Field Notes: Algonkian

We were turned away from Algonkian early Saturday morning after a heavy soaking overnight. The greens are too wet. Whatever, and off we ran to Herndon Centennial. But Algonkian is a regular stop on my local circuit, and well worth your visit if you're not impatient with flat courses.

That's the rap against it--too flat, too monotonous. It's more true for the front, and even there you have a couple of doglegs to make life interesting, especially the par-5 6th. From the whites it's 225 yards into the treeline turning left, or 247 from the blues. How do I know that? Algonkian has a super yardage guide that'll navigate you around the course quite nicely even if you're not all gadgeted-up like me. Once you turn the corner, you eventually face a broad sloped green with all kinds of evil pin placements, guarded by two bunkers along most of the front--I know them well--and the dark forest behind it.

But yes, you may wonder whether they're holding some of these holes in reserve for runway construction. The back is more varied, with modest elevation changes, and water hazards crossing the fairways on 11, 13 and 15.  The 406/424-yard (whites/blues) par 4 15th is one example--you need a good straight drive or a very confident second swing to erase fears of a narrow pond running at a sharp angle from 30 to 90 yards before the elevated green.

Algonkian is a bit longer than many courses I play (6720 from the whites), and it shows up on the par 3s-199, 178, 146 and 203 yards. Two of those are a stretch for me for par-freakin'-threes, but as often happens in golf, hitting long without effort turns out to be a good thing. And that first par 3, the 5th, is just as the yardage book describes it--You must reach the putting surface from the tee, carrying the moist, soft area fronting the green, or you will come up short.

The photo looks at the Par 9 green from an angle even I haven't seen during play--from the parking lot. It's not the most descriptive photo but at least suggests the parkland surrounding this course. Considering how built-up the DC suburbs have become, Algonkian will increasingly benefit in comparison to some other tracks where housing developments are marching around the remaining vistas.  Unlike its cousin, Brambleton, all you see from Algonkian is parkland and other holes.

Some years ago, the staff at Algonkian was so rude that a friend and I vowed never to play there again. Events conspired to bring me back, and somebody must have cleaned house because the attitude of everyone from the starters to marshals to the front desk generally ranges from proper to outright friendly. My friend has since passed on, and I said a prayer asking his forgiveness for breaking the pledge. I think he'd approve, and now I remember him every time I walk up that fairway where a ranger once berated us after we told him we'd try to pick up our pace. Don't try! he barked. Do! Sure bud, we'll take that from Yoda, but not from you. And now we don't have to.