LONG NECK, DEL (Aug. 12, 2002) -- It is not surprising that
a golf course as good as Baywood Greens would draw golfers
from far and wide. Remarkable is that people visit the course
who have no interest in playing it.
"Occasionally, we get requests from garden clubs to
come out and see us," explains Warren Golde, Baywood’s
horticulturist. "Depending on the size of the group, they’ll
either walk or we’ll send them out in golf carts.
"In the mornings or early evening, residents like to
stroll out on the course," he added.
Straw-hatted men and women toting flower guidebooks around
a golf course is not usual, but then Baywood Greens, for all
its floral opulence, is no garden variety track. The course is
adorned from first tee to 18th green with an estimated 200,000
thousand planted trees, flowers and shrubs including
rhododendron, 2500 azaleas, and 4,000 rose bushes. There are
20 acres of planted annuals and perennials include zinnias,
bachelor buttons, poppies, mums, day lilies and a
mind-boggling 40,000 daffodils. Also, the place is beautified
with meadows of multi-colored wildflowers.
How much does all this gardening cost? Golde was asked.
"He gives me an unlimited budget, and I manage to exceed
it every year," joked Golde, who employs a crew of only
six year-round and five seasonal workmen.
"He" is Rob Tunnell, managing partner of Tunnell
Companies, L.P., which owns and manages Baywood Greens and six
other land-lease or Pot-Nets residential communities in this
unincorporated town just west of Delaware’s coastal resorts.
Pot-Nets was coined from crab pot and fishing nets, fitting
symbols on this sliver of land between Indian River and
Rehobeth Bays. Advertised for their affordability and
proximity to excellent marine amenities, the communities
feature manufactured houses on attractively landscaped lots.
Tunnell, a southern Delawarean, has substantially enhanced
the land-lease portfolio founded by his attorney father while
starting other successful ventures.
Tunnell is a walking, talking bobble-head. He’s
constantly on the go and when you can get him to sit down and
chat, he reveals a refreshing unpretentiousness and candor
that encompasses engaging touches of self-deprecation.
As a businessman, Tunnell has the Midas touch. He is not
afraid to take risks. He hires competent people and then lets
them do their jobs. Tunnell loves a challenge. "When
people tell me it can’t be done," he said, "I can’t
wait to show them wrong."
In the early 90’s, before Baywood was conceived, a
community resident encountered Tunnell in a local coffee shop.
"Rob," he asked, "have you ever considered
building a golf course?" Tunnell, a very infrequent
golfer who knew nothing about golf course development,
nonetheless liked the idea.
Before the year was out, he had hired Bill Love, then with
Ault Clark & Associates, a well known design firm in
Kensington, Md., to do the blueprints.
The course would be built on a portion of what eventually
was the Baywood tract, 750 acres purchased in a series of
piecemeal acquisitions. The tract is at the juncture of
Delaware Rt. 24, which leads directly into Rehobeth, and Long
Neck Rd., which leads out to the canal between the two bays.
With its variegated features, the land was ideal for golf.
Portions of the site are thickly wooded with loblolly pines
and hardwoods of white and northern red oak, maple, hickory
and sweet gum. It also has protected wetlands and tidal
marshes, and a sizable acreage of open flatland.
During initial construction, Love left Ault Clark to go on
his own. Tunnell wanted to retain Love, but the contract was
with Ault Clark. Tunnell recalled his attempts to negotiate
with Ault. "I told Brian, ‘Design me a Cadillac. I want
it to be the best it can be.’" Tunnell said he offered
Clark virtually a blank check.
But because of their conflicting visions for the project,
Tunnell and Clark parted ways. Instead of hiring another
design firm, Tunnell decided to go in-house to finish the
course. He put to work his own landscape and maintenance crew,
led by Tunnell’s then land sculptor Larry DeWitt, who
performed the actual shaping.
"Using Love’s design as a template, Tunnell and
DeWitt superimposed their own ideas, adding a bunker or mound
here, creating an additional lake or enlarging a planned one
there, raising or lowering a green to blend with the other
evolving features, and otherwise relying on instinct and
restrained judgment.
What they wound up with was a design that shows superior
artistry and maturity marked by self-discipline. The course is
a simple yet elegant design. Each hole has its own distinctive
character, but it blends seamlessly with the whole. The same
can be said for the greens whose slopes will test but not
detonate a round. The fairways are consistently generous and
largely flat to fit the overall terrain. And the 27 acres of
created lakes, mounds, and some 70 bunkers are placed to
challenge players but not make them feel they are at a penal
colony. For all its design elements, the course is the product
of a remarkably coherent vision.
The course on some holes departs dramatically from the
original design. The builders nearly doubled the size of the
lake on the second hole and, in a moment of brilliance, they
built stunning flower-decorated island tee boxes out on
another lake on # 18.
The 14th was originally designed as a moderate
right to left dogleg with no water. As they were shaping this
hole, DeWitt needed more dirt which led to creating a lake.
Then the pair decided to add an island fairway. The experiment
worked so well, #14 is arguably Baywood Greens’ signature
hole. It is stunning. From the back tee of this 425-yarder
(409 from the blacks, 385 from the greens), the bulkheaded and
beautifully landscaped island fairway seems dauntingly small.
Land safely and players cut 100 yards off the hole. The less
daring have the option of a right-hand fairway that leaves a
much longer approach. The builders never forgot who their
market is. They always designed in plenty of bail outs.
The beauty and originality of the course prompted a player
from Minnesota to exclaim, "Last year I played Aviara in
California and at the time I thought it was the prettiest
course I had ever played. But this (Baywood Greens) is real
close."
The first 12 holes of the layout are set amidst the
hardwood-pine forest, while the final six holes are in an open
setting. The tee boxes, fairways, and greens are composed of
L93 bent, and the first cut of rough is a fescue-rye mix. The
course plays to par 72 and ranges from 3539 (from the junior
tees) to 6983 yards.
The course is excellently maintained, as are its amenities.
The restrooms are carpeted, wall-papered and air-conditioned
and look like mini-clubhouses. The shelters have breezeways
furnished with wicker chairs and overhanging plants. The
building serving the large practice facility includes
restrooms and sheltered hitting bays, in addition to short and
long game hitting areas off grass plots. The two-laned cart
paths are first class. The wooded areas of the course are
enhanced with pine straw imported from Georgia. Park-like
signs which read, "Scenic view ahead," and, "Oooo,
aah, beautiful" draw attention to the floral areas.
Though it is open to the public, Baywood Greens has the
quality and atmosphere of a private golf club. The concept is
captured in the phrase, "Exclusively Public," a
Tunnellism used in course promotion.
The pro shop and snack bar are currently housed in the
community center adjacent the community pool. The permanent
clubhouse, which will include banquet rooms for 240 guests, a
bar/grille, pro shop and locker rooms will sit behind the 18th
green. It is expected to be completed in April 2004. Also
planned is a third nine, to be designed by California
architect Cary Bickler. Seven holes will be constructed across
Rt. 24 on flat topography. The third nine will be completely
different from the current 18. It will be a open, windswept
Scottish style course featuring dramatic elevations. "We
will move as much dirt (for the new nine) as we did for
existing 18," Tunnell said.
Tunnell’s vision of excellence has resulted in a golf
course that is the class of the Delaware-Maryland shore. When
you are finished playing it, you can enjoy such other
attractions as the area’s fine seafood restaurants and the
boardwalk amusements at Rehobeth and Bethany Beach, Del., and
Ocean City, Md. For the history buffs, there is the maritime
museum in historic Lewes, Del.
Rental homes and apartments, priced at a premium during the
summer, are widely available at lower rates after Labor Day,
when the weather is still pleasant. Motels line busy Rt. 1
convenient to the course and include The Heritage Inn &
Golf Club, which has a 9-hole course directly behind it. For
reservations at the inn, Call 1-800-669-9399. 
Baywood Greens
Long Neck Rd.
Long Neck, DE 19966
Phone: (888) 844-2254
www.baywoodgreens.com
_______________
Alan B. Nichols is
a professional golf-travel writer residing in Bethesda, MD.
He is the featured golf-travel writer
for GolfLink. Alan appreciates your
comments on his features and the courses he has written
about.
E-MAIL ALAN NICHOLS
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