Date played: 9/8/2019

My first trip to play a public golf course in Atlantic County required begrudgingly breaking my precious sleep schedule. An early morning tee time at Harbor Pines meant that I’d have to be on the road at 5:00 am.  I don’t mind waking up early – especially to play golf – but waking up before 5:00 is pushing the limit. Nevertheless, the journey called and I was on my way.

The course winds through a dense forest, with almost every hole lined on both sides by trees. With the possible exception of the 1st and the 18th, wayward tee shots won’t have a chance of finding the fairway of a neighboring hole. When a course is mostly a winding tunnel of hole after hole, I find it difficult to appreciate unless there is great variety, and a majority of the holes at Harbor Pines are straightaway.

That’s not to say that there aren’t areas of the course that are noteworthy. The 4th is a long par 4 with a 90-degree elbow. The greens across the course are in great shape, and many have clever undulations that make for great hole locations, with the complex on the 9th being a great example.

You start the back nine with a tough par 5 that requires a tee shot that needs to avoid water on the left. Water is a factor on multiple holes, but perhaps nowhere else more so than the 12th. It’s a daunting short par 4 where a tee shot needs to carry and navigate water for at least half the carry distance, only to find that water must be avoided to the right of the green on the approach.

At over $80 in prime season for a round with a cart, Harbor Pines measures itself among the nicer public courses in the state. Through that lens, it comes off as somewhat average. Having said that, it’s certainly worth a play and would be a good option in a line-up for a multiple-day trip of golf in Atlantic County.