News:

Welcome to the Golf Club Atlas Discussion Group!

Each user is approved by the Golf Club Atlas editorial staff. For any new inquiries, please contact us.


Voytek Wilczak

  • Karma: +0/-0
A nice, personal article on Bayonne
« on: January 07, 2008, 02:30:16 PM »
Garden State
Returning to his hometown, Bayonne, the author marvels at the incongruity of an ultra-exclusive golf club sharing a zip code with a city that's best known as a punch line

By Michael Farber
Published: November 12, 2007

The fairway on the 10th hole of the most audacious golf course in the world is nestled in a dell, a sanctuary lined with hillocks that are dotted with fescue and potentilla and juniper bushes. The caddie, Chris, says hybrid; the mind says Ireland. If golf is rooted in illusion — that man can master nature through a five-mile walk as he whacks a little white ball, that a driver resembling a toaster on a stick can add 10 yards and change your life — there is internal logic to the quixotic idea that a man named Eric Bergstol could take 7 1/2 million cubic yards of harbor gunk, almost 10 years and $130 million, and create a work of golf and engineering and environmental art out of, well, garbage. Make old sludge into Auld Sod.

The canvas was almost 140 acres of New Jersey landfill — brownfields, one of the most descriptive words in the English language. The paintbrush was a bulldozer. On putrid land once 10 feet above sea level, verdant tee boxes now soar 80 and 90 feet into the air, offering a panorama that, in a resolutely urban way, is as impressive as any Pebble Beach.

The agronomist, a Rutgers professor who oversaw the planting of the grasses and shrubs and even the blueberry bushes that line the walk between the green and the next tee on a few holes, calls this 7,120-yard, par-71 links-style course one of the wonders of the golf world.

There are wonders, yes. Then there are miracles: The course is in Bayonne, N.J.

Many spectacular courses have opened this century in the U.S., golf confections with riddles to solve and vistas to savor, but this course is in the most ordinary of workaday cities. If you know Bayonne, maybe it's as a punch line. Johnny Carson used to joke that his tailor was Raul of Bayonne. Ralph Kramden's International Order of Loyal Raccoons on the old Honeymooners would bowl in Bayonne, identifiable as a shot-and-beer, rented-shoes kind of place. Aliens blew up Bayonne in Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds. This was the home of Chuck Wepner, the Rocky Balboa inspiration known as the Bayonne Bleeder. If somebody told me they were going to take the Taj Mahal and move it to the corner of 25th Street and Broadway, where the Petridis Hot Dogs restaurant stands, I would have been less surprised than I was when informed that on a steamy August afternoon I should gently cut a three-iron over the mounds on the 10th hole of the fabulous Bayonne Golf Club.

Bayonne is my hometown, in that I lived there for the formative years between fifth and 10th grade and the summers afterward. The games on my dead-end street in the mid-1960s revolved not around a Titleist but a Spalding (in our parlance, Spal-DEEN), a 25-cent, salmon-colored ball with plenty of bounce. We played two versions of stickball — hittin'-outta-hand and pitchin' in — but also box ball on the sidewalk, diamond ball in the street, and points, which involved throwing the ball against a stoop. There was a driving range and a forlorn pitch-and-putt course on Route 440 in neighboring Jersey City, but golf in Bayonne was considered an affectation if it was considered at all. I was the only kid I knew who played even a little, having been given a seven-club starter set (odd-numbered irons, two woods, a putter) for my 12th birthday. I would play occasionally on a fine New York City public course, La Tourette, across the Bayonne Bridge in Staten Island, with my uncle Carl, a small, optimistic man who, while dribbling the ball down the 1st fairway, would take a few violent swipes at the ball with his glasses on and a few with his glasses perched on his forehead to see what might work better that day. If I wanted to add something as la-dee-dah as a six-iron or a wedge to my bag, I would pick one out of a barrel at Herman's Sporting Goods for eight bucks. I liked those mismatched clubs, and Bayonne, just fine.

This peninsula ringed by New York and Newark bays and the Kill van Kull was, in 1963, a city where you could buy any brand of sneaker you wanted, as long as they were Keds or PF Flyers, one of which could make you run faster while the other could make you jump higher, or order any sort of pizza, as long as it had a thin crust and was delectably oily. The running-shoe selection has increased, and a national pizza chain now operates on Broadway, once unthinkable in a city that took its pies as seriously as Seattle takes its coffee. But Bayonne, whose population has leaked to about 60,000 from almost 75,000 when I was a kid, still appears sepia-toned even in harsh midday light. There is no Starbucks, but there are 58 houses of worship, roughly equaling the number of Republicans in the city 40 years ago. As former mayor Joseph V. Doria Jr. is fond of saying, "The whole world is changing, but Bayonne is changing less."

"If you go down Broadway and look at the delis and pizzas and hair salons," says Dwight Segall, Bayonne Golf Club's director of golf, "and ask somebody, 'Who's president?' you expect them to say, 'Carter.'"

Segall drives to work every morning over a little overpass on 32nd Street, past boxcars and warehouses and other handmaidens of heavy industry. (During my Bayonne years I crossed over the overpass on 32nd Street perhaps twice. Unless you were going to see a mothballed battleship at the Military Ocean Terminal or had relatives among the mostly eastern European immigrants who lived on Prospect Avenue, there was no reason to go. The area was as exotic as Pago Pago.) He passes through a white gate into an alternate universe, as magical as entering a wardrobe and discovering a benevolent golfing Narnia. He is in a place that Ron D'Argenio, general counsel for the club, calls "a complete fantasy." Back in the real world, on the other side of that white gate, is a city with a median household income, according to 2000 census data, of $41,566, a little more than a fifth of the current $200,000 initiation fee at Bayonne Golf Club.

There really is no town-and-gown — or, in this context, nine-iron-and-clothes-iron — tension between Bayonne and the Bayonne Golf Club. Tension implies conflict, and conflict demands interaction. The city and the club share a zip code, not an orbit. The golf club annually sets aside 200 special half-price rounds for Bayonne residents, but a good walk spoiled (there are no carts at this walking-only course) still costs $200 plus another $100 or so for a caddie. Since Bayonne Golf Club opened on Memorial Day weekend in 2006, no more than a half-dozen locals have taken advantage of the offer.


Voytek Wilczak

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:A nice, personal article on Bayonne
« Reply #1 on: January 07, 2008, 02:30:37 PM »
"It's like another world," says Mike Solski, 33, who works at Pompei Pizza (est. 1961) and has little time for golf. "Not that it brings in a lot of revenue for other people in the town."

Sometimes the steam from the pizza can get in a workingman's eyes. Maybe the economic impact doesn't create a giant ripple in the Bayonne economy — 10.1% of residents were below the poverty level in 1999, higher than the state's 8.5% average — but there are at least 25 city residents working at the golf club, a number that figures to double when the $20 million clubhouse opens next year. The club also employs the services of a number of local companies. Bayonne Golf Club pays more than $1 million in property taxes, and it has built a public-access walkway to the edge of New York Bay, an area that once belonged to stray dogs at the dump.

But the hidden benefit to the city provided by this hidden gem of a golf course came to the environment. The old landfills did not have a closure plan to keep contaminants out of the bay. The cost to the city for closure of the landfills, to bring them up to environmental code, was going to run into the millions. Bergstol put it on his tab. O.K., the place still isn't Kiawah Island, but the wetlands mitigation around the course has been a resounding success. In an early environmental study there were 189 fish in the area. A recent study pegged the number at more than 10,000.

"When I came to town, people didn't know me, everybody was suspicious," says Bergstol, a 6'5" former forward at King's College in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., who has designed five courses, developed 11 and still owns nine. "What they really wanted to see was a $20 greens fee, public-access course. That was impossible to do here. It wasn't feasible at $20 a round, probably even $500 a round, not in Hudson County with the level of mitigation required to bring this property back.... This now has become a cleaned-up site, and it allowed people to identify the property with the community when we named the golf club Bayonne."

There is an element of Irish-Scottish tradition to the club — courses like Carnoustie are named for their towns — but there is also some reverse snobbery at work. You, well-heeled person, are not playing New York Harbor Golf Club or New York Bay Golf Club but Bay-freaking-onne. Like the breeze off the water on the 16th, we are unapologetically in your face. "I told the planning board and city council that one day people will be talking about Bayonne in a different way," says Bergstol, "that people will know it nationally and internationally because of the club. There won't be a negative perception."

This private club might indeed become the public face of the city, but the visage will remain veiled for members of the old Bayonne Golf Club. This is not a course but an actual club that operates out of a building on 16th Street where it maintains two indoor hitting nets and a putting green. A local tugboat captain started it around 1960, according to Walter Kiczek, a 70-year-old 16 handicapper (up from an 11) who offers free lessons for Bayonne residents at the club through the city's recreation department. The membership has dwindled from nearly 100 to less than 40. The members play eight tournaments a year at public courses, of which there are none in impossibly dense Hudson County. (The only other course of any kind in the county, Liberty National, built on reclaimed bayside land in Jersey City, also opened in 2006. Its entrance fee is $400,000.) Says Kiczek, "We're trying to keep (Bayonne Golf Club) together."

But the Bayonne golf scene received an added fillip on July 21. The city opened a nine-hole miniature course, constructed at a cost of $125,000. There is no bent grass, no superb mounding, no thoughtful bunkering, no names for the holes and no caddies. The fairways are brick-lined, water hazards are dyed royal blue, and between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. the cost to go around twice is $3. In the first two weeks the mini-putt was averaging 160 rounds a day. The signature hole is number 3. The golfer has the option of putting over a bridge or into the water, where, if the ball floats onto the right groove on the steel grate, he has a splendid chance for a hole in one. Local knowledge.


The signature hole at Bayonne Golf Club is the 16th, Heaven's Gate, a par-4 that stretches 486 yards from the tips. The tee box is elevated. The fairway bends gently to the right and down to the bay with the magnificence of New York City looming four miles away. Behind the undulating green the 54-foot Bayonne Golf Club boat approaches the dock, ferrying members from Battery Park in lower Manhattan. (There is also a club-owned helicopter.) Of the 200 members who are considered local — people who reside within 150 miles; only a couple live in Bayonne—there is a healthy Wall Street/Masters of the Universe representation. (There is also a sporting touch: Members include Greg Anthony, Boomer Esiason, Dan Marino and NBC golf anchor Dan Hicks.) For perhaps three quarters of the 250 members, among them four women, Bayonne is a second or even a third club.

The 16th is as visually arresting as it is challenging. ("Good courses look much tougher than they really are," insists Bergstol, a two handicapper.) But Heaven's Gate is eminently playable. All it takes is a shortish drive, a botched wedge layup that goes 50 yards instead of the prescribed 90, a career three-wood to 25 feet and two putts. Bogey. No problem.

For someone who grew up in Bayonne, who appreciated its rough-hewn charms but was blind to the city's possibilities, the best spot on the course is the tee of the 12th, a 442-yard par-4 named Seven Sisters, Six Brothers because of the bunkers that stand sentry along the fairway. Maybe the hole should have been called Seven Bridges because a 360-degree view from the tee includes the Goethals, the Verrazano Narrows, the Bayonne, the Brooklyn, the Manhattan, the Williamsburg and the New Jersey Turnpike extension. Beyond the 40-by-70-foot U.S. flag that waves from the 150-foot-tall flagpole near the clubhouse is a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building. There are also sublime views of the spires of Bayonne's churches and, yes, the city's oil tanks. The course might whisper Ireland, but the tableau is unabashedly American—leisure and work, starched collar and blue collar, sylvan calm and a city with its head down and eight hours to put in.

I have been stunned by the New South Wales Golf Club in an Australian state park outside Sydney, where waves crash and a hawk guards the entrance to a wobbly footbridge that leads to a back tee. I adore Arrowhead Golf Club outside Denver, a picture-postcard course that threads its way through red-rock formations. But three minutes from a Petridis hot dog or a Pompei slice, well ... a golfing home is where the heart is.


Matt_Ward

Re:A nice, personal article on Bayonne
« Reply #2 on: January 07, 2008, 04:42:53 PM »
Voytek:

Good stuff.

I really enjoyed playing Bayonne and although it is creatly CREATED by man -- the overall final product is indeed impressive.

Hard to believe that a course of that caliber could be located in of all places Bayonne. When I think of that Hudson County town I think back to Marlon Brando and "On the Waterfront" --which, if my memory serves, was shot on the Jersey side of the Hudson River.

Bayonne simply whisks you away from all the commotion and grit that makes up the immediate area.

And, I believe Eric Bergstol has done well to create a course that will be fun to play for many years to come.

By the way -- I think the key hole is the par-5 8th hole. Plenty of options and thought process with that hole.

PThomas

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:A nice, personal article on Bayonne
« Reply #3 on: January 07, 2008, 05:01:11 PM »
Matt - i think youve played W Straits...how would you compare it with Bayonne, since both are manmade

i've played WS but not Bayonne
199 played, only Augusta National left to play!

Matt_Ward

Re:A nice, personal article on Bayonne
« Reply #4 on: January 07, 2008, 05:16:47 PM »
Paul:

Good question.

I cannot stand the Irish Course at WS -- it seems as Pete simply went way over-the-top with all the man made humps, hollows and all the other Barnum acts that he threw into the picture. It's just an excuse for a back-hoe operator to go hog wild with all the mindless "throw everything into the mix save for the kitchen sink" mentality.

The Straits Course is likely the more demanding when held against Bayonne -- I'm measuring that with reference to the tip tees and the overall difficulty factor.

Bayonne is not as wide as the Straits Course and the wind can blow quite hard as the course is located near the mouth of NYC harbor. The other element is that Bayonne doesn't have anywhere near the amount of space you see with the Straits Course.

Bergstol didn't create Bayonne to be the site of a major championship and the diversity of holes at the course are much more interesting. At the Straits you do get plenty of long holes because the premise of the place was to host the big time events.

It's important to remember that although both courses try to simulate "links" type courses -- neither really is. But, I do believe that Bayonne gives more of a direct impression with the manner by which the land ebbs and flows.

Bayonne has the better of the situation in terms of hole diversity and I see the conclusion at Bayonne to be well done and much better than the final hole at the Straits.  

PThomas

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:A nice, personal article on Bayonne
« Reply #5 on: January 07, 2008, 05:32:14 PM »
thanks Matt

I don't think I dislike the Irish course as much as you, but it certainly is, at a minimum, a bit over the top....i told my daughter if her sand game gets better we may go out there for a game next year...then i showed her the pictures of the holes on the scorcard and she fully understood why i said that!

you said Bayonne is narrower than the Straits , which must mean its pretty doggone skinny, cause I always thought of Straits as being pretty narrow...one of the factors that makes the course a very difficult test...its the 2nd hardest course i've ever played , behind another Dye test, the Ocean course

another unfortunate feature is the hole around the pond at WS...but Pete may have had no other choice there...

I hope i get the chance to play Bayonne someday soon, as it has received many compliments from many GCAers



199 played, only Augusta National left to play!

David_Tepper

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:A nice, personal article on Bayonne
« Reply #6 on: January 07, 2008, 06:20:51 PM »
Voytek -

Thanks for posting this article. As an old Jersey boy, I enjoyed it.

Where did this article appear?

DT

Voytek Wilczak

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:A nice, personal article on Bayonne
« Reply #7 on: January 07, 2008, 06:31:46 PM »
Voytek -

Thanks for posting this article. As an old Jersey boy, I enjoyed it.

Where did this article appear?

DT

David:

I enjoyed this warm, nostalgic, well-written article, too. I live a couple of miles from Bayonne and shop there every week for Italian and Polish specialties. Fresh mutz (that's mozzarella for you non-new jerseyites), Italian bread and Polish kielbasa - go Bayonne!

I pulled the article from Golf.com, but the author, Michael Farber, works for Sports Illustrated.

Mike Mosely

Re:A nice, personal article on Bayonne
« Reply #8 on: January 07, 2008, 06:57:20 PM »
That's a good piece by a good guy.

Tommy Williamsen

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:A nice, personal article on Bayonne
« Reply #9 on: January 07, 2008, 07:07:29 PM »
Bayonne reminded me of an Irish links more than Whistling straights.  Bergstol went to great lengths to simulate Irish grasses and fauna.  Even the walks between holes look as though they have been there for a hundred years.  It is absolutely amazing.  Some of the plants even a reminiscent of gorse.Whistling Straights is more of an American salute to links golf.

Bayonne may not necessarily be narrower off the tee but in size.  It is built on fewer acres than Whistling Straights.  What Bergstol did was separate the holes by elevation rather than width.  They are both excellent but as far as the better "imitation" links, Bayonne wins by three lengths.
Where there is no love, put love; there you will find love.
St. John of the Cross

"Deep within your soul-space is a magnificent cathedral where you are sweet beyond telling." Rumi

Mike_Cirba

Re:A nice, personal article on Bayonne
« Reply #10 on: January 07, 2008, 07:57:57 PM »
Voytek,

Thanks for reproducing that article here.

Bayonne is certainly a course I'm looking forward to seeing this year.

Matt_Ward

Re:A nice, personal article on Bayonne
« Reply #11 on: January 07, 2008, 08:01:20 PM »
Paul, et al:

Here is the distances from both courses -- Bayonne and the Straits with accompanying CR and slope.

Bayonne                          Straits

351 / 4                            405 / 4
424 / 4                            571 / 5
184 / 3                            183 / 3
560 / 5                            455 / 4
146 / 3                            584 / 5
346 / 4                            391 / 4
433 / 4                            214 / 3
579 / 5                            462 / 4
402 / 4                            415 / 4

OUT
3,425 / 36                        3,680 / 36

471 / 4                            389 / 4
236 / 3                            585 / 5
442 / 4                            166 / 3
563 / 5                            403 / 4
222 / 3                            372 / 4
316 / 4                            465 / 4
486 / 4                            535 / 5
491 / 4                            223 / 3
454 / 4                            470 / 4

IN
3,681 / 35                       3,608 / 36

TOTAL
7,106 / 71                       7,288 / 72

CR SLOPE
74.4 / 143                       78.1 / 146


Couple of other comments ...

Bayonne has a much more compelling sequence of holes -- both in terms of direction, distance dispersion and the character of many of the putting greens.

The Straits will likely forever get more ink - primarily because of hosting major championships but so much of what is there is simply muscular golf -- save for a couple of unique holes such as:

The par-4 4th -- makes you play a draw shot -- and if southerly wind is in your face the hole can be a real bear. Green is nearly protected on the left side with a jagged bunker that sucks balls in faster than many might imagine.

I really liked the par-5 5th but it's more of a Florida hole than a links imitation. The water is used well for both the tee shot and 2nd shot.

The par-3 7th is nicely positioned with the H20 to the right but the bunker overkill to the left is simply a bombardment to overwhelm the senses.

On the back side -- I really liked the par-3 12th -- when the pin is cut hard to the right it takes elephant sizes b*lls to shot right at the target. The other two holes I liked on the return nine are consecutive -- the par-5 16th invites the bold play and only rewards the player who executes precisely. The long par-3 17th is simply one of the best long par-3 holes I have played from Dye. The visual dimensions -- with the lake left and the way the pin can be 'hidden" when nearer towards the right side makes for plenty of sweaty palms.

To me the 18th is simply Pete gone wild. I mean everything is thrown into the picture to create sensory overload. Frankly, if you do hit the rough it can be quite problematic to get over the creek that slithers through the break point with the fairway.

The green is also as big as Alaska with little really to make it unique.

If someone asked me -- The Straits is a solid effort by Pete but I believe he's done better with other sites -- most notably Oak Tree.

On the Bayonne front you see the charm right from the get-go with the 1st hole -- called Dell. The fairway is completely bowled in and you need to decide how far down the fairway you wish to hit it. Credit Bergstol because right from the start the greens are neatly subdivided into different sections -- the par is easy to get -- the birdie is a far different matter.

As I said previously the narrow nature of the property at Bayonne is handled quite well by Bergstol -- the holes don't seem to be that close to one another -- until you stand on top of one of the mounds that separates them and you can see how really small the overall property truly is. That's one of the reasons why there is no conventional practice range -- you hit floater balls in an area penned in which is just off the 17th fairway.

I'll have more to add with Bayonne -- candidly, I see it easily among my personal top five in NJ -- it's plenty of fun and there's enough charm / tenacity to keep all handicap types interested.

Voytek Wilczak

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:A nice, personal article on Bayonne
« Reply #12 on: January 07, 2008, 09:04:20 PM »
Bergstol went to great lengths to simulate Irish grasses and fauna.

Tommy - you surely must mean "flora".

If Bergstol wanted to bring Irish fauna to NJ, he would have to first eradicate the voracious giant rat, species endemic to the Hudson County waterfront.

PS -what would be Irish fauna, anyway???

PS - just funnin' wich ya.


Tommy Williamsen

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:A nice, personal article on Bayonne
« Reply #13 on: January 07, 2008, 09:20:37 PM »
Bergstol went to great lengths to simulate Irish grasses and fauna.

Tommy - you surely must mean "flora".

If Bergstol wanted to bring Irish fauna to NJ, he would have to first eradicate the voracious giant rat, species endemic to the Hudson County waterfront.

PS -what would be Irish fauna, anyway???

PS - just funnin' wich ya.



Thanks, I deserved it.  Good catch.  They were alike in fauna, however, in that neither had snakes. ;)
« Last Edit: January 07, 2008, 09:22:36 PM by Tommy Williamsen »
Where there is no love, put love; there you will find love.
St. John of the Cross

"Deep within your soul-space is a magnificent cathedral where you are sweet beyond telling." Rumi

Peter Nomm

Re:A nice, personal article on Bayonne
« Reply #14 on: January 07, 2008, 09:32:45 PM »

you said Bayonne is narrower than the Straits , which must mean its pretty doggone skinny, cause I always thought of Straits as being pretty narrow...


Those of you who have played WS - is it just me or do you think that it was originally designed with much wider fairways, only to have them narrowed because of hosting the majors?  

It seems that on many of the dogleg holes, the fairway bunkers on the outside of the turn are substantially farther from the short cut of grass than the inner one, indicating at least to me that originally the grass was cut shorter up there too.  In my rounds there, there were always tee shots left hanging in the rough that were it cut at fairway height would have rolled back into better position.


Matt_Ward

Re:A nice, personal article on Bayonne
« Reply #15 on: January 08, 2008, 09:45:02 AM »
Peter N:

The overall scale of Whistling Straits can overwhelm the eye when you first get there. The place just spreads out in so many directions. No doubt the "original" fairway cuts were planned to be as wide as possible -- when big time events come to town the desire to narrow them can certainly be done although given the freakish weather patterns that can easily arise I don't think it would be wise to have the course play with 20-25 wide fairways on every hole.

Bayonne, on the other hand, is really compact. The mounding there provides the necessary spacing between the holes but as I said earlier it's really a tight fit.

Gents:

I think one of the more confusing matters with Bayonne is the concept of the fake links -- no doubt a layout located in Hudson County cannot by any stretch of creativity be define as a links course.

Unfortunately, I would hope those who do get the opportunity to play there not hold that against the course but to take into account the considerable wherewithal to replicate certain dimensions of links like holes in certain instances when you play there. Not all the holes follow that concept and frankly I don't see any reason, at least for me, to hold that against what is there.

I particuarly liked three other holes at Bayonne -- the uphill par-4 9th, the downhill par-3 14th and the uphill short par-4 15th.

The 9th plays uphill and features a slight turn in the drive zone to the right. The hole isn't that long at 402 yards but its effective length is slightly longer because of the elevation. The hole tempts you into playing down the right side but the better and more prudent play is down the left. The green cannot be seen at the tee and it does offer a wide array of contours that flow in different direction. For those who often lament that the mid-length par-4 has gone the way of the dinosaur -- the 9th at Bayonne proves otherwise.

The downhill par-3 14th plays 220+ yards and is a real eeye-ful as you tee off in front of the huge flag pole that can be seen for miles all around. The hole is really one of the best at Bayonne because the shot pattern needed to succeed here can be so varied depending upon wind direction. The front pin placements at #14 are the most vexing. From that high of an elevation it's very easy to have the ball release after landing and simply roll the rear of the green. Although the hole is 200+ yards the reality is that tremendous skill / feel are needed to score well here.

The short par-4 15th is a jewel of a hole. Not long but plays effectively longer because of the uphill nature and the general prevailing headwind encountered in many instances.

Bergstol created a "dare" bunker here. You have to decide whether it's better to go over it or play to the short side in front of it. Pull or push shots off the tee are often treated harshly as they should be given the holes lack of total length.
The putting surface is not one of the biggest at Bayonne but it does require a deft play with the short iron for a birdie try.

In this world of super-sized holes -- Bayonne does offer a delicious mix of holes that don't overdose the brawn but accentuate the brain.




Matt Kardash

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:A nice, personal article on Bayonne
« Reply #16 on: January 14, 2008, 07:21:27 PM »
People always associate the straits as a big mean course that doesn't have much variety and only demands length. However, holes 1, 6, 10, 13, and 14 are all par 4's that play about 400 yards or less...even at the PGA. These days, i would argue that not many 7500 yard courses have 5 short par 4's. On top of that, the par 3 12th is only a wedge, and the 3rd is only about a 7 iron. So I really don't think it's anywhere near the uni-dimensional monster that some people here make it out to be. You need to look at the scorecard to see how the yardage is distributed.
the interviewer asked beck how he felt "being the bob dylan of the 90's" and beck quitely responded "i actually feel more like the bon jovi of the 60's"