Bear Trap Dunes | Lighthouse Sound | Rum Pointe | Eagles Landing
Ocean City Golf & Yacht Club | River Run | Ocean City Introduction 

Lighthouse Sound: The Beacon of Ocean City Golf

To use an overworked metaphor, Arthur Hills had a magnificent canvas on which to create The Links at Lighthouse Sound, Ocean City’s newest and by consensus best golf course in the opinion of players and disinterested raters alike. Nature endowed the 1000-acre site with truly majestic pristine beauty and Hills, a world-class designer, took advantage of the opulence to fashion a course that has people comparing it to Pebble Beach. The comparison is a bit of a stretch, but Lighthouse is definitely magnificent. And very difficult.

The site, a former farm that includes a very visible silo on #7, varies markedly in geographical features, with the result that the course defies a single label. Lighthouse is part bayside, marshside and inland hardwood course. Also, because of the site’s highly asymmetrical boundaries, the course has a somewhat unique routing plan that includes a 9^th hole that is a considerable distance from the fine clubhouse.

Opened in April 2000, the course is just a short drive from the beach. It is situated just off Maryland Route 90 directly across Assawoman Bay from Ocean City. The bay, the St. Martin’s River, the abundant marshland, and the hardwood forest provide an aesthetic backdrop that is truly magnificent.

After three fairly routine holes -- a short par 4, short par 5 and a par 3 to a double green shared with the 2nd -- Hills escorts you out to the scenic bayside holes, 4-7. The 4th has a tee box almost directly on the water. You may hesitate to hit your tee shot here, as the view of the Ocean City skyline, across the bay and so close you can almost touch it, is spectacular.

The 385-yard (430 yards from the tips) 4th doglegs right around the bay. The landing area of the tee shot is between a fairway bunker left and expansive marsh on the right that extends the entire length of the hole to the slightly elevated green. The long par 3 5th hole also lies directly by the bay and marsh. From any tee, this hole is imposing, but from the back tees, it is best to invoke grace from the golf gods before striking a shot that must carry 218 yards and settle on an elevated green with a bunker and steep bank in front.

The medium length par 4 6th is distinguished by a tee box that sits on a promontory. Here, a fishing pole might be suitable equipment along with your driver. The slightly uphill hole has a two-tiered green with a dramatic back-to-front slope that lists to the right. A pin location back left demands a career approach shot.

Hole 7 begins the journey back inland away from the bay. This gargantuan hole that starts with a tee box next to the marsh measures anywhere from 405 yards from the very forward tees to 622 yards from all the way back. The tee shot is straight out over a corner of the marsh to a right-veering slightly uphill fairway. The tall white silo, set against the Maryland sky, is your aiming point off the tee on this hole that demands two enormously well struck shots and a short pitch that requires the precision of a clockmaker.

I hit a monster tee shot and absolutely nailed a 3-wood, and I barely cleared the water channel that lies about 60 yards in front of the green. My perfectly struck lob wedge left me well above the hole, leaving me with two nervy putts for par. Most players will find this and the other three par 5’s among the most difficult three-shot holes they have ever played. Hills’ intent is to take away the risk-reward feature of the par 5’s for all but the longest and brashest hitters.

After the very short par 4 8th, which lies right next to the 1st hole, you drive over marsh into the hardwoods section of the course to get to #9. Here you are a considerable distance from the clubhouse. The drive takes you over a 1500-foot wooden cart bridge, putatively the longest such bridge in the U.S.

Beginning with #9, an extremely long par 4 to a green with a pronounced elevation, the course changes dramatically from a links to a woodland character. A hardwood forest and the St. Martin’s River provide a riveting backdrop to holes 10-13 that include two excellent par 3’s (11 and 13) and the straight-away 545-yard 12th.

Like #7, the 12th is a three-shot hole, requiring length and uncanny precision. About 120 yards out from the green is a bunker in the center of the fairway. It does not pay to try to clear the bunker, as the fairway behind forms a ridge, and your ball with likely careen left or right into the trees. An oak tree guards the left side of the fairway slightly forward of the bunker and the alley formed by it and the bunker is as narrow as a sewing needle hole. It also doesn’t pay to try to reach the green in two, because it is elevated and steeply banked, and the front right portion of the green is shaped into a large mound that will likely kick any approach shot that is short back off the putting surface.

Lakes, woods, and environmental areas backdrop the outstanding series of holes, #14-17 that include three very long par 4s and one short par 4. The course finishes with a risk-reward par 5 of 505 yards (532 from the back). The hole plays back east toward the bay and is situated along the bayside marsh. The hole doglegs dramatically to a green elevated some 20 feet and steeply banked in front. A drive that avoids the fairway bunker right and is far enough out on the dogleg leaves a view of the green. However, if you cut the dogleg too sharply with your drive, a stand of trees some 150 yards out from the green obscures your view of the green.

Lighthouse Sound has people buzzing, not only for its remarkable setting but for its difficulty. According to one of the club’s assistants, it was Hills’ intention to build a course where par was an excellent score. Indeed, here anything within 10 shots of your handicap should be cause for celebration. To date, the head pro’s best score is a 74.

In the interest of difficulty, Hills has created some quirky features and elements. The large mound in front of the green at #3 virtually hides the whole putting surface. It is unnecessary and Hills allegedly admitted to staff he wouldn’t have put it there if he had to do it over. The architect also engaged in a bit of overkill when he raised the green and created effectively no bail-out at the 5th, which some have called the hardest par 3 on the East Coast. Similarly, he has raised the 9th green dramatically, a feature that seems unnecessarily penal, because most golfers will have to hit a long iron and wood into this green. The center fairway bunker of #12, coming as it does so close to the large tree on the left, forces a long third into a green that is hard to hold for even accomplished players.

These few quirks notwithstanding, the course deserves the accolades it is receiving. And kudos go to developer Tom Ruark for also building a clubhouse on the bay as fine as they come. It has a stylish pro shop, cozy restaurant with complimentary coffee and hot-dogs, and a wood-paneled atmosphere that rivals the best private clubs.

Ruark, from Salisbury, got his entrepreneurial feet wet selling newspapers and cutting lawns in Cambridge, Md. He was an official in the local county health department when he bought a couple of homes and fixed them up for resale. His introduction into home development led to his buying a farm in Salisbury, which didn’t have a golf course, and developing Nutters Crossing. That course opened in 1991. In 1997, Ruark opened Rum Pointe, a Pete and P.B Dye collaboration that many considered to be the finest course on the Maryland shore. That is, until Lighthouse opened.

The Lighthouse project was caught up in legal entanglements for several decades before Ruark took it over. Because a sizable percentage of the 1000 acres at Lighthouse was marshland and therefore couldn’t be developed, Ruark agreed to pare down the planned number of homesites from 1500 to less than 100. Under the revised plan, only 94 homes will be built on the property. Meanwhile, Ruark has applied for certification under the National Audubon’s Sanctuary program.

For tee times, call 1-888-55-HILLS.

Click On A Course Below To Continue:

Bear Trap Dunes | Lighthouse Sound | Rum Pointe | Eagles Landing
Ocean City Golf & Yacht Club | River Run | Ocean City Introduction 

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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. 
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