Eagle's Landing - Ocean City Golf

When the wind whips up off Sinepuxent Bay, this Ocean City-owned daily-fee golf course can be as imposing as, well, an eagle about to pounce on its prey. But the challenge is no less apparent than the beauty of the setting along the bay's salt marshes and in the upland areas dotted with ponds ringed with such ornamental grasses as miscanthus, love grass, and blue stem.

Located next to the municipal airport on Maryland Route 611 in Berlin, Maryland, just across the Route 50 bridge from Ocean City, Eagle's Landing opened in 1991, within a few months of the opening of two other area courses, The Beach Club and River Run.

The course site was purchased through federal grants and was part of the tract designated for the Ocean City airport directly adjacent to it. The land, a former farm, was a buffer for the airport and not zoned for commercial development. The city saw an opportunity for it.

At the time, Tom Perlozza was director of the city Parks and Recreation Department, which spearheaded the project on behalf of the city. He said that the timing was ripe in the early 1990s for Ocean City to develop the course because other courses were beginning to open, and the city saw the project as a way to "jump start the economy for golf locally." Also, he said, Eagles Landing was intended to help capture the so-called "shoulder season" markets (spring and fall), as well as the regular summer influx of golfing tourists.

Michael Hurzdan was selected to design the course because of his experience developing courses in New England on land that was similarly environmentally sensitive, according to Perlozza, who has since become executive director of Ocean City Golf Getaway, the packaging and promotional arm of area member golf clubs. Eagles Landing from the beginning made environmental protection a top priority, and as a result soon after it opened it earned National Audubon Sanctuary certification.

Eagles Landing is justifiably one of the area's most popular courses, both because of its setting and because it is a fine course for the mid-level price. The greens are of bent grass and the fairways are a mixture of rye and Bermuda. The root system and leaves of these species give the fairways a very different texture and playing conditions from the tighter bent grass fairways at Lighthouse Sound and Rum Pointe.

Eagles Landing stretches from a very modest 4,896 yards to 7,003 yards, where the par 72 layout has a slope of 126. It is a combination links-style and marshland style design, offering a wide variety of hole lengths and configurations around the ponds and salt marshes. The upland meadows and marshes offer a rich visual texture as well as an additional hazard.

Eagles Landing starts out fairly innocently with some straight-forward holes that weave back and forth in the uplands. The site was originally barren of any trees and the course was planted with sweet gum, maples and tulip poplars to enhance the visuals. There is also a large waste bunker separating holes 4 and 5. At No. 6, the course comes to life. This hole is a 435-yard (from the tips) challenge that curves left around a pond to a pondside green. Bunkers right of the landing area mean golfers should stay on their toes off the tee, and the biggest decision is how much of the dogleg to cut off.

Holes 7-10 are set closer to the bay on and around the tidal marshes festooned with spartina grass and other species in the transition zones. The holes are also enclosed by pines and oaks, with a few maples thrown in, giving the course at this juncture a woodland feel. Hole No. 7 is an almost 90-degree dogleg par 5 presenting two forced carries over tidal marshes. From the tee the landing area is partially obscured by the tall marsh grasses. The chute through the trees seems impossibly narrow. After a good tee shot, you almost certainly have to lay up short of another marsh that lies in front of the slightly elevated green. After a short par 3 with a large bail-out left at No. 8, golfers must once again thread the needle through the trees and over marsh to land safely at the medium-length par 4 9th. After a safe tee shot, you are left with a short approach over yet another marsh.

A salt pond grown high with marsh grass plays a major role in the very short par 4 10th of 330 yards. It cuts deep into the fairway from the right. Its tall grass obscures the landing area behind it, and gives the impression that the pond can't be carried. However, this is not the case, as a reasonably well struck tee shot will have no trouble carrying the pond. The alternative is lay up of the pond with a mid to short iron, but that leaves golfers with a very difficult shot over the marsh grass to a hidden green.

Holes 11-16 are laid out in the uplands marked again by ponds and upland marshes. The fine long par 4 11th requires a tee shot over a marsh to a landing area bound on the right by large fairway bunkers and entirely down the left side by the same marsh. The green sits slightly elevated and at a short distance left of a pond.

The course ventures back toward the bay and tidal areas with No. 17 and 18. The 17th is a fine medium-length par 3 over a marsh to a large, relatively flat green. The design of the 18th is a bit unnatural, due to the configuration of the marshland. On this 390-yard hole, one would normally hit a driver or 3-wood. But a portion of the marsh cuts across the fairway at about 240 yards out, making a lay-up a necessity. This artificially lengthens the hole extending the approach shot considerably. The approach on this pretty woods enshrouded hole is to a long and narrow green.

The tee sheet fills up fast on this most popular Ocean City area course, so it pays to make reservations well ahead of time.

Ocean City Golf

• Introduction to Ocean City Golf
• Bear Trap Dunes
• Eagle's Landing
• Ocean City Golf and Yacht Club
• Lighthouse Sound
• River Run
• Rum Pointe