The Dominion Energy Charity Classic, a PGA Tour Champions event, has been played at Country Club of Virginia’s James River Course since its inception in 2015.
In the weeks since the news broke that Country Club of Virginia will no longer host the annual PGA Tour Champions golf tournament currently known as the Dominion Energy Charity Classic after 2025, several names have already begun to bubble up as contender replacement courses for the popular event.
With the tour making it publicly known it intends to keep the tournament in the Richmond market, three local golf courses in particular seem to be at the top of the list to fill that role, according to observers of the local golf scene.
The most obvious of those, according to sources in the industry, is Independence Golf Club.
Straddling the Chesterfield/Powhatan county line, Independence is one of the higher-end public courses in the region.
Sources who spoke with BizSense said Independence’s location, clubhouse and course layout make it a strong candidate in terms of having what it takes to host a pro tournament.
The clubhouse at Independence (Michael Schwartz)
The role of Independence owner Giff Breed also bodes well for the club, sources say.
Not only has Breed earned a reputation for continually pushing his golf club to try new things and stay ahead of changing trends, he also had a hand in bringing PGA Tour Champions to the Richmond market in the first place.
As the story goes, Breed and other prominent members of the local golf community courted the tour to the area and had hoped a tournament would be held at Independence. Independence was one of three local courses the tour considered – the others being CCV and Hermitage Country Club, sources said.
In the end, when Dominion Energy came on board as title sponsor, certain powers-that-be decided it should be held at CCV.
With CCV pulling out after next year’s event, would Breed still be interested in landing the tournament? He declined to comment when reached in recent weeks.
Hermitage Country Club is located in Goochland County.
Hermitage, in addition to having been previously considered before the DECC’s launch eight years ago, has a history of hosting pro such events.
It was the site of the PGA Senior Tour’s Crestar Classic from 1983 to 1990. The Senior Tour was a previous incarnation of Tour Champions, featuring players in their 50s and older. It was at one of those events at Hermitage where Arnold Palmer scored his last professional win, which came on the Seniors Tour at the Goochland course in 1988.
Hermitage’s championship pedigree goes even further back, when in 1949 it hosted the PGA Championship won by legend Sam Snead. That event took place at what is now Belmont Golf Course, but back then was part of Hermitage.
However, it’s unclear whether Hermitage management and its members are looking to throw the club’s hat in the ring next year. Hermitage general manager Stephen Burkhart couldn’t be reached for comment.
The Dominion Club’s front entrance.
The third possibility that has sources the most intrigued is Dominion Club, a private club located in the heart of the Wyndham community in Henrico County.
Sources say Dominion Club has multiple reasons to be in the mix for the Tour Champions event.
First, it’s owned by Heritage Golf Group, a growing golf company with nearly three dozen courses in its portfolio. Heritage bought Dominion Club in 2015 and has since invested heavily in upgrades to the club.
And Dominion Club has a history of hosting pro tournaments. The club was the site of events on both the Nationwide Tour and the Nike Tour years ago.
Dominion Club general manager Dan Riker, when reached in recent weeks, didn’t dismiss the idea of making a go of it.
“We would certainly be interested in something that has been a big part of Henrico County for many years,” Riker said, declining to comment further.
One local golf course exec watching the process closely is Mike Hatch. He’s a seasoned golf course owner and consultant who owns Birkdale Golf Club and Brandermill Country Club in Chesterfield County. He also manages Hanover Country Club and helped bring the U.S. Open to Erin Hills Golf Club in Wisconsin in 2017.
While his local courses wouldn’t be in line for a tournament like the DECC, Hatch said Independence and Hermitage would make great hosts for the event.
Mike Hatch
He said Independence has the course location, layout and clubhouse quality and infrastructure to make a real run at it.
“Independence is quite a good location and it could be quite a good spectator golf course,” Hatch said.
Hermitage would surely be in the running if interested, Hatch said, but he wonders about the logistics such as parking and whether Hermitage members would be supportive of it. One of the factors in CCV’s decision to pull out of its DECC contract early was the effect the tournament was having on its members.
Hatch said the question of whether any other of the region’s courses can host a professional, nationally televised tournament in early October may come down to turf management.
Many local courses, because of Richmond’s climate, have Bermuda grass for their greens, and Hatch said he’d worry about the condition of those greens in October when the DECC is held each year.
“We’re normally at our best every spring,” Hatch said of the turf at local courses. “But by the end of the summer, all you need is a rough summer and your golf course could not look so good and you’re in full panic mode and about to go live on TV with 50,000 spectators coming through the door.”
Ultimately, Steve Schoenfeld is the man to ask about where the tournament will be held in 2026.
He’s the DECC’s executive director and has run the event since it arrived in town in 2015.
Schoenfeld, in an interview earlier this month, warned that there’s a vital step that must first be taken before really digging in on finding a new location for the tournament.
Steve Schoenfeld is the executive director of the Dominion Energy Charity Classic.
“The first priority is to identify and secure a new title partner,” Schoenfeld said, referring to the fact that Dominion Energy also announced last month that it would pull out as title sponsor of the DECC when its run at CCV ends.
“Without the title partner we don’t have an event. The golf course is secondary. It’s cart before the course if you do the course first,” he said.
Sponsorship aside, Schoenfeld entertained the question of where the tournament could potentially be held, though he wouldn’t comment on any specific courses.
He explained some of the ins and outs of what the tour looks for in a host course.
“It’s not just a pure location. It’s the golf course’s… is it ready for a professional competition? Does it have enough infrastructure and space for us to stage everything we need to stage?” Schoenfeld said.
There’s also the condition and length of the course, points of ingress and egress and many other factors.
“The list is long,” Schoenfeld said. “The truth is we can make almost anything work, but you have a list and you work your way down from greatest importance.”
At the moment, the task of greatest importance for Schoenfeld and his team is landing that big sponsor to replace Dominion and allow the tournament to remain in the Richmond market.
He said that process is underway and they’re working to open up a dialogue with the caliber of companies that have the ability to pay the “mid-seven-figure annual” title sponsor fee.
“There are certainly a number of companies in the region that have the bandwidth,” Schoenfeld said, referring in part to the eight Fortune 500 companies headquartered in the area.
Schoenfeld said the support shown by local spectators, sponsors and volunteers for the DECC gives him confidence that things will fall into place to keep the tournament here, even without CCV and Dominion on board.
“We are very optimistic because the Richmond community has demonstrated outstanding support,” for the tournament, Schoenfeld said. “Richmonders show up. They show up for events. It’s an outstanding community that rallies behind events that come to town.
“We’re bullish on staying in Richmond,” he added. “We feel strongly this is a good market and we’d like to stay.”
The Dominion Energy Charity Classic, a PGA Tour Champions event, has been played at Country Club of Virginia’s James River Course since its inception in 2015.
In the weeks since the news broke that Country Club of Virginia will no longer host the annual PGA Tour Champions golf tournament currently known as the Dominion Energy Charity Classic after 2025, several names have already begun to bubble up as contender replacement courses for the popular event.
With the tour making it publicly known it intends to keep the tournament in the Richmond market, three local golf courses in particular seem to be at the top of the list to fill that role, according to observers of the local golf scene.
The most obvious of those, according to sources in the industry, is Independence Golf Club.
Straddling the Chesterfield/Powhatan county line, Independence is one of the higher-end public courses in the region.
Sources who spoke with BizSense said Independence’s location, clubhouse and course layout make it a strong candidate in terms of having what it takes to host a pro tournament.
The clubhouse at Independence (Michael Schwartz)
The role of Independence owner Giff Breed also bodes well for the club, sources say.
Not only has Breed earned a reputation for continually pushing his golf club to try new things and stay ahead of changing trends, he also had a hand in bringing PGA Tour Champions to the Richmond market in the first place.
As the story goes, Breed and other prominent members of the local golf community courted the tour to the area and had hoped a tournament would be held at Independence. Independence was one of three local courses the tour considered – the others being CCV and Hermitage Country Club, sources said.
In the end, when Dominion Energy came on board as title sponsor, certain powers-that-be decided it should be held at CCV.
With CCV pulling out after next year’s event, would Breed still be interested in landing the tournament? He declined to comment when reached in recent weeks.
Hermitage Country Club is located in Goochland County.
Hermitage, in addition to having been previously considered before the DECC’s launch eight years ago, has a history of hosting pro such events.
It was the site of the PGA Senior Tour’s Crestar Classic from 1983 to 1990. The Senior Tour was a previous incarnation of Tour Champions, featuring players in their 50s and older. It was at one of those events at Hermitage where Arnold Palmer scored his last professional win, which came on the Seniors Tour at the Goochland course in 1988.
Hermitage’s championship pedigree goes even further back, when in 1949 it hosted the PGA Championship won by legend Sam Snead. That event took place at what is now Belmont Golf Course, but back then was part of Hermitage.
However, it’s unclear whether Hermitage management and its members are looking to throw the club’s hat in the ring next year. Hermitage general manager Stephen Burkhart couldn’t be reached for comment.
The Dominion Club’s front entrance.
The third possibility that has sources the most intrigued is Dominion Club, a private club located in the heart of the Wyndham community in Henrico County.
Sources say Dominion Club has multiple reasons to be in the mix for the Tour Champions event.
First, it’s owned by Heritage Golf Group, a growing golf company with nearly three dozen courses in its portfolio. Heritage bought Dominion Club in 2015 and has since invested heavily in upgrades to the club.
And Dominion Club has a history of hosting pro tournaments. The club was the site of events on both the Nationwide Tour and the Nike Tour years ago.
Dominion Club general manager Dan Riker, when reached in recent weeks, didn’t dismiss the idea of making a go of it.
“We would certainly be interested in something that has been a big part of Henrico County for many years,” Riker said, declining to comment further.
One local golf course exec watching the process closely is Mike Hatch. He’s a seasoned golf course owner and consultant who owns Birkdale Golf Club and Brandermill Country Club in Chesterfield County. He also manages Hanover Country Club and helped bring the U.S. Open to Erin Hills Golf Club in Wisconsin in 2017.
While his local courses wouldn’t be in line for a tournament like the DECC, Hatch said Independence and Hermitage would make great hosts for the event.
Mike Hatch
He said Independence has the course location, layout and clubhouse quality and infrastructure to make a real run at it.
“Independence is quite a good location and it could be quite a good spectator golf course,” Hatch said.
Hermitage would surely be in the running if interested, Hatch said, but he wonders about the logistics such as parking and whether Hermitage members would be supportive of it. One of the factors in CCV’s decision to pull out of its DECC contract early was the effect the tournament was having on its members.
Hatch said the question of whether any other of the region’s courses can host a professional, nationally televised tournament in early October may come down to turf management.
Many local courses, because of Richmond’s climate, have Bermuda grass for their greens, and Hatch said he’d worry about the condition of those greens in October when the DECC is held each year.
“We’re normally at our best every spring,” Hatch said of the turf at local courses. “But by the end of the summer, all you need is a rough summer and your golf course could not look so good and you’re in full panic mode and about to go live on TV with 50,000 spectators coming through the door.”
Ultimately, Steve Schoenfeld is the man to ask about where the tournament will be held in 2026.
He’s the DECC’s executive director and has run the event since it arrived in town in 2015.
Schoenfeld, in an interview earlier this month, warned that there’s a vital step that must first be taken before really digging in on finding a new location for the tournament.
Steve Schoenfeld is the executive director of the Dominion Energy Charity Classic.
“The first priority is to identify and secure a new title partner,” Schoenfeld said, referring to the fact that Dominion Energy also announced last month that it would pull out as title sponsor of the DECC when its run at CCV ends.
“Without the title partner we don’t have an event. The golf course is secondary. It’s cart before the course if you do the course first,” he said.
Sponsorship aside, Schoenfeld entertained the question of where the tournament could potentially be held, though he wouldn’t comment on any specific courses.
He explained some of the ins and outs of what the tour looks for in a host course.
“It’s not just a pure location. It’s the golf course’s… is it ready for a professional competition? Does it have enough infrastructure and space for us to stage everything we need to stage?” Schoenfeld said.
There’s also the condition and length of the course, points of ingress and egress and many other factors.
“The list is long,” Schoenfeld said. “The truth is we can make almost anything work, but you have a list and you work your way down from greatest importance.”
At the moment, the task of greatest importance for Schoenfeld and his team is landing that big sponsor to replace Dominion and allow the tournament to remain in the Richmond market.
He said that process is underway and they’re working to open up a dialogue with the caliber of companies that have the ability to pay the “mid-seven-figure annual” title sponsor fee.
“There are certainly a number of companies in the region that have the bandwidth,” Schoenfeld said, referring in part to the eight Fortune 500 companies headquartered in the area.
Schoenfeld said the support shown by local spectators, sponsors and volunteers for the DECC gives him confidence that things will fall into place to keep the tournament here, even without CCV and Dominion on board.
“We are very optimistic because the Richmond community has demonstrated outstanding support,” for the tournament, Schoenfeld said. “Richmonders show up. They show up for events. It’s an outstanding community that rallies behind events that come to town.
“We’re bullish on staying in Richmond,” he added. “We feel strongly this is a good market and we’d like to stay.”
One point of clarification, while Hermitage was the organization that hosted the 1949 PGA Championship, the course on which the event was played was the Belmont Golf Course in Henrico County, now run by First Tee of Richmond.
Would like to correct Mr. Hatch’s comment about grass on the greens. Hermitage CC has bent grass greens that are usually in great condition in October.
If the tournament is such a good deal for the host, why did the last host bail?
Wells Fargo just bailed on theirs…maybe there is an actual reason that these things are happening.
Maybe the City can host the tournament on a casino site? They know a good deal when they see one for their constituents.
First of all, Wells Fargo was not the host of that PGA event, it was the title sponsor. A sponsor would have completely different reasons for choosing not to invest in a tournament than that of a host course. Given the public drama with the PGA / LIV situation, increased purses for that event, as well as the general overall economic conditions in the US (much uncertainty in the banking/credit industries), I think Wells Fargo just didn’t see a benefit to parting with an increased cash layout. In general the PGA economic model is entering shaky ground, so you may… Read more »
Understood, but I still stand by my statement if CCV bailed, why would another private club want the same hassle for little to no benefit to the membership? And the LIV issue you mentioned makes it even less likely for a Mickleson level draw, which was huge the year he played CCV. This past year, I heard the music act on Friday night was a bigger draw than any of the actual players in the tournament. This to me just seems to be a solution to a problem no one in Richmond has now, and only came to town due… Read more »
All fair points, although attendance couldn’t have been too bad this year if the tour is committed to returning to the market. With regards to CCV, it is safe to say they don’t need the tour’s money or the prestige that comes with hosting a tour event. Hermitage may well fall into that same category. But both Dominion and Independence I am sure would jump at the chance for that payday.
I heard Lanny Watkins on a golf broadcast say he petitioned the PGA to bring it to Richmond. That said, Why not have the tournament at Meadowbrook CC, Watkins home course?
Michael, Did anyone suggest Kinloch? It is one of the highest ranked golf courses in the US. I would speculate that most of its members belong to other clubs, so giving up their course for 2-3 weeks might not be terribly inconvenient. Its practice facilities would satisfy the needs of the PGA Champion Tour. There is lots of parking available nearby in West Creek.
My guess is that Kinloch sees themselves as above having an event like this. They have and certainly would entertain a USGA event, but for the most part, PGA and Champions Tour events are not played at elite clubs – which Kinloch certainly aspires to be. On top of that, it is inconvenient for their members – not just for daily play, but especially for the wear and tear on the golf course from spectators and tournament infrastructure.