Three Bs in Rehoboth: Baywood Greens, Bayside Resort, Bear Trap Dunes

[Tim Gavrich]

I am in the Rehoboth area (Dewey Beach, to be precise) for a few days with family and family friends.  I played Baywood Greens yesterday, I'm playing Bayside tomorrow, and I'm playing Bear Trap Dunes Thursday before heading home to caddy in the big Hartford GC Member-Guest this weekend.  Feel free to toss in opinions and comments on any of the courses.  I'll post pictures as I play.  First, Baywood...

From the par three sixth (223/217/202/147/147) tee:


The par four tenth (410/383/360/333/220) has a pretty steep back-to-front green that is about seven-eighths surrounded by sand:


Hole fourteen is a par four (425/409/385/325/227) and is the big gimmick hole, with an optional narrow island fairway to the left and the main narrow fairway to the right.  If you're at all familiar with Baywood Greens, you know that it's one of the most flowery, heavily-landscaped golf courses anywhere.  If as much care had been put into crafting 18 great holes as went into the 200,000-plus plants and flowers, it would be something really special.  As it is, the golf course is good, but not "very good."


Baywood Greens has some of the biggest tee markers I've ever seen.  Kind of gaudy.


The par five sixteenth (515/473/452/377/237) was my favorite hole.  Good risk-reward material; if you hit a good drive, you have the chance to smack one on the green, but it's all carry over a corner of a big pool of the wet stuff.  This is a look from about 75 yards out:


The par four eighteenth (425/379/346/318/203) is very flower-heavy but not too gimmicky.  It's a decent, non-controversial finishing hole.


Baywood Greens has a first tee starter procedure unlike any I've encountered before.  The guy was friendly, but he gave a spiel that lasted a full ten minutes, covering everything from cart rules to a near hole-by-hole rigamarole of advice on how to play the golf course to a very magnanimous offer to let any of us hit a "breakfast ball" off the first tee in the event that we hit one left and into the woods or right and into the houses.  It was well-meaning, I suppose, but the whole thing was annoying nonetheless.  Plus, the guy was SCREAMING these instructions.  The group on the first green had to have been able to hear it.  Ah well.

[Brett Waters]

Tim,

You're right about the starter. He's been there for a few years now each time I've played it. I also get multiple warnings about playing the back tees each time I go. Baywood is a fun course to go play. It definitely has some quirk to it. However, it does have my least favorite hole in all of golf on it - the last par 3 (I believe). It stretches out to a pretty lengthy yardage, straight uphill and the green is awful, in my opinion.

Been a few years since I've played Bayside. I don't remember a whole lot about it, but there are several very solid holes that still stick out. I think you'll like it.

When I make my annual trip to southern DE, we typically play Lighthouse Sound. (The grill in Lighthouse Sound has the best food of any course I've been to.) Personally, I enjoy it more than Baywood. Rum Pointe is by far my favorite in the area of which I've played. I'm looking forward to hearing your comments on Bayside and Bear Trap.

[Tim Gavrich]

Tim,

You're right about the starter. He's been there for a few years now each time I've played it. I also get multiple warnings about playing the back tees each time I go. Baywood is a fun course to go play. It definitely has some quirk to it. However, it does have my least favorite hole in all of golf on it - the last par 3 (I believe). It stretches out to a pretty lengthy yardage, straight uphill and the green is awful, in my opinion.

Been a few years since I've played Bayside. I don't remember a whole lot about it, but there are several very solid holes that still stick out. I think you'll like it.

When I make my annual trip to southern DE, we typically play Lighthouse Sound. (The grill in Lighthouse Sound has the best food of any course I've been to.) Personally, I enjoy it more than Baywood. Rum Pointe is by far my favorite in the area of which I've played. I'm looking forward to hearing your comments on Bayside and Bear Trap.

Brett--

So he's been there for a number of years?!  Wow; that is fascinating.  He gave me the same hard time about the back tees, even though the guys in the pro shop, to whom I showed proof of handicap at the turn, could not have cared less.

Also, have you played The Peninsula nearby?  I notice it's a private Nicklaus course; how does it compare to Bayside, if you've played it?

[Brett Waters]

I have no clue about the Peninsula. If you check out the aerials on Google, they look very similar (round bunkers, some wide holes, etc.). Perhaps a bit more waste on the Peninsula.

Rehoboth Beach Y&CC looks like a neat little track from the air as well, but I know nothing about it either.

[Tim Gavrich]

Okay, on to Bayside Resort, a Jack Nicklaus course that I really enjoyed. It was the first post-2000 Nicklaus course I've played, and I saw some very interesting differences between it and the Nicklaus course I know best, Pawleys Plantation (opened 1988).  Bayside and Pawleys have the same back-tee slope rating of 146, but they arrive at it fairly differently.  Bayside is longer, for starters (at 7,545 yards, it was the longest course I've ever played), with wider fairways and bigger greens but some really dramatic chipping areas that I thought were fantastic, especially paired with the pin positions that we saw.  Anyway, on to the pictures:

#1, par four, 440/408/369/308/248



#2, par five, 614/535/517/437/426




#3, par three, 227/192/172/136/127


#4, par four, 416/378/361/340/276


#5, par four, 481/452/402/334/326



#6, par five, 555/515/489/480/446



#7, par three, 203/164/149/137/107


#8, par four, 480/431/414/397/338



#9, par four, 414/357/341/305/295



#10, par four, 429/378/361/341/298




#11, par five, 570/509/481/410/403



#12, par four, 436/398/373/362/333




#13, par three, 174/158/142/123/99


#14, par five, 556/532/491/464/429




#15, par three, 207/198/181/120/105


#16, par four, 441/408/389/269/246



#17, par four, 419/389/368/314/299


#18, par four, 483/433/418/338/324

It started raining, so we didn't get any pictures of the last hole.  It's too bad, because it's a fine switchback-type hole.  It warrants a right-to-left tee shot, followed by a left-to-right approach, ideally, to a fairly elusive green.  Water left off the tee, and left, long, and right around the green.

Bayside is way, way better than Baywood Greens.  Given ten rounds between the two, I'd go 9-1 in favor of Bayside.

[astavrides]

I agree--9 to 1 Bayside over Baywood Greens.  I'd probably go 6 to 4 Baywood Greens over Bear Trap though, depending on which 9's of Bear Trap.

[Carl Nichols]

I agree--9 to 1 Bayside over Baywood Greens.  I'd probably go 6 to 4 Baywood Greens over Bear Trap though, depending on which 9's of Bear Trap.

I would do 10 to 0, Bayside over Baywood.