Known as Princeton Meadows until 1999, The Meadows at Middlesex is a tight, tree-lined 18-hole layout in Plainsboro (Middlesex County). I made my way over to the course after finishing nine holes at Clearbrook, one of the few times I’ve played more than 18 holes in a day. Just under 6,300 yards from the back tees, I played from the Whites, which were carded at 6,027. With a bit of wind blowing about, and not being able to get much right with my game, I suffered a boringly average round.

I raced my way to the first tee, where an elderly couple was kind enough to let me play ahead of them as opposed to joining. The first is a dog-leg right par 5, and just as I had done at Clearbrook, I blocked myself off to the right, just short of the corner. Forced to just kick out to the fairway, I knocked it to 170 yards, but still took another three strokes to get on. Two putts later, I had a two-over start.

For holes 2, 3, and 4, I carded bogey, triple, triple, putting to bed any ideas of a good round. However, while +9 through four holes, I made the turn at +13. Coming in, I was able to finish the back nine in +6, for a round of +19 on the par 70. Highlights on the back included sticking it to four feet from 148 yards, and one-putting a five-hole stretch from 12 through 16, over which I also scored +3.

Overall, I enjoyed the course. Sometimes it’s tough for me to be objective because it’s difficult for me not to enjoy a day golfing. Having said that, as my journey widens the gamut of types of public courses I’ve seen, from neglected municipals to those that are top-rated, I would have to place this at just below average. As much as I’d come back and play the course again and again, I’d have to admit there were a few greens that are burnt out. The par-3 17^th seemed in particularly bad shape.

However, apart from a few bad greens, it was a challenging course on the shorter side that will truly exercise your course management skills. If you haven’t checked it out, you should. Who knows… maybe with a bit more love from golfers, they’ll be able to address the issue with the greens.