Stonehouse Golf Club

PREPARE TO BE BLOWN AWAY BY THE SUPERB LAYOUT, VARIETY, AND BEAUTY OF STONEHOUSE GOLF CLUB

By Brian Weis

Stonehouse Golf Club in Toano, Virginia, was originally designed by one of the most innovative golf course architects in the business, Mike Strantz, a former protege of Tom Fazio. Strantz' goal was to compliment nature so closely as to make the layout indistinguishable from Nature itself. This 18 hole, 7013 yard course is laid over wild, tumbling hills near the York River in the Tidewater Region. The natural beauty of virgin hardwoods thriving with wild turkey, deer, mountain laurel, and hollies provide thebackdrop for spectacular golf in Virginia. With deep bunkers and wide fairways, the par 72 layout features dramatic elevation changes. Enormous greens perched on the edges of natural cliff formations offer constant challenges for any level player.

When the course opened in 1996, Stonehouse was named "Best New Upscale Public Course in the Nation" by Golf Digest and "Top 10 New Courses You Can Play" by Golf Magazine. In 2000, Stonehouse Golf Course was distinguished as one of the "Top 100 Public Access Courses" by Golf Magazine. In 2005, Golfweek Magazine awarded Stonehouse Golf Club the distinction of being "The Best Public Access Golf Course in Virginia".

In December 2018, Stonehouse 2.0 LLC was formed and bought the property. At that point, Stonehouse Golf Club was just a shell of its former self and had lost all of its earlier prestige. The greens, tee boxes, and fairways were all completely neglected and overgrown with weeds. Over the last three years, intentional care and purposeful improvements have enhanced Mike Strantz' original design. Surpassing its former glory, this gorgeous course is a must play.

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Revised: 12/15/2021 - Article Viewed 3,304 Times - View Course Profile

About: Brian Weis

Brian Weis is the mastermind behind GolfTrips.com, a vast network of golf travel and directory sites covering everything from the rolling fairways of Wisconsin to the sunbaked desert layouts of Arizona. If there’s a golf destination worth visiting, chances are, Brian has written about it, played it, or at the very least, found a way to justify a "business trip" there.

As a card-carrying member of the Golf Writers Association of America (GWAA), International Network of Golf (ING), Golf Travel Writers of America (GTWA), International Golf Travel Writers Association (IGTWA), and The Society of Hickory Golfers (SoHG), Brian has the credentials to prove that talking about golf is his full-time job. In 2016, his peers even handed him The Shaheen Cup, a prestigious award in golf travel writing—essentially the Masters green jacket for guys who don’t hit the range but still know where the best 19th holes are.

Brian’s love for golf goes way back. As a kid, he competed in junior and high school golf, only to realize that his dreams of a college golf scholarship had about the same odds as a 30-handicap making a hole-in-one. Instead, he took the more practical route—working on the West Bend Country Club grounds crew to fund his University of Wisconsin education. Little did he know that mowing greens and fixing divots would one day lead to a career writing about the best courses on the planet.

In 2004, Brian turned his golf passion into a business, launching GolfWisconsin.com. Three years later, he expanded his vision, and GolfTrips.com was born—a one-stop shop for golf travel junkies looking for their next tee time. Today, his empire spans all 50 states, and 20+ international destinations.

On the course, Brian is a weekend warrior who oscillates between a 5 and 9 handicap, depending on how much he's been traveling (or how generous he’s feeling with his scorecard). His signature move" A high, soft fade that his playing partners affectionately (or not-so-affectionately) call "The Weis Slice." But when he catches one clean, his 300+ yard drives remind everyone that while he may write about golf for a living, he can still send a ball into the next zip code with the best of them.

Whether he’s hunting down the best public courses, digging up hidden gems, or simply outdriving his buddies, Brian Weis is living proof that golf is more than a game—it’s a way of life.