After getting our butts kicked on the sister course of this one on the same property,
we decided that it was time to get some much needed confidence back on The Lair.
Unlucky for us, despite the Lions being a Pro level course in terms of difficulty, the Lair was not much easier and definitely made us work our tails off to salvage a respectable round!
The Lair, while shorter in length overall, featured much more wooded holes with very tight lines, elevation changes, and it's fair share of water carries.
We were glad to save our arms having played 4 full rounds in just 36 hours, but what it lacked in length (not that it's all that short), it certainly made up for it in technicality and required precision.
Without any more rambling,
Let's get into this review!
The tee location for Hole 2, and you can bet your best line is over the water!
Course: Lake Marshall, The Lair
Location: Montross, Virginia
Tees: Mixed- Artificial Turf, Concrete, Wood
Baskets: Prodigy T2
Pay to Play? Yes, $15 per person per weekend day paid via PayPal ($10 during the week). Allows you to play all the courses on the Private Property
18 Holes
What I liked:
Very scenic like the Lions
Fun/challenging holes that are mid length for the most part
Easy to follow course
What I didn't like:
Tons of water! But made the course fun!
Tee Boxes- 4.5/5
The Lair features a mixture of wooden, turf, and concrete tee boxes depending on the hole and location.
This may be seen as a negative, but based on where the tee boxes are located, in many places in makes sense for the tee box to be a raised, wooden platform rather than concrete and vice versa.
The turf tee boxes were also a nice touch in some of the muddier areas and definitely would be resilient to wet conditions, which is a plus.
The one thing that I did not particularly care for on some of the holes is that the tee boxes were raised, making a run up approach a tad more risky.
I could see where some players could be distracted by this, myself included, and be more worried about stepping off the front of the tee box rather than focusing on the throw at hand.
Despite this, I still rate the tees as a 4.5/5.
The tee box for Hole 1 to get things started at The Lair
Turf tee box on Hole 6
Baskets- 5/5
Like the Lions, the Lair features Prodigy T2 baskets throughout the course, but in yellow instead of white.
The baskets were all in great shape, and despite being move-able, were very secured to the ground.
Nothing too fancy here, but they were as expected for a course of this reputation.
A beautiful hole overlooking the private lake, click on the picture to shop the T2 baskets!
Navigation- 4.5/5
As soon as you get going on this course, you realize how nicely it flows from hole to hole.
There are very few indicators or direction signs throughout the course, but to be honest, they are not needed at all and each hole takes very little effort to find.
There are some instances where the long tee boxes are not in obvious places, but for those holes, the signs clearly indicate where to go.
In addition to the nice flow, each hole has a sign near the tee box that tells you where the pin is and how far of a shot you're looking at. As well as the usual stats such as par and elevation change. The signs come in handy for when the pin cannot be seen from the tee box.
The paths from hole to hole, although not cart friendly in all places, are well defined and easy to follow. Some of the creek crossings could be improved upon, but what is there gets the job done as intended.
The well designed map at the beginning of the course is very detailed and
easily gets you going in the right direction from hole to hole
Not all of the trails were as nice as this one shown here, but overall they were
extremely well maintained and easy to navigate!
Difficulty- 5/5
Just like The Lions, the Lair has it all and definitely earns itself a 5/5 on difficulty.
Between the elevation changes, length, water carries, tight lines, and more, you better bring your best game if you want to keep up with Par on this difficult course.
There is a shorts and longs layout, but the short layout is a beast within it self and is by no means easy. If anything, it just may save some extra plastic from getting thrown into the lake.
Because of the elevation changes alone, near misses to the basket can quickly make for 2-3 extra strokes due to bad roll-aways and thick vegetation making scrambles even more challenging.
When it comes to difficulty, this course throws everything it can at you each and every hole.
A water carry from a long position. Undershoot the basket and you're taking a stroke into the lake,
Overshoot the basket and you're putting downhill towards the water!
Appearance- 4/5
Every hole on this course is maintained extremely well and you can tell that the owners take great pride in the appearance of all the courses on this great property.
Despite being wooded, the fairways are practically clear of all debris, and the grass is nicely groomed.
As seen above, the walking paths are in very nice condition as well, with little work needed to improve them.
The one area I feel this course does need improved upon is the water crossings. As stated, what boards they have in areas get the job done, but are less than ideal, especially if you have a cart.
In the future, I'd like to see them add permanent bridges to not only make the course look nicer, but also safer and easier to walk across the wetter areas.
Other than that, the course looks as good as it plays!
Overall- 4.6/5
In all, this course definitely lived up to the hype that led us here in the first place!
Not only was it a very well layed-out course that will challenge you, but the property itself is gorgeous as it is tucked away in the quiet, wooded hills of Virginia.
Coming in at a 4.6/5, it is clearly one of the best courses we've played at together so far, which is what we were hoping for!
Just like the Lions, be sure to bring some water discs along if you don't want to lose anything you bag, but don't let the lake deter you from checking this course out!
Lake Marshall is ultimately what led us to Virginia and we would not hesitate to give it another try, hopefully sooner than later.
If you have been on the fence about checking out what this property has to offer, then let our recommendation be the one that pushes your curiosity over the edge and make the drive to play it!
If you've played this course before, let us know what you thought of it in the comments!
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