Driving Ranges

During my daily blog reading, stumbled upon a good piece by John over at Golf Dash. His article presents a very valid point -- that there are few good public practice facilities in many of America's cities. It seems as though the only courses in the country featuring prominent practice facilities are private clubs. I don't get to practice nearly as much as I'd like...primarily due to time and financial constraints, but the lack of a quality practice facility within 30 minutes of my house is also a significant inconvenience. I haven't researched the issue very thoroughly, but to my knowledge, the nearest public driving range with a grass hitting surface is Waverly Woods Golf Club, a 30-minute drive from my home.

Earlier this summer Golf Digest published their ranking of the top 75 practice facilities, which was a pleasant read, except many (if not most) of these facilities are at private clubs. I wish they would expand their rankings to include a listing of purely public clubs, akin to their "Top 100 You Can Play" rankings. It is almost a tease to see a course in my town listed in the top-ten, yet I will probably never be able to hit one practice shot there, as the course is one of the most exclusive in the country, and sure does not allow the general public to use their fine facilities...

CAVES VALLEY G.C. | Owings Mills, Md.
Pick a target: "You could play a closest-to-the-pin contest with every club in your bag, including driver," says a panelist.

All in all, I'd love to hear if anyone in the Baltimore/Washington area knows of an affordable place to practice. I would be very interested in such a fine facility which charges monthly dues to use the facilities, of course assuming that the quality of facility is reflective of the price. I think I'll try and do some research to compile some of the better facilities, after all, I for one need plenty of range sessions to get my handicap where I would like it to be.