executive course

Date played: 11/27/2020

Like almost anywhere, a vast majority of the public courses in New Jersey are regulation length. It’s something I used to lament when my friends and I just started playing the game in the early 2000s. We picked up the game on a pitch-n-putt course and were only brave enough to work in a couple par-3 and executive courses to the rotation of courses we were willing to play. I had always wished for more short courses.

Fast forward 20+ years, I’m more than halfway through my quest to play all the publics in NJ. Not only have I found more of these courses, but there have even been a few times where I’ve played them either on the same day or in subsequent outings.

April, 2016: Par-3 at Hole in One Golf Center, followed by Pinch Brook a few weeks later
December 1, 2017: Played both the par-3 and the executive courses at Bel-Aire Golf Club
December 21, 2017: Learning Center 9 at Galloping Hill, followed by Plainfield West 9, followed by the par-3 at Ash Brook

My 105th public course was another such outing. After playing the beautiful par-31 Minerals course in Sussex County a week earlier, I booked a Black Friday round at Forge Pond with my good friend Matt.

Listed formally as the Ocean County Golf Course at Forge Pond, the course is a par 60, comprising six par-4 holes and 12 par-3s. Not knowing anything but its par and length before playing, I expected very simple design elements, straightforward holes, and flat circles for greens. What I found instead were incredibly well-designed green complexes, great use of the overall yardage, and a few great tee-shot decisions to make on the par-4s.

*The green at 2. There is a touch of a false front and a distinct shoulder in the back where this pin was placed.*

The layout is separated into two sections, with holes 3 through 7 situated on the southeast corner of the property. From the green at 2, the walk to the tees at 3 is about 300 yards, and you’ll take the same path back when making your way from 7 to 8. Apart from that stretch, the course is very walkable.

I was excited at the prospect of playing another executive course. I thought of it as an opportunity to try to go low during the off season. Realizing on the practice green that I forgot my putter at home though, the air was taken out of my hopes. Matt suggested I putt with my 3-hybrid. Given that the pro shop didn’t have a putter to rent or borrow, I didn’t have much choice.

Golf is such a funny game. When you think your chances are gone, sometimes things go your way. Somehow, I chipped in once, made my way around in 31 putts with the hybrid for the other 17 holes, two of which were birdies, and played really well overall.

One of six par-4s at Forge Pond

20171201_115625

Date played: 12/1/2017

Just coming off a miserable three-putt finish on the 9^th of the Par 3 course, I immediately went into the pro shop to pay for a round on the Executive course. Much like the Par 3, the Bel-Aire Executive layout plays very short overall, at only 3,201 yards from the “back” tees. Like most executive courses, the lion’s share of holes is par 3, with six par-4 holes that bring par for the course to 60.

I’ve never started a round as well as I have on the Executive Course. A group had just walked off the first tee, and I was playing solo. They waved to acknowledge that I could play through once I finished the first. I quickly got up to the 1^st tee box, hit a ¾ knockdown shot – to stay out of the wind – to a foot from the hole and tapped in for birdie.

The group let me tee up on the 2^nd ahead of them, and I proceeded to hit the essentially the same shot, this time to four feet. I felt great about the shot, and unlike MANY times where I’ve missed a putt from that distance, I made it (even with the small audience behind me watching).

Two under through two. I felt absolutely invincible.

Of course, as it often goes in golf, my invincibility was fleeting, and apart from another (more straightforward) birdie on 10, I couldn’t produce any other bits of magic. I would play both nines in +4 each, but to give you a sense of how easy the course plays, my +8 for the round against the 55.9/84 rating/slope translates to a 16.3 adjusted differential.

Unlike the Par 3 course, the Executive seems much flatter overall, with the exception of an interesting routing choice that puts the 17^th tee on top of the hill in the middle of the Par 3 course (a bit further back and higher than the 7^th hole on the Par 3). Most holes are right in front of you, but the 9^th is a slight dog-leg right and the 15^th actually has a corner you have to negotiate.

The best hole in my opinion is the driveable par-4 7^th, which has the most water you’ll contend with at Bel-Aire. It’s a clever setup because it’s bunkered in front, and for the average player that isn’t trying to drive the green, there are a couple fairway bunkers both left and right that could swallow timid, misplaced tee shots.

20171201_104839 — There’s water to cover from the tee on the 7th. There’s plenty of room to land, but beginners should also be wary of the fairway bunkers.

As an average golfer, it’s difficult for me not to enjoy a course in retrospect when I’ve played it well. Most of the start of my golfing “career” was playing pitch-n-putt, par-3, and executive courses, so they’ll also always have a special place in my heart. However, I can objectively say that the Executive Course at Bel-Aire is definitely a wonderful place for beginners to ease their way into eventually playing regulation-length golf.

Orson Rosas Golf

Golf from New Jersey and beyond

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Number 105 (Ocean County Golf Course at Forge Pond)

Number 67 (Bel-Aire Golf Course – Executive)