The Victory Pass lets you play P.B. Dye Golf Club and other mid-Atlantic tracks at big savings. (Courtesy P.B. Dye Golf Club)

Mid-Atlantic golfers can play cheap with the Victory Pass

Tim McDonald,
Contributor

Attention mid-Atlantic golfers: The Victory Golf Pass is definitely a win-win proposition.

Developed by Andy Barbin, who operates two Chesapeake Bay-area golf courses, the Victory Pass lets golfers play for drastically reduced rates at 141 tracks, 14 of them private, in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey and Virginia. All are within "comfortable driving distance" of the Philadelphia metro area, according to the pass Web site.

The pass costs $49.95, with discounts for multiple purchases ($40 each for two to nine, $35 for 10 or more). Most participating courses offer two-time use, though some have date and time restrictions, and the passes are transferable. A portion of the proceeds go to charities like the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America.

The 2007 edition adds 59 courses. The pass covers well-known regional tracks like the Pete Dye-designed Bulle Rock in Havre de Grace, Md., where buying a two-round package for $290 (regular value $435) gets you a third round free. The offer includes green fees, cart, locker room and unlimited range time prior to tee-off and is good every day but Monday.

At Scotland Run in Williamstown, N.J., you can play for $50 including cart (good Monday through Thursday). Without the book, the rate is $95.

Private courses covered by the pass include the Links Golf Club in Marlton, N.J., which offers a $75 rate on Mondays; the Rookery, a seaside course in Milton, Del.; and River Marsh Golf Club at the Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay Golf Resort in Cambridge, Md.

The Victory Pass also gets you on the semi-private P.B. Dye Golf Club in Ijamsville, Md., which features the younger Dye's characteristic railroad ties and pot bunkers and an island green on the par-3 11th hole. It's the only course in Maryland to offer Penn G-2 bentgrass greens, the same grass used at Pinehurst No. 2.

February 15, 2007

Veteran golf writer Tim McDonald keeps one eye on the PGA Tour and another watching golf vacation hotspots and letting travelers in on the best place to vacation.