Atlantic City Golf

I digress from Atlantic City Golf for a moment and head over to the PGA Tour . . . Dads are big in the PGA news these days. With the passing of father Harmon, Tiger's father passing and the perennial media favorite Sean O'Hair's father/son feud are mainstream fodder for the media. As a new father, the topic weighs heavy on my mind. Hardest to overlook are the travails of Sean O'Hair and the family scandals that have been exploited in every way imaginable by the press. It is clear that Sean had a tough dad and not a very bright one at that. Let's be honest, fathers can be rough on children (especially boys) and they may not have always come from a background that fosters quality child rearing. This is too often the case of a generation that didn't have the abundance of information and resources available to parents today. Let's ask one question that never a peep has been whispered: Was he there for his son? It sure sounds like Sean O'Hair's fath...

For whatever reason, I have chosen to be a purist in my outlook on golf. Having regrettably started golfing late in life, I see golf in its most fundamental of forms as a welcomed respite from the overall direction that the world as a whole is going. So, when the rage about hybrids began, I avoided it like the plague. Golf was meant to be played with an iron, and in that rare instance, pull out a fairway metal. How could this general philosophy go wrong when most business is done solely in the name of profit and advertising to increase revenue and market-share. And so I ignored it and continued on my quest to learn golf from the ground up and taking the purist way out each time a choice needed to be made. What happens along the way of becoming good at golf at a late age, is that one must come to the realization that there are certain things that are easier to learn when started young. There is a certain intangible quality that comes from young muscles learning things as the body and mi...

I started playing golf about five years ago after attending a Greater Atlantic City Chamber of Commerce golf outing. It was held at Harbor Pines Golf Club in Somers Point, NJ. I remember that it was a cold and windy November day when I played that first round of golf, but it obviously had quite an impression on me from that point forward. Over the years I have longed to break open the piggy bank and give Harbor Pines another go (especially since the first time I played, I hadn't a clue what I was doing). So, this past memorial day I finally gave in an played the course I remember so little about. After first trying "the dump" McCullough's Emerald Links, which wanted $80 for the round and Twisted Dune wanted over $100, I finally settled on Harbor Pines for $90. My major disappointment with most of the higher end golf courses in the area is their total aversion to walkers on the course. While in many cases, it is a good choice to restrict walkers, not all of them ...

Having started playing golf in 1999, I would have to still call myself "new to the game". In addition, I am still young and wasn't born into great wealth, so a membership at a prestegious golf club would have been out of reach even only a year ago. But it is with great pride and thanks that I am this year a member at Blue Heron Pine Golf Glub in Cologne, NJ (only about 20 mintues from the heart of Atlantic City. The most appealing part of joining Blue Heron is also its most dissapointing aspect as well. Blue Heron Pines consists of two world class golf course (the West Course and the East Course). The West Course is the original course which opened with a great deal of fanfare that brought celebrities from throughout the Northeast. I know this, because I had the pleasure of working as a valet when the course first opened ( I think it was around 1992 while I was attending college). It is a traditional course that is both challenging, but also forgiving. A few yea...

We all look at the 24 hours we are given each day with a different perspective. There is no right or wrong when it comes to how we define the world we live in, there is only our own personal perspectives. In 1989 a recent high school graduate took on the rigors of college with very little understanding of what was expected of him, and what he expected of himself. Deciding to attend college 2500 miles from his home was both liberating and uncontrolled. It was a short six months later that he realized that he may not have been up to the task. For years to follow he would reflect on the mistakes and lost opportunities that were provided him in his departure into the world of individuality and self sufficiency. For years to follow, and even to this day, he feels that time is no longer on his side. The time that was wasted in earlier and younger years no longer seem fleeting, but instead a lost opportunity to take advantage of what the world had to offer him at such ...

It must be noted that the year to date has seen an extremely favorable winter for southern New Jersey. The Atlantic City area has been blessed by the Golf Gods with relatively mild temperatures, just warm enough to play on a semi-regular basis. As it is mid-December at this point, and the temperatures are still in the 40-50 degree range, this has been a blessing indeed. With an extreme shortage of time on my hands, and an unfortunately timed schedule, golf for the last couple of weeks has been an impossiblity. However, Olde Masters Driving Range, just down the street from our office, is open and sheltered (somewhat). With a little bit of time on my hands sporadically over the last couple of days, the driving range was an excellent choice (if the only choice at hand). Rain has settled in to the area, and while a little cold doesn't bother me while golfing, a little cold with rain added, is a pretty uncomforatble situation. Olde Masters to the rescue. Their driving range ...

With the desire to play golf so regularly, it is important to have a few stand-by courses when your wallet isn't quite so full (or should I say empty). While there are actually a lot of quality courses under $50, which in some areas is unimaginable, for me there are times when $30 is a little more than I want to spend. If you are playing four to six days a week it can really burden you down. Green Tree Golf Course As an Atlantic County resident, the best deal going is Green Tree Golf Course in Mays Landing, NJ, about 30 minutes from Atlantic City. It is truly not a bad course, and what it lacks in length, it makes up for in tightness. Most of the fairways are only about 40 yards wide and lined heavily with trees. Green Tree Golf Course is a swampy course at its best, so think twice if it has been raining for a few days prior to your round. It is a walkers paradise, and most of the locals do walk the course, aside from the obvious reasons (health and affordability/price sa...