Oakland Golf Club

Few golf courses in Maryland sit at an elevation quite like this one. Oakland occupies the Allegheny Highlands of Garrett County, where the terrain rolls hard, the air runs cool even in midsummer, and the landscape feels closer to West Virginia than to the Chesapeake flatlands most people associate with the state. At roughly 2,600 feet above sea level, this is genuinely mountain golf — the kind where the ball flies a little farther in the thin air and the views between shots remind you there are worse ways to spend an afternoon.

Garrett County has long drawn visitors seeking a respite from the heat of the mid-Atlantic lowlands, with Deep Creek Lake at its center and a tradition of quiet outdoor recreation that dates back generations. A local golf club in Oakland fits that character naturally — unhurried, unpretentious, rooted in the community rather than aimed at destination travelers.

A par-71 layout signals at least one par-5 trimmed from the traditional count or an extra short par-3, which on mountain ground often means the terrain itself is doing the design work.