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(course reviews continued from here)

Maryland National Golf Club Middletown, MD
online tee times at Maryland National

What a course! By far, the best course I played on this trip. The service was outstanding, the conditions impeccable, the GPS excellent. A course of superlatives, even the practice facility was a notch above everywhere else.

The greens were in great shape, fast, but fair. A really great mix of hole designs, with lots of elevation changes. The tee shots were pretty wide-open, but the challenges were mainly around the greens. Several times I unleashed a monster drive and thought I was set, only to end up with a double-bogey.

Memorable Holes:

• #2. A great par 5. Huge elevation drop with great views of the area. A massive lone tree stand in the middle of the fairway like giant golem protecting the green from being reached in two.
• #6. Downhill par 3. Oops, I should have paid more attention to the GPS. The creek runs along the whole left side of this massive green. Next time I'll just play it safe and aim for the massive tree to the right and count on my short game.
• #10. Short, easy par 4, but damn, that target looks small. The green is very narrow, and you do not want to be short, long, or left.
• #14. Nice short, downhill par 3. It reminds me of a hidden meadow because it's surrounded by trees and almost excluded from the rest of the course.
• #18. Great finishing hole. It's all about the approach shot. Left is a nasty bunker and short is a hazard. Actually, now that I think about it the green was nasty, too.

Musket Ridge Myersville, MD tee time discounts for Musket Ridge

Fun course, not as difficult or tricky as some of the others on my trip, but an intruiguing layout nonetheless. Conditions were great.

Memorable Holes:

• #6. Downhill par 5. This hole was interesting in how you get tantalizing glimpses of the green as you get closer. The green really drops off and is hidden behind a hill, so there's a sense of mystery unveiled as the hole unfolds.
• #12. Double dogleg par 5. Not long, but bunkers galore. Lots of options on how you want to play this hole.
• #15. Huge downhill tee shot that can roll and roll if you hit it right. The green is severly sloping from back to front, so the approach shot is like throwing darts at a dartboard.

Northwest Park Golf Course Wheaton, MD
online tee times for Northwest

The golf trip took a turn for the easier and cheaper at this point and we played munis. There's not a lot be said about Northwest. On paper, I was intruiged because it's 6809 yds from the middle tees and 7376 from the back tees. But distance does not equal interesting as this course is extremely flat and straight-forward. You've pretty much got a straight path to the green on every hole.

One nice thing is that the course was empty. The greens were really slow, though, the grass unusually long, comparable to the fairways on other courses.

Memorable Holes:

• #18. Hmm, they all kind of blend together, but I do remember #18 just because it's a drivable par 4. Uphill, slight dogleg right, it seemed much longer from the tee box, but next time I'd try to reach the green.

Needwood Golf Course Rockville, MD
online tee times for Needwood

Needwood is a pretty fun course. Not especially long (6254 yards from the back), but has a good layout. We ran into a lot of singles and people just playing 9 holes.

The greens were pretty slow, though, and tough to adjust to. After coming up short on numerous putts, toward the end of the round I finally decided to just not play much break and slam the ball toward the hole. This worked suprisingly well.

I found the back nine more interesting than the front nine. The front nine is burdened by two pretty dull par 5s back to back that aren't very difficult.

Memorable Holes

• #14. Short par 4 with a downhill tee shot. Fun risk-reward hole. The smart move is to take an iron or hybrid off the tee, but hitting driver successfully would make this a nice birdie opportunity.
• #16. Great par 4. Uphill tee shot, still can't see the hole from my second shot. The green is way downhill with a slight dogleg left.
• #18. Excellent closing hole. A good tee shot gives you a good shot at the uphill green over the water. A bad tee shot means you should probably layup in front of the pond. Green slopes severely from back to front.