Bumping an old thread for some new pictures. I had the pleasure playing Elkridge this past weekend with a fellow PGA member and a Baltimore assistant superintendent. As previously stated in this thread, it's not a typical Raynor course compared to his more well-known designs, in that the property wasn't as large and most everything seemed to be on a slightly smaller scale.
For instance, some greens (Nos. 3, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15) were very big, as I have seen on other Raynor courses, but others were quite small. Also, some of the template features weren't as noticeable. For instance, the Double Plateau was muted, the Punchbowl design wasn't very bold, and the Maiden green was, well, a bit of a letdown; I was struggling to notice the typical Maiden features. However, these were all still pretty good greens, just not what I was expecting, which may be a downside of templates. Overall, the greens are excellent. The Thumbprint on No. 2's green is outstanding.
Nos. 6 and 7 (the two additions after the range was expanded and tennis courts were added), were the weakest holes by far; No. 6 was worse than No. 7, but both (and the whole course for that matter) would greatly improve with a little tree care.
The Biarritz probably gets the most attention, and I completely understand why. I have not played a ton of Biarritz holes in my short golfing career, but this one was probably the most unique. It plays significantly downhill and features a full-length green. The swale is fairly severe, but not unfair. I have personally never seen a Biarritz with a Thumbprint, but this one features a significant one in the front half of the green. Even better was that when we played it, the hole location was in the back of the green, so I had fun trying to hit my first shot to the back of the green, and (because we had the course to ourselves) even took a putt from the front of the green and a bunker shot from the front right bunker to the back hole location. It was a blast.
Lastly, it was cool to play the Road Hole (No. 9) as it actually features a road (drive to the clubhouse) behind the green. It was the first Road Hole I've played with an actual road!
Overall, a fun golf course. I certainly wouldn't classify it as a "drop everything and go see it" course, but if you are fascinated by Raynor designs as I am, it's good to see.
Below are a few select photographs from my round on Saturday, Oct. 10. We played in the mid-late afternoon, so the shadows were pretty long, making picture taking a little difficult.
No. 2 - Thumbprint (back of green)
No. 3 - Alps (top of the hill)
No. 4 - Eden (tee)
Nos. 5 and 14 - Fade and Knoll (tee)
No. 8 - Short (tee)
No. 9 - Road (behind green)
No. 11 - Double Plateau (back of green)
No. 12 - Long (right of green)
No. 13 - Biarritz (tee)
No. 13 - Biarritz (back right of green)
No. 13 - Biarritz (back of green)
No. 15 - Punchbowl (back of green)
No. 17 - Redan (behind green)