Quartet of courses in Atlantic City provide examples of both classic and modern golf-course design

Atlantic City Country Club

There’s a certain siren’s call of sorts for travelers to the Jersey Shore and its most revered destination, Atlantic City, the town made famous by its sumptuous location, its famed boardwalk, its lovely warm-water beaches, its casinos and its continued nod to the Roaring ‘20s era of Prohibition in the United States. 

Fans of the television series “Boardwalk Empire,” which is centered on the happenings of Atlantic City in the 1920s, won’t find the same kind of wide-open town portrayed in that based-on-fact HBO program.  

Yes, the boardwalk is still here – and it’s glorious. Today’s Atlantic City revolves around tourism, especially in the summer months, and gambling. There are nine huge casino properties in the city, some as glitzy as anything you will find anywhere, and they are usually teeming with players from up and down the East Coast.

Seaview: The Bay Course

Quite the town, quite the golf

There’s plenty to do in the city itself, with star-studded entertainment, comedy clubs, eclectic dive bars and pubs, and some of the finest dining options on the Jersey Shore. It’s cool to drive around the city and see the names of the properties from the Monopoly board game, whose game-board spaces are named after Atlantic City streets. 

For our purposes, there’s golf – and plenty of it, most of it really, really good. There are 20 courses within a half-hour’s drive of the boardwalk, and the offerings here run the gamut, from classic courses, to replica tracks, and to more man-made modern routings. We flew into Philadelphia, whose airport is about 70 minutes northwest from the Jersey Shore, for our recent trip to the area. During our stay, we played four courses at three sites, with the trip including the Atlantic City Country Club, the Pines and Bay courses at the Seaview Resort, and the Vineyards Course at the lush and uber-cool Renault Winery Resort. 

Each had their own charms and challenges, not unlike the Atlantic City area as a whole.

Vineyards Course

Atlantic City CC is historic and wonderful in every way 

Any discourse about golf on the Jersey Shore must begin with Atlantic City Country Club in Northfield, just across the bay from Atlantic City and the boardwalk. 

This place has been enticing golfers since it opened as a nine-holer in 1897, and has undergone several renovations including an expansion to 27 holes and then a reduction to 18 during a restoration of the site by noted architect Tom Doak in 1999.  

Doak’s work returned Atlantic City CC to the original design as fashioned many decades earlier by the famed team of Willie Park and William Flynn while upgrading and improving the course from stem to stern. 

Atlantic City CC, which is carded at 6,577 windswept yards and plays to a par-70, features lengthy carries over natural ponds and salt water marshes that make it a formidable challenge for any level of golfer.  

Shifting breezes, the distinct scent of saltwater, the views of the Atlantic City skyline and its fescue-lied fairways only add to the total experience. 

Atlantic City CC contains two sets of tests in its design. On the holes away from the water, it plays like a classic inland course, with big bunkers framing shots and intimidating golfers off the tee and into greens, and forcing decisions standing over every shot. These are some tough holes, but they won’t bring you to your knees, especially if you miss in the proper spots. 

But on those holes abutting the water, execution is paramount because there is little quarter given. 

Atlantic City CC is a wonderful example of classic golf course architecture. You can see the problem areas and are given an option to play away from it. But in the process of playing safe, the course actually demands a more precise shot or else more problems await. 

The best example of this comes on the 13th hole, a 553-yard par 5. Standing in the fairway, marsh lurks down the right side. The closer you play your second shot to the water, the better your approach into the green will be. Play it too safe and aim too far left away from trouble and you’re likely to find one of a series of fairway bunkers down the left side, setting up a 50-100 yard approach from the sand.  

While Atlantic City CC is good throughout, it’s the six holes on the water that gleans the “wow” factor here. Atlantic City Country Club is a true gem.  

Once a strictly private club, then a home to the highest of high rollers from the casinos, it is now open to all and sits atop most rankings of New Jersey’s best public courses. There’s no argument here. Any list of America’s great seaside courses needs to include Atlantic City Country Club

In addition to an award-winning golf course, Atlantic City Country Club boasts a magnificent clubhouse & historic locker room, The Taproom Bar & Grille. 

Atlantic City Country Club

Seaview is twice as nice and historic 

Set on 670 acres of marshy coast and thick woodlands in Galloway, the Seaview Resort, part of the Dulce family of hotels, is home to two world-class golf courses, both born in the Golden Age of the game. 

The Bay Course, designed by Hugh Wilson (who designed Marion’s East course) and Donald Ross, opened in 1914 and presents a links-feel, with its seaside views, its small undulating putting surfaces and its deep pot bunkers.  

The 6,366-yard par 71 layout is less a test of length, and more a test of imagination, accuracy and short game and has a rich golfing history. The fairways are lined with reeds, tall grasses, and thick rough, and the routing here, which is mostly flat, is battered by the winds off the bay.  

The back nine of the Bay Course is a little better than the front, with the 230-yard par 3 11th requiring all the golf skill one can muster. The Bay course is generally regarded as superior and has earned more kudo through the years. Since 1986, The Bay Course has hosted the LPGA Tour in what is currently known as the Shoprite Classic. 

The best way to describe the Bay Course is “fun;” it’s not overly long or difficult, and offers the views and a design perfect for a round of resort golf. 

Across the street and behind the hotel is the Pines Course, which was opened in 1929 and designed by William Flynn and Howard Toomey.  

Unlike the Bay Course, the Pines winds its way through New Jersey woodlands, presenting elevation changes and bountiful doglegs. The course measures 6,731 yards, and features large bunkers and expansive, sloping greens. 

Numerous presidents have stayed at the Seaview Resort. It was here, on a hybrid course that used the front nine of the Bay Course and 1, 2 and 12-18 of the Pines, that Sam Snead produced a miraculous 60-foot chip-in to win the 1942 PGA Championship, which was his first major victory. 

Seaview: The Bay Course

Here’s a toast to the Vineyards Course at Renault 

On the way into Atlantic City from Philly, we stopped off in Egg Harbor Township for a night at the Renault Winery Resort and to tee it up at the Vineyards course on site. Designed by Ed Shearon, the Vineyards Course is the centerpiece of the resort and covers 225 acres of land, a smattering of which traverses through the property’s vineyards and orchards.  

Opened for play in 2004, the par 72, 7,213 yard layout of the Vineyards Course is thoughtfully created and the range of holes is quite good, even with terrain that is fairly benign. Shearon’s smartest move was to not get overly creative in an attempt to manhandle the site and to make it appear as if the course was superimposed on the landscape.  

The overall routing has enough movement to make players think and adjust during the round. The theme of the design is angles, with golfers offered choices off the tee and on approach shots. Risk/reward opportunities abound as golfers decide whether or not to play it safe or to cut off yardage by playing diagonally over hazards. The options present skilled players with exciting scoring opportunities, while novices can choose the safer, longer routes with less hazards in the way. 

There are a variety of sand and waste bunkers to avoid, with 72 traps in total scattered about the course. Water hazards come into play on seven holes. The desire to have a few holes intersect with the vineyards is a quality inclusion here, especially on the par 4 seventh, which commences with the tee shots straddling the vineyards. 

Renault Winery Resort is acclaimed as one of the premier full-service resorts in New Jersey, with a variety of accommodations at the Tuscany House, swimming pool, fine and casual dining, banquet facilities, a winery with tours and wine tasting offered at the oldest continuous operating vineyards in the United States. 

This championship quality course offers wonderful views of the countryside as it meanders through the majestic pinelands of South New Jersey. If you choose the wrong club on certain holes, you’ll need something stronger than the house blend by the time you’re done here.