gloucester county golf

Number 130 (Washington Township Municipal)

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Date played: 12/13/2021

After finishing our post-round meal at Valleybrook, Matt and I headed over to Washington Township Municipal.

Fun fact about New Jersey (and probably a few other states): There are multiple municipalities that share the name “Washington”. New Jersey has six (!!!) of them, all of which you can read about in this New Jersey 101.5 article.

The eponymous Washington Township that played host to the 130th course on my journey is the one in Gloucester County.

The gate at Washington Township Muni. Luckily, it was still open, so we didn’t have to hop it.

“Tipping out” at 1305 yards from the further back of two sets of tees, this little nine-hole course offers great value golf. At the time we played, it was only $18 for golfers to go around twice and play 18 holes. Even as a nine-hole rate, I found that to be well worth it.

The course par is 28, consisting of mostly par-3s with the exception of the par-4 9th hole. The par-3 holes average roughly 130 yards each. The 3rd is the longest on the card, marked as 170 yards, and the shortest is the 7th, a partial wedge at 74 yards.

Given its value for play, the municipal golf course in Washington Township is a wonderful option to either warm-up before play elsewhere or – as we did – cool down after coming from another course. For gamblers, seeing who can make the most of these short holes could be a fun way to settle bets. Other courses in close proximity include Scotland Run (6 minutes away), Wedgwood CC (9 minutes), Valleybrook CC (12 minutes), and Pitman (17 minutes).

I know I’ve said it before about these short courses, but having learned to play the game on a pitch-n-putt course, these places will always feel nostalgic and special to me. I genuinely wish there were more of them so others could stumble upon the game the way I did.

Enjoy these looks from around the course!

1st hole.
The green at 2.
The 4th, into the sun.
6th hole.
The par-4 finishing hole.
Number 130 (Washington Township Municipal)

Number 127 (White Oaks Country Club)

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Date Played: 12/3/2021

With the temperature projected to be right around 50 degrees F on an early December Friday, I decided to take the day off to continue the journey in Gloucester County.

White Oaks Country Club, set in the (presumably White Oak) woods of Newfield, NJ, would be the 127th stop on my quest. The wind was up a bit and leaves were all over the place. However, being a weekday morning in the very late fall, it was beautiful to have the course almost entirely to myself. While I failed to play anything remotely resembling my best golf, I had a good time knocking another course off the list.

I typically prefer to play tees that are anywhere between 6,000 and 6,300 yards, and the white tees at White Oaks are perfectly in that range at 6,130. For some reason though, I thought it would be fun to play from the back (blue) tees at 6,532 yards. I have the length to make it manageable, but I was reminded that golf is more than distance off the tee. There is, of course, accuracy, and then everything else that follows in the game (approach play, skill around the green, and putting).

White Oaks has a nice mix of the challenge of some narrow holes, but it does offer width off the tee on others. Built in 2000, it is among the newest golf courses in the state that are available for play to the public. The green complexes offer somewhat lenient protection by bunkers, but the surfaces have great contour to them. The layout is almost entirely flat, so it is extremely walkable. The most memorable hole on the property is without a doubt the 17th, a 240-yard par 3 from the back tees!

Playing golf courses in the off-season – as my journey has often demanded – always makes me wonder what conditions are like in prime season, but I’m confident that White Oaks offers good value for its price. My weekday December round was only $24, which included a cart. Very difficult to beat that for public golf in New Jersey.

Finishing up at White Oaks meant that I completed five of the seven Gloucester County courses (not including Beckett Golf Club, which had closed since I played it). Here’s a look at some of the holes.

View from the tee on 2. Roughly 260 yards to run out of fairway at the dog-leg, there is also a pond to the left of the fairway at the corner. You will need at least 220 yards to get into the corner in order to see the green without being blocked by the trees on the right.
My look at the green on the par-5 3rd hole. Having hit one of my longest drives, I stretched this dog-leg left almost to the limit of the corner. However, I failed to capitalize on this 205-yard approach and would only manage to make par.
The second of two par-3 holes on the front nine, the 8th plays long from the back but to a very large green with little protection.
Looking back from 8 green, you can appreciate the size of the target. While difficult to see in this photo, you can just make out that the green is tiered, with the hole location here on the lower level.
A look at my play on the 11th hole at White Oaks.
If you’re riding and playing the blue tees, you’ll have to park your cart here on 12 and cross the entrance road to get to the tee box.
The view from the blue tees on 12. Already a moderately difficult par-3 at 175 yards, your trajectory – especially if playing a left-to-right ball flight – will be obstructed by the trees on the left.
Looking back at 13. While a straightaway par-4, it does play 401 yards from the back tees, with a bit of water to navigate on the approach on the right side of the fairway. Long is the safer play, with quite a few yards beyond the green to be able to play back on.
17. While it plays downhill, hitting a par-3 green from 240 yards is always a challenge. Add to that the waste area on the left, a bunker right, and it’s an absolute beast.
Number 127 (White Oaks Country Club)

Number 107 (Wedgwood Country Club)

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Date played: 12/3/2020

Having wrapped up at 12:25 at Westwood, I raced over to Wedgwood Country Club to make my 1:00 tee time. I rushed to get my clubs and pushcart out of the trunk, ran into the pro shop to pay for the round, and was able to get onto the course right away. The sun was projected to set at roughly 4:30 that afternoon. While no one else was visible from the first tee, I wanted to make sure I kept good pace, not knowing if I would have enough daylight to finish.

Wide open spaces.

The front nine at Wedgwood plays with a great deal of width. Most tee shots have generous landing areas and there are plenty of places where you can miss wildly and still be in play with a shot at the green. The highlight of the front nine to me is the 3rd hole. Unless you’re playing from the back tees, driver is not necessary on this par 4 and could even be a dangerous choice as water lies 50 yards short of the green all the way up to the front edge.

Is this the tunnel to the 7th at Wedgwood, or the entrance to hell?

The graffiti on the arch of the tunnel on the way to the 7th hole says “Abandon all hope”, but this would’ve been a more appropriate warning at the entrance to the back nine. Where the front plays relatively open, the back nine plays far more tightly with a number of tree-lined holes. There is OB left on 10, 11, 17 and 18, and not much room to miss in that direction.

It’s mostly tight from here on in, but you catch a bit of a break in a bit.

The only semblance of reprieve on the back, apart from the par-3s, are 13 and 14 which do have some width. But even 13 is a beast of its own, a long par 4 with a forced long approach. Playing at 435 yards from the back with water in play from the tee, coming up short to avoid the water altogether will leave an approach shot of about 180 yards. If they could stretch the tee boxes back 75-100 yards, it would be a fun par 5. As it stood, it was another deeply black number on the scorecard.

Being a weekday, there were certainly fewer golfers than normal, even for a winter round. Nevertheless, I only caught up to groups ahead of me a few times, and they quickly kept moving. After being battered by the closing half of Wedgwood, I walked up 18 with enough light to finish. Thirty-six holes of golf completed, and two Gloucester County courses checked off the list.

18, into the setting sun.
A look back at 7. Not sure what Dante was worried about. It was pretty tame.
11 green from 13 tee
The 17th. Anyone else feeling claustrophobic?
Legend has it the statue refused to move, so they just built the practice green around him.
Number 107 (Wedgwood Country Club)

Number 106 (Westwood Golf Club)

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Date played: 12/3/2020

With paid time-off left to burn before the end of the year and a close eye on the weather as we entered December, I spotted a Thursday where it would be around 50° F. I quickly jumped at the opportunity and booked the day. Doing my best to plan for a potential frost delay and limited daylight, I tried to come up with a plan to play two new courses on my list.

With only nine and a half hours of daylight to work with, I knew I needed courses relatively close to one another. I was able to find good candidates in Wedgwood Country Club and Westwood Golf Club, which are only about nine miles apart. With the earlier tee times available at Westwood, that would be my first stop at 7:45 am.

Multiple groups waited at the first tee and there was a buzz about the course in different conversations with the starter. There was talk of plenty of work having been done in recent months, including the removal of trees and the installation of cart paths, something the course apparently had been without in years past.

All quiet into the distance on the first hole, but chatter and buzz were behind the camera.

After about a 40-minute frost delay, I was sent off in a group of three. The first four holes is a fantastic stretch. The round opens with a short par 5 followed by a drivable par 4. The 3rd is a zig-zagging par 5 and although the chicane is subtle, it will likely still demand three shots. The 4th is another drivable par 4, but only if you’re brave enough to take your tee shot over a significant plot of trees that would leave you in jail should you fail to carry them.

The remainder of the course presents its challenges in different ways. The 6th is a beast of a par 4, stretched out to 430 yards with a significantly uphill tee shot. While relatively short overall at roughly 6,200 from the back tees, the 9th, 11th, and 13th are par-3s that all play over 190 yards. The 15th is a short par 4 with a tree in the middle of the landing area that plays a role somewhere between target and nuisance. The greens are a challenge all around the course and the old adage of “stay below the hole” is absolutely true at Westwood.

As we made our way to the 17th tee, I checked the time and saw that it was a few minutes after noon. I had booked a 1:00 tee time at Wedgwood, and I’d have to account for a 20-minute drive and time to get started. Thankfully, pace of play had been great all morning, and we finished the last two holes by 12:25, giving me just enough time to run straight from the 18th green straight to the car and start my 9-mile sprint over to Wedgwood.

Hospitality Note: The gentleman named Matt at the pro shop who checked me in could not have been nicer. He immediately made me feel welcome as a first-timer and made sure I was situated with everything I would need to know. It amazes me that more courses don’t realize how much of a difference this can make in the experience of golfers and Westwood nails it.

Trees behind 9 green, which is in the background right
The approach at the 90° dog-leg-right 15th. The tree in the foreground left must be considered off the tee.
17 green, with 15 green behind it
Number 106 (Westwood Golf Club)