Red Wing Lake Golf Course

Few municipal courses in the Hampton Roads area carry the history that Red Wing Lake does. Opened in 1971 and designed by George Cobb — the South Carolina architect behind a number of well-regarded public and resort layouts across the Southeast — it stands as one of Virginia Beach's most enduring public golf destinations. The course plays through a lowland landscape characteristic of coastal Virginia, with water hazards threading through many of the holes and mature trees framing fairways that have aged gracefully over more than 5 decades.

Virginia Beach is a sprawling, golf-rich city, and Red Wing Lake sits comfortably at its recreational heart. Cobb's design rewards straight ball-striking and course management over raw power, with the omnipresent water demanding respect from the first tee to the last green. The layout suits a wide range of handicaps without ever feeling toothless.

For locals, it's a course with genuine sentimental weight — the kind of place where generations of Hampton Roads golfers have learned the game, broken 90 for the first time, and kept coming back.