What's in a name? "Names" are usually given to distinguish one from another. When it's applied to golf course or club most try to be true to the origin of the land or namesake of where the course resides. This can be a person who owned the land before the course was there or the city or county the course serves.

But sometimes the name is more than just a "distinguishing attribute". A name if well thoughtout, can exude its own essence capturing an innate feeling present when you fully experience everything a course or club has to offer. Recently we made our first trip to Hidden Creek Country Club in Reston Virginia and I personally can't remember any course I've previously played with a more appropriate name.

Have you ever played a new course and it seems like it's just another course blending with the many others that you played over the years. You know the course name may be new and different but the holes, layout and feel just seems to blend with all those courses you've played in the past. A "unique creation" is a difficult task for any course designer.

Well if you appreciate the "different" and embrace the "unique" then the links styled layout of Bristow Manor Golf Club is just what the doctor ordered.

Call me old fashioned but some of my most memorable rounds of golf are at classic courses. Sure, I can appreciate the new 8,000-yard courses where driver wedge is the standard approach of play, but if you're a true fan of design then there's nothing better that having to truly "think" your way around a course.

I like a course that makes you think your way around dog legs. I like playing holes that make you consider hitting something besides a driver at each Par- 4 and Par-5 tee and I definitely like a course that rewards accuracy over anything else. I know many golfers who can hit the ball 300-yards but only a couple who can do it with accuracy.

There are many generic superlatives to describe a great golf course; exceptional, challenging, beautiful, scenic and on and on. But the highest accolade any course can receive is its ability to stick in your mind after the round.

Its how certain holes and the way you played the course replay in your head over and over again. The course literally offers such a unique experience that you can't wait to make your next tee time. Well in my mind no course does this better than Arthur Hills designed Maryland National Golf Club in Middleton Maryland.

Change and hope are the two cornerstones of all Presidential campaigns. The 2008 race is just heating up and even though the faces have changed the promises sound the same. As Americans we want to believe the promises and want a President that truly delivers!

Well, I can't promise our next President will deliver but I can assure you Lake Presidential Golf Club in Upper Marlboro Maryland meets all preconceived expectations and sets a new standard for high-end daily fee courses in the Mid-Atlantic region.