Happy to hear some of you have gotten to my home club . We were blessed this summer with good conditions, though the greens were a tad slow to protect them from the heat. ( our superintendent and his crew are doing great work)
The greens are a poa mix blend and were all push up when built in the early 20's. There is some dispute as to when the golf club officially opened for play as the old Somer Point Ocean City Golf Course. One look at the architecture and you have no doubt it is a Willie Park. The greens tend to be on the smaller side , with round pods very similar in look to some of those at Olympia Fields , a more famous Park work in the Chicago suburbs that has been the home to many USGA events.
When we purchased the club in 1998 I couldn't stand the 2nd and 3rd holes , which had been changed over the years. Two was an awful par three ( also slowed play) and number three had been shortened from an excellent long par four / short five to a short 4.
NOw the routing starts with a nice four par with a really good green and a long four par number two . This has really helped pace of play and is the number one handicap hole . iI'spretty close to the original Park 4/5 that was played for fifty plus years until Roin Garl did a renovation in the mid eighties.
I'm not too hep on the Garl work on holes 11 and 12 either as they bear little or no resemblance to the original 15 that remain farily intact. The holes are ok on their own but definitely are the wrong genre.