plays to 169 yards and steeply downhill to a large island green that appears to have been placed in the valley of a tree-filled park. According to most reviewers, it's the one hole players will have etched in their memories long after leaving the Gold Course.

Since its redesign, the Gold Course has received other accolades, including being named among America's 100 Greatest Public Course by Golf Digest in 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2009. Golfweek magazine ranked it among the Top 100 Resort Courses in 2007, while GOLF Magazine listed the course among the Top 100 You Can Play six times.