3rd hole looking back towards the resort.

Welcome to Cacapon Golf Club. Located in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. Close to the Maryland and Virginia state lines, and about 2 hours west of Washington DC. Situated in the Cacapon State Park within the Appalachian Mountains near the West Virginia town of Berkely Springs, this 6,827-yard par 72 course has views, and trees which run down both sides of most of the fairways. Designed by the late great, Robert Trent Jones Sr. and opened in 1974, this course runs decently flat with raised greens, and wide fairways, which I still happen to hit my balls into the trees more times than not on this day. Which is pretty normal for me.

I digress. The slope for this course is kind of an enigma. The scorecard says 123. I have also found 132, 126, and finally 73 while pecking around on the internet. In retrospect, it does not really matter when you are as good as I am and count how challenging the course is by how many balls you have lost. This day, it was a net of 9. Lost 11 but found 2 while hunting for my lost $3.33 family member.

The club house is a little dated, but the staff was friendly. Snagged a simple egg and bacon sandwich. Which, for being as simple as it was, was surprisingly good. We also stopped at the turn and picked up some lunch. Which, once again, was a simple chicken sandwich, but good. Maybe I was just starving. Who knows? For $14 you can also pick up a 6 back of generic domestic beer and a West Virginia cooler.

The course was in pretty good shape, for the most part. The bunkers needed some attention, it had been raining and it did rain on us while we played. The bunkers’ sand was hard and compacted, but we were told that they were working on them and are hoping to have them completely done by spring of 2024. There was some standing water in some of the fairways, but then again, a massive rainstorm swept through the area the day before and while we were playing.

If you like trees. They got them. Most holes have trees running along at least one side, especially on the front 9. On the back nine there were plenty of holes with trees running along both sides of the fairway. The fairways were still plenty wide on both the front and back nine. It felt like we were teeing off uphill more on the back nine than the front nine. There is a double green which holes 4 and 8 share. Allegedly it is 100 yards long according the to the West Virginia State Park website. We were so oblivious to it, that neither one of us realized until now after looking at the website and google maps.

There are 72 bunkers on the course. We hit six of them. I hit 2 while my buddy hit 4. That means we hit roughly 8 percent of the bunkers. Ill try to up that next time. There is roughly 19 of the dang things along the fairway. There are probably more, but I was counting via memory and google maps and 19 was basically the average I kept coming up with. If you are looking for the famous St. Andrews like bunkers, these are not them. Thank goodness or I would still be in West Virginia trying to dig my ass out of it.

Let us talk water, no I am not talking about the torrential downpour we played in. I was more or so talking about the water hazards or lack thereof. There are 3 ponds on the course, but only 1 is really in play unless you have the craft for smacking your ball 90 degrees off the tee behind you unless you are a lefty, then in front of you. The only real water hazard will be on hole2. There is a pond off to the right along the right edge of the green. The cart path separates the green from the pond.

The next pond is on hole 3. Off to the left of the tee box about 100 yards down, if not shorter. This location can surely mess with your head and cause concern, but it is not really in play. Even for a fake golfer like me. I did give an offering to the water god by sacrificing a ball out of my bag before I hit. That might have done the trick. I think this was the one hole that I plastered my drive down the fairway and almost hit the next group. To be fair, we didn’t know where they were, and after I had hit, they zoomed across the fairway in their cart.

The third and final water hazard is on hole ten right next to the tee box. This one may come into play if you are teeing off from the tips, but, unless you shank the hell out of it, water is the least of your worry. I did not sacrifice a ball to the course water gods, and I still made it past the water. Lost the little bastard in the trees, but not in the pond.

Cacapon is a nice little course. It has some challenges, but if it did not it would be boring. I am definitely not the best player, or anywhere near being a scratch golfer. I play because I like to play. I like to swing, cuss at bad shots, and hope for just one good shot. The one that is smooth and easy and gives that shot of dopamine. Just one time.

It is a nice course with very nice people working there from the starter to the café hostess. It is quiet, and it is secluded. Is there better course out there? Hell, yes there is, but I mean, it is in rural West Viginia for goodness’s sake. If you want Pebble Beach than I do not recommend it. If you want a course with views, peace and quiet minus the occasional crack of a ball bouncing off a tree followed by a four-letter word, Cacapon is the place. If I lived on the east coast, this course maybe on my go to list. The one true positive mark that I can give this course is this. My buddy, who I played with, and hasn’t played golf in almost a year, was thinking about becoming a member and getting back into golf once again. You can ask “why is that such a big deal?”. Well, we drove 20 minutes to get here, and we could have gone to 4 to 5 other courses, but we came here, and out of all the other courses my buddy has played. Cacapon was the place that left an impression on him so deep that he wants to get a membership.

Challenge score- 11 balls. 9 net balls

Layout- Wide open with trees along the side.

Factors- Gnats galore

Play again- yes!

My score- a solid 105 with no birdies and only 2 pars

Places to stay- Cacapon Resort. Rooms overlook holes 1 and 2. It is right in the State Park.

Cacapon Golf Course

Teal Bend Golf Club