myoungpsu

First of all, I feel bad they've gotten beat up so much in their Golf Advisor rating. It isn't deserved. Value is the name of the game here. I was beside myself that this only cost $26 to ride... yay winter rates! The course was fine; everything I would have expected. Is it a Lederach,.. no ... but guess what, they don't charge you an arm and a leg and you still get a great golf experience. Lots of elevation makes it a bit tricky. You'll be pulling a lot of different clubs out of the bag. Greens are slightly tricky, too with a fair amount of slope. They were punched and not fully healed up, but everything rolled fine. If you want a good, reasonably priced round, you can't go wrong here. Come on, give them more positive reviews. It's not fair they're so unloved on Golf Advisor.

I was really looking forward to playing Maryland National for the first time, as it had been labeled as one of the elite golf courses in the area. I don't know if the claim is a bit inflated, or if I just caught the course at a bad time of season. But, the conditions just weren't there for me to match the prices they charge. Several greens on the back 9 were burned out, and there was a fair amount of burned out spots through the rough. For a course that waters, I would have thought it would have looked a little better than it did. I liked the layout of the course -- definitely a challenge. I didn't have a driver in my bag for this round, and I didn't miss it one bit. This course can really punish you if you get off the fairways. On another note, the scenery is amazing, with a gorgeous backdrop of mountains all around you. To conclude, it's definitely worth a play -- I just wouldn't recommend paying full price.

I decided at the last minute to play, and since I was going as a single, I was looking for a cheap round. I settled on Patuxent, and thought I'd give it a shot. All in all, the course was a little ragged in my opinion. Not awful, but definitely in need to some work.

The Good: Greens were in great shape. Someone has been diligent about keeping them up. Was actually able to spin a number of shots back, which was a pleasant surprise.

The Bad: Everything else is pretty burnt. Fairways have lots of weeds and brown patches. Rough has lots of patches that are like straw. Lots of tee boxes are closed for repair, and several that were open were not cut short enough.

Conclusion: It's a good place to knock in a practice round to prepare for first rate course, which is what I did. I'm rooting for this place, though. Get the right turf grass crew in there, improve fertilization and weed control, get working on the irrigation system and this course could really be transformed. I like the layout, but right now it's a diamond in the rough.

Seeing this course had an average rating of 4.4 stars, I came in with pretty high expectations. They weren't met. I was pretty irritated to get hounded by the ranger to golf faster after I was waiting behind the group in front all day. Here's what happened. The 11th hole was a more challenging Par 4. While I was playing it, I noticed a basket of used balls. So, I cruised over, spent a few minutes picking out 3 good ones, and I left a buck. We had been waiting for the group in front all day, and the group behind wasn't anywhere near, so I figured no worries, this'll let things open up a bit for us... Well I was wrong. We get off the green, and a very gruff ranger is standing there adamantly telling us we're a hole behind...we got to get moving. I was like you have to be kidding. Well, we did actually fall behind, and it's because there was a foursome of ladies ahead, and the next hole for them was at such a huge advantage it played as about a 90 yd par 3. Come on! That's like a chip and putt hole for anybody. You could tee a putter and get it there. So yeah, of course they're gonna get a hole ahead because it's so darn easy. But, I never once caused a hold up to anybody on the course. Needless to say, we were caught right up and waiting once again after we finished that #12 Par 3, and we didn't even have to increase our pace. But, the ranger continued to hover around us during the round, like Big Brother. That whole situation rubbed me the wrong way.

I also felt the greens were too slow for a course supposedly of this caliper. I wasn't annoyed enough not to return, but I think I'd be a little more inclined to run up the road and golf the Hickory Valley Presidential, which in my opinion offers a slightly better experience all around.