revisiting a nice course in Aberdeen, Maryland: Beechtree

[Joe Bausch]

I don't know, it seems the site could use a thread reliving the nice public course by Tom Doak in Aberdeen called Beechtree.  It has been closed now for coming up on six years (becoming a housing development, I think).

This afternoon I decided to reprocess some photos I had of the club from November of 2007.  Even back then when I had no idea what I was doing with a camera, I managed to get some nice pics.  And with better knowledge of post-processing, I'm satisfied to put out this album:

http://xchem.villanova.edu/~bausch/images/albums/Beechtree/

I miss the place!

TomD:  just when are you going to build another public course within easy driving distance of Philly?!

[Tom_Doak]

Joe:  That would be great, but I think Gil Hanse gets all those jobs now.

However, with the new job we're starting in Michigan, who knows?  Maybe I'll get a second chance to come back to Baltimore as well.

[Ronald Montesano]

You can return to Charlotte and restore Charlotte Golf Links...tell them that self-restoration is the new ... whatever it is.

[Tom_Doak]

You can return to Charlotte and restore Charlotte Golf Links...tell them that self-restoration is the new ... whatever it is.

There are several architects now whose primary source of work is going back to change/fix courses they built 10-20 years ago.  I'm not one of them.

[Joe Bausch]

Those who have played Beechtree, what are some of your favorite holes?  Maybe even TomD will mention his.  :-)

I really liked the par 4 3rd with the fallaway green; the par 5 7th, as from the tee it just looked so easy (!), and the dogleg left par 4 14th.  But I find it interesting that I always come back to thinking of the opening hole as being one of my favorites, if not tops!

[Stu Wolffe]

Joe,

Thanks for posting those images...it was a really fun course, super routing and a great collection of holes.  Sad to see it gone!  I remember the front much better than the back.  Not sure why.

Best,

Stuart 

[Jay Flemma]

We had a GCA day there just before it closed. Here's the story:

http://www.cybergolf.com/golf_news/the_last_sunset_at_beechtree

[Tom_Doak]

Joe:

I don't generally spend much time pining for those of my courses which have been lost, but I had a look through your pictures because we never had very good ones of Beechtree ... I sent Larry Lambrecht there once, but he didn't get good weather for his photos.

I enjoyed seeing the course again, and it brought me back to remembering many of the details.  My favorite holes were the 3rd and 5th on the front nine, and then a lot of the back nine ... the Eden-like 13th with a big swale in the left side of the green [it didn't feed behind the right hand bunker, you had to fly it there] ... the 14th with the big drop on the left ... the 15th was a great long 4 with a tough small green ... and the 17th was a short 4 with a cool big green and some tough hole locations.

Most of all, I remember that during a difficult first summer of construction, when it rained constantly, we thought we were never going to get it finished ... especially the 11th hole which played through a low area.  It wasn't a wetland, but it was very flat and all clay, and it felt like we were never going to be able to get through there.  When we finally got the hole in there, I was thrilled with the result.

[Peter Pallotta]

Tom: to these outside eyes -- that have only seen your courses in photos -- I was struck by the fact that Beechtree, one of your earlier courses, seems to have a lot in common with one of your most recent courses, i.e. the Renaissance Club.  The latter, especially prior to the longer grass/tighter fairways, reminds me more than any other of the wonderful inland English courses that Sean profiles so beautifully here; and the former, seeing it now, also has for me the same modest draped-over-the-land understatement that makes those "tier two" English courses so appealing (and has them serving their main purpose so well). I also, both in Beechtree and Renaissance, find more of an affinity for the C&C style and approach than I do in your other courses -- as if that style/approach is actually the architectural and aesthetic foundation/basis upon which you stand when going for more "pizzazz" in other courses. (That side of your approach -- the big time pizzazz -- I attribute to you having transmuted some of Pete Dye's showboating lessons properly!!)  But again, outside and uninformed eyes here....but there's a kind of full circle feel about this.   

Peter  

[Scott Weersing]

I remember the great fairways as they sloped with the land. You seemed to have a slight side hill lie with the ball above or below your feet. I wish all courses were like this as they would drain better.

Lots of memorable holes at Beechtree, I liked 17 and 18. I also remember the putting green, which could be remembered as Doak's first attempt at a Punchbowl putting green.

[Dan Herrmann]

I really miss Beechtree too.  I put a lot of miles on my car driving down from Chester County over and over again

[Carl Rogers]

I remember the great fairways as they sloped with the land. You seemed to have a slight side hill lie with the ball above or below your feet. I wish all courses were like this as they would drain better.

Lots of memorable holes at Beechtree, I liked 17 and 18. I also remember the putting green, which could be remembered as Doak's first attempt at a Punchbowl putting green.

Scott & I played 54 there 6 weeks before it closed.  would have enjoyed going back ....
My overiding impression of the course was the rhythm between harder and easier holes, 16, 17 & 18 giving the golfer a real breather from the hard 12th-15th.  also, how much effort was made to make the 5th & 6th holes play very differently from each other ... wonderful green site for the 6th.

[Tim Pitner]

What a shame.  The Baltimore/DC area so desperately needs a course like this. 

[Tom_Doak]

What a shame.  The Baltimore/DC area so desperately needs a course like this. 

Apparently it didn't.  The course was always a marginal business, or Mr. Knott wouldn't have given up on it.  He could just never get enough rounds at the $90 green fee.  Opening just a bit after Bulle Rock was not good timing ... and being the #2 course in Aberdeen, MD was not a money-maker.

[Tim Pitner]

What a shame.  The Baltimore/DC area so desperately needs a course like this. 

Apparently it didn't.  The course was always a marginal business, or Mr. Knott wouldn't have given up on it.  He could just never get enough rounds at the $90 green fee.  Opening just a bit after Bulle Rock was not good timing ... and being the #2 course in Aberdeen, MD was not a money-maker.

Tom, touche.  What I meant was, without regard to whether the market demands it, the area could really use an architecturally interesting public course.  There's a lot of mediocrity out there, in my admittedly limited experience. 

[Stephen Northrup]

What a shame.  The Baltimore/DC area so desperately needs a course like this. 

Apparently it didn't.  The course was always a marginal business, or Mr. Knott wouldn't have given up on it.  He could just never get enough rounds at the $90 green fee.  Opening just a bit after Bulle Rock was not good timing ... and being the #2 course in Aberdeen, MD was not a money-maker.

Tom, touche.  What I meant was, without regard to whether the market demands it, the area could really use an architecturally interesting public course.  There's a lot of mediocrity out there, in my admittedly limited experience. 

Agree. I used to drive 80 minutes from the DC area to play Beechtree, passing dozens of courses on the way, and this was before Tom Doak was TOM DOAK. What a loss for those of us in the Baltimore-DC area. The saddest part is looking at the satellite map (as I just did) and seeing the outline of several of the holes, as plain as day. Of the 700-plus homes that were supposed to replace the golf course, it looks like far fewer than that have been built over the past 6 years.

[Dan Herrmann]

Steve  -  Losing Beechtree was a big loss for us in metro Philly too.