Annapolis Golf Club

[Tommy Williamsen]

I don't know all the history of the club but it was a Charles Banks design.  Its demise has been rumored for years.  It is now ready for the chopping block.

http://annapolis.patch.com/articles/key-school-wins-case-involving-golf-course-land

George Bahto wrote this about the course.

as promised:

The story of Annapolis Roads course in MD ....  very interesting but the completed project was blown out by the depression.

The “project” involved the building of many houses (240, I think), a 36-hole course designed and built by Charles Banks (Raynor had passed on).

It also involved the Olmstead Bros for all the landscape architecture of the huge site and Fred Ruth (Mtn Lake) as the promoter of the project.

Better yet, the entire project was to be overseen by one of the greats of the time, the renown architect, John Russell Pope (who designed so many bldgs in Washington DC) .....   I mean this is some lineup.

Only 9 holes ever got built (I have concept drawing of the entire 36)

It totally dropped dead.

The bunkers are some of best Banks ever built - now all grass bottoms.

One hole has been changed entirely but much of the other 8 is pretty intact.

A couple years ago I spoke with a gentleman who lived behind 3-green for many years and he gave me a lot of the details ... when book #2 comes out (oh my), the whole story will be in it.

It took me a while to figure out the meaning of the name "Annap. Roads" ..... they used to park battleships and other large vessels off shore at the end of the peninsula - it has to do with that.

gb

[JC Urbina]

Tommy,

I am sorry to hear that the course may be closing,  I spent some time on site a few years ago and had even had discussions about trying to revive this 9 hole course.  I can tell you it had one of the most dramatic Redans i have ever seen, a very prominet land form at the far end of the property. A few of the other iconic holes were on display but you could tell the property was on a shoe string budget. 

I wish I could have found someone interested in reviving this course, it had a lot of potential in a very quite neighborhood and very close to the bay.   

It sounds like it is a done deal.

[Adam_Messix]

This is a sad series of threads with The Dunes and now Annapolis Golf.  The bones are there for a fun and very sporty golf course but the place has been allowed to go down hill over the years.  Jim Urbina mentioned the Redan and I agree that the landforms there are dramatic but it was odd seeing the green about 1/4 the size as it should be sitting inside the Redan green pad.  Annapolis is one of those places where the folks never had any money to mess up what was there and that's why it could be so good, some of those bunkers (that were grassed in the last I visited) were really deep.  I think the only real change was to the 5th hole in the fairway, but if memory serves, didn't affect the hole much. 

[Craig Disher]

This is very sad but inevitable. I never thought a quirky, historically interesting 9-hole course that was virtually unmaintained could survive. I visited it many times, even taking non-golfers nearly all of whom were stunned by the drama of the place. They had never seen a gc like it. I'd urge any gca'ers in the DC area or who are passing through to stop by and look at the place before it disappears.

These photos are from 2005 but the course doesn't change much. I would liked to have seen it in its prime with sand in the bunkers and the greens cut to their full size.

The famous Redan 4th


Short 8th


7th approach


5th


2nd approach

[Tommy Williamsen]

Here is a link to an earlier thread.

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,15543.0.html

[Mike Sweeney]

Is the golf course actually closed?

I will probably be there in late June/early July with my son, and would love to play it.

[Mark Bourgeois]

Is the golf course actually closed?

No.

[Britt Rife]

It is sad.  AGC is a course I discovered about 8 years ago and I fell in love with it the first time I saw it.  The experience was profound.  It prompted me to look up its history and brought me to this site.  Over the past years, I have played it with great frequency, and it has basically become my "home course."  I wish you could see it when the sun is going down--no rough, the low sun illuminating its amazing fairway undulations and a treeless interior providing for wonderful wind-tunnel effects.

The sad irony is that it is being leveled for athletic fields for what is likely the least athletically gifted private school in the area: the Key School, a bohemian-preppy enclave.

Small note--the eighth hole, pictured here, is about 175 yards.  I never thought it qualified as a "Short" as identified above.  With death in the back and right and a huge bunker front left with a run-up opening on front right, I always thought of this as Banks's "Eden".

[Mark Bourgeois]

Yes, I think 8 is an Eden. Not sure about these, what do you think:
3 = Raynor's Prize Dogleg
4 = Redan
6 = Cape
8 = Eden

Any others? Could 7 be a reverse Road (with LH bunker standing in for road)?

[Mark McKeever]

Looking from the aerial maps, 7 definitely looks like a reverse road hole green.

MM

[Britt Rife]

I am really glad to hear that folks are saying the 7th is a Road hole.  I have always maintained that.  It plays as a short par 5 at AGC, much like McD/Raynor/Banks Road holes.  It has a low, crummy semi-waste area in the vicinity of what would be the rail shed, a fall off in the back (the Road) and a truly nasty fronting bunker.  I also like how the best tee shot is played along the left, which flirts with a quite cruel fairway bunker.  If you hit the tee shot just right, though, you miss the bunker and get a huge turbo boost to a perfect angle and short shot into the green.

I am going to check out Mr. Bahto's book tonight and think about Mr. Bourgeois's suggestions regarding the 3rd and 6th.  Mr. Bahto stated that he did see the original plans for the course.  I would love to know what he found, especially with regard to the holes that were never built.

[Ron Csigo]

Is the golf course actually closed?

No.

Open til the end of the season?

[Paul Carey]

Very Sad.  I remember playing there in a Maryland state team match.  I had never heard of the place and knew none of the history.  After playing it I couldn't stop talking about it and the guys I was with looked at me like I was crazy!  I know there was an effort to redo the course a number of years ago.  I had the plans and I will look for them later today.

The "membership" was pretty cool too.  A lot of bat pretenders from the Annapolis watering holes.  Fun guys.  A lot more fun than most guys you tend to run into in state matches. 

[Mark Bourgeois]

Is the golf course actually closed?

No.

Open til the end of the season?

I would bet against it but I don't know. Maybe call and ask them?

[Mark McKeever]

 I may try to make a drive down to see it.

MM

[Mark Bourgeois]

How bout we book a foursome (or two) and make an outing of it? We could do a combo of that plus Renditions. 27 or 36 hole day.

[Mark McKeever]

I think thats a good idea assuming we can get some other guys to do it.  I know Joe Bausch mentioned casual interest.  I'll try to rough up Shi$ and force him to come with us.  All I need to do is tell him Tim Martin is coming and wants a rematch.


I'm a weekend warrior though.  None of this "playday on a weekday" stuff...


Mark

[Mark McKeever]

The awesome green complexes with shrunken putting surfaces remind me of the Knoll.

MM

[George_Bahto]

I'm still in touch with those who would like to see the course restored. The neighbors are near impossible to deal with.

For a while I thought we had a done deal.

One of those involved e mailed me just today.

Anyhow, historically, antone wanting to see incredible, original Banks bunkers at their best, should visit this train-wreck of a course before it gets demolished.

[Mark McKeever]

George, is there any chance this could get appealed and the course saved?

MM

[Mark Bourgeois]

Mark,

How about Sunday July 21st to get out there?

Here are a few recent pics:

1st








2nd




3rd












4th






5






6






7






Mark

[George_Bahto]

Mark, it was going pretty good for a while, even home owners seemed to soften a bit.

I think a new county admin got in and it all changed for the worse.

I never got a chance to probe under the grassed over bunker bottoms to just how much deeper the bunker originally were. They had been left to grass-over 35 to45 years ago.

Jim Urbina would have " attracted" this place.

One of  the greens even had a bunker in the middle of the green you had to play aroound.

[Mark Bourgeois]

George, do you have any plans or old photos that would show the original green contours?

[George_Bahto]

Mark, most of those greens have ordinal contours.

[Joe Bausch]

Below is a very nice article on the course from the July 23, 1929 edition of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

Has the course officially closed?