How much does it cost to play Royal New Kent Golf Club?

Green fees at Royal New Kent Golf Club are USD 75–103.

Who designed Royal New Kent Golf Club?

Royal New Kent Golf Club was designed by Mike Strantz (1997).

What is the par and yardage at Royal New Kent Golf Club?

Royal New Kent Golf Club has a par of 72 and 7,440 yards from the championship tees.

Is Royal New Kent Golf Club public or private?

Royal New Kent Golf Club is a Public course.

Royal New Kent Golf Club Guide | Williamsburg

Royal New Kent Golf Club

Mike Strantz brought Royal County Down to Virginia. The course divides opinion and rewards conviction.

$75–$103

Book direct via the course website

Visit Website

Royal New Kent is Mike Strantz's links-inspired design from 1997, drawing openly from Royal County Down, Ballybunion, and Lahinch on terrain about 30 minutes west of Williamsburg. It opened to a Best New Upscale Public Course nod from Golf Digest and has been splitting opinion ever since. Some Virginia regulars rate it among the finest public courses in the state. Others find it punishing to the point of frustration. Both reactions are honest, and you should know going in which side you are likely to land on.

What to expect

From the back tees the course measures 7,440 yards with a slope of 140, which makes it the longest and most demanding layout in the Williamsburg area. Strantz built rumpled, windswept terrain with mounding, waste areas, and sight lines that ask you to trust the design. Blind and semi-blind shots appear throughout the routing, and on a first visit you will face several tee shots that require a leap of faith on line and distance. That is the nature of links-style architecture, and Strantz committed to it without compromise.

Champion Bermuda greens are firm and receptive in season, and the course plays best from April through October when the turf peaks. The greens themselves are the quiet triumph: they accept well-struck approaches and create putting challenges that feel interesting rather than arbitrary.

By the numbers

Par: 72
Yardage: 7,440

Is it worth the green fee?

At $75 to $103, the green fee is remarkably reasonable for a course of this pedigree and difficulty. Royal New Kent closed and reopened under new ownership during a period that tested its reputation, but conditioning has since stabilised to a standard that respects the original design. The price alone makes the 30-minute drive from Williamsburg proper an easy yes.

A word on tee selection: this is not a layout that rewards grip-it-and-rip-it golf. There are four sets of tees, and choosing the right one is the single most important decision of the day. From the appropriate markers, you will leave with a far more satisfying scorecard than you would from the tips.

Booking and trip fit

Tee times are available through the booking link on this page. Pair Royal New Kent with a calmer, more parkland round to balance the trip: Golden Horseshoe Gold or Green, or one of the Kingsmill Resort courses, all sit naturally in a Williamsburg itinerary.

The bottom line

Royal New Kent is the Williamsburg course most likely to stay with you after you leave. Whether the memory is affectionate or adversarial depends on your temperament and your willingness to accept that a course can be both difficult and fair. Strantz built something with conviction here, and it asks the same of you.