• Mohammad Lindegaard posted an update 2 years ago

    “You’ll never play at a better place than Independence Pool.” Those words must be said to define the new course offered by the owners of Independence Pool in VA. Located just west of Richmond, Independence has quickly become one of the best public golf courses and summer event venue in all of Virginia. Recognized by Golf Digest Magazine as one of the best courses to play within a half hour of Richmond, we’ve reduced playing time by over an hour.

    The first thing I noticed about this course was the pristine golf greens surrounded by an attractive 18-hole fairway. From the time I stepped on the green and began playing, the view was gorgeous. The vegetation around the edges of the fairways was spectacular, with leafy, thick overhanging trees framing the fairway and tall potted plants along both sides. In addition to the lush greenery, there were other less noticeable inherent risks.

    On my first hole, I hit a ball that went out of bounds a few feet short of the green. Luckily, it only cost me two strokes and the green remained undamaged. I learned that there are inherent risks to playing at Independence, but you can minimize them by being patient, taking your time, and being aware of what’s going on around you. Below are three reasons I believe this course has limited but beneficial long term liability.

    Number One: The majority of injuries and property damage (range from broken tree limbs to broken grass roots) occur on the second hole. startups of the course is open to all traffic, so long as it’s kept clear of people. Despite signage to that effect, there was still quite a bit of human traffic on the second hole when I played there. startups to keep the human traffic away from the fairways was to keep them out of the grass. And while startups might seem like a logical solution, I’m not sure that this is done enough–I seen too many close calls with strangers sliding into the grass and breaking an ankle or foot. It seems like a lot of common sense, but someone should really be looking over the grass when people are walking around in the vicinity of a putting green.

    Number Two: The putting greens are not as difficult as some would make them out to be. They do offer an incline for those who like to shoot from the closer or longer fairways, but don’t have a natural inclination to hit from that spot. startups is a very comfortable place to putt from. I’ve never seen anyone fall off the edge here.

    Number Three: The course has a couple of hazards that are notable but not harmful to the players. The first is an area where you need to walk around to get to the fairway. It’s not hard to fall if you’re not used to walking around this part of the course, and the putting greens are not going to help you much with this. The second hazard is a sand trap right before the third hole that will catch anyone off guard. This can be a problem, especially if you have a less than adequate teeing grip.

    Number Four: The putt can be a little tricky to drive from the fairway. There’s only one real option in this spot. The first thing to remember is to always putt from the safe spot on the left side of the bridge pool. From here, you can putt right over the drop off and avoid hitting the edge of the green. There’s startups which you can use to get over the green if needed.

    Number Five: The final hazard is something that can really trip people up. If you’re trying to get out from under a load of green putts, it’s easy to make a miss and hit water. For this reason, many people end up in the water at this part of the course. If you’re standing on the putting green when this happens, you can easily lose your balance and fall into the water. To avoid this, it’s important to always stand on the putting green, even when you need to move to the fairway.