Golf Courses: A look at the Most Exclusive in America

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AUGUSTA, GA – APRIL 03: A general view on the 11th hole during a practice round prior to the start of the 2018 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on April 3, 2018 in Augusta, Georgia. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) /

Anne Arundel Manor, Harwood, Maryland

After apparently being turned down by Augusta National (cause who doesn’t love pictures of Augusta), Pine Valley and the likes, former CEO of Sallie Mae, Albert Lord decided he’d had enough of waiting on membership committees, so he did what any wealthy CEO would do and built his own course.

Completed in 2010 by Arthur Hills, the course is 45 minutes due east of downtown Washington D.C. Rumored to have cost more than $15 million to build the layout a stout 7100 yards from the championship tees.

The course has some excellent architectural attributes including a triple shared fairway (2nd-5th-6th), a classic Biarritz style 7th, the 16th that has four separate fairways, and the dogleg right 17th (with their own version of hell’s half acre) that looks like it was picked up and moved from Pine Valley.

Separate from the golf course, Lord built a 385 foot well, a 2.8 acre pond, a clubhouse, practice green and several cottages for guests to stay the night. In addition, Lord renovated the original red brick house that was built in 1831

Lord unsurprisingly is a bit impatient with the status quo.

“I hate rules,” he said. “There won’t be any rules. … Well, there will have to be some rules. You can’t take your car onto the fairway.”

Lord brought in the former superintendent from Inverness, Thomas F. Walker to oversee the golf course.

Very few pictures of the course exist as phones are explicitly forbidden, however the website of Hills Forrest Smith (who designed the golf course) have several photos on their site.

If you’re more interested in an aerial view of the course, you can check that out here as well.

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