Golf Course Markers

HOFFARTH: A river - bed, that is - runs through it

They get to play Congressional Country Club. We get River View Golf Course.

If any of the world's best golfers grumble at all about how tough the track is for this weekend's U.S. Open near our nation's capitol, they should simultaneously thank the USGA for not sending them instead to a golf-forsaken plot of the unhappiest place on the Golf God's green Earth not so far from Disneyland.

This is "America's Worst Course" - the name once given to this 6,190-yard, par-70 quarry in Santa Ana by a now-defunct golf lifestyle magazine. With probable cause.

There's neither a river nor a view here, and that doesn't even depend on your point of view. Instead, River View is, by all utilitarian function, a confluence of a grassy flood-control channel and some course designer/city engineer's warped imagination, colliding into one ruined afternoon near the Orange Crush of the 5, 22 and 57 freeways.

Geometry, gravity and piles of gravel often dictate a whole mess of unplayable lies at this rest stop between two branches of the Santa Ana River/sewer basin that carries debris away from the parking lot next to Angel Stadium and sends it into the Pacific Ocean near Newport Beach.

This is where Top Flites bottom out, unnecessarily funneled into this deadly ditch of marsh and standing water, unless you're fortunate enough to have your drive plop down in a mud puddle near the 150-yard markers.

The scorecard doesn't even include a photo of the course, but instead features the putting green.

So why in the name of Charl Schwartzel would anyone even want to play it? Even after the reviews posted online by some recent customers:

Kunney T. of Costa Mesa: "This place is a dump! ... When it's a non-drought season, the ugly ditches are actually river beds. ... all you see is dead dirt and rocks."

Kione E. of Fullerton: "Ghetto, I thought to myself as I rolled into the parking lot. Oh well, I'm here and I already paid for this."

Audra R. of Orange County: "Last time there we saw a bum dancing naked in the river bed ... kinda funny, kinda horrible."

Kinda intriguing, once you put it that way.

Our first attempt to pay a visit was in April, but the website warned that the back nine was closed, under water because of recent rains. But, of course. It's the nature of this beast.

Finally able to get on earlier this week, we approached the adventure as our version of the U.S.

Golf Course Markers - News

HOFFARTH: A river - bed, that is - runs through it

In a region rich with quality golf courses, Santa Ana's River View Golf Course is considered "America's Worst Course." By Tom Hoffarth, Columnist They get to play Congressional Country Club. We get River View Golf Course. If any of the world's best

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We had a warm New Year's Day in Ohio and we went out to the golf course. I beat him by one stroke. He was happy for me.” Lower will carry the dated ball markers in his golf bag as he continues to play amateur tournaments this summer.

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Young players new to game are encouraged by our beginner-friendly short course within the challenging Radley Run golf facility. As theirgame progresses the child determines when they are ready to advance from the Blue Markers to the Gold Markers and

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However, speaking from personal experience, these markers can be difficult to find and are sometimes notoriously inconsistent, from course to course and even hole to hole. Some courses measure out from the front of the green, some go from the centre

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moved his marker back and replaced his ball. Both players parred the hole. “They were very unusual circumstances. We laid them up from about 220 yards and the two balls were touching on the fairway which I've never seen on the golf course before.

Carroll Park at the Golf Course Marker

Native Americans once traversed this stream where nearby at Gwynns Run in 1669, Richard Gwinn, the stream’s namesake, established a trading post. Next to the trail today is the nine-hole executive Carroll Park Golf Course, one of the five operated by the Baltimore Municipal Golf Corporation, a non-profit. East of here along Washington Boulevard and beyond the Montgomery Park Business Center is Carroll Park. Water quality data is collected here to monitor water flows and health and determine its affect on the Chesapeake Bay.

Study the Map.
Before you start or resume your journey, study the kiosk map and determine your destination along the 15-mile Gwynns Falls Trail. From Carroll Park, the trail heads east along several streets, 2.8 miles to the Inner Harbor (Trailhead 7) and 4.3 miles to Middle Branch Park (Trail Heads 8, 9).

To the north, before Gwynns Falls Park at Frederick Avenue (Trailhead 5), the trail passes sites related to the city’s commercial history: Gwynns Run and Gwynns Falls; the Carrollton Viaduct, a 300-foot span built over the Gwynns Falls in 1829 by the B&O Railroad Company; and early-1900s stockyards. Look also for birds commonly found in grassy meadows, water catchments, and stream valley woodlands.

Restroom facilities are available at the golf club house nearby.

Photo captions :

[ Right upper .] The Mount Clare mansion and Carroll Park were part of the estate of Charles Carroll, Barrister, in the late 1700s. The house is the oldest colonial building surviving in Baltimore and is open to the public as a colonial house museum.

[ Left middle .] The William Mason locomotive stands in front of the Mount Clare Station and Roundhouse, now part of the B&O Railroad Museum.

[ Right lower .] This coal-burning “camel-back” locomotive is one of 300 Ross Winans designed and built between 1848-1859 for the B&O Railroad Company to pull heavy, slow-moving freight trains on mountainous terrain.