Maryland Business

By: jackie.sauter

Public courses in Baltimore and “best of” lists typically don’t match.

Well, that changed last week when Mount Pleasant was ranked 12th in Golfweek magazine’s listing of the top 30 municipal courses in the country.

It’s a pretty impressive honor considering the other courses on the list — Bethpage (Black), Torrey Pines (South), Indian Wells and TPC Scottsdale. Torrey Pines played host to this year’s U.S. Open and Bethpage hosts the Open next year.

What surprised me the most was that Mount Pleasant placed seven spots ahead of Torrey Pines’ North Course, which is played along with the South Course the first two days of the Buick Invitational.

Mount Pleasant, which hosted the Eastern Open from 1950-1963, is one of the most challenging treks I’ve played in the state. When I competed there in high school tournaments, it was rare to ever see a winning score under par.

If there was any way to add a driving range to the facility, I wouldn’t be surprised to see bigger tournaments played there.

Do you think any other public courses in the city or state should be recognized (Rocky Gap is on my list of potentials)?

RICHARD SIMON, Multimedia Reporter