If you feel like golfing during your next vacation to Little Washington, a great little course is only a few miles away in neighboring Sperryville, Virginia. The Schoolhouse Nine isn’t just the best course in the county because it’s the only golf course in the county. It’s actually a beautiful, challenging, and enjoyable track with the kind of charm you’d expect from a place like Rappahannock County, Virginia.

The “pro shop” is actually the adjacent Headmaster’s Pub, which makes for a great “19th hole” (or 10th, in this case) at the end of your round. You can pay and collect your score card there. The course is all par 3s, so you can leave the woods at home, but come prepared with an above average short game. The holes range in length from 85 to 171 yards, but the large, rolling greens are unlike anything you’ve probably experienced in other short courses. The bunkers are large and high-banked in places, adding even more challenge to this little mountain course.

The course was designed by McCartin Golf Design to disrupt as little as possible of the original landscape: a gently sweeping grazing field in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains bordered by the Thornton River and the historic ruins of an old tannery. Roughly half of the course’s 20 acres are unmaintained and planted with a selection of wildflowers and warm season grasses. In another impressive effort at conservation, the course only requires irrigation of 1.4 of those 20 acres through a careful selection of native grasses cut higher for the fairways. You may assume this would make for a shaggy looking course, but in fact, this kind of creative course maintenance allows each hole to blend perfectly into its beautiful, rural surroundings without diminishing the player experience.

So if you want to get in a quick, challenging, and enjoyable round of golf on your next stay at Gay Street Inn, look no further than the, The Schoolhouse Nine