[Mike_Trenham]

Apparently Essex County Country Club will host one of the few LPGA events next year.  ECCC was as well conditioned a course as I played this year.   It is beyond me why other than its local competition why this course is not talked about more, excellent rolling piece on ground with a good mix of holes and interesting greens and touched up nicely.  Hard to find a really weak hole other than maybe #1 which may drive the members crazy because of the importance of hitting a perfect draw or hitting your next shot from the rough or trees.

http://www.golfweek.com/news/2009/nov/13/sybase-classic-moving-essex-county-cc/

[Matt_Ward]

Mike:

Agree with you 100%.

The improvements made to the course via the efforts of the club leadership and through the involvements of Hanse / Bahto have made a very good course into a top tier one -- candidly, I believe a very good case can be made that Essex County belongs among the top 5 in all of the Garden State. I would certainly say that it's my top ten without any hesitation.

The weakness of the layout previously had been the front nine -- most notably the 1st and 2nd holes. The back nine has always been cited as one of the best closing sequence of holes when held against any course in all of Jersey -- arguably, even including the likes of Pine Valley.

Mike, the course isn't talked about much because too many people simply play the usual suspects -- Baltusrtol, Plainfield, etc, etc, when in the northern NJ area.

Anyone venturing to the area who doesn't play it is really shortchanging their overall golf portfolio. A superb layout and worthy of even more fanfare than it's getting now.

[Joe Bausch]

Anyone venturing to the area who doesn't play it is really shortchanging their overall golf portfolio. A superb layout and worthy of even more fanfare than it's getting now.

Can somebody pass along the phone number or web site for online tee times to me?  This place sounds awesome.

[Brad Fleischer]

Anyone venturing to the area who doesn't play it is really shortchanging their overall golf portfolio. A superb layout and worthy of even more fanfare than it's getting now.

Can somebody pass along the phone number or web site for online tee times to me?  This place sounds awesome.

I was thinking the same thing !!! lol.  It's right in my backyard and I have only been able to play it once before the restoration

Brad

[Justin Broderson]

Can i get that number too. I have lived in west orange for 26 years and have never found a way on, as the kids say FML.

[Mike Sweeney]

Can i get that number too. I have lived in west orange for 26 years and have never found a way on, as the kids say FML.

Come on, these places are all hurting for revenues. Join Stationers Golf for $150 or so:

http://www.sgagolf.net/course.html

Essex County CC pops up every other year or so on their rotation.

[Justin Broderson]

Mike,

 I never heard of stationers golf before, I greatly appreciate the info though.  I will be signing up.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Essex County is a wonderful, challenging golf course with wide fairways and interesting greens and surrounds.

It often goes unnoticed because there are a good number of golf courses in the Met area and Northern NJ.

It's the kind of course you could play every day and never tire of it.

And, it sits on top of a hill/Orange Mt and therefore enjoys good breezes whicy sweep the property.

If you can play it, you should.  You won't be disappointed.

[Matt_Ward]

Let me point out that Essex County was a solid layout PRIOR to the work carried out.

It has been bolstered even more so by what has been done throgh the efforts of smart leadership at the club level and with the added on efforts of Hanse and Bahto.

Just how good is Essex County.

In my mind, it's no less than the following northeast area courses ...

Fenway

Lehigh

Rolling Green

Piping Rock

*just a shade behind the likes of Plainfield CC and Quaker Ridge

Incredibly, as I said before, so many people only look at the same courses that have always had a high profile.

Essex County is worthy of national acclaim -- if the others I have just mentioned are there -- Essex County of 2009 is no back seat layout by any definition in my mind.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Matt Ward,

Essex County is FUN to play while still presenting a more than adequate challenge.

I think that's one of the keys to a good golf course, the combination of the challenge and the fun in meeting that challenge.

The topography provides plenty of diversity along with an interesting challenge and fun, and that's a good/great combination.
When you add in the wind that sweeps the top of that hill/mt it enhances everything.

When Ran next visits this area, ECCC should be on his play list.

[Matt_Ward]

Pat:

Agreed.

ECCC is simply not noticed as much -- the same can be said for nearby neighbor -- Montclair GC and it's two stellar nines -- the 2nd and 4th nines.

Unfortunately, too many people just gravitate to the same places over and over again. It's taken a long time for Plainfield to get it's rightful attention -- the same should start for ECCC. The terrain, as you so correctly noted, is first rate. My only issue with the club is that the rough doesn't need to be grown to US Open heights.

The front nine work has certainly elevated that side much more than what it was in the past.

Just a quality layout -- and like I said - has the wherewithal to be rated among the state's top five and given the Garden State's depth of courses that says plenty.

[Mike_Trenham]

On my single play of the course the following holes stood out for me.  Foregive any errors as like I said it was a single play.

#2 a short up hill par four that has a long narrow green that sits down in a bowl
#3 a mid-length par 4 playing down hill with a bunch of chipping areas and a green with a good bit of internal contours
#5 long gently down-hill par 4
#7 left to right three shot par 5 that hugs the propertly line where each shot causes you to think before proceeding
#9 par 3 which certainly has the Ranor feel in fulll force with one of the deepest bunkers and steepest walls of grass, I've seen
#12 monster of a uphill left to right par four with a wild green
#15 a very long down hill par three that probably plays harder than it looks
#16 a green which I wonder if it needed to be restored by Gil and George as it is very untraditional
#18 a donald ross type hole with a high tee to a low landing area back-up to a green with a good bit of slope

[Patrick_Mucci]

Mike,

# 16 green was always like that, there wasn't much in restoration work that needed to be done.

And, it's not an unconventional green, it's a double plateau, albeit unique in its configuration.

# 2 at The Knoll is also a double plateau with a slightly different configuration.

How could you leave out # 11 ?

[Matt_Ward]

Mike / Pat:

The format for the 16th hole was used by Banks in a variety of other layouts -- most notably, ironically the 16th at The Banks Course at Forsgate is a replica of what you see at ECCC.

Mike:

The uphill par-3 9th is one of Jersey's more undervalued short holes. The split tee -- the one that's furthest left increases the distance and makes the playing angle that much more demanding.

One other hole worth discussing that you left off -- the serpentine green -- blind I might add - for the short uphill par-4 14th. Another gem of a hole.

If someone says they know Jersey golf and Essex County is not mentioned then they need to go back to the classroom for further study.

[Mike_Trenham]

Pat/Matt

I did know that the #16 green was not uncommon for Raynor/Banks but it looked like something a well meaning committee member could have softened during the clubs history to make it more like most greens.

#11 was an easy/lucky par for me the day I played it so maybe I don't fully appreaciate it, #14 I played like a dog hooking it into the trees on the left so unfortunately so I did not get to hit a real approach shot but rather a punch up in front of the green into one of the bunkers.

[JeffTodd]

I absolutely loved Essex County. The course presents itself in an extremely well rounded fashion, surely presenting ample challenge to the scratch player while allowing a high handicap player room to maneuver without the course feeling the slightest bit dumbed down, or easy.

I'd agree that #1 is not a great opener. It demands a similar tee shot to #17, but the difference is that a middling player like myself is much better prepared to execute that shot by the 17th hole; it's a bit much to ask on #1. Still, by the time I finished playing ECCC I had long forgotten about the first and found myself thinking that this is the kind of course where a member sure must be happy, and where one could happily play every day. I have played more highly regarded courses than ECCC, some I would rank as superior designs, and not felt that same way about everyday play. Essex really strikes the balance between challenge and playability as well as any course I can recall.

[George_Bahto]

The original 1st hole on the course was considerably longer but when they built the proshop they shortened (ruined) the hole.

Nothing has ever been done to the great 16th green - all we did was add a Principals Nose in the appropriate spot a year or so ago when we added still more strategic fairway bunkers to the course, most notably on the 8th up short right of the green and a couple more bunkers on the 7th hole.

[Patrick_Mucci]

George Bahto,

I'm probably one of the few who like the first hole.

While it's short, it has its demands, on the tee shot, approach and recovery.  And, putting that green also has its challenges.

A pulled or overhooked drive is in jail, a pushed or sliced drive presents a seperate set of difficult tasks for the approach.
Many can't decide to hit a driver or fairway wood off that tee.
I like my driver.

If the golfer hits the fairway, the lie on the approach remains challenging, which is another reason I like my driver since I'd like to have a shorter club in my hand as I can get it more upright on my swing.

I also think that 2nd hole offers far, far more of a challenge than is presented on the score card.

Those two, short, cute holes can ruin a round before the golfer gets into it.

I think they're disarming and can lull an unwary golfer to sleep.

It's a terrific golf course.

[George_Bahto]

Pat: a couple things about ECCC's Holes #1 and #2

Hole 1: I've always wanted to put in a fairway bunker down the left side so you can't "short-cut" the slight dog-legged fairway. The bunker part in the rough but jutting out into the f/way about 25-feet.  This bunker could be about 265 off the tee and just clearing the tree drip line down the left. If you have the game, clear it and you're really down there.

That first green has een rebuilt about 4 times over the past 25 years and I think it's finally pretty good (it has always been hard as a rock)

Hole 2: That is one of the trickiest greens on the course and I've been trying to get the fairway shifted out about one-half fairway to the right. From the right side of the f/way that short shot in is near impossible because (if the green is mowed the way I'd like) you can hardly keep the ball on the green - those shots slide off the green and into the left greenside bunker.

Some sort of dangerous bunkering/hazards (perhaps mounds combined) along the left on the drive will keep the player to the right (the wrong place to be)

I spent a lot of time playing short shots into that green from the right while we worked on the course. Putting on that green is really tricky, especially from above the hole or putting side to side (huge breaks)

For those not knowing the hole, it is about 300-yards off the tee but the tee shot is blind - it's one of the old Tillinghast holes and greens Banks had to incorporate into "his" new course.

[Matt_Ward]

Clearly one can say that many people have a Raynor-lovefest here on GCA but for some strange reason Banks gets far less.

His contributions at a range of couses are no less stellar -- the work George B did at ECCC has really brought to life even more so what was already there.

Like I said -- ECCC flies below the radar and for most people outside a 75-mile radius few know about it and for those who have heard the name they think of the Massachusetts one instead.

[Justin Broderson]

Do I smell a mini GCA outing?  Come on Matt, make it happen.

[Mike Sweeney]

Do I smell a mini GCA outing?  Come on Matt, make it happen.

Justin,

Stationers can bring guest! You are now in charge. 

[Steve_ Shaffer]

The 2010 schedule for Stationers has not been released yet.  

[Bill Brightly]

George,

I wish you would put a bunker on the left side of the first hole, to remind me to keep it right and NOT try to cut the corner! Playing in the Banks Cup this year I was about 2 yards too far left, got hung up in the rough, and all I had was a low punch/draw under the trees. Next to impossible from the rough. I made par, but it was REALLY hard from that rough.

That raises an interesting question: is the absence of a bunker sometimes better, tempting a player, whereas a bunker serves as a warning flag?

I agree 100% with you about Hole 2. The right side is safe, but a really bad angle to the green. From there you end up hitting into a severe right to left tilt, especially when it is firm, and it is near imposwsible to attack the pin. If you keep the tee shot left, the green is much more easier to approach with a nice back to front tilt.

[Mike_Trenham]

Essex did host a GCA event a few years ago.  Only it was just a winter gathering event with speakers and no golf.  

That is the true geek test.  Have you been to a day long GCA event that did not include access to the course and admitted it to your friends?  

George gave a very good presentation on the golf course and the restoration efforts.

Thinking about it is this a course that plays easier for a right to left player, I may not be a good judge right now as all I can picture is the ball turning left.

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