2010 marks the first year that Virginia National will be under the new ownership group Great OaksGolf and operated by Love Golf Management which is owned by PGA Tour veteran, and 20 time Tour winner, Davis Love.  “We knew how special this course was, from its variety of great holes and shot value to its natural setting and tremendous scenic beauty,” said Greg Nesbitt, Managing Partner of Love Golf Management.  The new team hit the ground running with a plan for massive improvements and a goal to make Virginia National Golf Club one of the best and most affordable courses in Northern Virginia.  “We have invested heavily and completed several projects in order to improve the overall experience for our customers,” said Greg.

The new team began its plan for 2010 with a phase of upgrades to immediately make the overall experience better for all golfers.  The log cabin style clubhouse is one of a kind and is a perfect match for the setting and surroundings, and when you arrive you will notice renovation changes to both the Clubhouse and the Cool Spring Grill.  A brand new fleet of EZ GO golf carts are now in place and you will appreciate the new carts as you wind your way up the steep mountain on the back nine.  The course has also completed restructuring and repaving of the entire cart path system.  Several additional projects have upgraded overall conditions of the turf from tees to greens.

In addition to the many physical improvements, Virginia National recently named Tim McKee as General Manager / Director of Golf. Tim, who is a member of the PGA of America, brings over 15 years of experience and knowledge from both the private and semi-private club settings. “Tim will place an emphasis on customer service to ensure a positive experience for our valued customers,” said Greg. With its new staff and a new plan, you can expect an upgrade in service levels and better course conditions for 2010.

What makes Virginia National so unique is certainly its natural setting with many holes along theriver and others situated high up on the mountain overlooking the Shenandoah.  But its variety of holes offer tremendous shot value and a very memorable experience.  While the design and layout is playable for golfers of all abilities, the back tees play 6,806 yard and offer a tremendous challenge with a rating of 73.3 and a slope of 137.  The white tees play 6,138 yards with a rating of 70.4 and a slope of 131.  On the front nine, you will find a more open layout with several holes running parallel to the beautiful Shenandoah River and an abundance of mature hardwoods. Hole # 5 is a slight dog leg left par 4, with a pond guarding the green on your approach shot.  Hole #9 is an excellent par 5 that runs adjacent to the river and is a great risk reward hole to finish the front nine.  As you enter the back nine, the layout completely changes as you finish hole #12 and make your way straight up the mountain to the par 4 hole

# 13.  Without a doubt, the most memorable and unique holes on Virginia National are holes

# 14 and #15.  Hole # 14 is certainly one of the best par 3’s you will find anywhere in the Mid-Atlantic region;  a par three with an elevation drop of over 100 feet with a vista as far as you can see.  It is here on the tee box at #14 that you will take your time with club selection, take in the expansive views and appreciate being far away from the hustle and bustle.  Hole #15, a par 5, and is the best risk reward hole on the course and playing back along the river with a dramatic elevation drop from tee to fairway.  While the course is not extremely long it will require you to use every club in your bag.

Whether you have played Virginia National Golf Club in the past, or have yet to experience the most scenic course in the area, you need to make a visit in 2010.  The new management team has made it very affordable to play the course by lowering the daily rates and by creating a loyalty program named The General’s Club. The General’s Club can be purchased for $69 and includes 3 free rounds of golf, as well as reduced rates during the week and on the weekends ($25 weekday rate; $35 weekend rate after 12pm; $20 weekly twilight rate after 4pm). “We have had a lot of success with the General’s Club program so far this year and are extremely excited to see our customers take advantage of this great offer – it just shows you that golfer’s know a good deal when they see one,” said Tim McKee.

The new ownership group and Love Golf Management invite you to come out and experience the new and improved Virginia National Golf Club in 2010. For more information on Virginia National, visit the Club’s website at  www.virginianational.com or call (888) 283-GOLF.

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That was last June.  As part of his rebuilding process, Green vowed to return to competitive golf.  That moment has come, as he will compete on the Champions Tour again this week at the Legends of Golf Tournament in Savannah, GA.  He’ll be partnered with Mike Reid, but both men know, it’s not about winning.  It’s hard to tell that to a professional golfer at any point, but Green, playing with a prosthetic from knee down on the right leg, is admittedly a changed golfer from the accident.  His average drive is more like 250 instead of 300 and his ball striking is no longer tour caliber.  And no body cares.   I for one, can’t wait to see him compete, Check Local Listings.

Photo from Palm Beach Post

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The Participants + 1 in the 2010 Ackerman Classic at Old Hickory Golf Club

By: Chad Moore
In April of 07 one of my closest friend’s Steve Ackerman suddenly passed.  He departed without warning making his passing difficult to comprehend even for those who barely knew him.  With any passing, especially those at a young age (Steve was 33), it leaves you feeling frustrated, sad, pissed off, but more than anything else, empty…  All who knew Steve felt these emotions in one way or another and the only way we knew deal with them was to get together and just simply talk about Steve.  I can’t say I was in favor of seeing anyone that day, but my wife Meghan convinced me that it would be a good idea to just share what I was feeling with others experiencing the same thing.  So reluctantly I made the journey to a friend’s house who had invited several of Steve’s closest friends over. With each person you see for the first time there was a total meltdown along with griping hugs and flashes of memories you experienced with that person and Steve.  Words are difficult to describe just how vivid and plentiful these memories were, to draw a parallel I’m guessing it was similar to those who’ve had a near death experience and their lives flash before their eyes.  This went on for hours as different friends showed up… In the midst of all of the sad emotions and waterfalls of tears a funny thing happened, we found ourselves laughing out loud as we told stories about Steve.  It was truly amazing how many stories we all had to share, some you were familiar with, some you weren’t, it really didn’t matter, it made us realize the impact Steve had on all our lives.

The night of the funeral many friends and family gathered at a local watering hole frequented by Steve, Rhodeside Grill.  That night we decided that it was better to celebrate Steve’s life rather than mourn about that fact that he was gone.  I know it’s cliché to say we are going keep his spirit alive through our memories, but that couldn’t be more accurate.  Steve does live on and although his life ended way too soon, he lived a full life, which was evident with how many lives he touched.  So it was decided from that point forward that we would celebrate Steve each year in the early weeks of April.

In 2008 we didn’t know exactly what we were going to do, but one thing was for sure, we would end up a Rhodeside.  The idea of golf came about, not because Steve played golf or even liked it, but knew it was a way for us to get out away from the daily grinds of life and enjoy an entire day dedicated to Steve and that’s exactly what we did.  Can’t say the weather cooperated that year, but we didn’t care, everyone who was invited showed up.  Sure enough that night all who played ended up at Rhodeside along with about 40 others.  I’ll be honest, this was a tough year and a day like this was needed for sure.

Around Feb of 09 I sent an email to the group about what we wanted to do for that year’s outing.  I made the suggestion that we set up a tournament, actually I’m not sure who’s idea it was, but I’ll take the credit.  Without hesitation we all agreed to develop teams, so the first order of business was to rank the field… can’t say this was an easy process as we have 1 true A play and a few Fs, but after a few squabbles and couple of trades the teams were set.  To commemorate the day I thought it would be a good idea to award each of the winning team members a plaque which read “2009 Ackerman Classic” over a picture of a dirty martini (Steve’s drink of choice).

The week’s heading into the tourney we had several days in the 70s, so we were hopeful that the weather would be a bit better than the previous year.  Well I can let you know that when we teed off it was about 47 degrees and raining sideways, but again we all showed up with no complaints.  By day’s end the sun had peeked out and we all managed to have survived even though there were allegations of a cart being driven on a green and threats of being kicked off the course.

The winning team score was 5 under par posted by Keith Livingston, Jason Ovslaski, Andy Togni and John

"Check it out Ladies.. This Guy won Closest to the Pin"

Burdick.  A short ceremony took place to award the plaques, of course a few stories were told and a beer two was drank, but we were ready to rush home, clean up and head to Rhodeside.  Oh and one more thing we that I almost forgot, at the end of this tourney we thought it would be nice to take a snap shot of the group, so we can remember what we look like when we’re old and gray.  Well we ended up taking quite a few pics and the most memorable (which I believe to have Steve’s stamp of approval) depicts several of us giving the Ackerman salute (a story for another day), which has since become a tradition.Sure enough when we arrived at Rhodeside several of Steve’s friends were already there with martini’s in hand ready for a night of sharing memories and laughter.  Yes most of the stories are the same, but they never get old… and on occasion you would hear one that you haven’t heard before.  What a night… I think I went down somewhere between 3 and 4 AM and for an old man like me that’s way past my bed time.

This brings us to this years Ackerman Classic.  Hard to believe it’s been 3 years since Steve passed… At this point I think most of us look forward to this time of year, although it’s still difficult to rehash the feelings of 3 years ago… we’ve come to enjoy each other’s company and to celebrate the life that Steve lived.  Meghan, Cameron and I reached out to the Ackerman’s and joined them for church this past Easter (the week before this year’s tourney).  It was great to see them and I promised that we would stay in touch, I would ask that each of you do the same.  I can’t tell you how much it would mean to them to hear from you all.

Well last year we decided that we would step up the efforts for tourney each year and this year was no exception.  JC Byrne had “Ackerman Classic” shirts made with the official logo of a martini glass (created by Mike Henry) embroidered on the front of the shirts.  Pretty nice shirts and they were even color coordinated for each team.  I must say this was a nice touch!  This year’s outing was held at Old Hickory Golf Club in Woodbridge.  Thanks to Adam McCaa, who was able to secure the location, we were treated really good and had a solid rate for a Saturday morning.

Other than the change in courses there was one glaring difference from years past, it was freaking beautiful outside.  I might have failed to mention that during the first Ackerman Classic in 08 it was freezing, didn’t have the rain like 09 but it was chilly.  At any rate, this year was shaping up to be the best of the bunch, new shirts, good weather, even had a few more peeps come out and joined us… hell my team even birdied the first 2 holes, which was 5 shots better than how we started last year, although our final score ended up 1 shot worse.

As it always is in a scramble.. It's who's gonna make more putts? Not this team.

Pretty solid day all and all. Old Hickory is a great course for our scramble format. There were no threats of being kicked off the course and we had a new winner with a new low winning score.  Team Green – Mike Dorner aka “Doc”, Chris Counts, Mike Henry, and Steve Willenheimer shot a tournament record of 6 under (yeah it’s only been two years of keeping track, but a new record none-the-less).  Unfortunately, we didn’t have plaques to award this year, that’s due to my slack ass, well I have a small excuse, my time’s been limited with the birth to my son Cameron… had to give him a shoutout, what up Bubby?  We also decided that rather than giving a plaque each year that we would get an office Ackerman Classic trophy, possibly a Stanley cup looking trophy that will have room for winners names to be engraved…. you’ll get it i promise, although it might not be until tee off during the 2011 Ackerman Classic.  After passing out the prize money, (yes we have money on the line… of course) and a beer or two, we all headed home to clean up for Rhodeside once again.

Again, a pretty good turnout at Rhodeside.  Without hesitation dirty martinis started flowing and of course so did the stories.  I didn’t stay as long this year…. babysitter had to leave at 12am, but I did manage to get in a martini or two!

That’s the story of the Ackerman Classic, created by a terrible tragedy, but a celebration we look forward to each and every year.

I know I speak for us all when I say we love and miss you Steve!

Your friend and brother always,

Chad

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The Winning Scorecard at the 2010 Ackerman Classic

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Can Tiger Woods Win his 5th and Toughest Masters Yet?

Click Below to hear the newest edition of the Pros N’ Hackers podcast where we kick off the spring with our annual Masters Tournament Picks.  I have a feeling Tiger might get mentioned among them.

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Masters Week might be the finest golf week of the year.  Not only  is spring in bloom and professional golfers just hitting their competitive stride for 2010, but us viewers long to be taken back to the holes that we’ve come to know, from each and every angle throughout the years.  That’s what makes The Masters unique among the majors. Like typical Tour events, It’s played at the same course  year after year.  You really find yourself drawn into the action so much more.

So who is going to win this year?  Tiger is the biggest story in the world, no matter who wins the damn thing.  Yet this editors feeling is the Stewart Cink is in line to win his first green jacket. Tiger slips into the top 5 with a nice Sunday round. What do you think of that people?

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Watch Their Newest Television Spot Below
as Seen on Comcast Cable Systems Around the Area

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Video Produced by PNH Productions, LLC

Winner of Golf Magazine’s ‘Top 10 New Courses in the United States’ Award and just recently, Golfweek awarded Lake Presidential #2 in the state of Maryland in the ’Best Courses that You Can Play’ ranking. Located in Central Maryland (Upper Marlboro), less than 20 minutes from the White House, Lake Presidential is a beautifully groomed, championship caliber course.  This course is filled with variety of shot options and has some of the most breaktaking holes to be found in Maryland. The back nine is a tree-lined delight. Golf Magazine just named Lake Presidential to their “Top 10 New Courses in the United States.”

Click Here for Pros N’ Hackers Golf Magazine, April 2008 Lake Presidential Cover Story

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As we flew from JFK airport in New York City 13 hours, it was amazing as we were coming back down to earth, there it was, piercing the clouds and resembling the old fable Jack and the Beanstalk. It was a real wow moment, something burnt into my memory bank forever and ever. I lived in New York City for 6 years in the mid 90s flying in and out of the 3 New York airports always viewing the old twin towers and the Empire State building and in retrospect I took them for granted. This trip to the European Tour, Erik is sponsored by Air Emirates and we came and left Dubai 4 times during the 2 week trip. After having lived in Reston, VA for the past 12 years, I was awed by the skyline and especially with the Burj Khalifa Tower standing 2,717 feet and 160 floors ridiculously high above the clouds and the international city of Dubai below. As an accredited media member, all media was invited for a tour departing the hotel at 8:30am, with the $100 fee to tour the building waived. This all happened on pro-am Wednesday but I had to take off my media hat and don the caddy hat for the 7:30am pro-am start with Erik, missing my one chance to go view this monstrosity. Oh well, I’m kind of scared of heights anyways. So I’ve missed the Taj Mahal twice while playing the Indian Open, however I’ve been up the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, Toronto CN Tower, San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Malaysia’s Petronas Towers. I guess I’ve seen some things.

Here at the first of Europe’s big money events for the 2010 season, I was involved helping cheerlead, coach and caddy among other things for Erik Compton. The first event was the Qatar Masters. Erik’s golf equipment lost its baggage tag somewhere between Miami and New York and the bags sat anonymously at JFK for 2 days unclaimed and with a ton of investigation and ground work I was able to, with the help of a lot of people, locate and have Erik’s clubs arrive Wednesday night in the nick of time for Thursday mornings’ early start. As Erik’s personal valet I chased down the problem until it was solved. Meanwhile we played a practice round with former British Open champion Todd Hamilton, also a Titleist player, and shared his clubs. Believe you me there is nothing like having your own specs to practice with, especially the first tournament of the year and a huge overseas trip to the Middle East. So after a 24 hour trip and no clubs to practice with, as predicted, we only played 2 rounds sitting out the weekend and our first of 2 potential pay days. We flew back Saturday to Dubai and prepared well for the 2.5 million dollar tournament Dubai Desert Classic. Sunday we played 9 holes with defending champion 20 year old Irishman, Rory McIlroy. This boy can play.  He plays heads up ready golf. See ball, hit ball, chase ball. Great stuff! He does this with a post card perfect swing and demeanor. Since Erik was a sponsor invitee we had dining privileges with the tournament committee and with the other top tour players and invitees such as Rory, Mark O’Meara and Tom Watson. We befriended Miguel Angel Jimenez earlier in the week and told him that he was going to win and he did at that. He won a 4-hole playoff against last years’ “Race to Dubai” Order of Merit winner Lee Westwood. Erik and I were marveling at all the home made swings especially Jeev Milkha Singh’s.

Kelly Murray works the bag for Compton at the 2009 Honda Classic

Our good fortune in week 2 came down to Erik making a 5 foot putt on the 36^th hole Friday to make the cut. We were the first off Saturday playing solo with an official marker and me the 53-year-old speedy caddy, we completed play in 3 hours. Again we were first off on Sunday playing solo, same scenario but this time in 2 hours and 35 minutes. Having made the cut, you are guaranteed a payday. We didn’t make last money and we beat a couple of guys and picked up around 16,000.

Here’s a foursome of young up and comers I recommend you learn and remember their names.They are first and foremost Rory McIlroy from Belfast, Ireland. Spaniard Alvaro Quiros,

Rhys Davies from Wales and Charles Schwartzel from South Africa. If you are in a Masters pool these would be some good bets.

Have a good golf season now that the snow has gone and hopefully some of your rust. Look for me at Algonkian Golf Park and Virginia Golf Center and Academy this year.

p.s. For my Natural Golf students and Moe Norman fans, they are going to start the filming of the Moe Norman movie “Dancing the Green” this July. My friend Barry Morrow who won an Academy Award for the screenplay “Rain Man” has also written Moe’s life story. Stay tuned!

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