Bayonne Golf Club
Played Bayonne in 2018 with my buddy Michael who got us on through a friend. I was really, really looking forward to this round. I had played Liberty National a few years earlier and when I asked them about Bayonne – which is a few miles south but also a reclamation project overlooking Manhattan – they said it was a great course and they hold a lot of cross-club matches.
Beyond that, the year before playing it we ran into a friend of my brother (and separately a friend of my friend) who was a caddie for one of the Tour Championship guys. We got to talking about favorite courses and he said his favorite course in the country was Bayonne. That is high praise from a credible source. Now every time I hear the term “high praise” I think of this clip from Get in the Cage with Nicolas Cage on SNL:
Loved Bayonne and I promised in my Liberty write-up I would compare the two courses. Using my course grading factor here goes:
Wow Factor. Advantage Liberty: The dunes and clubhouse views within the Bayonne property are probably better but Liberty has much better open views of the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan. Bayonne’s best views are blocked by the industrial spit of land that lies between the course and NYC.
Fun Factor. Draw: Bayonne is reminiscent of Irish links with towering dunes separating the holes (and thankfully Bayonne) from view. Liberty is a modern links, with more open views. Neither is too brutally hard to play (I actually scored in the 80s on both) but they’re not pushovers (I’m actually proud of hitting in the 80s on both).
Exotic Location. Slight Advantage Liberty: While you may be across the river from one of the most densely populated cities in the world, the views are really unique – especially from Liberty.
Exclusivity. Draw: Both are $$$$ to join and hard to get a round on.
Uniqueness. Yes sir. Draw: So you may be thinking to yourself that if these are both reclamation projects in North Jersey overlooking Manhattan they have to be kind of the same. Wrong they are so different in design that they are very unique from each other and the NYC views are unique from the rest of the courses in the world. Each hole is also unique in and of itself, on neither do you feel like one of the same kind of holes after another.
Clubhouse: Like the courses themselves, Bayonne is a classic clubhouse you would expect to see in Scotland or Ireland and Liberty is ultra modern and sleek. Depends on your flavor but for me: Advantage Bayonne.
Overall: The unobstructed view to NYC puts Liberty ever so slightly ahead of Bayonne IMO.
To the course, one is a gentle opener down a valley between high dunes on either side. A good drive with a hybrid leaves you a little sand wedge onto the green and the fact that I birdied here says that you highly skilled players should also find yourself some make-able short birdie putts. Two is one of the top holes in golf. I know you’re thinking, “Now that’s high praise!” But it’s true. You take your drive out toward the bay then you have to cross to a perpendicular green across a little inlet. So now I’m minus one after two! I’ll stop keeping score now for you.
Eight is a par five and another favorite with the green on your approach out into the bay. A great halfway house before you tee off on ten and you’re now on the the side of the property. Sixteen is their signature hole which takes you to the furthest point out into the bay (since I told you the good, I will tell you I think I carded my shoe size on this hole), Seventeen was another favorite and the view of the clubhouse up 18 is what gives the course some of its own wow factor. All in all, if you get the chance to play, do it. Both this and Liberty (throw in Trump Ferry Point too) are really unique experiences and worth the play (and Top 100 ranking).
Golf Scrapbook 