Fairway Hills

This golf course review is by a longtime Columbia resident and frequent golfer who has played virtually every course in Central Maryland. He also is an assistant business editor at The Sun. If you want to work on accuracy in your game, Fairway Hills Golf Club is the place to go. Environmental areas, wetlands, woods and two streams define much of this 6,158-yard, par-70 course, which cuts through several residential areas in the heart of Columbia....

Joan Lovelace keeps an old black-and-white snapshot of a man and a teen-age girl taped to a wall in the second-story storage area she has been using as an indoor driving range at Fairway Hills Golf Course in Columbia. "Oh, that," Lovelace said, referring to the photo, which is about waist high and faces a right-handed golfer - which Lovelace is - who swings from a worn, synthetic turf mat into the energy-absorbing, small-mesh nets that make slamming golf balls indoors feasible. "That's me and `Mr. Lupe.

VETERAN golfer John Moller chuckled as he recounted the head-to-head match 12 months ago in which he became Fairway Hills Golf Course's club champion for a year - but only after gaining his first lead on the 17th hole. "We were scheduled to start at 8 a.m., and Scott [Stoutenborough] was running late - didn't arrive till about 8:05 or so," said Moller, who lives in Marriottsville. "But I waited for him at the first tee. And you know, at the turn, he was 3-up on me. So much for sportsmanship."

Golf -- Hobbit's Glen and Fairway Hills golf clubs in Columbia are open. Patriot Bermuda grass, which requires fewer chemicals and less water to maintain, has been installed at Hobbit's Glen and is to be installed at Fairway Hills. Savings on maintenance will be used to improve other areas of the courses. Fairway Hills, 5100 Columbia Road, 410-730-1112; Hobbit's Glen, 11130 Willowbottom Drive, 410-715-5980, or www.colum biaassociation.org.

Cedar Manor, Ellicott City, Howard County. 19 lots. Unfinished.Harbourview, Elkton, Cecil County. 110 lots. Unfinished.Deep Creek Lake, Garrett County. 10-unit condo project. Complete.Glen Mill, Perry Hall, Baltimore County. 30 lots. Unfinished.Fairway Hills, Mount Washington. 8 lots. Unfinished.Hillside at Seminary, Baltimore County. 10 homes. Complete.@

Another two of the Columbia Association's money-losing facilities are about to come under review by the city's elected council, as the debate continues over how to address rising costs and stagnant income. Fairway Hills and Hobbit's Glen golf courses have lost a combined $3.9 million over the past five years, prompting an internal staff evaluation of whether they have performed as well as expected. While the losses piled up in Columbia, county officials announced support for building a $8.6 million course in western Howard in what has been called an "undersupplied" market.

Ascend One Corp.'s Lucas testifies on Capitol Hill Clarky Lucas of Ascend One Corp. was a speaker last month at "Voices for AmeriCorps: 100 Hours of National Services Testimony" in Washington, a lobbying effort for legislators on Capitol Hill. Lucas, a corporate communications specialist with the Columbia firm, testified in favor of expanding AmeriCorps from 50,000 to 75,000 members. Ascend One and its family of businesses provide services to help consumers save money and get out of debt.

The Columbia Council turned down a proposal from developers last night to form a partnership to build and operate a golf course, an offer made just days before the council approved $5.2 million for construction of Columbia's own course.The action frees the council to spend money toward construction of the Fairway Hills Golf Course, a second Columbia Association course that will wind through Town Center, Wilde Lake and Dorsey's Search.The council had given the developers 45 days from March 1 to answer legal and financial questions about the proposed project.

A decade in the works, the Columbia Association's second golf course will open Saturday amid cheers from many eager Howard County golfers and jeers from some angry neighbors who view the course as insensitive to homeowners and the environment.Residents of Wilde Lake village have battled for years against the controversial $5.5 million, 18-hole Fairway Hills Golf Course just west of U.S. 29. They are carrying challenges of liquor licenses and shifts in tee locations right up to opening day.But Columbia Association officials say they've done everything possible to accommodate residents and design an environmentally sensitive course.