The Timbers At Troy - Elkridge, Maryland

- Nestled in beautiful Maryland countryside, but not far from BWI airport in Elkridge, The Timbers at Troy offers a unique experience for the daily fee player: bent grass from tee to green, which makes for excellent fairway lies and true putting lines.

Undulating, hilly fairways make for some blind tee and approach shots, particularly on the par 5 ninth. Not particularly long at 525 yards from the tips, your tee shot must be up the right side of a narrow fairway, which slopes dramatically from right to left. Get too far right and you’ll be dealing with trees and fairway bunkers that can make getting to the dance floor in regulation tough. Hit it too far left, though, and you’ll risk running off the fairway slope into the trees. The approach is to an elevated fairway which again slopes steeply down to a lateral hazard on the left. Once on, you’ll be putting a long, narrow green that falls off from front to back.

The par 3 11th can be a bear. Playing as long as 211 yards, usually against a stiff breeze, the tee shot is a tough one, to a big green guarded by two large bunkers. If the pin is on the front, par is a good score, as the entry to the green is narrow, and if your tee shot is long, it’s a very tough up-and-down.

There are, however, birdies to be had, beginning with the 510 yard, par 5 second hole. Long hitters can reach the green in two pretty easily, if they can avoid the fairway bunkers on both sides of the landing area, and stay out of the four huge bunkers guarding the green; hit it in the wrong one and you’re left with a golfer’s nightmare…a long greenside bunker shot. Another birdie hole is the short (332 yard) par 4 13th. Big hitters can drive this green, with a tee shot to a fairway which falls off steeply to the green. But come up short, and you’ll be faced with a steep, down hill lie, in deep rough, to a large green. For the average hitter, however, the smart play is an iron off the tee, and a short approach of 100 yards or so from the top of the hill. The next hole, the 14th, is another birdie opportunity, a short (166 yard) par 3. Hitting from an elevated tee down to a large green, the hole plays one or two clubs shorter than the distance (playing from the blue tees, at 153 yards, a pitching wedge was plenty of club), and the green slopes from back to front.

The 17th and 18th are great finishing holes. 17 is another 525 yard par 5, very difficult to reach in two. The fairway slopes gently upward off the tee; a big tee shot cutting off the dogleg right leads to a great risk/reward second shot to a long, narrow green tucked into the trees. The risk: a lake guarding the left front of the green. With a downhill shot favoring a right-to-left ball flight, the lake forces the average player to lay up to the right, where a short third shot can get you close enough for birdie. The 18th is a straightaway, uphill par four, it plays longer than its posted 391 yards. A chance for par or birdie requires a long, straight tee shot to give you a middle iron to the green. Plenty of bail out room to the right, and the green is generous.

All in all, The Timbers at Troy is a nice layout, and the bent grass offers a country club experience for daily fee prices.