Orginally published July 11, 1999
When Greystone Golf Course began taking shape a number of years ago, the idea was to create a new top-dollar country club - the most exclusive club in Baltimore County.
But along the way, the investors ran into financial problems and construction eventually ground to a halt. For the next six years, Greystone , hard by the Pennsylvania line in the northern tip of Baltimore County, lay fallow.
It's fallow no longer.
In the mid-'90s, the quasi-governmental Baltimore County Revenue Authority, which operates several public courses, saw potential and bought out the property. Respected designer Joe Lee, who designed Bay Hill in Florida and La Costa in California, was sent in to finish the job.
Now, open a little more than two years, Greystone has blossomed into a reasonably priced, first-class, upscale, daily-fee course midway between Philadelphia and Baltimore. To be sure, it's a drive for many area golfers. But if you live within 90 minutes or so, you may be glad you made the trek.
While it's not as upper crust a facility as, say, Hartefeld National, where you pay dearly for country-club amenities and a Tom Fazio design, the more understated Greystone can be counted among the region's growing list of quality upscale daily-fee courses.
From the tips - the grey tees - Greystone measures a hefty 6,925 yards, and plays even longer. Thanks to the rolling topography of the former farmland, a flat hole is rare.
Nor is Greystone easy. From the back tees, you'll suffer though every bit of the considerable 139 slope. Even from the mid-level white tees, from which the course measures only 6,161 yards, it has a 132 slope. Just for the record, the pro, Joe Rahnis, generally plays Greystone from the white tees, sometimes the black (6,600), but rarely from the grey.
"I think its 5 or 6 shots harder from the greys," Rahnis said during a round last week.
Now you tell me.
From the balcony of the comfortable hilltop clubhouse that lords over the course, at least portions of almost every hole on Greystone are visible. It's enough to make you want to grab a cold beverage and sit down to watch others struggle as you just did.
Like so many modern farmland courses, the feel of Greystone changes several times as it wends its way through wide-open areas and woodlands. At times, as you look out over the open rolling hills, you might think you were playing a links-style course. Other holes, where the fairways are tight and tree-lined, you're sweating bullets trying to keep the ball in play. Perhaps the overall strength of the course is the good mix of holes. Lee has devised a fair sampling of short and long par 4s, doglegs, reachable and unreachable par 5s, and a couple of thoroughly intimidating par 3s.
If Greystone has weaknesses, they are relatively minor visual quirks, not serious design flaws. To add a little spice, several man-made ponds were built. While effective, certainly, as hazards, in places they seem a little forced and unnatural.
All in all, Greystone is a quality track that seems a safe bet to earn four stars in the next edition of Golf Digest's "Places to Play."
One final note: Greystone is off the beaten path. It's not deep into Maryland, but it is rather inconveniently situated between Interstate 95 and Interstate 83. You have to want to play this place, but you may be glad you did.
If you go
Directions: Greystone Golf Course is located at 2115 White Hall Rd., White Hall, Md. 21161.
From I-95, take exit 77B, toward Bel Air, Md. Follow Maryland Route 24 for about 12 miles through Bel Air until it intersects Route 23. Turn left on Route 23. Follow Route 23 for several miles until you come to White Hall Road on the left. Greystone is 2.8 miles down White Hall Road.
From I-83, take Exit 31. Turn right onto Middletown Road and proceed for almost a mile. Turn right on York Road, a short distance later, turn left onto Wiseburg Road. Follow Wiseburg for 1.3 miles. Turn right at the stop sign, then left onto White Hall Road.
Phone: 410-887-1945.
Greens fees: $59 with cart Saturday and Sunday; $51 with cart Friday; $41 with cart Monday through Thursday. $49 after 12:30 on Saturday and Sunday; $34 after 2 p.m. Mondays through Thursday. Senior and junior rates available.
Carts: Walking is permitted any time, although cart fees are included in all rates. (There are long distances between several holes. )
Spikes: Nonmetal only.
Amenities: Well-stocked pro shop; comfortable, modern clubhouse with grill room and excellent view of the course from the balcony; banquet facilities; outings welcome; putting green and grass-tee driving range.
Rating: Potential four-star daily-fee course; difficult, varied layout.