I decided on a spur of the moment to head out and play golf Saturday afternoon. I was just going by myself, so I thought I'd have a decent chance to get on a course. I went up to play at a course called Pine Ridge (pictured above). It's one of the five municipal courses that they have here in Baltimore that you can play for relatively cheap. Here's a brief history of the property......
A GolfDigest 4-star rated course, Nancy Lopez won her second professional tournament here. Pine Ridge is also the past home of several PGA and LPGA Tournaments, The Eastern Open, Lady Carling Open and Greater Baltimore Golf Classic. Opened in 1958, the scenic water and pine trees of the Loch Raven watershed setting make this course both beautiful and a challenge. Located just three miles north of the bustling city of Towson, Pine Ridge is also known for its abundant wildlife. Golfers are almost guaranteed to view the plentiful deer and geese that make this tranquil setting their home. You will find the peace and quiet of Pine Ridge unlike an other golf experience in the greater Baltimore area.
It's a really fun older course that is very challenging. First, it's called 'Pine Ridge' for a reason. It's only a few miles outside of the beltway, but there are thick pine trees lining every single hole and they do come into play quite often. I think our foursome racked up 15-20 hit trees with a few direct shots to the trees that would result in a sound that would echo through the whole property and honestly make you laugh out loud. I don't know why the sound of a golf ball hitting a tree is so funny, but it is.
I actually hit a tree squarely and it kicked right 30-40 yards. To my amusement, when I picked up the ball, it actually stuck to my hand. I flipped over my hand, palm side down, and the ball actually stayed stuck to my hand! Neat magic trick? Nope. The ball had hit one of the pine trees and had so much sap on it from hitting the tree that it actually stuck to my hand when I picked it up. I switched that ball out fearing that it might stick to the club if I tried to hit it.
The course is on a reservoir called Loch Raven. There's some really nice homes in the area. It would seem to be a really nice place to live since it's near the beltway, but feels like it's not in a busy or noisy part of the city. As was mentioned above in the info that I listed, there is an abundance of deer and geese in the area. While the information listing above would seem to welcome both species, the actual nature of the relationship between the golf course and animals is quite different.
First, the deer. We probably saw 20 deer while we were playing on the course. Of course, my Baltimore playing partners were in awe of the deer on the course. This is something that you simply don't get to see that often in this area. I will say one thing. It was pretty obvious that the deer didn't have any predators in the area. The deer would honestly walk within 20-30 feet of the golfers without thinking twice. They had no fear of anything. Being a Missouri guy, I really wasn't that excited compared to my playing partners. I informed them that we organize large hunts in Missouri just to keep the population at a manageable level. They were surprised to know that there were that many deer in the Midwest.
Now, the geese. The geese tend to not be welcomed on most golf courses. They dig holes in the fairways and greens and they also poop on the course, killing the grass and leaving quite a mess. The geese were also quite brave and would walk near the golfers. But there was one thing that the geese were very wary of on the course. That would be the official 'geese' dog, which was a border collie in this case.
This dog had it all. He would lay on the bench seat of a golf cart all day. The marshals on the course would call back to the clubhouse when they noticed geese starting to move onto the golf course. That call was the equivalent of flashing the 'bat sign' into the sky over the city of Gotham. One of the staff would immediately run out to the golf cart where the dog was laying. The dog, upon seeing the staff member run to the cart, immediately knew what was going on and would sit upright in the seat, ready for action! He knew it was time to get some work done (or in his mind, play 'chase the geese'). The staff member would drive to the area of the course where the geese were hanging out. The amusing part was the 'alarm' system by the geese. They would send out the honking call of 'danger' when they spotted the dog cart coming, long before the dog even got to them. The dog would leap from the moving cart before the staff member could even slow down the cart and run every last goose off the course with the geese often flying back into the water. When the job was complete, the dog would jog back to the cart and jump back on the seat for his ride back to the clubhouse.
As we started playing, I mentioned that I was originally from Missouri. One of the guys in my group asked if that was 'in that tornado alley thing or whatever they call it'. I told him that I was impressed and that it was right in the middle of Tornado Alley. He asked me why that area got so many tornados. Thankfully, I had paid attention in school and knew that the warm moist air from the Gulf of Mexico and the cooler air from Canada and the Rockies colliding was the reason for the large amount of tornadoes in the Midwest. Another guy was fascinated by the fact that storms producing double digit tornadoes in the Midwest are not terribly uncommon over the course of the summer. The third member of the group excitedly mentioned that he had a buddy that he visited in Indiana who told him that if you were in your car and a tornado was nearby, you're supposed to jump into a ditch for cover. I was honestly pretty impressed that these guys knew as much as they did about tornadoes. In general, Baltimore citizens aren't nearly as well-informed about tornadoes as these guys were in this case.
I ended up shooting in the low 90s for the day. I probably could have done better if I had a bit more practice with my new swing from the Hawaii trip (you probably remember me posting my self-hints in early March), but overall, I was pretty happy with how I did. I missed two birdie putts (one from only 6 feet.....ARRRGGGGHHHH!). It was sunny and 75 degrees, so even a bad day on the course was still a good day in general.
