Date played: 5/15/2020

Golf has a way of presenting you with moments which remind you that you never really have it all figured out. My round at High Point Golf Club would be that moment. While there is no way any of us can see such reminders coming, mine would happen at a time when the world was turned upside-down by something it couldn’t see either.

It was May 2020. The invisible terror that was the COVID-19 pandemic had spent the better part of six months tearing through the world. In New Jersey, the spread seemed to have peaked in early April. After the positive case average remained steady for the month, the numbers were finally dropping in May. Restrictions started to ease, and golf courses in the state began to re-open.

High Point Golf Club was a late addition to my list of courses. Though I started compiling the list in late 2015, I didn’t know High Point existed until sometime in 2019. Though it was surely online somewhere, I forget at this point where exactly I heard about it. Nevertheless, after a bit of research, I confirmed that it was in fact public and made sure to keep track of it. As we came out of the lockdown, it was one of the first courses to make tee times available, and I decided to book a round with my good friend Ed.

Protocols had changed. Out of caution, everything a golf course needed to facilitate public rounds of golf was still being managed outdoors. Golfers checked in with the starter to confirm their tee time and then needed to return to their cars until they were called. After a short wait, we got word that we could head to the first tee.

The course is situated around a grouping of small lakes, and water features immediately on the opening tee shot. It’s a par 5 where you must land in a fairway area that runs out at about 260 yards. The largest of the lakes runs up the left side, and your approach must cross it to reach the second landing area or the green.

The routing continues from there to wind around and cross over the lakes, and water will realistically be a hazard on holes 4 through 8 on the front, and 10, 14, and 16 through 18 on the back.

The 16th is great drivable par 4. The view from the tee is deceptive, making it seem as though you must go for the green or bust. While the landing area looks perpendicular to the route from tee to green, it actually runs diagonally to provide some room, albeit narrow.

The course finishes on two unusual notes and has a couple noteworthy distinctions. The 18th is a par 3 and the course plays to a total par of 73. Both are qualities I don’t remember having seen in other NJ publics to this point in my journey. High Point is also the northernmost public golf course in NJ. Tucked away in the northwest corner of the state in Sussex County, it’s just a couple miles east of the Delaware River and about five miles from the northern border to New York. It is also situated at the highest elevation of any golf course in the state.

As mentioned, my round at High Point would remind me that despite what I thought up to that point, I had not figured out golf. I would enter the round as a 10 handicap, and yet I would post a 106. I put five balls out of bounds, three in the water, and five times, I found a way to three-putt. It would be my highest score since 9/14/2014. “Golf is hard” is not just a hashtag. At times on this quest, it is a sobering slap in the mouth.