Hobbit S Glen

From: Alex HekimianColumbiaThe Alliance for a Better Columbia has had a chance to review theCA staff reports on the proposed Allview golf course, and our board of directors offers the following comments.We agree that the Hobbit's Glen course is overcrowded and recognize that lien-payers are unable to play golf there as much as they would like. Golfers have donea very good job of presenting their views. And we acknowledge that there is a lot of sentiment on the Columbia Council for building a newcourse at Allview.

Bob Hedgebeth recently approached a police officer catching speeders with a radar gun and asked if he would follow him home in his patrol car and measure the speed of an airborne golf ball. While the officer politely explained that his apparatus wasn't designed to detect the movement of an object that small, he had a question of his own: How does the Columbia retiree drive balls in his backyard? The answer is simple: Hedgebeth, 73, practices on "The Range," his nickname for golf features he has built under the 100-foot loblolly pines on his 1-acre lot off Route 108 in Beaverbrook.

As the Columbia Association's board of directors prepares to evaluate the future of the troubled Hobbit's Glen Golf Club, some board members and golf club committee members are saying they would consider hiring a management firm to run the course. Columbia Councilman Joshua Feldmark of Wilde Lake said he will bring up the idea of outside course management at the board's fiscal 2004 budget retreat Oct. 12 and 13, when Columbia Association staff will present to the board options for repairing the 18-hole course's damaged greens.

As a resident of Columbia for 42 years and of Hobbit's Glen for 19 years, I would like to thank Jervis Dorton for his letter regarding planned changes to the Hobbit's Glen clubhouse . He speaks for me and many of my neighbors in Hobbit's Glen who frequent the Coho Grill and who believe that the clubhouse, as originally conceived, is a perfect fit with the surrounding residential community. The low-slung and rambling design of the building integrates it nicely with the ambient landscape, while the internal architecture creates the warm and friendly atmosphere that Jim Rouse believed should be inherent in the design of our public buildings.

Bob Hedgebeth recently approached a police officer catching speeders with a radar gun and asked if he would follow him home in his patrol car and measure the speed of an airborne golf ball. While the officer politely explained that his apparatus wasn't designed to detect the movement of an object that small, he had a question of his own: How does the Columbia retiree drive balls in his backyard? The answer is simple: Hedgebeth, 73, practices on "The Range," his nickname for golf features he has built under the 100-foot loblolly pines on his 1-acre lot off Route 108 in Beaverbrook.

A Senior PGA Tour event in the Baltimore area became a reality yesterday with the announcement that State Farm Insurance Co. would be the title sponsor for a full-field event.The first State Farm Senior Classic will be held July 3 through 5 at Hobbit's Glen Golf Club in Columbia. The 54-hole tournament, to be televised by ESPN, will carry a purse of $1.25 million.The FORE Baltimore Foundation, founded two years ago to raise money for local charities through golf tournaments, is a co-sponsor with the Senior PGA Tour and will have the Maryland Special Olympics as the primary charity.

Years ago, as an assistant pro at Hobbit's Glen Golf Club, Joan Lovelace kept quiet when female golfers were restricted to off-hours on the weekends. She liked her job and wanted to keep it.Now, the 35-year-old is the head golf pro at the Fairway Hills course in Columbia -- one of three women known to be head pros in the state -- and part of her appeal is the way she relates to female golfers.Lovelace espouses a bare-bones teaching philosophy: "I try to pick one thing at a time that's going to help a student's game," she said.

The sudden resignation of Columbia Councilman Joseph Merke may have put to rest the council's feud over whether he should be barred from voting on a proposed golf course because his home would abut the greens.But last week's resignation didn't settle the central issue the council is faced with: Should it approve $5.5 million this year to build the proposed regulation size, 18-hole course?Though the council is split on the issue, most agree on one point: A final decision must be made this year.

Roy T. Lyons, who spent his entire professional career working out logistics, thought he could reason with an angry group of Wilde Lake village residents.But opponents of a proposed new $5.2 million golf course that would be built through their neighborhood didn't respond with the "neighborly civility" Mr. Lyons has come to expect after his 25 years as a Columbia resident."Golfers are your friends and neighbors, not your enemies. Why do we have to throw rocks at each other," asked Mr. Lyons.

State Farm ClassicTour: Senior PGAWhere: Hobbit's Glen, ColumbiaWhen: July 3-5Purse: $1.25 million (First, $187,000)Defender: New eventYardage: 6,975 yards, par 72Tickets: Season (includes practice rounds) $80; daily tournament daily practice rounds (Monday-Tuesday) $10; (Wednesday-Thursday) $15. Information available from 410-964-0900Pub Date: 5/28/98

There are currently two major projects being proposed by the Columbia Association. One is to remodel or rebuild the Hobbit's Glen clubhouse for $5 million to $6 million to a level of use beyond its current capacity. It would have programs of use closer to Cattail Creek Country Club and possibly Turf Valley level. The other project is the proposed improvements to the Symphony Woods park that would include new pedestrian ways into the central areas of the current wooded open space but no budget to build now a beautiful fountain that would benefit more Columbians than the Hobbit's facility.

Last week I attended Columbia Association's public meeting to hear presentations by the four finalists being considered as architects for the renovation or replacement of the Hobbit's Glen clubhouse. I found the presentations very disappointing. They focused on how good each firm is at responding to their clients' needs, on being team players, working within budgets and meeting schedules. All were cautious not to say anything that might jeopardize their chances of getting this job. Consequently, they were noncommittal and vague when asked about the style of architecture that they considered appropriate for a renovated or new clubhouse.

Bill Neus' seminal day of relief came recently after an inch of overnight rain. "We were out there mowing the greens," said Neus, director of maintenance at Hobbit's Glen Golf Club, which has just reopened after extensive repairs. "We couldn't have done that before. The old greens were built with native materials, and many were shaped like bowls. They held water." The old greens sprouted bumpy poa annua every spring and were laden with drainage and other problems that at times made them virtually unplayable.

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.

With Hobbit's Glen Golf Course on the shelf until late next spring for extensive refurbishment, its owner is changing how the showcase course and its companion in Columbia, Fairway Hills, are administered. In the process, Gene Ward, who has been a fixture in county golf for 37 years, will be retiring as PGA pro at Hobbit's Glen. Full annual members to the two courses operated by the Columbia Park and Recreation Association were notified last week that a search is on for one person to become general manager responsible for operations at both courses.

Columbia's nearly 90 miles of meandering pathways -- car-free zones that connect its neighborhoods to schools, pools and village shopping centers -- are viewed as an inalienable right in the planned community. But if residents stroll in the neighborhood north of Hobbit's Glen Golf Club -- where pathways exist only on the golf course -- they risk getting hit in the head with a golf ball. Neighborhood resident Delana Stanfield is leading an effort to persuade the Columbia Association to construct pathways for nongolfers in the design of the course, which is to undergo major reconstruction this month.

Gene WardClub: Hobbit's Glen Golf ClubAge: 67Born: New York City (grew up in Waynesboro, Pa.)Years a pro: 33Years at present club: 12Career highlights: This is another example of the consummate golf professional -- one who takes pride in providing service, running a program well and making a round of golf, particularly for visitors, an enjoyable experience. He developed interest in golf while attending Gettysburg College, and after turning professional, served as an assistant at the CC of Fairfax, and Burning Tree Club, prior to going to the old Allview Golf Course as head pro in 1968.

Faced with rising costs and $9 million in losses from programs and facilities over the past five years, Columbia's city council is beginning to consider closing some of the amenities the planned community is best known for. Only about five of the Columbia Association's dozens of programs make a profit, a situation that has been widely accepted for more than 30 years, in large part because the association considers itself a service organization rather than...

Columbia's nearly 90 miles of meandering pathways -- car-free zones that connect its neighborhoods to schools, pools and village shopping centers -- are viewed as an inalienable right in the planned community. But if residents stroll in the neighborhood north of Hobbit's Glen Golf Club -- where pathways exist only on the golf course -- they risk getting hit in the head with a golf ball. Neighborhood resident Delana Stanfield is leading an effort to persuade the Columbia Association to construct pathways for nongolfers in the design of the course, which is to undergo major reconstruction this month.

For the past seven years, Sandy Cantrall has boarded her horse Jeremy at the Columbia Horse Center. And she says there were some days, years ago, when she didn't know what to expect when she went to visit. Sometimes the stalls were not properly cleaned or the horses were not appropriately attended to, she said. But since the Columbia Association leased the facility to a private contractor, Cantrall has become enthusiastic about the center. "I am so happy here," Cantrall said while atop her chestnut horse in one of the center's indoor rings.