tutor56

First time playing this track. Great Variety of short holes and long holes. Challenging green complexes well protected by bunkers and thick rough. Worth a try by anyone. Do not be deceived by overall yardage. It plays longer than listed

I used to play here 25-30 times per year back about 10 years ago but now only get here a few times per year. Today was first time playing it since last October and I am happy to report all is as expected at my favorite public course in NJ. Pace of play was perfect as usual, greens were real smooth and faster than usual. Bunkers were manicured well with plenty of sand. Thanks to the staff and superintendent for maintaining this course is great shape.

We arrived at bag drop and the attendants there acted normally and were professional as always but when checking in to pay - things changed. Guy at register asked if we knew of the problems with the greens, which we were not aware of, and he painted a huge misrepresentation of the quality of the greens. With no place else to play on shirt notice on a beautiful day we had no choice but to stay. The greens were beyond horrible and the positive review below is an outright disgrace. The greens were not playable at all, bare in many spots and bumpy everywhere. And why would you not close 9 of the 27 holes on a rotation to limit play and help the greens heal quicker. We were told that because we reserved online there was no way to call us to let us know about the greens but I suggest they could have emailed me with the confirmation email or the website should have had a warning about the greens condition. no effort is being made to inform potential players ahead of time of the greens condition. I would expect these greens to be bad for at least 6 months. They allege they are just one of 20 courses who were impacted by this problem and they blame the chemical company. good luck if you try this place in the near future.

I grew up in Jersey City and learned the game over 40 years ago on this property when it was a driving range and pitch and putt. I hit balls under the watchful eye of Milky, the local milk delivery man. Living over an hour away now, I finally found time to get up there to visit my old stomping grounds. I was not disappointed at all, the course is in great shape, almost immaculate, with greens running as fast or faster than some private clubs and the holes are very well designed. The greens are larger than average size with lots of undulations. One concern about course condition would be fairway divots, I used a cart and it was equipped with divot mix, but many people walk this course and I see tons of fairway divots which may become a problem if not addressed by maintenance. So, it has the making of being a GREAT place, BUT there are some potential pitfalls. In a couple spots the holes are too close together so errand shots might appear from other holes. It is definitely not an easy course for beginners, way too tough. Several blind shots, a couple narrow fairways and heavy rough / fescue will kill beginners. Not nearly enough yardage markers in the fairways. Not really sure why they did not invest in getting a good yardage book produced while we await the GPS companies to map the course, depths of greens would be very helpful. I also recommend management pay a visit to Hyatt Hills in Clark (another great 9 hole course) and see how (with their large greens) they have two flags on every green, giving those who play 18 holes a new set of pins to shot for on each hole. One big problem was an employee attitude, the starter Joe. When I asked if the flags were colored (red, white, blue??) for front, back, middle - he said "No, we do not have that stuff here, just eyeball the pin location?". Trust me, a few of these greens are 40 yards from front to back and eyeballing just does not work for the serious golfer. Would it really be too much to ask to use colored flags and help us know where the flags are on these big greens which are sometimes attacked with blind approaches. In summary, this is a MUST play for all serious golfers especially for Hudson County residents (great rates) or if (as a out of county person like myself) you can get a HOT DEAL at golfnow.com. Here are my tips for how to play each hole. (1) fairly easy opening hole, but approach can be a blind shot and green is huge, (2) nice uphill long par 3 with a green about 45 yards deep, (3) be very careful on second shot layup, fairway is very narrow around the 100 yard marker, second shot is blind, and green is very wide but not very deep, (4) short par 3 but very undulating, left to right slope is severe, (5) hardest hole on course and plays into prevailing wind, i might consider playing this from tips as a par 5 and play number 8 from the new special front tees as a par 4, (6) be careful on approach, do not be long, water is very close to back of the green. (7) two tiered green but very little room off back, do not be long here either, (8) also plays into prevailing wind and now has optional tees to play it as a par 4 from about 375 yards, why? because the forced carry into the wind is too much to handle for many golfers, green is very deep here too, (9) nice finishing hole with a great view. I hope 2016 brings improvements to this new course which only opened in June 2015. It has great potential, greens were an outstanding challenge. I played 5 holes from black tees and 4 from gold, I hit 6 greens in regulation and three putt three times. i also want to note that there is no food available but they recently passed the health inspection so food will be coming within next month or so. Will be back soon!

Fantastic weather but horrible day. I warned my buddy and his buddies that the course had fallen on hard times, but they had not played it in several years and had a friend who allegedly played in a week earlier and said it was good. well, we all agreed, that their other friend must have played a different course! Greens were hard as a rock and in many spots had no grass at all. fairways required us to roll the ball (sometimes a couple yards) just to find a few blades of grass to play off of. and as for the bunkers, a total mess! what we played was anything but 'golf', entire facility is a disgrace and nobody seems to care. teed up at 11 AM and pace was horribly slow, 2 hours 40 minutes for nine holes and first time i saw a ranger (since the first tee) was on the15th tee but that was only because the ranger was getting a drink at the snack bar. i guess it would be OK, if they charged us less than $30 per round (with a cart) but anything more than that makes this definitely a place to AVOID. Ownership should be ashamed of themselves for even opening the course under these conditions, they should c lose it now, do lots of work on the course this fall and come back with a better product in 2016.

Cranbury is still GOOD value for the dollar but it could be so much better if they would just address the SLOW play issue which pops up more than it should. the course has more par 3 holes than normal and these holes cause the slow play. 2 of the first 4 holes are par 3s and they are not short (170 and 200 yards) and not easy holes either. all this course has to do to make the rounds play no more than 4 hours and 15 minutes is (a) spread tee times out every 10 minutes and not schedule them for every 8 minutes, and make sure groups tee off on the first hole EXACTLY at their tee time and not before it. (there have been times this year with 3 groups waiting on the second tee, simply crazy after playing just 1 hole), (b) a ranger (at least for morning play on weekends) needs to be positioned on the 5th tee box and should inform all groups of their pace of play thru 4 holes. (these 4 holes should be finished in no more than 46 minutes), the earlier you identify and inform a group of a problem, the better chance that group can pick up their pace. Unfortunately, most times you see a ranger (starter) on the first tee and the next time you see another ranger is when you return the carts to the cart barn after 18 holes. I never see a ranger on the course, even when I call the clubhouse to help them identify a slow group, the ranger never comes out on the course. Another issue that needs to be addressed is the driving range policy of NO DRIVERS permitted or IRONS ONLY as one guy said. They need to be a little smarter and understand that one man's driver is another man's 7 iron. The policy (and a sign posted) should be, please do not hit golf balls any more than 225 yards?, or whatever the distance is that they want to end at. I am a senior who only hits his driver about 185 yards yet the ranger came up and stopped me from hitting my driver while two stalls away from me there were 3 young men (in their 20s) who were hitting their 4 irons well past the 200 yard sign which i could not even come close to reaching. and they were hitting balls in all directions (left and right and putting balls in the right woods and left into the 15th fairway) while I was hitting my driver straight down the middle of the range even it only 185 yards. some common sense has to be applied to this policy.

While driving from NY to Myrtle for a week of golf, I spent overnight in this VA area and played this course as my first round in over 4 months. Fairways and tee boxes were very wet and it was car paths only but the greens were amazingly dry and fast. course layout is very well designed and fairways are nice width but course is not wide open, lots of tree lined fairways but balls will be found and can be punched back into play. definitely a place i highly recommend if you are in the area, the five par 3 holes are very demanding with two of them being great water holes. greens here are faster and smoother than the first two rounds i have played in Myrtle so far.

Very tight executive course. Greens are very small. No yardage makers (that can be trusted) on the par 3s. Par 4s are very weird holes, basically have to lay up off the tee on all of them because fairways end at about 170-180 yards out. grass in fairways is very good, tee boxes are OK. grass on greens is nice but greens are extremely SLOW, they need to be cut. all in all, for the right price it is a decent place to hang out for 3 hours and practice your approach shots, the small greens are really a nice challenge.

Cranbury is only 6,000 yards but that is mainly due to having six par 3s and five par 5s, not your ordinary configuration. The challenge comes from rough that is higher than at most other public courses; combined with smaller than average greens, all of which are severely contoured. When faced with a red pin location, i strongly recommend leaving the ball short of the green as opposed to putting downhill from past the pin. It had rained overnight, so carts were restricted to the cart path and the cart paths are a mess and in desperate need of repair, but this condition will not occur on a daily basis so not something to really worry about. Grass in fairways was a little thin in spots but greens were in great shape with real nice pace even with them being a bit wet from recent rain. Unless you are a frequent player here, you will NOT be able to shoot your handicap the first time you see the course, lots of subtle stuff around the greens will make scrambling difficult. Cranbury is a course you will enjoy and you will come back soon for another try.

Deercroft is far and away the 'best value' for golf in the Pinehurst area and I am confident it will continue to improve and eventually will become worthy of charging even higher fees. When I travel (from New Jersey) to play resort golf, the one thing that can ruin a day is 'poor quality greens' - well rest assured that will not happen here at Deercroft, the greens are beautiful. I played 5 rounds of golf in 4 days (early May 2013) mostly on Midland Road and Deercroft took a back seat to nobody with regard to the condition and speed of the greens, and combined with smaller than average greens, it makes for a great challenge and will get you ready for the rest of your trip. It is the perfect 'opening' round for a golf trip in Pinehurst especially when 8 guys fly in from various destinations and are looking for something 'not too tough' to start the trip and have the real tough ones planned for later in the week. Please do not be fooled by the yardage on the scorecard, the course plays a lot longer than listed because there are very few (if any) straight holes, the course has quite a bit of character. I have been planning trips for 8-12 guys for 20 years and we have been going to Pinehurst at least once every year for the past 16 years. This is the first time I played here but I will definitely use Deercroft as my opening round (straight from the airport) on every trip going forward. We played on a rainy day and since it was not crowded, we had the pleasure of meeting and chatting with the owner who took over less than 2 years ago. He is a very personable gentlemen who seems dedicated to turning this course around and return it to the form it had years ago. He is off to a great start already with fabulous greens and bunkers that were in fine shape despite the prior 2 days of rain. Sorry for the long review, but since Deercroft is the best $25 round of golf I have ever played anywhere, I felt compelled to write my first review at golfnow.com.