Pine Shore Golf Course, CLOSED 2010

Pine Shore Golf Course is a Public, 27-hole golf course facility in Berlin, Maryland. Pine Shore has three 9-Hole courses, The Willow, The Dogwood and The Pines. These 9-hole courses can be paired to form 3 different 18 hole courses, Willow/Dogwood, Willow/Pines, and Dogwood/Pines.

The Dogwood-9 and the Pines-9 first opened for play in 1979. The Willow-9 opened for play in 1981. The courses were designed by Al Janis.

The once popular facility closed in 2010. There had been some interest in developing hosing on the property.

So, what happended, why did the curse close?

Ryan Ballengee, of GNN Radio probably got the reason right when he said in 2013, "Competion killed Pine Shore Golf Course.

The competition had come right to Pine Shore’s doorstep. River Run Golf Club is located next door to Pine Shore. It’s a Gary Player-designed track, built in 1991 to dovetail with a surrounding housing development. Today, a tee time in peak slots runs $70, but at twilight, the course can be played for as little as $40.

Just a few miles from both courses is the 18 holes of the Ocean Pines Golf & Country Club. The Robert Trent Jones Sr. design — the only one on the Delmarva peninsula — has endured its own problems in recent years, but is now under the eye of Billy Casper Golf management and has undergone a massive renovation in the last 18 months. It accepts members but is also open to the public, running about $5 more per round than River Run at every hour of the day.

That’s three golf facilities within a couple of miles of one another. Nevermind places like the 36 holes at the Jim Furyk-influenced Glen Riddle, the lauded Lighthouse Sound, the Beach Club, Rum Pointe and the Bay Club. And that’s just in Maryland. There’s even more golf just over the border in Delaware. Almost all of these courses boast some vistas of the Assawoman Bay leading into Ocean City or, at a minimum, some canals that feed into her.

The green fees at none of these courses will break the bank. Even Lighthouse Sound can be played for a modest price at the right time of day. I played it years ago for $30.

Why, then, would anyone spend the money on a landlocked, value-priced course?"

Apparently the answer is they wouldn't, at least not in enough numbers to make it profitable.