The first three courses I have listed as being played on my journey were all completed when I was still based in the town I grew up in: Wallington. As with most small towns, you can be forgiven for never having heard of Wallington. It’s a one-square-mile, heart-shaped borough in southern Bergen County, located 3.5 miles from MetLife Stadium, and about 12 miles from Times Square across the Hudson River. It’s most known for its concentration of people with Polish heritage (about half of the town’s population at the turn of the century) and the urban legend that it may have at one point held a record for having the most bars in a square mile (or something like that).

From Wallington, my first three trips around the state would be to courses in Morris, Middlesex, and Hunterdon Counties.

Now, when I eventually started to chronicle my quest around New Jersey, I was meticulous in documenting when I had visited a new course. However, I officially began my journey after having already played a number of different public courses in the state. Among those, there are a few where I unfortunately did not maintain an exact date of when I visited them for the first time.

Number 3 (Rutgers University Golf Course)

Date played: 6/4/2006

The third course I played was (sort of) one of them. On June 4, 2006, I played Rutgers University Golf Course. Rutgers is my alma mater, and on that day, I convinced three friends – who I had actually met while at Rutgers – to play the course with me. None of us were playing golf regularly, and two in the group didn’t really keep score. At this point, I don’t have any specific recollection of the day, but the meta-data of the memory (if I can call it that) is that 1) I was just glad to have convinced some friends to get out to a golf course with me, and 2) we had a good time.

But I had actually been to the Rutgers course previously – almost a year earlier, in fact, in September of 2005. However, it was only to play the front nine, and by the time I was trying to determine how to catalog all of the courses I played, I felt it was only fair to count an 18-hole course if I played all 18 holes.

It’s interesting to think about how different my life was at the time. Originally having gone to Rutgers in the fall of 1998, I eventually took time off to help my family, which involved moving to North Carolina for a while. I returned to New Jersey in 2004 and decided to finish my degree in 2005. While I can’t remember for certain, I’m guessing I played that original 9-hole round with a student discount. It’s crazy to think that I didn’t take advantage of that benefit when I had been on campus 6-7 years earlier, something I really regret. The truth, though, is that – having only played pitch-n-putt golf – I was just scared to get on a par-70+ course.

I would graduate after the 2005 fall semester, but not before a big (non-golf) life-changing event: I met the woman that would become my wife!

Number 2 (Twin Willows Par 3)

Date played: 5/13/2006

From a scorecard I have dated 5/13/2006 – with the friends who joined me at Rutgers – the Twin Willows Par 3 course is listed as the second course I played on my quest. I only have one other scorecard saved, and while it’s not dated, it may be within a year of either side of that 5/13/2006 round. But I’m certain that I played this course much earlier.

After my high school friends and I started playing pitch-n-putt golf at Hillman’s Golf Land, too timid to play bigger courses, we went searching all over the place for other par 3 venues. Our travels would even take us into New York, to the Executive Golf Course at Rockland Lake State Park and all the way up to Orange County to play a par-57 called Winding Hills. So, without a doubt, I was playing at Twin Willows with that same group of friends likely as early as 2000 or even 1999.

But when chronicling my list, I wanted to avoid guessing a date wherever I could. (Though, spoiler alert, I did end up having to do that.) Therefore, even though Twin Willows would have slotted in at the number one spot if I had dated (and kept) all of my earliest scorecards, it goes into the order officially at Number 2 with the May 2006 round.

I am definitely long overdue a trip back to this par-3 course, especially because the course now has a 10th hole available to play!

Number 1 (High Bridge Hills Golf Club)

Date played: 8/13/2005

Given my lack of accurate documentation for Twin Willows, Hunterdon County’s High Bridge Hills Golf Club slots in as the first public course I played in New Jersey. Back in August of 2005, my friends and I used a website called “EZLinks” (which later became the current TeeOff.com) to book a round at High Bridge Hills. Only, we didn’t just book a tee time: we used a “Name Your Price” feature, much like Priceline.com offered (until 2016).

You would effectively bid on a tee time and the service would let you know if your bid was accepted. You could potentially get significantly discounted rates on your round, and we were fortunate enough to do just that. At a time when rates for a Saturday tee time were likely above $60 to ride – a guess, given that at the time of writing, an off-season January 2024 weekend round is $86 – we only paid $25 per person.

It’s difficult for me to describe the impression that this course instantly made. The context, as I’ve been writing about in this post and the last, is that I had really only played par-3 holes up to that point. This was my first foray into what others would probably describe as “real” golf. I had only played three different par-4 holes before stepping onto the first tee at High Bridge Hills, which happens to be a par-5, something I had never seen.

The most striking thing about the course – relative to other publics around the state – is the land movement. Situated on the southern outskirts of the New Jersey Highlands, I’m pretty confident that no matter how often you play High Bridge Hills, the number of uneven lies you have in a round will outnumber the level ones. While I don’t enjoy being punched in the face by a course, I think this is a challenge I welcome, and its rarity makes me hold HBH in high regard because of it.

There is a tremendous variety of shots you’ll have to play, from forced carries to semi-blind, to completely blind. The elevation changes only rest for brief moments, like holes 6 and 17. The rest of the course is a roller coaster, and I mean that in the best way. Ultimately, when I started this site almost 11 years after playing at High Bridge Hills, I would create a page for courses that I consider “must-play” publics in NJ, and I included HBH in that list.

Most of that decision was based on the nostalgia of how incredible that round felt, but I recently went back in December 2023, and I can say that I still hold it in the company of the best public courses in the state. It was difficult to tell if the December conditions were indicative of what conditions would be in prime season, but it didn’t matter – the layout, the green complexes, the views, all make High Bridge Hills a place that all New Jersey golfers should visit at least once in their playing lives.

Here are some photos from my December 2023 round, as well as some drone shots I quickly took before heading back home.