Day 3 of our Ocean City trip brought us to the most expensive course on our itinerary.  Unfortunately it also brought us the worst weather of our trip, with forecasts calling for heavy rain all day.   As expected, it was raining when we arrived.  As much as I wanted to bring the camera with me, weather sealing or not, I wasn’t about to drag my D300 through the rain.

As I mentioned on one (or more) of my previous Ocean City golf posts, the courses in Ocean City have more or less banded together to form what you could call golf conglomerates.  Basically, each course is affiliated with a few other courses, which allows everyone to offer some pretty sweet pricing to golfers who play 3 or more of these “linked” courses.  As I also mentioned, we went with one of the cheaper packages, which meant went the two Glen Riddle courses, or any of the others in the Ruark Golf family (which also includes the acclaimed Links at Lighthouse Sound, as well as Rum Pointe) weren’t part of our package deal.

The 2nd at Man O' War

Since I was the guy tasked with making the arrangements and trying to get the entire trip to fit into everyone’s budget, I was able to essentially force the other guys to agree to a single course upgrade.  I pretty quickly narrowed it down to a choice between Lighthouse Sound and the Man O’ War course at Glen Riddle.  It was a tough decision as I weighed the opportunity to play a top 100 public course (Lighthouse) against the chance to play a true links style course complete with mounds, pot bunkers, and all the other nastiness that goes along with it.  Let’s face it, most of us don’t have access to true links style golf; instead what we get our courses where they chopped down all the trees and decided to call it links.  It’s of course not the same thing, but it sure sounds better than “farmland style”.  As you can tell from the title (and no doubt your search query), I chose the Man O’ War course.

Some Background

Man O’ War, along with the newer War Admiral course, are built on the land that was once the famed Glen Riddle thoroughbred farm.  The farm was home to Triple Crown champions Man O’ War and War Admiral (hence the course names).  Elements of the old grounds, including some of the original training track have been incorporated into the design of the course.  As a huge fan of thoroughbred racing; the opportunity to golf in the foot hoofsteps of two of the greatest racehorses of all time was more than I could pass up.  Yeah, I’m sure I would have loved Lighthouse, but Glen Riddle offered this Saratoga boy something that nowhere else could.

Course Information

• Man O’ War at Glen Riddle (www.glenriddlegolf.com)
• Par 72
• Yardage: 5019-7163 (we played the blues – 6556 yards)

Description (From the Website)

The Man O’War Course occupies the westerly portion of GlenRiddle. The course features pure, windswept links golf. The golfer faces challenges often found in the British Isles including large greens, double fairways, pot bunkers, sand dunes, and the ever-present eastern shore winds. The historic racetrack used to train champion thoroughbreds is utilized as a strategic cross hazard on three holes. The Man O’War Course plays 7,163 yards and a par of 72 from the rear tees.

Practice Facility

We arrived about 15 minutes early for our tee time.  Rain was steady, the carts were covered, and none of us were particularly keen to go warm up in the rain.  That said, I did take note of the very well maintained practice range that borders the 10th hole.  A word of caution, however; the range is exceptionally close to the 10th.  If you’re playing from the right side of the fairway, you are most certainly in the line of fire.  There were plenty of balls waiting for us to hit, but it was our prerogative not to do so.

Layout

I’m inclined to defer to the description here.  Pure windswept golf about covers it.  Several dozen rolling mounds come into play.  Landing on the wrong side of them is, to say the least, penal (I bounced either OB or into a hazard twice as a result of hitting the wrong side of a mound).  Bunkers are strewn throughout and are found along the fairways almost as often as they are around the greens. Water comes into play on a handful of holes as well.  The wide open nature of links play makes it difficult (but certainly not impossible) to lose a ball.

Similar to the other courses we played in Ocean City, the back 9 does feature a fair amount of wetlands (particularly over the last handful of holes).  Be advised that some of the carry distances are upwards of 200 yards.  While I was able to safely maneuver my way past, some of the less experience golfers in my group didn’t fare as well.  Again, perhaps a different set of tees would have been more appropriate.

We played the blue tees which extend the course to about 6600 yards.  The long par 5s are contrasted by two short par 4s, both of which are drivable (you’ll need to cut the corner on #8, but I think it can be done).  We probably would have been better served playing from the silver tees, but I have no regrets about playing 1 set shy of the tips.

Glen Riddle is a golf community.  While the layout is outstanding, there are a few holes where I found myself a little too aware of the neighborhoods bordering the course.  By no means do the houses intrude on to the golf course, but there’s definitely something lost by their proximity.

Apparently there wasn’t an intelligent golfer among us, as none in our group were able to properly decipher through the fog which patch of grass was the 1st’s fairway (welcome to links golf).  It wasn’t until all four of us had driven our balls onto the 10th fairway did the group behind us (members) share with us that we had all done it wrong (thanks guys).  I still made par, so I was happy.  And lest I leave feeling like I missed something, I hooked my drive on 10 onto the 9th fairway, and played back – so at least I got to see the entire course.

Conditions

Even for very early spring, the course was in phenomenal condition.  Apart from fairways being in outstanding shape, my only thoughts revolved around how differently the course would play later in the season once the rough has a chance to grow in.  I played well-enough in April.  Realistically, I would expect to be 5 strokes worse later in the season.

As you might expect from a links course, the greens are generously sized, and there is quite a bit of undulation.  From a conditioning standpoint; I simply don’t have the superlatives.  The greens at Man O’ War are very much among the best I’ve ever played.  Even though the rain mostly left us alone, they greens were damp all day, so it’s hard for me to say how fast the greens would roll under normal conditions.  What I do know with certainty is that they are very smooth, and roll true; which is all any golfer can ask for.  In truth, my opinion does come with some bias.  I’ve never in my life had a better “feel” for greens.  It didn’t matter how long the putt was, I was able to put it within a couple of feet almost every time.  I didn’t count my putts on the round, but my guess is the tally was sub-30.

Pace of Play

When you’re the first ones out in the morning, it’s hard to complain about anything.  Obviously I can’t speak to the pace on a sunny day with a mid-morning tee time.  It sure was nice not to have anyone in front of us.  We did a good job staying ahead of the group behind us as well.

The Staff

My only interaction with the staff was at the proshop.  We got checked in, then had to have the cart attendant double check whether or not we were cart path only (we weren’t).  And we were on our way.  We didn’t see any staff the rest of the day.  After the round I stopped back in the proshop to buy a hat.  I made sure to let the guy at the counter know that playing Man O’ War was the most fun I’ve ever had on a golf course.   He thought I was joking, and seemed almost shocked when I told him I was being completely serious.

Favorite Hole

I’m hard pressed to pick just one.  The course is just such a treat, and offers such variety it’s difficult to nail down just one.  I will say I didn’t particularly enjoy the par 3, 15th.  It’s a beautiful hole, featuring a well protected green.  Unfortunately, I found one of those bunkers off the tee, and then hit the ball on the screws coming out and ended up in the woods.  I think I carded a 9 and it basically blew up my round.  Nice looking hole though.

I did really enjoy the par 5, 14th, however.  The 536 yard hole features a generous amount of fairway sand, and a large, heavily sloped green.  My enjoyment came from the fact that I left myself about 8 inches to the cup after chipping from just off the highest point of the green down to the flag at the lowest.  It’s one of the best shots I’ve ever hit, and no doubt the primary reason why I’m a fan of the hole.

One of the great things about Man O' War is you can walk off the 18th green and right in to Ruth's Chris for dinner.

Overall Experience

I’ve played a handful of really nice public courses over the last couple of years; including the Shenendoah course at Turning Stone, and the Roger Rulewich designed Saratoga National.  For my money ($99 weekday rate), Man O’ War is on par with those courses in terms of layout and condition.  As far as the overall experience is concerned, Man O’ War offered me the best time I’ve ever had on a golf course, and there really isn’t much more to say beyond that.

So yeah, if Man O’ War was dropped into the heart of Saratoga, not only would I pay the $99 weekday rate again (and again, and again), I’d probably find a way to become a member.   Not only will I play the course again if return to Ocean City, Man O’ War may very well be the reason why I visit Ocean City again.  No doubt that next trip will also include War Admiral and the Links at Lighthouse sound as well.

For layout and conditions, I’ll happily give Glen Riddle’s Man O’ War an A.  I’ll also give it an A for overall value.  Yes, $100 is a fairly expensive round of golf, but I’ve paid more and gotten less.  Finally, all also throw in a grade of A+ for intangibles/enjoyment factor.  I’ve the 3 Ocean City courses I’ve reviewed so far, Man O’ War is the first to rate as an absolute must play.