Ballamor Golf Club
7,098 yards, Par 72 (74.2 course rating, 136 slope)
Reviewed Distance (Blue Tees - 6,681 yards, 72.4, 130)
Phone: 609-601-6220
Web: http://www.ballamor.com/
PhillyGolfGuide.com Ranking: 2nd - Jersey Shore Top 10
Architect: Dan Schlegel (Ault, Clark and Associates)

Par 3’s: 4/5
Par 4’s: 4.5/5
Par 5’s: 4/5
Conditioning: 5/5
Variety: 4/5
Memorability: 4.5/5
Aesthetics: 4.5/5
Walkability: 1/5

Overall: 4.5/5

Summary: Ballamor Golf Club shines as a star amongst a very competitive crop of daily-fee Jersey Shore golf courses.  This once upscale private club has transitioned nicely into one of the best values in all of New Jersey, offering an aesthetically beautiful and well-manicured course that is challenging but very playable for all skill of golfer.  While Ballamor is not quite at the same level as PhillyGolfGuide’s top ranked daily-fee Atlantic City Country Club, it is a strong second on the list and is a must play on your next trip down the shore.

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The driveable 291 yard par-4 5th with it’s almost impossibly narrow putting green.

Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, NJ will host this week’s opening playoff tournament, The Barclays.  Ridgewood last hosted the event in 2008 when Vijay Singh outlasted Sergio Garcia in a playoff.

The course was designed by A.W. Tillinghast, who constructed the layout in 1929. It’s a great classical design and the field will actually play a compilation from the three nine-hole courses at Ridgewood, including seven holes from the East nine, five holes from the Central nine and six holes from the West nine. The 17th hole, this week’s Kodak Challenge hole, is actually one of Tillinghast subtle trademark holes, a double-dogleg par five.

The golf course received 2.5 inches of rain earlier this week and more rain on Wednesday. These conditions, similar to Sedgefield last week at the Wyndham Championship, will allow players to be very agressive. Look for some low scores in today’s first round.

This year’s U.S. Amateur at Chambers Bay, a municipal layout, in University Place, Wash., is worth checking out for its quirky nature and incredible scenery on Puget Sound. There’s added interest for this year’s championship since the course will also host the U.S. Open in 2015.

Chambers Bay shares hosting duties with another daily-fee layout, The Home Course, for stroke-play qualifying, but come the start of match play on Aug. 25, Chambers Bay has the spotlight all to itself.

So what makes Chambers Bay so unique?

• Chambers Bay, designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr. and opened for play in 2007, is monumental in scale. The par-71 layout measures 7,742 yards long, making it the longest championship venue in the entire history of the U.S. Golf Association – exceeding Torrey Pines-South, home of the 2008 U.S. Open, by 99 yards.
• It’s built on an old, abandoned sand quarry, with all of its dunes-like features manufactured, and the whole thing offering 100 feet of elevation change along with stunning views of Lower Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountain Range.
• The scorecard has only four par 4s at 436 yards or less and the other seven averaging 507 yards, including the 11th hole at 539 yards (although it does play down the prevailing wind off of Puget Sound).
• Many holes are extremely wide with fairways measuring anywhere from 28 yards across all the way up to 105 yards.  This type of setup is almost unheard of for a US Open and a pretty amazing contrast to a place like Merion, which will host the Open two years prior.
• Two of the holes have flexible pars. For stroke play the first hole will be set up as a par 4 of 501 yards, but for a few of the match play rounds it will convert to a par 5 of 542 yards. When it does switch over, the 18th hole, normally a par 5 of 604 yards, will be converted to a 525-yard par 4.

The Golf Course at Glen Mills
6,638 yards, Par 71 (72.3 course rating, 138 slope)
Phone: 610-558-2142
Web: http://www.glenmillsgolf.com
PhillyGolfGuide.com Ranking: 1st Overall (1st in Delaware County)
Architect: Bobby Weed

Par 3’s: 5/5
Par 4’s: 4/5
Par 5’s: 4.5/5
Conditioning: 5/5
Variety: 5/5
Memorability: 5/5
Aesthetics: 5/5
Walkability: 4/5

Overall: 5/5

Summary: The Golf Course at Glen Mills is an upscale daily-fee course that is as unique and enjoyable to play as any course in the area.  It is without a doubt the best public course in the Philadelphia region and rivals many of the areas finest private layouts.  If you have never played it, you should do so immediately.

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While most people know about the quirky features of the Old Course at St. Andrews like the blind shots, the deep and often hidden bunkers and the classic Road Hole, there’s a lot of other unusual features at the course that you won’t find at most other Major championship venues.  Here are a few:

• There are only 11 greens at The Old Course.  Seven of the greens are “double greens” that share the same putting surface.  Only the 1st, 9th, 17th and 18th have their own greens.
• There are only two par 3’s and two par 5’s. 
• Seven of the par 4’s play less than 400 yards.
• The approach shots on the par-4 7th and the par-3 11th criss-cross each other, making for a potential bottle-neck on the course as players wait for golfers on the opposite hole to clear.
• The land itself is almost entirely the width of just two holes but stretches some 2.5 miles long. The course plays primarily straight out and then back in. 
• Due to the proximity of holes, shots are often played from adjacent fairways (sometimes intentionally, sometimes not) and players coming “in” (the back 9) have the right-away over players going “out” (front 9).