The Cascades Course – Omni Homestead, Hot Springs, VA

Hannah and I recently got to visit the Omni Homestead for a beautiful summer wedding of our friends who we have known since Auburn. The bride’s family grew up going here and it made for sure a great weekend in the mountains and an escape from the Birmingham heat. Read about more of the things to do at Hannah’s post. For the golf, keep on reading!

I was able to play one of the two courses on property: the Cascades Course.  Celebrating its 100th year, this William S. Flynn course is where Sam Sneed launched his career, and the rest was history. I take every chance I get to play courses designed in golden age of golf architecture. (1910 – 1937). The cascades course is a unique golden age course because a great deal of dynamite was used in construction and it features some dramatic (for the time) elevation changes.

The canted bluegrass fairways and elevated bent grass greens put emphasis on your shot decision making and provide as much of a mental challenge as a physical one when trying to execute shots around this gem of a course. Currently ranked with the Top 50 courses you can play in the country, I would play this track everyday if given the option.

Conditions were second to none and we couldn’t have asked for better weather. A crisp 68 degrees in June is my kind of golf and provided a nice break from the humidity that has set in in Alabama. 

After a nice front nine, the quality of holes really stepped up on the back. Hole 10 features a rock outcropping on the right side and a severe cant of the fairway from left to right in the landing area. If you catch the slope, your approach is now closer to the green, however your view of the green is diminished. I cant forge to mention the halfway house tucked right behind 10 tee box that was well stocked with refreshments to prepare yourself for how great of a back 9 lies ahead of you. Hole 12 was one of my favorite holes with the cascades creek paralleling the left side and a ridge narrowing the right side make a well placed tee shot key. I was able to find the fairway and hit a long approach shot to just off the front of the green, where I played my chip to a tap in birdie. The cascades course famously finishes with a par 3-5-5-3 and offers some exceptional risk/reward on the way in.

The other course on the property, known as The Old Course, originated as a 6 hole course in 1892. Now the Old Course boasts the oldest first tee in continuous use in the U.S. Donald Ross was hired to expand the course from 6 holes to 18 holes which have been played by numerous U.S. Presidents like William McKinley, William Taft, Woodrow Wilson, and Dwight Eisenhower. On my next visit, I will be adding The Old Course to the rotation.

Following your round, make your way back to the pool on property and close out your night at the Sam Sneed Tavern in Hot Springs, VA.