Virginia Country Club

Willie Watson designed Virginia Country Club in 1909 on a piece of Long Beach, California Los Angeles south-suburban land. The club's name references the Virginia Hotel — a now-demolished Long Beach landmark hotel that the country club was originally affiliated with — and the institutional history dates to the late 1890s as a Long Beach social club with golf added in 1909. The course is one of the older Southern California country clubs and remains one of the most-preserved Watson routings in the region.

The course plays around 6,500 yards par 71 from the back markers, with bent fairways and a slope in the upper 130s. The yardage is short by modern championship standards, but the routing's age and the natural Long Beach-area coastal terrain — the property has been a golf course continuously since 1909 — give the course defense that modern equipment doesn't overcome through length alone. The fairways play firm given the Southern California coastal subsoil. The mature deciduous canopy through the property has grown to championship-narrowing dimensions over the club's century-plus history.

Virginia Country Club is private and access is members and accompanied guests only. The membership is regional Long Beach and Los Angeles south-suburban business and professional families with multi-generation ties through the club's early-1900s founding. The hospitality model is traditional country club, and the club has stayed deliberately quiet about national rankings.

Southern California climate keeps Virginia Country Club playable year-round, with the firmest conditions in September and October. The Pacific marine influence keeps summer temperatures moderate. The mature canopy gives the routing its parkland character, and the autumn color through the deciduous trees is part of the seasonal visual identity.