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MCirba

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Mount Pleasant (Baltimore) History Website
« on: June 26, 2015, 08:55:21 AM »
In doing some research on Tom Winton, I came across a stellar website chronicling the history of Mount Pleasant Golf Course in Baltimore, truly one of the best municipal courses in the nation.

I recall it being a favorite of Kye Goalby's, and others on this site.   While perhaps not quite to the laborious detail of me and Joe Bausch's 384 page Cobb's Creek book, I love the way it condenses the topic yet still manages to provide considerable detail in a very concise and easily navigated manner.

I can't help but wish that every historic course were so wonderfully documented.   Enjoy!  ;D

http://www.mtpleasantpark.com/index.php
"Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent" - Calvin Coolidge

https://cobbscreek.org/

Jim Franklin

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Re: Mount Pleasant (Baltimore) History Website
« Reply #1 on: June 26, 2015, 09:03:59 AM »
Love Mt Pleasant. My first 18 hole round of golf was here. I remember not being able to sleep all night due to the excitement. It is unfortunate that the conditions have deteriorated some recently, but it will always hold a special place in my golfing heart.
Mr Hurricane

Eric Hammerbacher

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Re: Mount Pleasant (Baltimore) History Website
« Reply #2 on: June 26, 2015, 12:13:46 PM »
Love Mt Pleasant. My first 18 hole round of golf was here. I remember not being able to sleep all night due to the excitement. It is unfortunate that the conditions have deteriorated some recently, but it will always hold a special place in my golfing heart.

Jim,

The conditions seem to be getting better this year.  I played in a Classic 5 tournament there recently and the greens were some of the fastest I have ever seen.  Head pro Brian Meyer is doing a great job reviving the tournament series and the course was a great test. 

I agree that it has great history, and I love the old clubhouse and locker room upstairs.
"All it takes, in truth, for a golfer to attain his happiness is a fence rail to throw his coat on, and a target somewhere over the rise." -John Updike 1994

Jim Franklin

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Re: Mount Pleasant (Baltimore) History Website
« Reply #3 on: June 26, 2015, 01:33:30 PM »
Good to know Eric. Conditions at the Baltimore City Fourball a few years ago were so bad, my partner and I decided never again. We will reconsider and play next year because I do enjoy that layout.
Mr Hurricane

MCirba

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Mount Pleasant (Baltimore) History Website
« Reply #4 on: June 26, 2015, 02:38:25 PM »
I've found by and large that so much of the conditioning of a municipal golf course is largely weather-dependent.   Generally they run on shoe-string budgets and things like long periods of heat, humidity, or rainy or drought stretches seem to wear on them much more so than their higher-budget brethren.

They are also apt to be played year-round, or as long as there is no snow on the ground, which is another stressor.

"Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent" - Calvin Coolidge

https://cobbscreek.org/

Sinclair Eaddy

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Re: Mount Pleasant (Baltimore) History Website
« Reply #5 on: June 29, 2015, 02:21:28 PM »
Site of Palmer's second professional victory. I've played the "Mount" for years going back to high school golf in the late '80s. It's a solid track that could just use some TLC. Would love to see a renovation of the facility.

Tommy Williamsen

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Re: Mount Pleasant (Baltimore) History Website
« Reply #6 on: June 29, 2015, 04:16:33 PM »
I played Mt. Pleasant regularly in the early 70's. The head pro, John O'Donnell was a good player and a legend in the area.  It was a great place to play.  The course was routed well and demanded good shots to score. It and Pine Rodge were the class of the Balto public golf courses.
Where there is no love, put love; there you will find love.
St. John of the Cross

"Deep within your soul-space is a magnificent cathedral where you are sweet beyond telling." Rumi

Jim Sherma

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Re: Mount Pleasant (Baltimore) History Website
« Reply #7 on: July 08, 2021, 07:57:12 AM »
Played Mt Pleasant yesterday for the first time and was simply blown away by it. Sadly the link in the original post appears to be dead as I remember reading it and finding it very informative. This link to a post by Sven shows the original routing, as well as the routing before the road construction altered holes 2, 14 and 15 (https://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,43053.msg1590478.html#msg1590478). 2 was made into a shorter dogleg right as a road cuts along what is marked as bridle path in the routing. 14 and 15 were altered within a smaller piece of land and now play with 14 as a par 4 from approximately 15's green to 14's green in the routing below. The current 15 plays along the OB in the old 14's corridor to roughly the old 14's tee box. Not bad holes at all.


The greens and bunkers were is decent enough shape for an otherwise run-down muni. The fairways were a little rough, but not awful. The clubhouse is desperately in need of some attention and the surrounding neighborhood is not great.


The architecture and land forms however were fabulous. Holes of note include the short dogleg 3rd with really nice alpinization and bunkering leading up to the green. The run from 9-13 using some beautiful rolling landforms. The approach to the not original 14th green. The scale of 16's drive and the par 3 17th. The greens tended to be large with more than enough movement, both tilt and internal variation and contour, to be interesting at the speeds we played at (8 or so) and I'm certain that they would be very challenging cut down and rolled for a tournament.


Having played most of the courses in and around Baltimore and I really find it difficult to put many courses in the same architectural class as Mt Pleasant. Baltimore 5-farms is certainly there, Rolling Road and Bulle Rock are as well. I have not played Caves Valley, Woodholme or Suburban - so can't comment on those. Elkridge's green are special, but the land is not nearly as interesting, I think of CC of Maryland similarly. Hayfields, Hunt Valley, Greenspring Valley, Sparrow's Point, Piney Branch - all nice days out, but not as interesting through the round.


Would be wonderful if Baltimore can find the political will to make a meaningful investment in Mt Pleasant, similar to what's been done at George Wright and Cobbs Creek. It is a great piece of land for golf and an architectural gem with solid history. 
« Last Edit: July 08, 2021, 07:59:56 AM by Jim Sherma »

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