Best Golf Courses in New Jersey: Hidden Gems and Major Venues
New Jersey has a legitimate claim to being the most golf-rich state per square mile in America. Pine Valley Golf Club — the course that most surveys rank as the best in the world — is in Clementon, New Jersey. Baltusrol Golf Club, which has hosted the US Open seven times, is in Springfield. Plainfield Country Club, Somerset Hills Country Club, and Ridgewood Country Club are among the finest private clubs in the northeastern United States. For a state of 8.8 million people and 8,700 square miles, the concentration of exceptional golf is remarkable.
Pine Valley Golf Club — Clementon
Pine Valley Golf Club is, by most surveys and by most opinions among people who have played it, the greatest golf course in the world. George Crump designed it in 1918 on a tract of New Jersey pine barrens south of Philadelphia, routing 18 holes through sand, scrub, and forest in a design that has never been imitated because it has never been equaled. The greens are small islands of turf surrounded by sand waste that is both a hazard and the primary visual element of the course. Every hole is a separate puzzle; the sum of 18 puzzles is an experience that golfers who have played it consistently describe as unmatched.
Pine Valley is completely private and legendarily exclusive. It has no caddie program in the conventional sense. It does not host professional tournaments. It does not advertise. Access requires a member invitation, which cannot be sought or purchased. The mystique this inaccessibility generates is part of the experience for golfers who eventually play it.
Baltusrol Golf Club — Springfield
Baltusrol Golf Club has hosted the US Open seven times — more than any course other than Pebble Beach, Oakmont, and a few others in the small group of repeat venues. The Lower Course, designed by A.W. Tillinghast, is the primary championship layout: a demanding parkland course with the historic clubhouse as backdrop and a finishing hole (18th, a par 5 that has hosted multiple major championship climaxes) that provides appropriate drama for major championship conclusion. The course is private, accessible through member connections.
Somerset Hills Country Club — Bernardsville
Somerset Hills Country Club in Bernardsville is one of the finest Tillinghast designs in New Jersey and one of the most underrated private courses in the Northeast. The course plays through the rolling hills of Somerset County with the architectural intelligence that characterizes Tillinghast's best work — interesting routing, demanding greens, and fairway contours that make club selection from the tee more complex than the yardage suggests.
Public Golf in New Jersey
Architect Tom Doak designed Royce Brook Golf Club in Hillsborough, which provides quality public access in central New Jersey. Twisted Dune Golf Club in Egg Harbor Township offers a links-inspired layout near Atlantic City at accessible green fees. The Architects Golf Club in Lopatcong is a tribute course featuring holes inspired by the greatest designers in history and is one of the more creative public options in the state.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Pine Valley Golf Club public?
No. Pine Valley Golf Club is completely private with no public access under any circumstances. Access requires a member invitation, which cannot be purchased or sought through any official mechanism. It is the most inaccessible great course in American golf.
What US Opens has New Jersey hosted?
New Jersey has hosted the US Open multiple times at Baltusrol Golf Club (1903, 1915, 1936, 1954, 1967, 1980, 1993) and Plainfield Country Club (1978). Baltusrol's seven US Opens make it one of the most frequent US Open venues in history.