Ask most golfers to name a Mid-Atlantic beach town with serious golf, and Ocean City, Maryland probably isn’t the first answer. It should be. Traveling Golfer TV just spent several days there filming three rounds across three very different courses, and the footage makes a strong case that OCMD has quietly built one of the more underrated golf lineups on the East Coast.
The Course That Sets the Bar: Newport Bay
Ocean City Golf Club’s Newport Bay layout is the one that gets mentioned first for a reason. Head pro Buddy Sass built his pitch around a simple idea: this course was designed for golf first, scenery second — and the scenery still steals the show. Marsh stretches for what feels like miles, and wildlife sightings (eagles, deer, the occasional golden eagle) are practically part of the yardage book.
The back nine is where it gets serious. Number 18 plays 360-370 yards with a fairway bunker and water guarding the right side, and Sass’s advice — play it left of where instinct says to — is the kind of local knowledge that separates a good scorecard from a rough one. Host Jon Daly took that advice and walked away with a matching par against the head pro himself.
The takeaway for golfers: generous enough for a group trip, sharp enough that low-handicap players won’t get bored.
The One With the Views That Mess With Your Focus
The Links at Lighthouse Sound has a reputation problem, and it’s a good one: the views are so good that golfers stop paying attention to their yardage. Director of Retail John Rudo — a former head pro at the course — walked through what makes the layout distinctive: ten holes running along the Assawoman Bay, firm sea-level conditions that play shorter than inland courses, and a signature par-3 fifth that tests both club selection and nerve when the coastal wind picks up.
That wind matters more here than almost anywhere else on this trip. Rudo pegged regular gusts at 30-35 mph, which changes tee selection entirely — the black tees are a mistake on a windy day regardless of handicap. At 7,000 yards from the tips with five sets of tees, there’s a legitimate configuration for every skill level, which is part of why this course has become a group-trip staple rather than a one-and-done stop.
The Municipal Course Playing Above Its Class
Eagles Landing is the story here. It’s a municipal course — but calling it that undersells it. Tom Palazzo, Ocean City’s Director of Tourism, was the one who pushed for the course back in 1991 while running the town’s recreation department, and three decades later it’s routinely mentioned in the same breath as OCMD’s private and resort layouts.
Salt marsh, ponds, and that same relentless coastal wind define the round. The par-5 7th plays a deceptively short 470 yards from the whites, guarded by a cluster of trees that forces a real decision off the tee. Palazzo’s broader point matters too: Eagles Landing is priced like a municipal course but conditioned like a resort — tee time availability and green quality that punch well above the price point.
Why This Matters for Trip Planning
Three courses, three completely different personalities — a design-forward layout at Newport Bay, a wind-and-views test at Lighthouse Sound, and a value play at Eagles Landing that doesn’t feel like one. That range is the actual selling point for OCMD as a golf trip: a buddies group or a mixed-skill foursome can build a full weekend without repeating the same round twice.
Add in that Ocean City sits within a four-hour drive of most major East Coast population centers, and the “it’s not just a beach town” pitch starts to look less like tourism-board copy and more like a legitimate scouting report.
Traveling Golfer is celebrating its 15th anniversary with an all new series Traveling Golfer 15 for 15. Se all Traveling Golfer content on WingDing® and TravelingGolfer.tv
#OCMD
