Review: The Preserve at Eisenhower (Part 2)

It's time to take a look at Eisenhower's back nine, go here to see the front.

The tenth hole is fairly long at 425 yards, but it plays something like 30 or 40 feet downhill and the fairway is very wide as it tumbles down, so this is a great opportunity to go for a big drive. Do that, and you'll have a wedge into the green. It's not a large target, best approached from the right side of the fairway, and the green is surrounded by mounding. It's also fairly undulating, with distinct upper and lower sections. It's not a tough hole, but I like it. You can have fun with the drive, and the second shot and green are tricky enough to make the hole not a pushover.

The tenth hole.

Approaching the tenth green.

The tenth green.

The eleventh hole is actually the shortest par 4 at Eisenhower, though it's 390 yards, which isn't exactly driveable. This course doesn't feature a huge amount of variety in the length of its par 4s. There's water running down the entire right side of the hole, but there's plenty of space to bail out left. And the net protecting the hole from the driving range also keeps balls from disappearing. That said, the green is much easier to approach from the right side. It's small, narrow, and pressed hard against the water. Left of the green is an easy bailout, but the green subtly slopes from left to right toward the water, so chipping from the left side is a delicate operation. 

The eleventh hole.

The eleventh green.

The twelfth hole is a 490 yard par 5, but it's not exactly the sort of short par 5 you can reasonably reach in two. For one, using driver is not recommended, since the fairway runs out at about 275 yards, and there's the pond right to consider. Then the second shot plays uphill to a small green at the very top of the hill. It's a small and shallow green as well, with falloffs on every side (most notably right and front left). So if you hit a good 3 wood and a solid long iron, you can reach the green in two, but considering all the hole throws at you, eagle is not a likely result.

The twelfth hole.

Approaching the twelfth green.

The twelfth green.

The thirteenth hole is a reasonably dramatic (as least as dramatic as this course gets) par 3 playing downhill to a large green with water in front and to the right. It's tough when the hole is cut in front like it was for our round, since you want to give the water a wide berth, but playing safe and aiming for the middle or back end of the green leaves you with a gigantic putt. And you can't two putt the 60 or 70 footers every time. 

The thirteenth hole.

The fourteenth hole plays 530 yards to a blind fairway on the other side of a wide valley. The fairway is not wide and surrounded by dense trees, so it's not a hole to swing wildly away at. You need a long, accurate drive to have a hope of reaching the green in two. For most people, this is a three-shot hole, with the second threaded between a series of mounds on both sides of the fairway to set up a wedge third. The green is narrow and sloped significantly from back to front, and there's a deep grass bunker along the left side, with smaller mounding right. Not an easy par 5.

The fourteenth hole.

Approaching the fourteenth green.

The fourteenth green.

The fifteenth hole is the shortest hole at Eisenhower, playing 160 yards over a bit of marsh. There's more marsh and dense forest right and long, and there's big mounding left, but the green is flatter than some of the others. Hit the green and you have a good chance for birdie.

The fifteenth hole.

The sixteenth hole is the longest and toughest hole at Eisenhower, playing nearly 550 yards as it bends through wetland and dense forests. If you want to use driver, you'll need a big fade precisely faded around the corner of the dogleg; if you don't have that shot, you'll want to use a 3 wood. Of course, that makes this a distinctly three-shot hole, but it would be anyway for the vast majority of us who aren't professional golfers. The second shot is squeezed between wetland left and overhanging trees right, and then the third is slightly uphill to a small two-tiered green. I wish the hole was a bit wider, but environmental concerns are a thing, so I'm sure this hole is as wide as is allowed.

The sixteenth hole.

Approaching the sixteenth green.

The sixteenth green.

The seventeenth hole is a mid-length par 3 that is pleasantly free of any hazards. But that doesn't make it easy, since this hole relies heavily on contours and undulations. The green is long, narrow, and is never flat, so putts have plenty of break. There's a series of hollows right and long as well. Much like the thirteenth, three putting is a definite possibility. Still, it's a nice change of pace after the past few holes, which were pretty claustrophobic.

The seventeenth hole.

The seventeenth green.

The eighteenth hole is a 425 yard par 4 that plays from a high tee down to a fairway that steadily slopes uphill. So you won't be getting much roll. Aiming down the right side to reduce the dogleg is risky, as there are overhanging trees to catch out approach shots. You can easily be blocked out from the green, even in the right edge of the fairway. The green is semiblind, tucked behind a ridge, and filled with subtle undulation. It's a fairly understated finishing hole, not easy, but not difficult. 

The eighteenth hole.

The eighteenth green.

I don't doubt that Eisenhower is a more interesting golf course now than it was before the renovation. There's some good stuff here, and in general I like what I saw. Some of the holes on the back nine, the ones in the forest, are a bit too tight for my liking, but I'm guessing clear cutting several hundred trees was out of the budget for a municipal golf course. So I'll give that a pass. Also, if you're judicious about timing and willing to walk, you can play for less than $50, which really isn't too bad for a new public golf course in the heart of the Baltimore-Washington urban conglomeration. It's almost a bargain, compared with most of its neighbors.

On the other hand, while it's a good golf course, it never really elevates itself beyond that. I was expecting a bit more from the guy who renovated so many great Golden Age golf courses to such positive reviews. I was hoping for more fairway undulation and while the greens weren't uninteresting, they weren't exactly inspired either. There was some mounding and hollows to replace bunkers, but a few more wouldn't have gone amiss either. For doing something as radical as removing every single bunker, Eisenhower went for a surprisingly conservative approach. And that's a bit disappointing to me, after going through so much effort, why not make the course as good as it could be? It had good land movement, why not apply some interesting microcontours? This could have been a bold statement, a truly new direction for golf to take, but instead, I feel like Eisenhower is going to be more of a novelty. An interesting experiment, but not much more.