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Atlantic
Golf - South River Course
By Bob Enzel
There are
three courses under Atlantic Golf. Two
of them, Queenstown and South River are
situated on the Eastern Shore not far
from Annapolis. The Potomac Ridge course
is just outside the Beltway in Waldorf,
MD.
All are considered excellent public courses,
but South River was recently mentioned
in the “Baltimore Business Journal” as
#13 out of the twenty most difficult golf
courses in the Baltimore area.* It has
also been ranked as the #3 Best Public
Course in Maryland by Golf Digest 1999-2000;
2001-2002 and given a 4 ½ star rating
by Golf Digest.
My friend
John Urciolo (one of the sponsors) invited
me to play in Galway Bay’s 8th Annual
Golf Tournament put on by the Galway brothers,
Fintan and Michael. They are owners of
a local Annapolis pub or two and are responsible
for the myriad of tournament details.
It was a charitable event “in aid of Father
Alphie Byrne.” Father Byne is a missionary
who for forty years has been helping the
less fortunate in Malawi. The tournament
has become a major local event and raises
over ten thousand dollars annually.
The South River course at its longest
is 6,723 yards (green) down to 4,935 (white)
yards. We played the Blue which was 6,235
yards with a slope/rating of 127/69.4.
Brian Ault, the course architect did a
fine job with fairway sand traps, ponds
and environmental areas which made the
course challenging with some tricky holes.
The little booklet that golf courses now
sell—which I hate to buy but sometimes
do—was very helpful in knowing which club
to use and where to aim the shot. This
being my first outing on this course it
came in helpful. The hole that gave our
group the most trouble was #9, a par four.
The green is well-protected by water,
sand and brush. It’s listed as the 6th
most difficult handicap hole, but for
us it was number one. . Best Ball low
score for the tournament was 57 so bring
your best players if you want to compete.
Our team was only able to shoot just over
par.
Overall, I found it to be a terrific course
and am looking forward to returning to
test my skill without the benefit of my
three “best ball” partners. In fact, I’ve
put all 3 Atlantic Golf Courses on my
next season’s must play list.
The web site for Atlantic Golf and South
River can be found on:
http://www.mdgolf.com/
*A complete Most Difficult list may be
had by calling 410/576-1161. |
