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The Washington Golf Monthly - March 2001 Top 100 Must Play Courses of the Mid-Atlantic: Most Memorable Hole: No. 17, a 445-yard par 4 with a dramatic downhill second shot over a hazard. Beyond That: Named "The Best of Baltimore" by Baltimore magazine, Waverly Woods can stand up against the finest public layouts in any locale. It boasts impeccably maintained bent grass tee to green and is located just minutes from the Baltimore Beltway off Interstate 70. A friendly, helpful staff and value pricing makes it a must on your 2001 tour. The Washington Golf Monthly - July 1998 - Jeff Thoreson Hills & Hills at Waverly Woods Arthur Hills stands on the first tee, ready christen his new Waverly Woods Golf Course in Howard County. He promptly toe-hooks two balls into a hazard he put there specifically for that reason, than rethinks aloud the wisdom of such a design. As Hills plays his first round at the course just off of Interstate 70 near Ellicott City, Md., he offers the developer suggestions to improve the quality of the course. "You should mow down this area." "Can you fill that pond a little more?" Any architect worth his salt does the same thing, and the developer is free to do whatever he wants after the architect leaves. In this case, that's going to be a little more difficult. Developer Joe Hills is Arthur's son, meaning Waverly Woods may be the first golf course ever designed where the architect-father is following the directions of the developer-son. Though, clearly, there is no animosity in this project. In fact, quite the opposite appears to be the case. Joe Hills was thankful for every suggestion his father had and appreciates the input. It's one thing for sons to ignore their father's advice. It's another when your dad is a world-class golf course architect and you're in the golf business. And it's not like Arthur was finding a lot wrong with Waverly Woods during the round several days before the course opened. Joe Hills and his partner, Tom Healy, had the course pretty much in opening-day condition well before Arthur arrived. The course has a traditional feel with fairways that are generous in the landing areas but narrow considerably as you get more aggressive. The greens are small and have an excellent variation in pin placements. Properly placed tee shots can catch downhill slopes and end up in the premium position for approach to the green. Arthur Hills did encounter a fair amount of wetlands, which dictate layups off the tee on some of the holes and forced carries on some approach shots. Perhaps the most noticeable of Hills' design is the diversity of holes among the par 3s, 4s, and 5s. There are short and relatively easy holes and long, difficult ones among each of one-, two- and three-shotters. "The first time someone asked me that ubiquitous question: What's your favorite hole? I didn't have an answer," Joe Hills says. "That prompted a very gratifying revelation about this course. Every hole is good. There is not one hole where I say to myself, "I wish we had done something different here." "That doesn't mean we won't add a bunker here or there in the years ahead. We probably will. But right now I am happy with the course. I like every hole out there, and that fulfills a desire I had for this golf course when I first got involved with it eight years ago." If location is everything in real estate, the same can be said for golf course real estate. Waverly Woods is just a couple of minutes off Interstate 70 west of Baltimore. The course is so close, a couple of holes are visible through the trees on the north side of the interstate between Route 29 and Marriottsville Road. The surrounding community is sprouting with elegant homes and a corporate campus will provide office space for hundreds of professionals. Like many good golf projects, Waverly Woods didn't happen overnight. After Joe Hills graduated from Notre Dame University and got married, he moved to Maryland and was working as a sort of scout for his father, trying to find projects in the Middle Atlantic for his dad to design. He came across Waverly Woods and started the ball rolling, so to speak. The project never got going under the initial developer, but Joe Hills liked its prospects so much he formed his own development and management company to finance, build and manage the course. Naturally, he picked his father to do the design. The thing you may remember most about your visit to Waverly Woods is the immense practice facility. It is one of the best public facilities in the area with a 9,000 square-foot putting green, a separate short-game area with practice bunkers and an eight acre grass practice tee with more 60,000 square feet of hitting space. Once you leave the practice tee the course gives players several different looks. At times it is open and rolling and at other times it is tree-lined. The traditional feel occasionally gives way to a modern wetland-induced look. But from front to back, the golf is of the highest caliber. |