General's Ridge Golf Course

This course was very beautiful. The holes and cart paths wind through woods and hills with wildlife (saw deer on two separate occasions) running all throughout. The course is very challenging, a lot of blind tee shots, plateau greens and thick woods just off the fairways. If you frustrate easily or are still a beginner I would not recommend, otherwise a lovely course. The staff was very friendly and can give you a cheat sheet with a one sentence hint about how to play each hole.

I played on Sunday early morning with my regular foursome and everybody was frustrated with narrow fairways and small steep greens. And who ever placed pin did a horrible job.

The course is short, but very narrow. It is challenging. The pin placements on several holes were extremely difficult with the sloping of the hills.

I'll definitely play this one again.

Terrific layout in great shape but horrible pace of play caused us to quit after 9.They did comp us though w/o a hassle.If you can play when it's not crowded it's a very good public course.

I really like the layout of General's Ridge, though I understand why other wouldn't like it. You don't need to be a power hitter, but you do need to be very accurate. There are lots of tee shots with narrow fairways, and distance control is a must. I personally like the challenge, but those that like to bang their drivers as far as possible on every tee box may not like this course.

I would say that this course isn't for beginners (unless you don't mind losing balls.) It's got blind shots and lots of trees, with lots of slope on the greens. Right now (June 2013), the course in good shape.

One negative (on least on 6/14/2013) was the horrendously slow pace of play. Not sure what was going on this day, but it would have been a 6+ hour round, if I had stayed. I got tired of waiting on every tee box and left after 13 holes. It's not always like this, but certainly the poor pace of play was an issue the last time around.

Our cart did not have course tips in it but we ended up playing the back nine with player whose cart did and those tips were very helpful.
Great staff.
Bratwurst did a number on my stomach and please, all courses, buns should not be cold or hard.
Would definitely return.

Where we play white tee boxes usually to get at least 6000yds, here you must play the blue tees. There is opportunity to use your Driver, but you must use good course mgmt.

The up and downhill holes make much of the course challenging, while narrow forest-lined fairways take errant tee shots out of bounds. There is not much water nor many bunkers on the course, but the topography of the area itself makes the course difficult and quirky. I played on a $33 "hot deal" which was a real bargain. The course is in excellent shape right now. I was in a twosome, on the back 9 we caught up to a slow foursome, who were apparently slowed by people in front of them, which prolonged our round. We saw a couple of deer on the course.

I can understand why a number of people would dislike this course. There is plenty of trouble on almost every hole, the tee shots are very tight and there is nowhere to miss, having said that, if you are looking for an interesting challenging golf course that is very different from others in the area, you might want to check this place out. Lots of cool elevation changes and very unique holes. If you are a beginner, this course will make you never want to play golf again, but if you have some game and can keep your tee shots in play, it is a pretty fun course. I played in the middle of the day on a weekday and finished in less than 3 hours which is pretty unheard of in this area. The course isn't super well maintained, but its not unacceptable and I've seen worse around this area. If you've got some game and don't want to spend much money, this may be a place worth checking out.

Had a great time with friends. You will lose a lot of balls if you aren't perfectly straight off the tee. Several blind shots, slopped greens, and hard to find a flat lie in the fairway. (Lot of downhill/sidehill lies)

Still a fun round of golf and interesting layout. Wouldn't pay more than $50 to play here. $35 is a good deal for this course.

Excellent course for those who want a challenge to every aspect of their game. This isn't a grip and rip it type of golf course. Requires shot placement and thinking ahead to the next couple shots in order to score on this course.

All in all, a great round of golf for a good price. Course was in EXCELLENT condition.

Played here as a threesome of mid handicappers, expecting a challenging outing, and it was. It got to the point of being frustrating at times, and we were watching other groups lose balls and drop in the middle of the fairway just to keep the pace up.

I don't think there's a flat hole on this golf course, so expect a lot of sideways motion once your ball lands. In one hole in particular, two members of our group followed the course "tips" to a tee (no pun intended) by hitting a drive on the left edge of the fairway. Even by hitting the left edge, both of our shots careened off the right edge of the fairway into the first cut.

The greens are also very difficult, and even though it was damp they were very fast.

For May 6th, I thought the course was in great shape, so I have no complaints there. It's also a wildlife lover's dream. We had several deer munching on the trees just off the tee box while we were teeing off.

I'll come back here at some point, but I need to hone my game a little more first.

For a Saturday morning round the pace of play was great. I think we were the only foursome to tee off at 8am and we finished in a little under 4 hours.

I've played this course often and I personally like the the challenging layout. This course requires very accurate tee shots, and with relatively fast greens you need good approach shots with spin to hold the green. What lets this course down is the fairways and golf carts. After 4 holes we decided we would play preferred lies in the fairway simply because almost every tee shot seemed to land in a concrete unfilled divot. I mean like a hole not just a shallow divot, where your only option is a pitching wedge out! The golf carts definitely need replacing. Both the carts we had barely made it up the many hills. You can't have such a hilly course with such out of shape gas carts.

Overall though we enjoyed the round because pace of play was great and the greens were excellent.

Generals Ridge is one of the toughest courses in Northern Virginia. The course is practically built on the side of a mountain, so it is very hilly. The greens are wicked fast and undulated. If you are a beginner, someone who doesn't hit the ball straight or gets frustrated when you can't find your ball that was a good shot, this course is NOT for you!!

Beautiful course. Challenging, but fair. Going to make this course one of my regulars.

This golf course is like playing the Golden Tee video game. It's loaded with blind shots, holes that either go up or down 40 yards...yes yards downward. Over 125 to 150 foot blind drops. The greens are incredibly sloped. Many times the pin is set in a location that are non-conforming / illegal. When you putt a ball that come up three inches short, then rolls back 45 feet off the green, I'm pretty sure it's too sloped for a hole location.

SUPER narrow. Miss the fairway, it's in the woods. Challenging is fine, but it just crushes the pace of play. Everyone is off in the woods looking for their ball half the round. Be warned about that.

I would stay away unless your idea of fun golf is 8 iron off the tee, 4 iron to the green. Then this is for you!

Greens were in Horrible shape. Impossible to make a put over 4 feet no matter how well you read it due to the uneven surface. 75% of fairway shots are blind. The course layout is challenging in a good way though. Fairways are in good shape. The golf carts are very slow and at times can barely make it up the steep hills on this course. I would have given this course 3-4 stars if the greens were better. There is no excuse to have greens in that bad of shape even if it is the beginning of the spring.

If you are looking for a course that not only challenges your golf skills, but your ability to esimate the location and distance of your ball, then this is the course for you.

General's Ridge is amazing challenging, the staff are cordial and the price is good. However, it could use some ground work.

Will play this course again and again....Thanks

green was fullfilled with sand and hole. hard to control putting. though, weather was great to enjoy. just okay with low budjet even on weekend.

First time playing the course. Starter(s) and clubhouse staff friendly but absent beyond that. There was no marshall patrolling the grounds to alleviate slow play. I was told when making the turn (after 3 1/2 hours) that they were shorthanded. The 4th tee box had three foursomes stacked up and there was no way to know if the group ahead was safely away nor was there a bell to ring on the fairway to indicate the next group could tee off. The tee shot is also blind and visually narrow to know if a tee shot is in play so I saw several golfers hit more than one ball. I was lucky as I hit driver and an 8 iron to the green (that was narrow and long) as this is an all downhill par 5. There are several (too many for me) blind approach shots to a green. If you stray 20 yards from the fairway (I use that term lightly as there was no difference in the cut for fairway and rough), you will find the trees or worse. Too many balls were lost in the trees (only 10 or so feet into them) as the leaves from fall were still there which added to the frustration. Bunkers need to be worked daily. These looked like they had not been attended to for days. When using the practice putting green, I was hopeful the course greens would not also have severe slopes (US Open golf anyone?). I was again frustrated with the pin placements as I three putted 5 times on the front 9 thinking I could make 20 foot puts instead of lagging all putts there were not straight uphill. Miss a putt struck with good speed and it will stop rolling 5-15 feet from the hole. Mini-golf anyone? I was told by the starter that a first time golfer will either hate the course or love it. He was right as I have no plan to return.