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golf
Sitting alongside the 17th green, the historic Birdwood Mansion was built between 1819 and 1830 and boasts a distinctive water tower designed to resemble a lighthouse.
The Final Four at Birdwood Golf
The championship course at Birdwood Golf has four distinct holes that run adjacent to the historic Birdwood Mansion. Watch an overview of the signature holes here.
WATCH NOWBirdwood Golf, adjacent to Boar’s Head Resort and Birdwood Mansion, is 200 acres of rolling, scenic fairways woven into the hickory trees and Blue Ridge Mountains of the surrounding Virginia landscape. Birdwood Golf offers 18 championship holes, a par-3 course called “The Nest,” and Ridges Putting Course that spans nearly an acre in size. The course hosts resort guests, community members, and collegiate golfers, as the championship course at Birdwood Golf plays home to the University of Virginia’s men’s and women’s golf teams. Birdwood Golf is also home to the renowned Boar’s Head Golf Academy and hosted the 2025 NCAA Women’s Regional.
Frequently listed as one of the top courses in Virginia, the championship course at Birdwood Golf is a par-71 layout that measures from 3,856 to 7,116 yards with six sets of tees. All greens on the course are constructed with bentgrass, the premier putting surface for the region, and the fairways feature Zoysia grass, known for its lush resilience and ability to thrive in a variety of climates. The Nest Course at Boar’s Head Resort and Birdwood Mansion is touted as "golf in under an hour.” The Nest is a par-3 Course that encompasses six short holes designed in a figure 8 layout for an enjoyable playing experience. The walkers-only course is an ideal place to practice a short game and is also an excellent opportunity for players who are in the early stages of learning golf. Part of the Love Golf redesign in 2020, the 18-hole Ridges Putting Course offers nearly an acre of putting perfection. The design of the putting course was inspired by the outline of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the distance, and creatively incorporates slopes and surfaces that mimic the mountain scenery that lies in the background.
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About the Location +
Albemarle County, Virginia was named for William Anne Keppel, second earl of Albemarle and governor of the Virginia colony from 1737 to 1754. The Birdwood Golf property sits on the remaining portion of a 2300-acre parcel obtained in a land patent by David Lewis and his brother Joel Terrell in 1739. Land patents in British colonial North America granted parcels of “public” land by the government to individuals. The land was eventually subdivided. Farmland and its small structures were sold to the Garth family, prominent contemporaries of fellow Albermarle County resident Thomas Jefferson. It is in this time period that the property became known as Birdwood. The Garths stewarded the planation land throughout most of the 19th century and built the red-brick manor home between 1819 and 1830. This early American structure, with its water tower cleverly designed as a lighthouse, remains a focal point of Birdwood Golf. Ownership at Birdwood changed several times, until owner Henry L. Fonda, who had been using the grounds for horses, sold the land to the University of Virginia. Under the direction of the University of Virginia Foundation, the Birdwood acreage became part of the Birdwood Golf course in 1984. Between 2016 and 2018 university students and faculty conducted research of the historic manor grounds, including ground penetrating radar scans, to ensure that no areas of archaeological significance would be disturbed on the historic grounds during course renovations and the addition of a practice facility. The grounds at Birdwood Golf also proudly maintain an Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary certification.
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About the Architect +
Lindsay B. Ervin
Lindsay B. Ervin is known for golf course designs throughout Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Lindsay worked for golf course architect David Gill before opening his own company, Lindsay Bruce Ervin, Inc., in 1979. With Ervin’s design, Birdwood Golf Course first opened in 1984. Golf Digest ranked Ervin’s course as one of the top 10 collegiate courses in American and Washington Golf Monthly rated the course as one of the Mid-Atlantic’s top 100 courses. Jeff Thorenson for The Washington Golf Monthly magazine remarked on the playability of Ervin’s course designs, stating, “every piece of ground he touches seems to turn into golf gold.”Love Golf Design
Davis Love III, Mark Love, and Scot Sherman expanded and revitalized Birdwood Golf’s courses in 2020. Brothers David and Mark Love formed Love Golf in 1994 and have contributed many renowned courses in southeastern United States. Sherman, who trained under Pete and Alice Dye early in his career, has worked on significant collegiate courses across the country and previously had teamed with Love Golf Design to create courses at Sea Pines and Sea Island resorts and the Belmont Golf Course in Richmond.
