Old Course at The Omni Homestead Resort
I love a good history lesson! While researching the two golf courses at The Homestead- The Old Course (1892) and The Cascades (1924) – I learned the Old Course has the nation’s oldest first tee in continuous use. It was a little geek-out golf moment to think we would be teeing off at this historically important hole.
Dan and I had the opportunity to play 18 holes on the championship Old Course at The Omni Homestead Resort in Hot Springs, Virginia. The golf staff was super friendly and gave us some pointers before sending us off on the high-tech golf cart with GPS and an interactive map of the course. The weather was perfect, although a little gnatty, for our 9 a.m. tee time. The surrounding Allegheny Mountains hug the 6,099 yard course that snakes back and forth through the hills. The 18 holes consist of six par 3s, six par 4s and six par 5. They are not very long holes (relative to other, newer courses we have played) but the geography forces golfers to shoot uphill, downhill, or around sloping hillsides. Mature wooded grounds and beautifully manicured fairways led to challenging greens.
We reveled for a moment at the Old Hole #1, knowing how many famous folk, from presidents to great golfers, teed up here. I must not have channelled my inner Sam Snead enough (this was his home course), because I whiffed my first ball into the woods. Oh well, there’s no crying in golf. Throughout the round, we were able to play slowly enough to enjoy the beautiful scenery and random wildlife that made an appearance- and to focus on our game. Overall, it was a fun course to play and I appreciated the relatively shorter length of the holes.
FACTOID: Sam Snead taught himself to play golf during the Great Depression with golf clubs carved from tree limbs. He caddied at the Old Course from the age of seven 7 and turned pro at 22.
The Old Course started life in 1892 as a 6-hole course, then was updated in 1913 by Donald Ross, who designed many of the country’s greatest courses during the Golden Age of Golf. William McKinley was the first U.S. President to play golf here while in office, teeing-off at the Old Tee in 1899. William Howard Taft also played The Old Course. Taft and his family enjoyed staying at the resort often. President Calvin Coolidge and Richard Nixon preferred The Old Course while Dwight D. Eisenhower , Ronald Reagan, and George W. Bush frequently played the Cascades. First ladies also took to the course. President Woodrow Wilson and First Lady Edith Wilson honeymooned at The Homestead, golfing the Old Course each morning. In the 1930s, a young Jacqueline Bouvier (Kennedy)’s father often took her golfing at The Cascades.
We did not get to play The Cascades, but we did stop in to look at the course, which was designed by William Flynn in 1924. It is considered one of the finest mountain courses in the country and ranked among “America’s 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses” by Golf Digest. The magnificent topography against the the backdrop of Allegheny Mountains allowed Flynn to design the course masterfully using the natural terrain, The Cascades is regarded as one of Flynn’s greatest works.
The Omni Homestead Resort is a great place of pilgrimage for any history buff, architecture lover, or golfer. We look forward to another visit to play the Cascades and check out the extensive restoration projects to the main building and other parts of the property.
Read more about the resort: Omni Homestead Resort: America’s First Resort.
Read more about our Spa Experience: Sweet Serenity: The Spa at the Omni Homestead
Hot Springs, Va is a 5 1/2 hour drive from Columbus.
