By Bruce Vittner
Last February we met Nancy Dofflemyer of the Harrison Group at the Rhode Island Golf Show. “You need to visit Ocean City, Maryland, you won’t believe how good the golf is,” she said as she was passing out brochures at her booth.
We hadn’t been to Ocean City in over a dozen years, and that was with a group of eight buddies who drove the seven hours on a golf getaway. Don’t know why we hadn’t been back, the golf was fine and the ride was bearable.
After planning the trip I received an email from Bob Brazil of Cranston who is a volunteer coach at Button Hole in Providence. “I was hoping that you’d do a story about Ocean City. For the past six years a group of us have gone there on our annual golf trip. OC is like the golf swing secret you hate to share because then everyone will know. It is a true hidden gem, comparable to Myrtle Beach but on a smaller scale. Five-star golf, a wide variety of food, good selection of lodging and value pricing make this a true golfers vacation,” said Brazil in his email. Sounded almost like an advertiser’s pitch, but I called him and he was truly sincere.
So last October my wife and I headed back to Ocean City for a four-day vacation and golf trip. Nancy set up our trip where we were able to play four courses and stay at the Holiday Inn & Suites (one of their properties) that overlooked the boardwalk and the Atlantic Ocean. The rooms were excellent, the views spectacular and it was right in the center of town.
The ride was not difficult (just over half the distance to Myrtle Beach), and as we arrived there was a Happy Hour with free food and drinks for golfers on the Harrison Group golf packages. “We do this weekly for our golfers,” said Nancy and her husband as they bustled around the large room. There were golfers from Canada, Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey, and most of them seemed to have been coming to Ocean City for many years. “This is the best place for golf and great hospitality,” said a couple from upstate New York who were making their fourth trip with the Harrison Group.
The next day we headed to The Links at Lighthouse Sound, called by one publication “The Pebble Beach of the East”. An Arthur Hills design (he did Newport National), it is located a mile west of Ocean City on the bay with three holes right on the water.
The layout offers a great variety of holes, some difficult risk/reward shots and many magnificent views. The second and third holes share the same green (never have seen consecutive holes do this before). The second is a long par five with water down the right and a difficult approach to a massive green with a huge hump in the middle. After you finish the hole you take your cart about 150 yards down the path and play back to that same green, only this time to the other side of the hump. Unique, but fun.
You will traverse along the longest cart bridge in America, nearly 1,500 feet as you go from holes 8 to 9. You leave the bay side and now play along pristine marshland and riverside holes. Number 12 might be the narrowest par 5 you’ll ever play. The course conditioning is outstanding, which was a common tread for all four courses we played.
The next day we played 36 holes (quite easy to do with the 22 courses in the area all relatively close). Our first stop was Eagles Landing. It was not as stunning as Lighthouse Sound, but was a nice Hurdzan and Fry (Shelter Harbor) design that stretch to 7,000 yards from the Beast tees down to a very manageable 4,900 yards from the Recreational tees. Owned by the Town of Ocean City, the rates are quite low for the quality of golf. In 1996 Golf Digest rated Eagle's Landing Golf Course 45th in the top 75 most affordable public courses in America. Eagle's Landing is also the first certified Audobon cooperative sanctuary in Maryland
Holes one and two run alongside a small airport runway, so don’t slice (righties) too much. There is quite a bit of water and marshland on the course, so you need to be careful. Number 7 is a dogleg left over marsh off the tee and then across marsh to the green with the bay in the distance. The 17th hole is a very difficult par 3 over water and then the last hole is considered the “Beast of the East”, a narrow par 4 with marshland on both sides and in front of the green.
Our second 18 that day was at Rum Pointe Seaside Golf Links, a Pete and P.B. Dye course that is located right against Sinepuxent Bay and overlooks Assateague Island. Be sure to drive through Assateague during your stay and see all the wild horses that roam freely around the island.
Seventeen of the 18 holes at Rum Pointe have a view of the bay and five play right along side the water, so wind becomes a factor. There are 15 links holes and three parkland. A large pond sits between holes 9 and 18, both long par 4’s that are mirror images of each other. Rum Pointe is definitely a Dye design with large greens, undulating fairways and some penal bunkers.
Harrison Group set up the last round at Baywood Greens, about an hour north of Ocean City in Long Neck, Delaware, a perfect stop on the way to Ocean City or on the way home. It is part of the Ocean City Golf Getaway package and is rated number one in Delaware for good reason.
“We have been called the Augusta National of the North,” said head professional Tony Hollerback. That’s not too much hyperbole as the course has imported tons of pine needles from Georgia, has thousands of plants along and around the golf course, 1,500 feet of timbered bridges, many lined with flower boxes, 27 acres of man-made lakes and acres of sod to create the primary rough.
The course has two distinct nines. The front is mostly woodland and the back is mostly water. The tall pines and hardwoods shape the front-side that has some elevation changes. The sixth hole is a wonderful par 3 over a pond. With five sets of tees it can range from 223 yards down to 147. Play the proper tees for your game.
Number 14 is a unique hole. It’s a par 4 with an island in the middle of the fairway. If you go straight, the hole measures only 330 yards, but the landing area on the island is only 70 yards long and about thirty yards wide. The carry from the tee to the island can range from 140 to 180 yards. Go around the fairway to right and the hole measures about 400 yards. Take the gamble.
We’d suggest playing this course on your way home, because you’ll be talking about the course the whole way. For sure you’ll be talking about your great golfing trip to Ocean City, Maryland and all the crab cakes you ate.
Bruce Vittner is a member of the Golf Writers of America and the Golf Travel Writers of America and can be reached at bruce@snegolfer.com.
Important numbers and websites:
Harrison Golf Group—800-TEE-1OFF, www.tee1off.com
Ocean City Golf Getaways—800-4OC-GOLF, www.oceancitygolf.com
