I played the Links at Perry Cabin in St. Michaels over the weekend. I really enjoyed the course.The first thing that struck me was the quality of the playing surfaces. I don't know what type of grass the greens are, but they were extremely true and healthy. It was cart path only after a severe storm the day before, but the greens were hardly dented by any high approach shots. The grass was certainly not bent nor typical Bermuda grass. The entire course was in amazing shape, especially considering recent weather.This is the first green. A huge swale bisects the green almost right at the midpoint. Obviously short right was not a good shot to this back right hole location. Welcome to a Pete Dye course, I guess.
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None of the par fives are overly long. This is the sixth hole which is <500 yards from the blue tees. There is a very cool Alpsy feature that blocks the view of the entire green from the preferred angle in the right side of the fairway.
Immediately following that is a Biarritz par 3 that is partially over water. Not the 9th at Yale, but it will certainly do. The center portion is pinnable and provides some exciting options for trying to score.
The closing holes 16-18 are quite the nod to TPC Sawgrass. 16 is a short par 4 played to a peninsula green. It has a centerline bunker ~250 yards from the tee.
17 is a short par 3 to an island green. It looks exactly like the 17th at Sawgrass.
Finally, 18 is a cape hole, but doglegs right instead of left. The first hole is directly down the right side of the hazard and is therefore internal out of bounds. The 18th green is huge with some interesting hole location options.
Mark's comment above about the greenside bunkers set back from the greens is true. (I was not in one bunker all day. Part of that could be because the fairways and rough were soaked from the recent storm.) But it does make the course less penal than you might expect for a Dye design.
My only exposure to golf on the Eastern Shore of Maryland is playing River Marsh Golf Club (the Hyatt course in Cambridge) once and driving past Hog Neck in Easton dozens of times. I think Perry Cabin blows both of those out of the water.
I played it as a member for a day which was $135 with a cart on a weekend morning. There is no clubhouse; just a pro shop with several simulators. For that reason, I cannot see it succeeding as a typical private club or relying totally on hotel guest play. I think semi-private is definitely the way for them to draw in needed revenue.