The finishing hole on the Two Rivers course is a hard dogleg left around the marshy indentations of the Chickahominy and James Rivers.
I won't burden you with a restaurant review today; I left the haute cuisine circuit last night and opted for the Chinese buffet down the street from the hotel. All I'll say is it was pretty mediocre.
Yesterday I toured the community of Governor's Land at Two Rivers and played the golf course. Governor's Land is pretty well completed, with just 80 lots of a total 733 still waiting for houses. The homeowners association runs the community and the members guide the golf club, having been handed the reins by Dominion Resources, the developers, a few years ago.
The community is all single-family houses, no town homes, and the starting prices are in the mid $500s. The James and Chickahominy Rivers merge at Governor's Land, thus giving the community its embellished name "at Two Rivers." Homes that overlook either or both of the two rivers run into the few millions.
The Tom Fazio-designed Two Rivers Golf Club course meanders through woods until it emerges at the confluence of the rivers for the three finishing holes. For the most part the water is not in play, but it does form an impressive backdrop. I didn't play the course on its best day - it rained hard the day before and the greens had been aerated and top-dressed a few days earlier - but it gave every indication that, in a month, it will be in splendid shape. The greens, despite the sandy surface, were almost fast. And, as always, Fazio has done a splendid job of burying the cart paths behind mounds and in the woods. Since it was cart-path only, I was exhausted by the end of the round with all the walking back and forth. I'll have more to say about the Two Rivers course later here and in an upcoming issue of HomeOnTheCourse.
After golf, I stopped by the pro shop at Colonial Heritage, a fairly new age-restricted (55 years) community just north of town with a few months old Arthur Hills course. It the weather holds out, I am hoping to play the course later in the week; I have yet to play anything less than a good Hills design, and from the looks of the 18th, with a lake fronting the greenside, this one may not change my mind.
The four communities I'm visiting this week are remarkably close to one another. Kingsmill, Governor's Land, Ford's Colony, and Colonial Heritage are no more than 15 minutes apart. Only Governor's Land is private, so those opting not to join a club have these good choices, as well as the heralded Golden Horseshoe courses and about a dozen other fine ones within 35 minutes.
I visit Ford's Colony tomorrow.
The 4th hole at Two Rivers could qualify as the signature hole at many other courses, but since it does not run along the two rivers, it must settle for tough and good looking status.