[Raphael_Larson]

I had the good fortune to join a buddy for his inaugural round as a member at Bayonne three weeks ago.  We played 27 holes (the front nine twice) before the real world beckoned us back to the city.  We had a great time and I came away amazed at the engineering feat it took to build the place.  In a word, the course is simply "fun" with the greens being the highlight of the course.   I will try to write more about specific holes and my thoughts later but, in the meantime, wanted to share the photos I snapped during the round.  

This is my first attempt to post pictures, so I hope it works.

Par 4 first from behind the green.  


Par 4 second tee shot


Second from the fairway towards the green


Par 3 third from tee


Par 5 fourth from tee


Fourth hole approach after laying up.  Green is below the level of the fairway and half obscured in this shot.


Fourth green from the fifth tee.


Short Par 3 fifth


Part of par 4 sixth green and NY skyline


Par 4 seventh tee.


View from the walk from 7 green to 8 tee.  The group is walking from the tee towards 3 green, beyond them is 2 fairway, 8 fairway, and 9 fairway.


Par 4 ninth tee.  Ninth fairway is the elevated fairway towards the clubhouse


Par 4 12th looking back towards the tee from the fairway.  


12th from fairway to green.  


Par 4 17th


Driving range

[Tommy Williamsen]

Thanks for your pictures.  Some have been posted before but I enjoy seeing other's pictures.  I may post some of mine as well.  I played Bayonne this past June and thought it was magnificent.  The routing is brilliant.  For the number of acres that Bergsstol had to work with, he did a great job.  He was able to give a feeling of room by routing holes on different levels.  I loved the course.  It is amazing what can be done with vision, imagination, and money.

[Mike_Cirba]

Thanks for the pictures.

I couldn't exactly tell, but is there any integration between the towering mounds and the fairway?

In other words, does the sloping effect of the mounds continue into the fairway creating undulations and unevenness, or do they abruptly end at the point the fairway is reached?

[Sean_A]

Mike

I was wondering this myself.  There is often a rather abrupt transition between the dunes and fairway, but I think its just a visual thang.  I like to see the rough drop down once in a while like the pic below.  Those dunes have to effect shots and how the wind effects shots.

Thanks for posting Raphael!



Ciao

[Jon Wiggett]

Mike & Sean,

this continuation of the contours into the playing area is one of the most overlooked things in golf course construction. It is one of those detail things that set GCAs like Tom Doak aside from the rest. I was fortunate enough to work for John Chilver-Stainer, a scottish GCA working mainly in Switzerland who is a master at this. Now I understand why the courses that look natural, look natural and others look some how wrong.

I would however say it is very difficult to judge such things from a photo.

[Rick Shefchik]

The course looks terrific, but that clubhouse looks like Lando Calrissian's Cloud City of Bespin.

(I'm not a Star Wars dork, too. I had to look that up.)

[Raphael_Larson]

I couldn't exactly tell, but is there any integration between the towering mounds and the fairway?

In other words, does the sloping effect of the mounds continue into the fairway creating undulations and unevenness, or do they abruptly end at the point the fairway is reached?

Mike -- Yes there is nice integration between the mounds and the fairways.  The fairways have a lot of undulations leaving many awkward stances.  A few holes felt a bit claustrophobic to me because of the size and angle of the mounding (#1, 4, and 10 come to mind) but the integration of the mounding and width of the fairway made the holes play much wider than it appeared from the tee.  

[corey miller]

To the extent off course views matter, the NYC skyline/Bayonne would not be pick.  It does look like a course worth seeing however.

Which club is considered to have the best off course views? Liberty National or Bayonne?

[Adrian_Stiff]

Great pics, that course looks pretty wow.

[Matt_Ward]

Raphael:

Great pictures -- I've played Bayonne and I view it as one of the best courses you can play in NJ. Many might view my last statement as being a bit presumptious but the totality of what Bergstol created there -- the sheer diversity of the holes and the manner by which the various greensites do provide a slew of interesting and challenging pin locations.

There's plenty of movement in the fairways and what people need to thoroughly realize is that you have such a fascinatinf golf layout in Bayonne, NJ -- in Hudson County of all places. Truly incredible given the red tape creating such a course was required to overcome.

Corey M:

The better overall views, IMHO, come from Bayonne.

[Garland Bayley]

Most of the bunkers pictured "fit" the land. This picture seems to have a couple of odd bunkers though.

[Raphael_Larson]

Most of the bunkers pictured "fit" the land. This picture seems to have a couple of odd bunkers though.

Garland -- the two bunkers in upper left are actually on the otherside of the wetlands running between #2 fairway and #2 green.  

I may be biased by the fact that I double-bogeyed #2 twice, but it was my least favorite hole on the course.  It is a >90 degree dogleg requiring a fairway wood/hybrid or iron off the tee and a mid to short iron to the green.  The severity of the dogleg made it feel forced into the land.  A couple pars may have made me feel differently.  

[Garland Bayley]

Raphael,

You missed by one. One of the bunkers in the upper left looks like it hollows out the top of a dune, and to me looks wierd. However, the other one is the one in the center of the picture. The one you can just see a hint of sand in and then this smooth grassed wall before the green.

[Raphael_Larson]

Raphael,

You missed by one. One of the bunkers in the upper left looks like it hollows out the top of a dune, and to me looks wierd. However, the other one is the one in the center of the picture. The one you can just see a hint of sand in and then this smooth grassed wall before the green.

Now I'm with you ... and I agree.  The bunker fronting the short par 3 fifth is similarly grass faced.  I don't recall seeing any other bunkers on the course like those two.  

[Tommy Williamsen]

Here are a few pictures I took that show some different features.

[SPDB]

Par 4 ninth tee.  Ninth fairway is the elevated fairway towards the clubhouse

Raphael,
Thanks for posting. What fairway is the lower one?

[Raphael_Larson]

Par 4 ninth tee.  Ninth fairway is the elevated fairway towards the clubhouse

Raphael,
Thanks for posting. What fairway is the lower one?

Lower fairway is the 8th.  My buddy in the picture blocked his tee shot into that fairway and had only a short iron up to the green.  Meanwhile, my drive landed just right of the bunkers over his left shoulder.  He had a relatively easy (albeit, blind) shot from a level lie with a worse drive than mine, while I was completed screwed.  

[Voytek Wilczak]

The better overall views, IMHO, come from Bayonne.

How so?

The Manhattan skyline and Statue of Liberty views from Bayonne are over the cranes of MOTBY (Military Ocean Terminal Bayonne) and are distant.

Liberty's views of Manhattan and Statueare are direct, uninterrupted and several miles closer.

Bayonne's views from the clubhouse, though, have the benefit of being 360.

But overall views - LN hands down.

[Tommy Williamsen]

The better overall views, IMHO, come from Bayonne.

How so?



The Manhattan skyline and Statue of Liberty views from Bayonne are over the cranes of MOTBY (Military Ocean Terminal Bayonne) and are distant.

Liberty's views of Manhattan and Statueare are direct, uninterrupted and several miles closer.

Bayonne's views from the clubhouse, though, have the benefit of being 360.

But overall views - LN hands down.

If you are looking toward Manhatten I have to go with Liberty National.  At one point you can see warts on the old girl's face.  The views of the course are better at Bayonne and from the 18th at Bayonne the view is pretty impressive.

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