Plainfield CC, Edison, N.J. (Donald Ross) - A Photo Tour - All 18 Posted

[Mark Saltzman]

A Majestic Old Clubhouse







I had the privilege of playing Plainfield CC this past fall on a brief trip to NY/NJ.  I was very impressed.  I do not believe there has been a full photo tour, so here goes...


The Routing


--Routing (and several pictures) courtesy of Prof. Bausch

I was very impressed by the routing at Plainfield CC -- it gave a tremendous sense of intimacy.  The front-nine coils around itself, constantly changing direction and working its way across the large ridge that slopes down, away from the clubhouse.  Based on this single ridge, the front-nine has holes that play uphill, downhill, left-sloping and right-sloping.

Also of note is the 'previewing the shot' aspect, discussed a couple of times earlier on GCA:
http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,29282.0.html
http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,43475.0.html

On the 2nd tee, you get a very good look at the entirety of the devilish 11th hole.  Some of the green slopes that are not easily noticeable from the 11th tee, can be taken in by the perceptive player from the 2nd tee.  

Similarly, the 7th hole has bunkering that ends well short of the green and a feeder slope that can be used, but these cannot possibly be seen from the 7th fairway.  Walking past the 7th, on the 4th hole, these features are easily recognizable and a clever player (or a good caddie) will make note of this.

Lastly, the course has a great 'hub', another feature I first noticed at Old Town (how darned good is that Old Town routing!!).  The 1st green, 2nd tee, 8th green, 9th tee, 11th green and 12th are all very close to each other, contributing to the sense of intimacy.

Hole 1: Par 4, 432 Yards

I will include the text from Plainfield's website detailing the recent Gil Hanse restoration work on each hole.

Webiste commentary: What a terrific opening hole and a great introduction to the course! Ross wanted the ball to move along the ground but this is a good example of a fairway that had become too narrow, so we widened it on the left side, which is the best side for approach to the green. We also expanded the collar to the right of the green. Before we did that, if you missed the green to the right you were dead. We also put in chipping areas, which give you the options of putting, chipping, pitching or hitting a high flop shot as opposed to just gouging the ball out of the rough. We also removed the trees behind the green, which is something we did on several of the holes. They were not part of the original Ross design and they provided depth perception that ran counter to Ross's philosophy.


A sign found at the first tee:



The tee shot on the first is a straightforward one, though it will test one's nerves.  Like Merion (minus the people eating lunch), the clubhouse is hittable down the left, and golfers teeing off on the 6th to the right of the fairway will have to keep an eye-out for wayward tee balls.

Tee View:




After leaving the flat area on which the first tee and clubhouse are located, the golfer is presented with the first of many rolling fairways that make a day at Plainfield so great.




Many tee shots will find a bowl in the fairway that is about 240 yards from the tee (leaves 160ish into the green).  From here the approach is partially blind and it is very difficult to get a good feel for the contouring on and short of the green.




Bombers who can carry the bowl (a carry of about 260 yards) and successfully avoid the left-hand fairway bunker are left with this approach:




A wonderful and natural greensite.  The land short of the green slopes from right-to-left and towards the tee, and guess what, so does the green! Also note the depth of the greenside bunkering (something I have noticed Ross varies wonderfully).  While the bunker on the left is considerably deeper than the bunker on the right, it is by far the better place to miss.




The green has as much tilt as any green I've seen.  Being above the hole or missing the green to the right is dead.






So much for a gimme opener.  Oh yeah, missing long is worst of all:

[Ben Sims]

Good on you Mark.  This course needed more pub.  It's the best small site routed golf course I've ever seen.  It has as good a par 5's as it's "top 2 in the state" cousin in Clementon.  The par 3's are inventive.  I think the off-camber 6th green in genius.  With you permission I'll post pics of my own when the holes come up. 

[Mark Saltzman]

With your permission I'll post pics of my own when the holes come up. 

Ben, post away!

[Patrick_Mucci]

Mark,

The photos are very nice, but, they don't do the hole, and especially the green, justice.

I guess the two dimensional nature of photos eliminates depth and/or contours.

That first green is difficult, as is the drive and approach.

It's a terrific golf course.

[Ash Towe]

Mark,
looking forward to your tour and thanks for sharing the pics.

This is a superb golf course and one I could play every weekend, weather permitting.

[JLahrman]

Thanks for getting this going Mark, this is a course that gets mentioned a lot on this site but I don't think I've ever seen photos.

[Terry Lavin]

Mark,

Thanks for starting this thread.  The first hole reminds me of the first hole at Skokie GC here in Chicagoland, another renovated Ross, which features a brawny starter as well.  The first thing that jumps out at me in these photos is the maintenance of the bluegrass around the bunkers.  It looks pretty darned short.  Is it kept this way or were you there right after they cut it short?  With the slope of the grass face and the shortness of the grass, it doesn't look like many balls would get hung up there.

[Mark McKeever]

Thanks for the tour!  I can't wait to see more.  I really need to get out there and see it in person though too.  2012 list!

Mark

[George Freeman]

After leaving the flat area on which the first tee and clubhouse are located, the golfer is presented with the first of many rolling fairways that make a day at Plainfield so great.

Mark - First off, thanks for the tour.  Plainfield was the big surprise from my NYC area golf trip last fall.  I wasn't really sure what to expect but I was blown away.  The course is incredibly good.  After the round I kept saying that if Ross had enough rollie pollie land for three more holes (removing holes 13, 14, & 15 on the flatest portion of the course), Plainfield could be one of the best courses in the country.  The ground that the other 15 holes are routed on is phenomenal and Ross used it perfectly.

Pat M. is right, the pictures do #1 no justice unfortunately.  If someone knows how to use photoshop, it would be great if they could draw a line across the three distinct slopes present in the pic above.  Then people might get a sense for the rolling nature of #1 (and the rest of the course).

[Joe Bausch]

I'm posting the following photo in a rather large format (use the blue slider bar please!) as I think it shows the slopes of the fw reasonably well:

[Joe Bausch]

And here is view looking back at those slopes:

[Joe Bausch]

Here are the two above pics at 800 pixels wide, so no blue slider bar needed:

[Carl Nichols]

Plainfield is in my top 5 "didn't know much about it before GCA but now really really want to see it" courses.  And these pics just add to that. 

[George Freeman]

Thanks Joe.  The fairway mowing pattern helps pull out where the rolls in the fairway are (i.e. the lines don't match up so you know where a hill is hiding additional fairway).

That first hole is awesome.  Certain spots in the fairway have clean views of a lot of the green, others if I remember correctly are almost completely blind. 

Add in the ability to use the right to left slope of the green to feed balls back and left and you have one fantastic opener.

[Mark Saltzman]

As mentioned in the first post, the routing gives you great sneak previews of shots to come.  Standing on the second tee, you can watch golfers playing the short 11th.  I watched as an entire foursome teed off on the 12th. 

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,29282.0.html
http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,43475.0.html

Here's the view of the 11th green from the 2nd tee -- note how many of the players in the foursome found the green!




Hole 2: Par 4, 443 Yards

This is a hole where we restored the original Ross complex of bunkers, which were much more intricate and thoughtful than the evolved configuration that we inherited. There's a chipping area to the left of the putting surface that will see a lot of play. This is another hole where we removed the trees behind the green, taking away the artificial backdrop and opening up views to the beautiful third hole.


A downhill tee shot to a fairway that slopes significantly right-to-left.  A single bunker 240 yards off the tee guards the ideal line down the right.  Bunkers 290 yards from the tee will catch tee shots that run too far with the slope.








Many well-struck tee shots played not quite far enough to the right will run into the left rough, leaving this approach:





Approach from the centre of the fairway:




Approaches can use the contouring short-right of the green to run the ball onto the green, but this is best accomplished from the hard-to-find right side of the fairway.





Looking back down the fairway:





Another fantastic green at the 2nd.  This green is turtle-backed with a false-front.  There is a chipping area to the left of the green that leaves a very difficult recovery.

[Noel Freeman]

**Referring to the picture of #11 green from #2 tee

I believe the estimable Ken Bakst once told me he aced #11 during the 1997 Met Open which was a tuneup to his win of the USGA Mid-Amateur..  It is a hell of a short par 3 to ace under the pressure of competition.. #11 is one of the most unheralded par 3s on the planet.

#6 is not the easiest wee par 3 in the world either at Plainfield especially with the new tee where you can hit a mid iron to a tiny tiny green. John Lovito who sometimes posts here and is a member also was fortunate enough to ace that hole.. It has an amazing green.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Noel ,

While # 11 is a wonderful par 3, it's a relatively easy hole to ace.

Plainfield has a good collection of par 3's

[Mark Saltzman]

Hole 3: Par 3, 196 Yards

The hole is all about the green. Shots that land short or right of the green will roll back into the water because the grass is closely mown, while any shot that is long will leave a player with a difficult recovery or a nasty putt because the green slopes from back to front. It is crucial that your tee shot finds the right location on the putting surface

This is a really difficult hole where the traditional righty misses (short-right and long-left) are both dead.  Shots that miss short or right will kick into the water. The green slopes significantly from left-to-right so shots that bail left into the bunker leave a very difficult recovery.

The green is fantastic, with containment contouring that will keep balls that are a little left/long on the green.  Of course, this contouring makes recoveries from left/long much more difficult.

The edges of the green and drop-off long are much more squared-off than I am used to seeing out of Ross and gives this green a very MacRaynor feel.

Tee View:






Short of Green:




From Back-Left of Green:




Severe Drop-off over green:




MacRaynor-esque straight line and drop-off into water as seen from long-right of green:

[Patrick_Mucci]

Mark,

A terrific early hole that can't make your round, but it sure can ruin it.

The green is underrated by some.

Certain hole locations can make you feel really uncomfortable on the tee

[Mark Saltzman]

Patrick,

Do you know if the 200 yard back tee was a recent addition?  The hole is very penal if you miss the green left/right/long - it did not feel like it was designed for 200 yard shots. 

I think I had the easiest pin position on the green -- I was still uncomfortable!

[John_Lovito]

Mark,

Yes, the back tee was recently added for the Barclay's and is not used for day-to-day members play.  Depending on pin/tee placement the hole will normally play between 150-175 yards.

[Mark Saltzman]

Hole 4: Par 4, 360 Yards

This is really a great hole but it was the first hole we made some big changes on, and if they had been viewed as a failure, it may have been the end of our project. We removed trees down the left side of the hole and restored some pot bunkers in the top of the ridge that had been removed due to the introduction of the trees. The green is most accessible from the left side of the landing area, so the aggressive line down the left that flirts with the out of bounds, opens up the best angle. We added a back tee to make the hole more interesting given the modern technology of today's players.

Goal #1 is getting one's tee ball to the upper portion of the fairway.  From the blue tees, this requires a tee shot of about 210 yards, straight uphill, down the centre of the fairway. 

Tee shots farther to the right require less carry to reach the upper fairway, but leave a more difficult approach angle to the green.

Tee View:






From Top of Hill Back to Tee:





Approaches from the centre must carry a deep fronting bunker...




While approaches from the left have a clearer view of the green:





The heavily contoured 4th green is guarded by a very deep bunker short-right and a not-so-severe bunker to the left.  Like the 1st and 3rd greens, long is very bad.

[Mark Saltzman]

Hole 5: Par 5, 527 Yards

The tee shot is mostly blind and plays slightly uphill and then continues the climb uphill through some interesting terrain, to the green for approach. The fairway slopes from left to right but a line of cross bunkers about 50 yards from the green will force long hitters to think twice before electing to try and reach the putting surface in two. If you decide to lay up with your second shot, the best angle for your third shot is from the left, close to the out of bounds. The green slopes from back to right and there is a closely mown pitching area to the right of the green. We took out some trees on the left to bring the out of bounds into play, and open up the best angle of approach. The original Ross green was a punchbowl design but because of drainage problems, the club brought in Geoffrey Cornish to rebuild the green and today's players will play to that green. The other change we made to this hole was to lower the tees and move them back to add 8-10 yards to the hole.


Tee View: Fairway slopes hard to the right.  To find the fairway, the golfer must play his tee shot up the tree-line.




Fairway: Note cant of the fairway... tough to avoid the well-placed fairway bunkering







2nd Shot: Ideal line is over the massively deep bunker on the left.  If the golfer cannot carry the bunker on the left, he can play up the fairway to the right, leaving a blind approach.









Playing to the right leaves a blind approach over the cross-bunkers 50 yards short of the green.





Playing the left leaves a more appealing visual of the green.




Lots of room to run the ball onto the green over the bunkers:




Not a lot of contouring on the 5th green, just a back-left to front-right tilt:

[Carl Nichols]

Mark,
On #4, any idea why there's that bunker not far from the tee, on the right-hand side, just past the water hazard? Seems odd/out of place.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Mark,

Do you have a better photo of the cross bunker on # 5 ?

It's a great feature that Ross repeated on #16 (old # 14)