With several holes right off Lake Manassas and a unique "Dye-o-typical" P. B. Dye design, the Virginia Oaks Golf Club is a demanding test of your game that is well worth the trip out to the outskirts of suburbia in Gainesville Virginia.

One of two courses in the suburban DC area designed by the mastermind of golf architecture, Virginia Oaks rings true in every characteristic that labels a P. B. Dye course. The unwavering variable fairways, the huge undulating fast greens and multitude of bunkers at every turn, are all trademarks that Mr. Dye instills in every golf courses he designs. His undeniable flair for the dramatic and keen eye to match golf course to surrounding environment gives every project he undertakes an end result worthy of bearing his namesake.

Amigos favorite Hole: The hole that we liked best at Virginia Oaks is the Par-5 600+yard number 10. From tee to green you won't find any other hole in the area that will test your distance and shot making ability any better. With a slight bend to the right for a beginning downhill tee shot, this hole deceptively lures you into a false sense of comfort. After coming to grips that even the best of drives will still leave you 320 plus out, your second shot is a choice between the extremely long and necessarily accurate fairway wood or less strategically placed yet long iron.

On a hole that would give Tiger trouble trying to reach the green in two, our best advice is to plan on your third shot being your approach to the green. If lucky enough to reach the green in three, your only break is that it is one of the least undulating greens on the course.

On this day both Amigos were plagued with less than stellar games. We would like to blame in on the cool damp weather but as we are well to aware, a P.B. Dye design is not very kind to those unable to bring their best game to the course.

With both Amigos hitting a fifth stroke as his approach to the green, little comfort was felt in the fact that we were able to two putt our way to a pair of double bogeys.