The opening of Maryland National Golf Club adds another masterpiece to the long list of great golf courses designed by Arthur Hills. Rated by more then 500 course-rating panelists for Golf Digest magazine as one of their Top Five “Favorite Present-Day Architects”, Hills has sculpted Maryland National from the gentle rolling foothills of the Catoctin Mountains utilizing dramatic elevation changes and a combination of woodlands and wetlands. Arthur Hills has recently recognized the uniqueness of Maryland National, “It provides exceptional beauty hole after hole with very memorable and challenging par threes. As soon a player sees the course, that person recognizes that it is a very special place!”
Given the dramatic beauty of the existing land, Arthur Hills was the perfect choice to design the course. Hills talks about his philosophy, “We try to build a course that is natural, that relates very carefully to the land and doesn’t require a tremendous amount of earth moving, always keeping in mind the strategy of the game and the elements that provide beauty in a golf course-textures and colors, shadowing and framing. I think my design philosophy comes from a very traditional or historic approach to the game. I have always admired the more traditional courses like Pinehurst #2, Shinnecock Hills, Cypress Point, Prairie Dunes, Seminole, Merion and Inverness. Some of the elements which we try to incorporate into our courses are multiple tee areas, so that golfers of any caliber can comfortably play the course; variety, in terms of shot values and angles; interesting grasses and plants; gently-plateaued greens; water, when available and appropriate; and views and vistas. All of these subtleties help us build a fair and balanced course which is both aesthetically pleasing and strategically sound.” Maryland National Golf Club captures Hills’ elements of style like no other.
A past president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects, Arthur Hills has led the design efforts for many golf course communities, private clubs, resorts, and public golf developments. Some recent award-winning courses include Longaberger Golf Club in Hanover, OH, which was honored by Golf Digest as America’s Best Upscale Public course for 2000. Lighthouse Sound in Ocean City, MD and Shepherd’s Hollow in Clarkston, MI were also honored by Golf Magazine in 2001 as two of the “Top 10 Best New Courses of the Year”.
In the Baltimore-Washington D.C. area, Hills has completed renovations at Bethesda Country Club, Chevy Chase Club, Woodmont Country Club, Burning Tree and Congressional Country Club, as well as designing Waverly Woods Golf Club, Blue Mash Golf Club and the new course at Trump National Golf Club in Northern Virginia.
Arthur Hills has designed and renovated more than 260 courses around the world, winning innumerable design awards and establishing an unsurpassed reputation for environmental sensitivity. Hills states that, “each course is designed to challenge the best players, yet be enjoyable and playable for everyone.” At Maryland National Golf Club, he has achieved this balance through the development of five sets of tees, ranging from the championship tees, with the course measuring 6811 yards, to the forward tees measuring 4771 yards. This is one Arthur Hill’s masterpiece you’ll want to experience time and time again!
