One of the newest golf courses in the Washington D.C. metro area is also becoming one of the area’s finest public facilities. Lake Presidential, located in Upper Marlboro, Md., opened to the public during the spring of 2008. The course is one of the most recent projects for Landmark Land, a golf and resort community developer well-known for projects to include PGA West and La Quinta, each of which has hosted multiple PGA Tour events. Lake Presidential’s origins trace back to a different development company, however, as the land was originally routed by Greg Norman’s design company during the late 1990’s. According to Nathan Presnal, the current Head Professional and General Manager at Lake Presidential, Norman was involved with the land in a hands-on fashion. “Norman was on the property at least once during the time his company was routing the land,” said Presnal, “but a moratorium on golf course construction in the late 1990’s resulted in Norman’s company losing interest.” Norman’s loss was Landmark’s gain, as shortly after the moratorium was lifted, a real estate developer teamed up with Landmark through their connection on previous work in Houston and the plan for Lake Presidential was born.
Real Estate 101
In the modern age of golf course construction, the focus on features surrounding the golf course are almost as important as the golf course itself. Lake Presidential was designed from the start to be featured in a golf course community called Beechtree. The matter of building a golf course surrounded by homes is no simple matter, trying to achieve the balance of a great residential community without disturbing the golfing public. “In the master plan of a community, you want to try optimize the elevations for real estate, not only to get good real estate views, but to make sure you don’t have houses on the cart paths just to get those views,” said Presnal. There are currently over 400 residences in the Beechtree community, and according to the front page of their website, over 600 of Beechtree’s 1,200 acres will remain open space for the homeowners to enjoy.
During my time on the golf course, I found it noticable that the course is built in a residential community, however, I would not by any means call it obtrusive in any regard. Most of the courses in the Baltimore/Washington metropolitan area feature similar housing developments, and Lake Presidential’s layout is among the best.
High Praise
From its earliest days Lake Presidential has received high praise from the golf media. In Golfweek’s ranking issue published in March, less than one year after Lake Presidential’s opening, the publication ranked the course No. 2 behind only Bulle Rock in its overall ranking. In 2008, the same magazine listed the course as one of the top-25 new courses for 2008. On their website, Golf Magazine wrote that “the only point of debate here is which par 5 is better: the fishhook-shaped, 570-yard 8th, which features a tee shot from out of a chute of trees, or the reachable 515-yard 18th, which tackles the namesake lake from the get-go with an imposing, forced-carry tee shot.” The site also makes note that it named Lake Presidential one of the Best New Courses for 2008.
The Future at Lake Presidential
Although the course has only been opened for less than two years, the staff at Lake Presidential continues to strive for improvement. Perhaps the lone criticism among online course reviews comes down on the course’s extensive use, citing divot-filled fairways and worn tee boxes. Presnal acknowledges that the course can look well-used at times, although that’s not always a bad thing. “The positive is that if you have worn tee boxes, then you know you’re getting lots of players, and that is a great problem to have,” said Presnal. He continued to explain that the greenskeeping staff at Lake Presidential have employed extensive measures to attempt to solidify the turf from tee to green through regular maintenance which is for the most part invisible to the everyday player. “Our groundskeeping philosophy has a lot to do with topdressing and putting lots of sand on the course. First of all, this helps to improve the drainage and keep us in good shape during the inevitable rainy periods. Second, this process creates a stronger root system which will help the turf once the hot weather comes next summer,” explained Presnal. Their process of topdressing begins by punching tiny holes in the tees, fairways, and greens, and then adding a layer of sand as topdressing, a process which when repeated regularly has eliminated the need for a fall round of green aerations, which of course is welcome news for all who have ever putted on a freshly punched green.
Though the greenskeeping staff does not have any large scale plans ahead of them, they are working on a couple of smaller changes to make life easier for the everyday player. “We are in the process of building an additional tee box on the first hole which will play to 340 yards,” said Presnal. “We have heard comments that the opening hole can lead to a difficult start, and this new tee will allow players a better chance to get around the dog leg and open up the hole a bit more,” he added. Presnal also explained that the staff is continuing to conduct select clearing, where instead of removing entire trees, they remove the underbrush from the sides of the fairways, causing fewer lost balls and allowing the player to advance his or her ball back to the fairway as opposed to having to drop.
The course also continues to look toward the future in terms of hosting events, both single-day and those which may span the course of a weekend. In their young history, Lake Presidential has already held several day-long tournaments. “Last year we held a qualifier for the Maryland State Amateur tournament,” explained Presnal, “And we have also hosted The Golf Channel’s Amateur Tour several times as well. Once we get into our third and fourth year, and hopefully more good rankings come out, the course will catch the attention of more people.”
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