Hobbits Glenn Golf Club

Hobbits Glenn Golf Club is a public facility in Columbia, Maryland, designed by Ed Ault and opened in the 1970s as part of the planned community development of Columbia. Ault, a prolific mid-Atlantic architect who designed numerous accessible daily-fee courses throughout the region during this era, created Hobbits Glenn to serve the growing residential population of Howard County. The course occupies rolling terrain characteristic of central Maryland's Piedmont landscape, with mature tree-lined fairways and modest elevation changes that add strategic interest to what is fundamentally a player-friendly layout. The routing makes use of natural corridors through wooded areas, with several holes playing along or across streams and wetlands that are common to this part of Maryland. Water features come into play on multiple holes, requiring thoughtful club selection and course management. The design reflects Ault's typical approach from this period: straightforward holes that reward accuracy over distance, with greens that are moderately contoured and defended by bunkers placed to catch errant approach shots. Hobbits Glenn serves as a neighborhood course for Columbia residents and the broader Baltimore-Washington corridor, offering a walkable layout that accommodates golfers of varying skill levels. The facility includes practice areas and operates as a traditional public golf course with accessible green fees. The course name reflects the Tolkien-inspired naming conventions that Columbia's developer, James Rouse, employed throughout the planned community during its initial phases of construction in the 1960s and 1970s.