The Links at Gettysburg (Gettysburg, PA on 03/24/13)

It is uncommon that I am let down after a golf trip, but that is what happened here. My original plan was to meet up with a friend for 36 holes on Sunday and 18 on Monday at Bulle Rock (a top 100 course). The weather messed everything up though. We talked about changing the location to North Carolina, Virginia Beach, or Ocean City, but pretty much everywhere was supposed to have a bunch of rain or snow. The storm looked like it was going to hit Sunday night so we cut the trip short and planned for 36 holes on Sunday (03/24) and then I ended up being stuck with a day off from work which I no longer wanted.

It was about 3 hours and 15 minutes from Charlottesville to Gettysburg, PA and oddly I drove through VA, WV, MD, and PA to get there. We had a small delay before we got going about 9:30am at the Links at Gettysburg and that round turned out decently. I don’t think it ever got above 40* and a breeze was up for maybe 9 holes so it was a miserably cold round, but at least we got to play. We got some lunch and headed over to Maryland National which was about 45 minutes away for our afternoon round. We went off about 3:30pm and it was more of the same with the cold. On the 15th and 16th it started snowing pretty good and just after we finished the 16th the guy working the proshop advised that the small amount of snow can damage the greens if anyone walks on it and that we would need to leave. I have heard walking on frozen greens can damage them, hence the frost delays, but had never heard this about snow. But, after living in Northern California and Florida my whole life, I am not going to be a resource on this topic. While I understand why we needed to leave I was angry about having to leave because it was an expensive round ($59 for twilight in the off season) and I had a good round going with the potential to break 80. Take away both of those and I wouldn’t have felt like it was such a waste. My friend and I each got a $20 voucher which was a nice gesture but in my foul mood it seemed like a band aid on a severed artery. As I type this I am just looking forward to getting through my unneeded day off, this rest of this work week, and then finding a place to play this weekend.

The Links at Gettysburg:

Contrary to the name I found no links characteristics (besides no trees coming into play on the back) about the course. So, if someone is looking to play the ball on the ground I would avoid playing here as it is a traditional U.S. course in many respects. The fact that it was not a true links course did not bother me and it is as solid a course as someone is going to play. The course features many things that I like in a course including elevation change, some views, and a short par 4. The course starts out with a downhill dogleg left par 4 with a rock wall surrounding the front of the green. The 2nd hole is a dogleg right back up the hill over a hazard and the 3rd hole is the signature hole. Right away the course peaked my interest, but at the same time did allow for a decent score. The 3rd is a mid length par 3 over a hazard that drops maybe a club to a large green cut out from a red rock hillside. The 8th and the 18th also feature this red rock framing around the green and is by far the distinctive feature of the course. The rest of the front 9 had some more interesting holes including a reachable par 5 and the other par 5 (the 7th) was a long downhill hole with water on both sides. The back side was enjoyable to play until holes 13 through 18 which all seemed the same to me. The 10th, 11th, and 12th had some elevation change and required some strategy to avoid the hazards but starting on #13 water came into play on every shot and the course finished with 6 parallel holes with water in the center of all of them. I was a little let down with the finishing holes compared to the rest of the course, but overall it was a nice course to play even though it was tough because many times the course sloped into trouble. A couple holes on the back dropped down by a river which I always think is peaceful. The fairways and rough were in good shape for early season condition but the greens still had not healed 100% from last fall’s aeration. This caused many putts to wobble and involved a bit of luck to make anything outside of tap in range. But, it is golf in PA in March so I guess that I cannot get too picky, especially for a low off season rate of $35. Most of the green complexes were fairly large with many tricky slopes and ridges so even if the greens were rolling perfect I still could have had a lot of putts. The course had a few homes in play, but none were a big eye sore. I would certainly put this course on the list for those who want to get away during a family vacation to the area. For reference I played the Blue Tees at 72.4/141/6666.

#1: