Golf’s next treasure

MEADOWS OF DAN—If God were to build the perfect mountain golf course, there would be temptation to borrow a few ideas from Donald Steel’s masterpiece, the Highland Course at Primland, one of Virginia’s hidden treasures.
When the Primat family, based in Switzerland and France, decided to build a golf course on their 14,000-acre property on the Virginia-North Carolina border, they chose Steel, a world-renowned architect with more than four decades of experience in the field.
Steel didn’t disappoint.
Given run of the property, he elected to build one of America’s most beautiful golf courses atop the towering mountain overlooking a deep, narrow gorge formed by the Dan River centuries ago. Think the Grand Canyon covered in timber and that’s The Highlands at Primland.
Once named one of the four most influential golf course architects in the world by Golf Magazine, Steel’s imagination, parlayed with Mother Nature, has created a golf course that goes straight to any serious golfer’s MUST PLAY list.
Choose any direction from any hole on this scenic mountaintop and you’ve got eye candy to choose from.
“This is one of the more invigorating, exciting challenges I’ve had,” Steel said of The Highlands. “I don’t think I will build a golf course like this again. An architect only gets one of these in his lifetime, that’s if he is lucky.”
Located three to three-and-a-half hours from Charlottesville, not too far from Hillsville, Va., or Mt. Airy, N.C., this mountain gem is worth the trip. Selected as Golf Digest’s Best New Public Course in America $75 and over, there’s something for everyone at Primland.
The resort, which hopes to earn five-star status, recently christened a spectacular, 72,000-square-foot mountain lodge that overlooks the 10th hole, and offers breathtaking vistas of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
They say on a clear day one can see the high-rises in Winston-Salem and Greensboro, more than an hour away.
Steel, who has built courses all over the world, jumped at the opportunity to take on this project. The Primat family generously gave him the choice of any of the land on the property to carve out the best course he could build, a rare occurrence in modern day course building.
He and his crew explored the land before realizing the most eye-popping layout could be atop the mountain, which once featured a farm and the fertile soil necessary.
“It wasn’t in any sense ready-made, the way that you get some nice pieces of ground and the golf course is pretty much there to start with, and you just put the holes on the land,” said Steel. “Here you had to shape up the land before you could think about putting the golf course in.”
With modern technology, Steel was able to do things on the mountain that would not have been possible 50 years ago.
“Nowadays you can build a golf course anywhere you like provided you have enough money,” Steel said.
He should know. He’s fashioned seaside courses in the Bahamas, worked in deserts, and now atop scenic mountains.
Once he figured out where the 18th hole would be located, he knew everything else would fit into place.
“I saw the setting for the 18th hole, and thought, heavens this could be an exceptional golf course,” Steel said.
A bit about Steel reveals that is the only golf course architect to have advised all the clubs or courses on which the British Open Championship has been played. He is the only architect for 70 years to have given significant advice at the “home of golf,” the first to work at St. Andrews since Harry Colt in 1913.
In fact, his redesign of the St. Andrews’ Jubilee course was so impressive that the course named its 15th hole, “Steel’s Gem.”
Steel not only designs courses, but has played them. He competed in the British Open and was the London Sunday Telegraph’s first golf writer, a position he held from 1961-90. And he is co-author or editor of 10 books on golf.
Of all his projects, perhaps Primland was his sweetest.
“It was said years ago that all the old architects got all the good land,” Steel said recently. “I was very lucky with the quality of land we were given here. At this time, it would be impossible to find anything that would rival this.”
Built as a resort, a getaway, Steel recognized there would be no major championships played at Primland, but it would be a destination for handicap players. His aim was to provide them enjoyment, yet a challenge.
“You have to have a reasonable standard to enjoy playing up here,” he said, meaning that if you don’t hit it straight, then you should pack a lot of golf balls. “We would have liked to have made the fairways wider, but it was impossible. I still think they’re wide enough. If you miss the fairway, well, it’s your own fault, but the penalty if you’re a few feet the wrong way is a kick in the teeth. It’s the nature of the golf course.”
The variety of holes is memorable, particularly the par-3’s where Steel was ultra creative, like on the three-tiered green on the 13th hole, and the magnificent scenery on the par-3, 8th, one of Steel’s personal favorites.
Primland’s greens are generous and the architect gets an A-plus for allowing clear approaches to those greens rather than smothering them with rough. This allows golfers to use their imagination for pitching and chipping.
Another feature is that Steel used bunkering to enhance the golf course rather than detracting from it.
Gary Player once said that his philosophy on golf course architecture was to use sand bunkers only where necessary, an idea that Steel must share.
“We just didn’t need a lot of bunkers here,” Steel said. “Bunkers are meant to be a hazard, but there’s enough hazards here without adding to them. I think if a golf course doesn’t rely on a lot of bunkers to make it a good course, that’s a strength, not a weakness. I think too many bunkers can disfigure the looks of a golf course, when all you see is a sea of sand.”
Steel has delivered a course that the golfing gods would certainly approve.
Golfers on the Highlands course could be convinced they’re a thousand miles from civilization.
“It’s such a wonderful place,” Steel commented. “When you come here, you’ve forgotten the world. Golf is a refuge, and escape, and this is as complete an escape as you can have. There’s a wonderful sense of silence.”
Located on Moonshine Drive, just off of Busted Rock Road, a round of golf at The Highlands is $200 ($175 if you’re a guest of the resort), but worth the expense.
Prices for weekday and weekend at the resort itself range from $199 to $1,200 for the Pinnacles Suite, a unique getaway.
The lodge offers 26 guest rooms and suites, all with majestic views.
Other than golf, Primland offers hunting, fishing, hiking, ATV’s, a spa, indoor pool and a fitness center.
meeting facilities and a boardroom, theatre and indoor parking, along with various dining opportunities, a cigar bar and two-storied, glass-walled wine room.
Oh, and don’t miss the showpiece of the lodge, a Celestron CGE Pro 1400 telescope that allows guests visiting the silo’s observatory to explore deep space. Others can just enjoy the telescope’s view from their room’s TV.
Visit http://www.primland.com or call (276) 222-3800 or (866) 960-7746.