If you find yourself crossing a county road during a round of golf in the state of Virginia, make sure you guzzle any open cans of beer before you do.  Otherwise you may never make it to the 19th hole.  That is because the state of Virginia “prohibits the possession of an open container of alcohol by the driver and/or passengers of a vehicle,” according to the Drive Smart Virginia web site.

        I encountered the sign below at Blue Ridge Shadows Golf Club in Front Royal, VA, today.  The golf course, designed by Tom Clark, was next to the Holiday Inn where I am staying tonight.  I’ll share some photos of the challenging and distinctive course in the next day or two.

BlueShadowsSign

        Our friends at the web site Small Town Gems recently completed a swing through North Carolina and assessed some of the state’s most charming smaller towns, among them some choices that dedicated golfers will recognize.  The Small Towns team, for example, have posted more than 100 photos from around the village of Pinehurst that will give even a person who has never been there a sense of the nooks and crannies of the golfing mecca.

        SmallTownGems.com is an excellent adjunct to research about towns you might visit for the purpose of a vacation or retirement home.

 

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        I am driving through some small town gems in Virginia this week.  On Saturday, I played the Dominion Valley Country Club in Haymarket, and tomorrow it’s on to the even smaller town of Aldie and Creighton Farms, an upscale former Ritz-Carlton property with a highly rated Jack Nicklaus course.  In between, I am attending my son's college golf event in Harrisonburg at Lakeview Country Club which sports four nines.  I will report back here in due course.