Was determining where to post this, but figured it was Maryland enough. Won my First Club Championship today at Hog Neck, the course I grew up playing, broke 80 at for the first time, albatross, Etc.
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Congrats, man!!!
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Congrats man. What’s the story on the albatross ?
First time breaking 80 and you do it twice during the club championship…well played.
Whoever the person below you is had a nice reverse Icarito
So I’ll answer each of these questions one at a time.
- The albatross happened two years ago during the first event of the season for the men’s association on Hole 4, the shortest of the par 5s. We were playing a Florida scramble and I hit a drive down the middle which we used. I then hit my second shot and I knew it was pretty good but I didn’t see it go in. We get up there and look around and then we looked in the hole and it was in there. That albatross won us the tournament.
- I actually have broke 80 before this weekend, but Hog Neck was the course I first broke 80 in like 5 or 6 years ago.
- Haha yes my brother has issues off the tee with driver from time to time and Saturday was one of those days
How would you guys rank the top courses in Ocean City, MD? My buddy has a house in ocean pines, so we’re considering putting together a long weekend trip.
- Rum Pointe
- Lighthouse
- Bayside (technically in Delaware)
- War Admiral
- Eagle’s Landing
- Newport Bay
- Ocean Pines
- Man O’War
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I second Rum Pointe being at the top of that list.
How’d you fair at Musket Ridge?
Musket Ridge was terrific. Wow, what a beautiful part of Maryland and a great piece of property for a golf course. Definitely will make another trip back soon. I really enjoyed all the elevation changes and I look forward to playing the course with a little more knowledge next time. A few blind tee shots made for an interesting day but a fun time nonetheless. I actually gave myself enough time to get there and use the driving range and short game area before we teed off. They have made the entire check-in process very COVID friendly allowing you to pay for your round via their app. You can also use the app to order food and drinks to either pick up at the turn, or the staff will deliver your order to you on the course. Thanks for all input!
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So is everyone else seeing like, 5-10x more play at your local courses? It has been crazy around Baltimore- I’m not sure what the city munis have been like, but apparently it’s impossible to get a teetime even during the week at the county courses. Even the places 45 minutes from the city that never used to get much play have been jammed up. A buddy of mine said tee times were fully booked on a Monday at Oakmont Green up near Hampstead. In the past you could always show up there or Westminster National on weekend late morning/early afternoon and get out no problem.
Also, Piney Branch got about 75 new members this year and it is just paaaacked all the time now. Kind of a bummer, but also I am totally OK with it. The club deserves it, and I’m honestly glad more people are getting to play it regularly, because it’s such a good track. Also even though all teetimes are full and we’ve been waiting on most holes, the rounds miraculously are still 4 hours or under.
Has everyone else been seeing faster rounds? Or are there still the nighmare 5.5 hour rounds happening out there?
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It’s definitely packed out there. Kind of what I expected after COVID lockdown.
I’ve had good luck with pace of play too but I’m sure the long slogs still happen.
I played a delayed Father’s Day round this past Friday morning with my Dad and Whiskey Creek, and it ended up being pretty busy around us, but we still went off as a two for some reason. Ended up being a full 4.5 hour round, but the marshals were doing their best to speed up the group 2 ahead of us causing the delays.
Great cause my Dad and I got to chat, take our time, and enjoy the beautiful day, but I’ve been pretty consistently getting bogged down by slower play as courses are no longer mandating/allowing 1-to-a-cart.
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It has been unreal. I like playing alone at twilight time a lot, and that is essentially impossible now. Clustered Spires is my go to track based on proximity, and they are doing 15 minute tee time intervals (which is kind of sweet though). Every single day it is booked through the last posted time (6:30PM). It’s still possible to get a time if you book ahead, you will just 100% be playing with people.
I’m in a really weird spot with golf right now. I’m a new Dad so I basically have minimal free time for golf as it is. But I’d feel more comfortable in the COVID climate not playing with other people and risking bringing something home to the baby or my wife. I know it’s probably abundantly cautious but not exactly something I want to take a risk on. I still check the tee sheets for the courses around here every day because I’m curious, but it’s pretty crazy. I’ve played 6 holes since the end of March, lol.
Not playing has given me more time to learn about club building though. Silver linings…
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Dumb question - if courses can handle one person per cart now and it speeds up play, why not allow it full time? Extra labor cleaning and maintaining them?
There are those aspects certainly, but a lot of them simply don’t have the fleet size as well. I would assume a course would at most be stocked to handle 8 golfers per hole, 18 holes, 2 golfers per cart
8*18/2 would give us 72 carts for 144 on course golfers, lets round it to 80 to be safe.
So now rather than having the capacity for 144 riders, there can only be 80 individuals, so they cant sell nearly as many tee times. I’ve seen a lot of places mitigate this by selling walking only tee times, which i think makes the most sense, but unfortunately its a hard ask to continue the single carts. I’m hoping this sparks a wave of electronic carts built for singles, or more walkers, but who could say?
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To add on to this also…Holly Hills is the only 100% private course that I know of within like 30 minutes of Frederick. Seems strange to me that the 6th largest city in Maryland only has one option. How is there no Frederick CC? I’ve always wondered this, since so many (seemingly) random towns have country clubs all over the place.
Has anyone played Holly Hills? I never have and know basically nothing about it.
Yes. Of course depends on availability, but as a new MD resident I would love to beat down those lowly Virginians (virgins?). Might have to buy some MD flag shorts for the troll.
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