[longballjs]

Looking for somewhere else to play other than east potomac(ok) or rock creek(ick). Came across Montgomery County Golf website. I have a tee time to play Hampton Greens tomorrow morning, anyone know anything about it?

Also wondering about:
Northwest
Little Bennet
Laytonsville
Poolesville

[Ogre41]

Hampshire Greens is tight. They have forest preserve on just about every hole. But it's a nice course. The staff is really friendly too. Poolesville is pretty long and straight. There are a couple of funny shaped holes, but it's a fun course. Little Bennet is long and hilly. It's also hard. It used to be a qualifier course for the old Kemper Open (so I was told). It's anice course though. It's been in good shape every time I've played there. Laytonsville is short and pretty straightforward. It's a nice little course, not as hard as Little Bennet (may be because I have played Laytonsville more often though). Northwest is loooooooong. I have not had the chance to get out to that one yet. But I hope to this summer. Bottom line is all of the courses are owned by the same company and I have never had an issue at any of them (other than Falls Road and Needwood just because they are always so crowded). Hampshire Greens is definitely their nicest course though.

[longballjs]

Oh cool, Im glad I made a good choice. Maybe I'll see if I can get out on northwest saturday then, Its always nice to find a long course

[longballjs]

Hey just wondering, what are the greens like at these courses? Fast/slow Smooth and true/bumpy

[Ogre41]

I would say that the greens roll on the slower side, but they are pretty good. I haven't had any issues with them unless they just aerated them.

[generalbolg]

moco public courses arent great. stick with some of the privately owned public courses out on 270. highly recommend blue mash gc and pb dye a little farther out.

if you insist on playing moco publics, go with little bennet or hampshire greens. avoid falls road, wayyyyy overpriced. poolesville is just dumb, go with needwood instead, which isnt great.

www.bluemash.com

www.pbdyegolf.com

[joeclothing]

I actually like Falls and can't figure out why you think it's overpriced. I pay $20 to walk 9 on weekdays, and $50 for 18 on weekends. That's pretty much the low end of the totem pole in the DC area.
There are a lot of good holes on that course and the location can't be beat.

[generalbolg]

its a sh*t course. its overplayed. its poorly maintained. its short. there is no rough. the greens are slow. bumpy. shaggy. the front 9 par 5's are awful. the front par 3's are awful, except maybe for the middle one, 5. there are 6 par 4's well under 400 yards. there is no penalty for hitting driver on any of them. drive and a chip/pitch/putt is not golf. a lot of the holes are just awkward.

that being said, its an easily walkable layout in a fantastic location. but its the most played course in the county, and priced accordingly. you pay for convenience. not for a great course. what you paid were either winter rates, junior rates or senior rates. it was 26 to walk 9 last summer.

needwood is comparable to falls, and pretty close by. for the same price you can play 18 or take a cart. the course is usually in better shape and less crowded. and it offers tons of deals through golfnow.com and the moco public course emailers. plus they have an executive 9 thats kinda fun to play, and usually marshall-less after 5.

[generalbolg]

longballjs, on Apr 23 2009, 02:37 PM, said:

Oh cool, Im glad I made a good choice. Maybe I'll see if I can get out on northwest saturday then, Its always nice to find a long course

northwest is the longest course in the county, public or private. its ~7375 from the tips and plays every bit its length. the greens are absolutely massive, but my experiences with them are that they are often the slowest. the bunkers needed to be raked the times ive played there.

that said, i really love that course. perhaps my favorite aspect of the course is how quiet and tranquil it gets out there. its not a crowded course, and there are very few houses/cars/noise out there. and its really nice to be hitting middle and long irons into some of the greens. you have a great variety of holes, a few of which actually require some thought and shot shaping off the tee. this course has a lot of potential. id love to see how great it could be if they took better care of it.

[longballjs]

hey great, thanks for all that info guys

[longballjs]

Ok, played Hampton Greens this morning. Played with 3 nice guys in 4 hours which is nice for a public course. The course was very nice, lots of good holes there, no gimmicky desings or anything like that. Also, pretty good length, at least from the black tees(couple par 3's around 200, all par 5's over 515, par 4's around 400, few above few below). Course was in very good condition, nice fairways, and rough wasn't bad, though in spots it was brutal. I didn't find the course to be too tight or too wide open, just right. As for the greens, they had aerated a recently (would have been nice to know) yet still the greens rolled pretty quick and I can see them being 10+ in mid season. I wish I had known this place was here 3 years ago, instead of playing the 2 DC public courses. As for the 2 other courses mentioned that are better than Montgomery county, at least the dye course is almost twice as much to play - though im sure much nicer, but for 50 bucks, at least hampton greens will do the trick. The guys I played with said that many bunkers were removed and new sand was put in what was left - in a few months that sand will settle nicely.

Drove by Northwest on the way back - doesnt look quite as nice and sand looked like baseball field dirt - we shall see

[generalbolg]

glad you liked hampshire greens. its one of the best in the county, and by far the best in moco.

as far as the other two i suggested, they are a bit more expensive, but they offer good twilight rates. id HIGHLY recommend going up to blue mash if you want a long practice session. by far the best public practice facility in the county. large grass tee range, separate putting and chipping greens with bunkers rough and fairway to pitch/chip from.

you should really check out golfnow.com a lot of the courses around there offer highly reduced greens fees on there. blue mash and pb dye sign up for them too, and you can often get 15+% off on greens fees there. if you plan on playing a lot on moco public courses, ask about their weekly email. they offer fantastic deals.

good luck golfing!

[longballjs]

thanks for the tips on the website and practice area.

As for northwest:ugh, is that the right word? Course has a lot of potential. There are some very good holes (par 3's there are terrific) but a few to many 90* angle holes for my liking. The greens were suprisingly very fast and in great shape. That is all I have to say good about Northwest.

The bad: Well for starters, as we reach the 6th tee, 2 hours after we tee off, my playing partners start talking about how they wont be able to finish the round since they have to meet their wives. As we pull up to the 10th tee, 3 hours after we start, the 2 groups in front of us are yet to tee off. All in all a 6 hour round today. Pros kept talking to but doing nothign about the 1 group that was holding up the entire course. Playing partners depart after 12, play as a 1some for a bit, then join the group in front as one of their guys left. Finish the round 2 hours later, who is in the parking lot drinking - the douchy playing partners of mine. Also, the rough needs some seeding to try and become somehwat uniform and they need to get rid of that cabbage 20 yards out. It didn't bother me, but the hackers hitting 90 yard slices 4 feet high just cant handle it, let alone find their balls in it. I also wish they could hand out a how to improve pace of play thing for some people. I mean sitting in the cart, while your playing partner hits the ball, then driving 30 feet to the right together, getting out, finding your yardage, getting your club, doing your routine and hitting gets very old when watching from behind. I guess I just take that for granted coming from a private club

[generalbolg]

longballjs, on Apr 25 2009, 11:14 PM, said:

thanks for the tips on the website and practice area.

As for northwest:ugh, is that the right word? Course has a lot of potential. There are some very good holes (par 3's there are terrific) but a few to many 90* angle holes for my liking. The greens were suprisingly very fast and in great shape. That is all I have to say good about Northwest.

The bad: Well for starters, as we reach the 6th tee, 2 hours after we tee off, my playing partners start talking about how they wont be able to finish the round since they have to meet their wives. As we pull up to the 10th tee, 3 hours after we start, the 2 groups in front of us are yet to tee off. All in all a 6 hour round today. Pros kept talking to but doing nothign about the 1 group that was holding up the entire course. Playing partners depart after 12, play as a 1some for a bit, then join the group in front as one of their guys left. Finish the round 2 hours later, who is in the parking lot drinking - the douchy playing partners of mine. Also, the rough needs some seeding to try and become somehwat uniform and they need to get rid of that cabbage 20 yards out. It didn't bother me, but the hackers hitting 90 yard slices 4 feet high just cant handle it, let alone find their balls in it. I also wish they could hand out a how to improve pace of play thing for some people. I mean sitting in the cart, while your playing partner hits the ball, then driving 30 feet to the right together, getting out, finding your yardage, getting your club, doing your routine and hitting gets very old when watching from behind. I guess I just take that for granted coming from a private club

ill echo your sentiments about northwest. it has a LOT of potential. the par 3's are nice, and i actually like the doglegs. playing from the tips they all require me to either shape a driver, or lay up. the course just fits me. glad to hear the greens are decent. the rough and the bunkers still leave a lot to desire i guess. it is a moco muni after all. i do like that its pretty secluded. unlike hampshire greens or fall road, there arent really houses and roads interfering with golf.

pace of play is going to be an issue everywhere you go. hampshire greens does the best job of managing the course, but youll still run into the 5 hour round. if you play poolesville or falls road, especially weekend, just accept the 5 hour round and try to enjoy it as best you can. its horribly frustrating at times. twilight times CAN be less crowded. for convenient courses like needwood, poolesville and falls, people rush to them after work. ive often found the best deals at hampshire greens twilight. since its not a really walkable layout, you dont get too many walk-ons there. not a lot of after-work golfers flee there, and you can often squeeze in a pretty quick round. they also offer really reasonable twilight deals.

[ll.umpire]

I work at Worthington Manor Golf Club in Urbana, MD. If you feel like golfing, PM me. I can get you on for $40 only catch is we have to be in same group (so that employees dont abuse discounts for others)