On the final morning of our Ocean City golf vacation, we checked out of our “hotel” and drove an hour or so North to Baywood Greens in Long Neck, Delaware.  We chose Baywood Greens for a couple of reasons.  First, it was included in that package deal I’ve mentioned in previous posts, which meant it saved us a few bucks versus going off the list.  It was also more or less on the way home, which made us think playing Baywood would get us home that much faster.

Admittedly, I had some very high hopes for Baywood Greens.  Let’s be honest, as golfers, particularly golfers on vacation, we love the idea of a novelty hole or two.  I’m not talking about windmills or clown heads, I’m talking about things like island greens, and in the case of Baywood, island fairways.  Couple that with the moniker “The Augusta of the North” and yeah, I was really excited about the last round of my trip.

Adding to my own personal excitement…As part of my last order from LostGolfBalls.com, I got some Bridgestone B330-RX balls to try out (as usual the balls I received were indistinguishable from new).  For those who don’t get excited about golf balls, the B330-RX is basically the hottest new ball on the market, and it took everything I had to hold off until my last round to put them in play.  Island Greens, island fairways, and new golf balls.  That’s basically as good as it gets for vacation golf.

Once again I was without my camera (I left it in the car and was too lazy to go back for it), so I don’t have any pictures of my own to share (I’ll do better with future reviews).

Course Information

• Baywood Greens (www.baywoodgreens.com)
• Par 72
• Yardage 3539 – 6983 – I played the Black tees (6491), the “men” I was with played the Greens (6088)

Description (From the Website)

An “Exclusively Public” 18-Hole championship course, Baywood Greens offers golfers the most scenic and spectacular golf on the Delmarva Peninsula.

Described as the “Augusta of the North”, at Baywood Greens you will experience the meticulously manicured woodside and waterside nines with eight timbered bridges and 27 acres of man-made ponds, two tunnels and over 200,000 flowers, plants, shrubs and trees.

Initial Impression

It’s absolutely impossible not to notice the attention the staff at Baywood Greens pays to the grounds. Having not stumbled upon that “Augusta of the North” description until after playing the course, I can tell you that I had settled on the idea of Baywood as a poor man’s Augusta. Meticulously maintained planting beds are quite literally everywhere. As we would learn through the course of our round, plantings can be found on nearly (if not) every hole on the course. A solid hour before teeing off, I found myself absolutely taken with the course.

The 18th, visible from the far end of the practice area, provides an excellent preview of the beautiful golf to come.

Practice Facility

Baywood Greens offers guests complimentary access to the driving range and large short game/putting facilities.  As far as the range is concerned, there are an ample number of well-stocked stalls, but I wasn’t overly impressed by the driving range mats (I expect higher-end courses to have natural grass ranges), nor was I impressed by the lower-end, bright yellow range balls.  The range itself is shorter than most, which, if anything, made me feel mighty while warming up, so I guess that’s a bonus.

The short game area features a large green exclusively for pitching and chipping.  Plenty of balls were available, as was the simple little tool for clearing the green.  It’s actually one of the better short game areas I’ve encountered. It provides the opportunity to hit a variety of shots, from a variety of lies; including the a large greenside bunker.

The range and short game area are complimented by two large putting greens.  While the range itself is a bit of a disappointment, the short game and putting areas more than make up for it.

Layout

Like other courses in the Ocean City area, in my opinion anyway, Baywood Greens plays as two different courses.  The front 9 is much more deserving of the “Augusta of the North” (boy, am I getting tired of typing that) designation.  For lack of a better description, it’s much more Augusta-like – at least from what I can tell on TV.  It’s more wooded, perhaps a bit parkland in style.  Compared the more links-like back 9, the front 9 definitely has more of an Augusta feel; although the back is not entirely unworthy of the Augusta comparison.

With that said, I must confess that I got more enjoyment out of the back 9.  The back features the island green (#11), the split island fairway (#14), an absolute bear of a challenging par 5 (#16), and #18; about as fine of a finishing hole as you’re likely to find.  Water is much more prevalent on the back, as evidence by the disappearance of my lostgolfballs, which are now, I guess, re-lostgolfballs.  The B330-RX were great while they lasted.

The island par 3 11th is the kind of hole every golfer looks forward to playing.

The grounds feature numerous environmentally protected areas, which, in a few places anyway, resemble unkept bunkers.  I lost balls in a couple of them, and had to play another just of the edge of one in full view of a basking snake, which is the excuse I use for the poor shot that followed.

Conditions

In a word; immaculate.  I really don’t have the superlatives to describe the conditions at Baywood Greens.  Clearly the staff works extremely hard to keep the course in outstanding shape, and the results of their efforts are on display on each and every hole.  You won’t find many other public courses that offer such superb conditions.

The greens didn’t play overly fast (once again I would attribute this to the early spring season).  That said, like the rest of the course, the greens were in outstanding conditions, and rolled true.  While to say I didn’t putt well would be an understatement, I don’t think it would be fair to blame the greens.  The 3 putts were on me.

Be forewarned, the rough is lush and deep.  As with most courses, you’ll find that Baywood Greens is kinder to the golfer that plays from the fairway.  The smart play from the rough is very often a short iron back to the fairway.  Gambling from the rough is a surefire way to make a big score – as I found out time and time again.

Pace of Play

Unfortunately, the pace of play at Baywood Greens is exactly the opposite of the conditions; deplorable.  Our 18 hole round lasted a hair under 6 hours, which is unacceptable in any scenario, but throw in the fact that we still had a long drive back to upstate New York, and well, it’s downright offensive.

With all the staff out and about on the course, you’d think there would have been a ranger amongst the crowd to encourage the pace.  Unfortunately we didn’t lay eyes on a ranger until well into the back 9, and by then it was way too late.

Perhaps no single event better illustrates the pace of play problem than the 15 minute wait we had to endure while waiting to tee off on the par 3, 6th.  Not only did we have to wait for the group in front of us to tee off, but we also got to watch the group in front of them hit their tee shots as well.  To be two full groups behind by the 6th illustrates a serious problem.  I’m certainly not the first to make this observation, as other reviews I’ve read also make reference to what is clearly a systemic pace of play problem at Baywood.

The long wait killed the par 3 6th for me. Besides, what kind of sadistic clown builds a bunker around a pine tree?

What I found most frustrating (apart from a 6 hour round), is that we sat in one place so long that the electronic scorecard on the golf cart reset itself.  Driving towards the green after our tee shots, we were again asked if we’d like to use the cart to keep score.  Our scores for the first 5 holes had been lost.  As most golfers will attest, long waits between shots can absoultely spoil your golf game, and sadly by time we teed off on 6, any feel for my swing I might have developed was long gone.

The Staff

Despite the absence of a ranger, the staff at Baywood was very good.  The bag attendants who greated us made us feel welcome, and let us know where we could check in and eat breakfast.  The starter who led us to the first tee was also exceptionally friendly and gave us a great overview of the course, and an explanation of local rules, most of which pertained to those environmentally protected areas I mentioned before, as well as instructions for playing (or not playing) out of the mulched planting areas.

Favorite Hole

One of the things I liked most about Baywood Greens is the tremendous variety of truly enjoyable holes.  I’m hard pressed to pick one as my favorite.  I could make a case for the Par 3, 6th (although I didn’t enjoy being stuck behind the large pine growing in the center of the bunker).  The 10th, with it’s downhill approach over a massive horseshoe shaped bunker is not without its charms.

The well-bunkered island green of the 11th is also a lot of fun, and despite being an island, doesn’t play like a novelty hole.  The par 4, 14th, which features a split fairway is probably the single most interesting hole on the course.  Golfers are given the choice between playing right to a large fairway that plays as a dogleg left, or gambling on an island portion of the fairway.  A precisely struck tee shot that finds the island will leave you with a wedge to the green.  Playing to the safety of the right fairway will leave you a mid to long iron into the green.

Gambler that I am, I played to the island (the decision was make easier when one of my partners offered me $400 if I could carry the 260 over the island and into the water).  The prospect of $400 caused me to overswing, resulting in a hook that caught the edge of the wooden bridge leading to the green.  The ricochet left me dropping at the edge of the water.  Without the hook I’d have been $400 richer, instead of one B330-RX poorer.  My partners both played the safe route to the right.  By the time they reached the green I had long since finished my double-bogey.

The par 4, 14th, featuring 2 choices off the tee, is one of the more interesting holes I've ever played.

I also enjoyed the water-heavy 18th.  You must carry water off the tee.  On your second you’ll face water down the entire right side of the hole (which I found), as well as water beyond the bunkers on the back side of the green.  While not my favorite on the course, it’s a finishing hole I’d be happy to play every day.

After much thought, I’ve decided that my favorite hole on the Baywood course is the par 5, 16th.  Once again the tee shot requires a carry over water.  That same water runs the length of the left side of the hole, and is in play on 3 sides of the peninsular green.  The 16th is among the most interesting and challenging holes I’ve ever played.  Because of the contours of the fairway, it’s extremely difficult to see the water that protects the front of the green.  Thank God for the on-cart GPS.

The par 5 16th offers a challenge I'd never tire of.

On the day we played, we were fortunate to have a front right pin position, which took the prospects of an approach over water largely out of play.  After a fairly long tee shots, I decided to take my chances at hitting the green with my 3-wood.  With an advantageous pin position, I elected to try and draw the ball into the green.  I aimed well right on the assumption that a miss right would leave a relatively easy chip onto the green, whereas a miss left would lead to another re-lostgolfball, and another lost stroke.  I didn’t quite catch the ball flush (I haven’t been hitting my 3-wood well all season).  I didn’t get much of the draw I had hoped for and ended up in the rough on the right side of the fairway.  I chipped down and two putted for par.

A par is always nice, but I can’t imagine there’s an easier pin position than the one we faced.  I’d love to play the hole agian, and see how a back left position changes the nature of the hole.

Overall Experience

For the time of year we played Baywood Greens, the published weekday rate for 18 holes was $105.  If not for the pace of play, it would have been worth every penny.  I’m all for getting my money’s worth, but once you cross the 5 hour mark you’re really looking at diminishing returns as the time spent golfing cuts into the other things you need to get done (like drive 6 hours back home).  Diminishing also describes the number of balls in my golf bags.  I definitely lost more than I would have liked, but no doubt I’ll be ordering more Bridgestone B330-RX balls from LostGolfBalls.com.  What a truly amazing ball for the average player.

If Baywood Greens was dropped into the heart of Saratoga, NY, I’d definitely play it again – and pace of play wasn’t an issue, I’d play it again, and again, and again.  As I’ve said, the conditions are stellar, and the layout is fun, interesting, and one hell of a challenge ta’ boot. The layout is definitely an A.  For value…let’s call it a B+.  Baywood definitely offers resort quality golf, unfortunately it took us far too long to get through it.

If you’re in the Ocean City area, I’d definitely add Baywood Greens to the list, but my recommendation is to play it on your way into town.  Get there early, but plan to stay late, as from what I gather, 5+ hour rounds are pretty much the norm at Baywood Greens.