In Praise of Par-3s: Shorter Rounds for Shorter Days

Next stop: Yingling's Golf Center in Hagerstown. On the two-hour drive northwest from Arnold, I swung by Rockville to have coffee with my wife, Jan. There wasn't enough time to explain to her why I was doing this and why I was enjoying it so.

For about $5, I grabbed a Big Twist (a hot ham-and-cheese sandwich with a special sauce), chips and iced tea at Richardson's Restaurant in Hagerstown. Then it was time to seek out Yingling's par-3 course, where the average length of each hole is 95 yards.

Playing the mile-long, 18-hole labyrinth on this particularly sunny September afternoon was a blessing and a curse. The blessing: I was alone. The curse: It was hot as blazes.

I overshot the first tee by 10 yards or so, but fortunately there was a chicken-wire fence to keep my Nike ball from rolling into somebody's back yard. It's a friendly place: Along about the 10th tee, the groundskeeper puttered up in a cart with cool water to drink.

Virtually treeless, the fairways are forgiving. There are some weeds here and there, but chances are you won't lose any balls. Again, I played two balls on certain holes to work on my short game. No one seemed to care. Fact was, there was no one else to care.

The whole affair took about an hour and a half, leaving plenty of time to stop by the Nike outlet store and buy a new golf cap.

* Yingling's Golf Center is at 20222 Jefferson Blvd. in Hagerstown. Nine holes costs $10; 18 will set you back $12. You can get a small bucket of balls for $5. Open year-round if the weather is good. Info: 301-790-2494, http://www.yinglingsgolf.com.

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Another two hours on the road and I rolled into Swanton -- on the banks of Deep Creek Lake in the wilds of Western Maryland -- around sundown. I was greeted at the North Glade Inn Bed & Breakfast by its amiable proprietor, Fred Fulk.

The inn looks out over a pond and a sweet little nine-hole par-3 course. It's a private club, but if you're staying at the inn -- or one of the private homes in the Waterfront Greens subdivision -- you have guest privileges. "Play it whenever you like and as many times as you like," Fulk said.

The weekend I was there, Fulk and his energetic wife, Tammy, staged a chili cook-off, and guests at the inn were invited to join the throng. Talk about lucking into potluck.

The food was served at 7; music began at 8. The barn was lit with sparkling white lights and bare bulbs dangling from the ceiling. The shindig -- complete with music by American Pie, an oldies band from Pittsburgh -- drew more than 100 folks, mostly local. On a long table sat eight crockpots of chili, three kinds of wings, some cornbread and desserts. There was also lots of wine and beer.