We spent Friday at Washington & Lee University in Lexington, VA.  Son Tim, the golfer, has been accepted there, and although we had made a prior visit, we had not met golf coach Gavin Colliton.  And in evaluating his choices, Tim insists on taking a look at the golf team's home course before he decides on his college (Davidson College and University of the South in Sewanee, TN are also in play).     

    We didn't have time to play the course, but we did stop to look at the sleek Lexington Country Club, whose original nine were opened in 1906.  Today, the course is a hilly, tree lined 18 in excellent condition, very green for mid-April in the Blue Ridge Mountains, with just a little more grass growth needed on the greens.  The adjacent community sits well back from the course, and from most holes you cannot see any houses.      

    At less than 6,400 yards from the tips, Lexington certainly is not long, but views of #1 and #18 from behind the clubhouse indicate it is tricky.  The first fairway, lined with trees from about 200 yards out, tilts hard from high right to low left.  Assuming the tee ball stays out of the trees, the approach is uphill to a smallish green with traps guarding its right half.      

    The finishing hole, a 520-yard par 5, is downhill from the tee, so a well-placed drive puts you in the go zone to the green.  But the approach - whether the second or third - is not for the faint of heart, with a stream at the base of the steep hill that leads up to the elevated, two-tiered green.  On the day we visited, the pin was on the far right, just in front of a trap.  Put your approach on the top tier of the green on the left side and your putt will likely roll past the cup and off the green.  Go for the pin and you will face the prospect of rolling down into the creek if you are short; or if you go long, a trap shot with an impossible downhill blast and the risk of being back down the hill.  The only bailout area is to the right of the green, leaving a delicate but not unmanageable chip shot.  It is a beautifully designed hole by Ellis Maples and Ed Seay, the course's most recent designers (1971).    

    The club has a longstanding affiliation with the university and offers membership to non-resident parents of students for just $1,000 per school year.  Lexington is a small but culturally rich town, given its two schools (the Virginia Military Institute is just down the road from W&L).     

    If you are wide open to choices about where to relocate and would be happy playing just one excellent golf course is a strongly collegiate town, Lexington is worth a look.  Phone:  540-463-3542.  One caveat:  The driving range is irons only.

    I am visiting communities in the historic town of Williamsburg, VA, this week.  The plan is to gather information about Kingsmill, Governor's Land, Ford's Colony, Washington National and Colonial Heritage, a 55 and over community with an Arthur Hills golf course.  If you are interested in the area and want me to address specific questions about Williamsburg, please contact me through the "Contact" button at the right.    Although I will write extensively about Williamsburg and its golfing communities in a future issue of HomeOnTheCourse, our advisory newsletter, I'll file a few notes in this space in the coming days.  The following is a quick review of dinner at a local restaurant last night (Sunday).     

    After a six-hour drive, I was looking for a good meal in comfortable surroundings, including a bar, a TV and something on draft.  I found it - for the most part - at the Blue Talon Bistro in the quaint and historic Merchant Square section of the town.  The bar had a zinc top, very modern and, though out of place in Colonial Williamsburg, it was wide and immaculately clean.  Above the bar was the requisite plasma screen.  The programming was a little monotonous, a continuously looping DVD of Julia Child cooking.  Without the sound on, Ms. Child's cooking appeared to have no other purpose than to get the taste buds going. It worked.

    The Blue Talon offers daily specials as well as a set menu that presents a range of meat, poultry and seafood items.  In addition, a special menu with three appetizers and entrees was also offered.  Sunday's weekly special is coq au vin; I was tempted, but I opted for the pork belly special, and ordered the country pate as my appetizer.  The pate ($7.95) was presented beautifully on a plate that included fanned out slices of fresh French bread, a tiny frying pan filled with gherkins and chunks of candied fruit and a little jar of grainy mustard at the center of the plate.  Tiny, salty, pitted French olives and larger green olives were scattered around the plate, making the entire portion as generous as it was pretty.  Too bad the pate was lacking the same level of taste of the accompaniments.     

    Given the size of the appetizer, I wished I had not ordered a salad ($4.95), but it turned out to be a simple plate of lettuces with a tasty vinegar and oil dressing, a generous ramekin of blue cheese chunks on the side.  No harm done.    

    I was looking forward to the pork bellies which, when done properly, have the kind of lustrous texture you would expect of a piece of meat generously layered with fat. The cast iron pot and fragrant beefy and anise scented steam promised something special, but sadly, these pork bellies ($21.95) didn't measure up.  The meat was not only too chewy, but the fat was cold and un-melted.  This was curious coming from a steaming cast iron pot - I was warned not to touch it - and I can only think that my bellies had been taken out of the refrigerator, or maybe even the freezer, just moments before immersion in the pot.  I put the meat back in the pot, which helped a little.  But since it took 25 minutes after my salad for the steaming pot to arrive, there was no good excuse for this miss.  If I'm going to give up so many calories, I want my fat melted at least.    

    My meal at the bar took a full 90 minutes, not long if you are in the dining room with wife and friends, but too leisurely for eating at the bar.  And to add insult to injury, the bartender coughed continuously throughout the meal.
    The Blue Talon promised a lot but came up short on its delivery.  I might give it one more chance this week, but I will choose my dishes more carefully.  Web site:  www.bluetalonbistro.com