New Jersey State Update

Here's a revisit to an Old Post

Americans are by and large fascinated if not obsessed with lists and of course "The Best". I've rated courses for years, contributed to lists and defined groups of my own, finding it hard to say that course A is better than B if they are of similar merit. Top 100 lists for the world and the US more or less come out reasonably correct in the wash if many people contribute to them and biases go mostly by the wayside. Individual lists are to be taken with a grain of salt, they always reflect positive and negative preferences of the compiler.

The lists that are the most suspect are state by state lists as they are compiled for the major US magazines. The biggest fault is that they are far too heavily weighted by where the voters are A) Told to go and B) Choose to go. Choice A because someone has pre-selected the choices and B because of three separate but not so distinct reasons. One is that newer courses get disproportionate visits by first or casual visitors to an area and then those with established histories of being great and/or preferred architects get disproportionate endorsement.

Here’s a state I know pretty well my playlist is probably over 130

Golf Digest panelists (Must find latest iteration and edit)
(1) Pine Valley G.C.
(2) Baltusrol G.C. (Lower)
(3) Baltusrol G.C. (Upper)
(5) Somerset Hills C.C.
(4) Plainfield C.C.
(6) Ridgewood C.C.
(7) Galloway National G.C.
(9) Bayonne G.C.
(8) Liberty National G.C.
(16) Mountain Ridge C.C.
(12) The Ridge at Back Brook
(10) Essex County C.C.
(11) Trump National G.C., Bedminster (Old)
(14) Metedeconk National G.C.
(17) Hollywood G.C.
(13) Hidden Creek G.C.
(18) Trump National G.C. - Bedminster New
(15) Hamilton Farm G.C.
(19) Forsgate C.C. (Banks)
(20) New - Arcola C.C.,

2010 - Genesis of original topic
Pine Valley
Baltusrol Lower
Galloway National
Plainfield
Sommersett Hills
Ridge at Back Brook
Ridgewood (E&W)
Baltusrol Upper
Bayonne
Hidden Creek
Liberty National
Trump (Old)
Metedeconk
Hamilton Farms
Hollywood
Atlantic City
Mountain Ridge
Pine Hill
Neshantic Valley
Shore Gate

This Humble Observer's View:
Pine Valley – inarguable world #1?

Plainfield – most unappreciated great course in America even with the maligned Tunnel Holes. Perhaps Ross's best set of greens, blows away the unending tedium of Mountain Ridge's Greens

(2a?) Sommersett Hills – Tillie’s quirkiest - but for me the second nine has a certain repetitive flow twice and #12 just doesn't thrill me at all so for me takes #3

Essex Coounty CC
Ridgewood (Championship)- below R@BB??? In what universe?
Hollywood – among very best “flat” courses
Galloway National – uneven but solid, worst greenhead flies in USA
Morris County - nice template course done in a very effective manner, a joy
Atlantic City – nice interpretive restoration - #GreenheadCentral
Hidden Creek – You've played them ...

(Now by alpha)
Alpine – deserves more respect
Arcola
Baltusrol Upper – far more interesting than more famous bottom half
Bayonne – engineering feat. So what? Biggest US Flag anywhere?
Forsgate Banks - (Would be better with fairway bunkering)
Trump (Old) –Trump’s best, very good Fazio
Canoe Brook (N) – sorta fits in about here
Manasquan River
Montclair – four (4!) “nines”
Mountain Ridge – has its fans, wild unendingly tedious greens, overall uneven, 2nd nine blech land
Royce Brook West

Better than below +/- equal to above

Baltusrol Lower - famous and maladapted to 2018
Canoe Brook (S)
Deal
Echo Lake
Metedeconk – 27 holes of “Hard”


Better than below:
Fiddler’s Elbow (Forest)
Royce Brook East
Sand Barrens – 27 solid holes at shore
Scotland Run - somewhat modest public, far better than Shore Gate

- Others (ALL original top 25 GD)
Hamilton Farms – incredible mish-mash of design - very posh
Liberty National – nearly universally panned despite very posh
Neshantic Valley – nice neighborhood public Doak 3
Pine Hill (Now Trump NJ) – every Fazio cliché in the book Doak 4 at best
Ridge at Back Brook – very posh, Doak 4, but posh
Trump Bedminster New - Joyless - modern, politically correct tournament design

Booby Prize:
Shore Gate – definition of hideous - not posh, don't get this one at all