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Mountain Branch: Well worth the drive up 95

Image courtesy of www.mountainbranch.com

This past weekend I played at Mountain Branch Golf Club, one of the three nice courses in Harford County that are right off of I-95. The others are Bulle Rock and Beechtree Golf Club. Bulle Rock is still up and running but Beechtree is having problems that you can read about in my earlier post.

My tee time was at 8:20. Since Mountain Branch is a challenging course, I was looking forward to the round for the whole week. I got there early and hit the driving range and putting green before heading to the first tee. The driving range is a short cart ride away from the clubhouse and has a fair amount of space for golfers to practice. There are, however, a few things that need improvement. First, the golf balls were absolutely filthy. It did not appear they had been cleaned. Ever. Now, I don’t need to hit brand new golf balls but these had mud and grass all over them and it really was noticeable. Second, I don’t know why but the hitting area is always wet. I mean soaking wet. Doesn’t matter when you go. Management had a designated hitting area set up and, true to form, it was very muddy. I had to clean my shoes after I was done. The last thing that bothers me, and there is nothing that can really be done, is that the landing area on the range is very hilly. As a result, it is very difficult to tell how far your shots travel. In the end, you simply pound away hoping to see how your ball flight is going to be that day.

The putting green is always in very good shape but is ridiculously contoured. It is a tri-level green with a height difference between the top and bottom of about twenty feet. The middle level is only about ten feet wide and is not very helpful. The top and bottom levels, however, do give you an idea of how difficult the greens can be at Mountain Branch. Lots of break where you don’t see any. I can’t tell you how many times me and my friends exclaimed while putting, “Where did that come from?”

The first hole is a great one and is indicative of the trouble awaiting you on the course. You start off on an elevated tee about fifty feet above the fairway. Water hazard to your right and trees to your left. If you manage to avoid that trouble, you have a shot to a two-level green guarded by traps on the left and woods to the right. It is a tough starting hole.

The course is well-designed and includes a redan hole on the back nine. (For an explanation of a redan hole, visit here.) The eighteenth is an uphill split fairway par 5 with a stream that begins on the right side of the fairway, crosses over and continues up the left side until it reaches the green. It’s a beauty.

Maryland native Jeff Matthai designed Mountain Branch and did a great job. He took advantage of the natural surroundings and sculpted the course around and not through the various streams, woods and rock outcroppings that are present on the property.

We played from the black tees which measure at 6570 yards. The course rating is 72.8 and the slope is 137, giving you fair warning of the difficulty you will encounter in taming this track.

The pro shop is nice if a little small and the restaurant is perfect for a meal after or before a round. There is a beverage/snack cart that makes its way around the course. We only saw that cart once between the 14^th and 15^th hole and that is not enough for a Sunday morning. Granted, the temperatures weren’t soaring but it would have been nice to have one visit per nine.

Another nice touch is the GPS carts. They are really helpful, not only with yardage, but with tips on how to best play the hole. The only problem is that the system often felt that my cart, although on the cart path, was somehow in a restricted area. The system’s remedy for this egregious behavior is to shut the cart down. The only way to bring the cart back to life was to push it for a distance and see if the computer could be convinced that we were now in an appropriate area. There are two obvious problems with this. First, the computer has an incorrect view of appropriate areas. Second, if I’m in an inappropriate area, wouldn’t I need the cart to work in order to get out of the area? That needs some fine tuning.

All in all, I very much recommend you give Mountain Branch a try. The course is lots of fun and the scenery is beautiful. My one recommendation is to check with the starter and ask his advice about which tees are appropriate for your skill level. This course could eat you up if you aren’t playing from the right tees. Good luck.