Fort George G. Meade: The First 100 Years

Golfing at Meade
For decades, The Courses, Fort Meade’s 36-hole golf course,
occupied prime real estate in the center of the installation.
The first 18-hole course was designed by architect William
F. Gordon in 1939 and was named The Applewood. In
1954, course architect George Cobb designed an additional
18 holes which were called The Parks, named after General
Floyd L Parks, commander of the Second United States
Army on Fort Meade at the time.
Combined, The Courses were well known as the
centerpiece of the installation, providing countless hours
of recreation not only for golfers, but also for runners who
took advantage of the three-mile-long running trail that
meandered through the woods as it circled the course.
One of the landmarks of the early course was a home
which had been absorbed by the installation when it was
originally founded in the early 1900s. The old farmhouse
became the home of the garrison command sergeant major
and was located on the right side of the ninth hole of the
Parks Course. The sprawling house boasted wooden floors,
a large fireplace and antique fixtures. It reportedly was not
only beautiful inside, but commanded a spectacular view
of the courses from its sweeping front porch. Sometime in
the early 1980s, the last garrison command sergeant major
moved out of the home and, perhaps because of necessary
and expensive repairs, the home remained empty until it was
eventually demolished.
Through the years, the 36-hole golf course was a lucrative
Morale, Welfare and Recreation asset, drawing thousands
of service members, veterans, retirees and their families. It
was also popular with thousands of off-post community
residents who flocked to the courses to play challenging
but affordable golf on a course that stayed fully booked
throughout the week and weekends. An average of 400 to
500 rounds a day were played on the course, on some days
that number would reach 700 rounds, many of the games
played by one of the 1,400 club members. Many of the
golfing clubs left memorials for players who had a particular
love of the game. Markers under trees, on T-boxes and at
putting greens served as fitting memorials to frequent golfing
patrons left by clubs like the Dew Sweepers, Asop Robinson,
the Pineapple Group, The Slasher, the Ladies 18-holes and
the Ladies 9-hole groups.
In addition to regular play, the annual Commander’s Cup
golf tournament as well as many other tournaments drew
maximum participation over the years.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower was the most famous
GLOBAL WAR ON TERROR
person to have played the course, returning to Fort Meade
after having served in the tank school here.
The original 1930s clubhouse was a two-story wooden
affair that was eventually replaced in the 1990s. The new
club house provided a grill, bar and lounge, golf shop and
meeting spaces. The grill became a popular breakfast and
lunch stop and hosted weddings, retirements, promotion
ceremonies and community meetings. The driving range
attracted golfers wishing to hone their skills as well as service
members and civilian employees who just wanted to work
off some steam by whacking a few balls. It was all money
in the bank for DFMWR since every ball hit on the driving
range equated to twenty-two cents of profit per ball.
All of that changed on Sept. 11, 2001. The necessary
security changes enacted after the terrorist attacks made
it more difficult for non-Department of Defense ID card
holders to access the installation. Patronage of the golf
tournaments, golf clubs, daily use of the courses, driving
range and the club house plummeted.
Then came the 2005 BRAC and the announcement
that three major agencies – The Defense Information
Systems Agency, The Defense Media Activity and the
Joint Adjudications Activity along with thousands of their
employees were moving to Fort Meade.
Nine holes of the course plus the driving range were closed
and excavated to accommodate construction of the million
square foot DISA headquarters and the DMA facility.
The golf course continued to operate despite the loss of a
large segment of its land but chopping up the courses had an
unrecoverable impact on patronage and the courses began
to operate in the red. Shortly thereafter, plans to expand the
NSA East Campus absorbed the rest of the land.
Through many years leading up to the final closure of the
course and through the new construction that occupied the
acreage, creative efforts, both public and private, aimed at
replacing the much loved golf course were considered, but
mission priorities and fiscal realities eventually forced the
installation to abandon the effort.
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(Left) The 36 hole golf course and the surrounding jogging
trail was a center piece to the installation.
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