This past weekend I was in Baltimore, Maryland, attending a wedding for two close friends. We had a room at the Inner Habour for the weekend, which gave me a chance to play 18 the morning before the ceremony. Whenever we travel for a wedding or event, I do my best to track down a golf course near me. I also try to work in a golf course that has some history or is unique in some way; if I’m in the area, why not?
As I typed in my favorite phrase into Google, “Golf Courses Near Me,” I realized there were several options very close to my hotel. One course, in particular, jumped out at me: Clifton Park Golf Course. To some, this golf course may not seem to be a huge draw as the website was straightforward and did not have a ton of images or videos of what you are booking a tee time to play. However, the course description attracted my attention and eventually led to my decision of where to play.
The Clifton Park Golf Course, built in 1915, is the first public golf course in Baltimore. Hole #1, directly adjacent to the Clifton Mansion provides a starting point for a panoramic journey through new and old Baltimore. From the first green, players can look south to the city skyline and Clifton Tower. You can imagine Johns Hopkins himself standing in the tower with his telescope, searching the horizon for one of his many merchant ships. With any luck, he could discern his personal flag from the others, hop in a carriage down to the harbor, and greet the captain, personally. To the distant east is the silhouette of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. A few blocks away, Baltimore City College High School (est. 1839) is perched on high; the “Castle on the Hill”.
The golf course has beautifully maintained greens, well manicured fairways, and a delightful layout. Convenient, value priced and PGA managed, Clifton Park is a perfect answer to today’s fast paced, time-restricted lifestyle. It is an ideal natural resource, adding charm and value to the neighborhood; ecologically, socially, economically, and psychologically.
After reading the brief description, I was completely sold. Visualizations and thoughts of excitement filled my head as I booked my tee time Friday night. Can you imagine being a Baltimore resident when the very first public golf course opened in your city? I was so excited about the opportunity to play a new course and play a course that brought public golf to an entire city that I didn’t check the weather.
Waking up Saturday morning, I went to the window and pulled back the curtains. Out the window, the sun was shining, and the wind looked calm with a few gusts here and there. I don’t know about you, but I can play in many elements, but I wouldn’t say I like playing when it is very windy. After getting dressed, grabbing coffee for myself and a few of the bridesmaids, and punching the golf course address into my GPS, I walked past the window again to a different view. The clouds had turned dark grey, and the wind was whipping.
By the time that had arrived at Clifton Park Golf Course, the temperature had dropped into the low 50’s, the wind was about 15mph gusts, and it was starting to rain a little. There was no turning back from here. I went into the clubhouse, purchased my cart, and headed to tee number one.
If you have read any of my recent blog posts, you would know that my main goal right now is to work on my hip rotation and movement through my swing. I have seen improvement and growth in this mechanic since I had started giving it extra attention. With that in mind, I chose not to deviate from this plan on this day.
Despite the elements, I was hitting the ball well. My drives were short but usually finding the fairway or just to the right in the rough, both outcomes leaving views to the green. My irons also did not fail me! I was striking the ball very well and accounting for the wind very well. For this round, I chose not to track my shots individually and kept a record of my strokes, putts, penalties. Luckily for me, the only “penalty” for the day was a sandpit on hole six.
Without tracking everything, I am not sure how many fairways I had hit from the tee, but I know that I had hit seven greens in regulation. With this being my first time playing the course and the conditions being anything but good, I was delighted to have seven birdie attempts on the round. I was unhappy that I didn’t land any of those attempts despite how close the shot was. In fact, of those seven birdie attempts, three of them ended with the dreaded three-putt.
While I impressed myself with the consistency of my iron play, my putter was utterly off the rails. I logged 40 putts on the day; four zero. I could have blamed it on many things, but the fact was I left a ton of putts short or long. The line was right, but I had no feeling when it came to the wet, windy, leave-covered greens I was playing on. It was none of these reasons that I was not enjoying the sounds of the metal cup; I could not get my pace correct. Some holes I was one foot short on the right line and other the ball with end three past the hole, but stop ideally behind the cup from my line of sight.
I was picking the right line but missing the pace all day long. The round ended as it began; a straight par 5 with room on either side for missed shots. Unfortunately, the consistency of my putter followed suit; 3 putts on hole one and three putts on hole 18.
The crazy part was throughout the day, and even after leaving the 18th green, I was happy with my play. I headed back to the clubhouse to return my cart, thinking of how consistent my ball striking was and how I needed to schedule more time on the putting green when practicing. I was also a little upset that the weather decided to change. It was no longer raining, the wind had calmed down to about ten mph gusts, and the sun finally broke through the clouds. It was still cold, but I was feeling good.
The good day didn’t stop there! As I returned my cart and stepped into the pro shop, headed towards my car, I noticed a set of golf clubs in the corner with a price tag on them. It was a seeming brand new set of Taylormade Burne 2.0 clubs and a nice Callaway walking bag, to my surprise. They looked almost unused. The set included the four-iron through pitching wedge and attack wedge of the Burner 2.0 HP series and the Burner Superfast 2.0 driver, three-wood and five-wood. It also had an Adam Scott A7 Select putter with a Super Stroke grip on it. Now I know these clubs are a little dated, but the price was too reasonable to walk away from as the Pro Shop only wanted $100.
I brought the set to the counter and asked about the price, as I have a seven-year-old at home that absolutely loves golf and would be very excited Christmas morning if “Santa” brought him new clubs. He informed me that the club strongly supports the junior leagues in the city and is part of the Baltimore Junoir Golf Academy; they often receive donated clubs. Clubs donated to the course are sold in the Pro Shop at a discount, and profits are distributed directly back in the junior programs.
All and all, it was a fantastic day, and I can’t wait for the opportunity to play the course again. Hopefully, the weather will be nice the next time I do.
