Golf Course Review by: Billy Satterfield

The Takeaway:  One of the Garden State’s finest tracks with world class green complexes, ideal conditioning, and excellent movement in the terrain. Ridgewood is capable of testing the best players in the world while also offering compelling architecture.  Grade A-

Quick Facts

Designer:  A. W. Tillinghast 1929

Cost:  Private

Phone Number:  201-599-3900

Course Website:  Official Website - Visit Ridgewood Country Club (Championship)'s official website by clicking on the link provided.

Directions:  Get here! - 96 W Midland Avenue, Paramus, New Jersey  07652 – UNITED STATES

Photos:  See additional photos of Ridgewood Country Club (Championship)

Similar Course:

• Plainfield Country Club

What to Expect:  Designed by golden age architecture legend A.W. Tillinghast and later restored by Gild Hanse, Ridgewood is a great championship level course that is worthy of testing the best players in the world. The course features some of the best green complexes in the world and sets the standard of how good that aspect of course design can be. They are complimented by perfect conditions that create firm, yet receptive, putting surfaces and are attacked from perfecting conditioned fairways with a firm base that is still easy to take divots from. A classic parkland layout, the course sits on property that enjoys a nice amount of movement to help facilitate quality architecture opportunities while feeling completely natural. The combination of holes used for the Championship course are fantastic and create a truly memorable and challenging experience. To create that routing, holes 1-7 from the East nine, hole holes 2-6 from the Center nine, and holes 4-9 from the West nine are employed to unveil Ridgewood's finest complement of holes. The course has a long and storied history of hosting professional tournaments including the 1935 Ryder Cup (USA), 1974 U.S. Amateur (Jerry Pate), 1990 U.S. Senior Open (Lee Trevino), 2001 Senior PGA Championship (Tom Watson), as well as four FedEx Cup Playoff events. The course is enjoyed by walking it with a caddie and helps create one of New Jersey's finest golf experiences.

By the Numbers

Tees	Par	Yardage	Rating	Slope
Championship	71	7414	77.0	146
Back	71	6776	73.9	143

Individual Hole Analysis

Signature Hole:  5th Hole – 440 Yard Par 4 – With the famous Five and Dime 12th hole is undoubtedly Ridgewood's signature offering, we are saving it to be featured later and instead will focus on one of the several great two-shotters found on this property. The 5th hole on the Championship course, which is also the 5th hole on the East course, is a Tillinghast classic dogleg right where the inside of the corner is protected by a pair of bunkers. The fairway tilts from left to right which will put the ball enough below your feet to make your confidence wane when eyeing down the narrowest green on the course. The putting surface is twice as deeps as it is wide and is surrounded by bunkers, so accuracy comes at a premium. With the approach shot playing uphill, only part of the green is visible from the fairway which can make attacking pins in the back third a combination of trust and execution.

Best Par 3:  11th Hole – 217 Yards – Located at the southern tip of the property, the 11th (5th on Center) is a longer par three that plays to a green sloping away from you. As with virtually all the greens at Ridgewood, bunkers are found on each side, but it is the slope of the putting surface that needs to be considered the most. To a front pin, it is wise to play short of the green and let the ball trickle onto the putting surface. To a deep pin, you have to consider the amount of loft your club affords and give your ball sufficient time to come to rest, because flying a ball to the back third of the green will likely bounce off the back and could get lost.

Best Par 4:  9th Hole – 471 Yards – A beautiful two-shotter that heads downhill and back uphill at the green. Tee shots up the left side could catch the hill and leave a shorter approach shot into the green, but from a downhill stance. On the right side you increase your chances at a flat lie, but leave yourself a longer shot into a green that slopes left to right and with bunkers on each side. The green is much more difficult than what meets the eye, with slopes often taking your ball offline further than expected and leaving some knee-knockers when converting a two-putt.

Best Par 5:  3rd Hole – 588 Yards – The 3rd hole introduces one of Tillinghast's famous "great hazards" that he often employed on par fives to generate extra interest and strategy. Reaching the green in two is unrealistic for the vast majority of players, especially since the great hazard, a series of moguls, consumes the fairway 300 yards from the back tee and demands players to hit a 275 yard cut shot up the hill to find the putting surface. The hole plays almost directly south for the majority of its length, but it makes a 45 degree turn right and ascends slightly to the greensite that is protected by eight bunkers that are begging you to be just slightly off line with your approach. There is a long, steady climb to the back of the green, so the test with your flatstick can be significant if you leave yourself further than 30 feet from the pin.

Birdie Time:  12th Hole – 294 Yard Par 4 – The hole is called "Scoonie," but it is much better known as the "Five and Dime" or "Nickel and Dime" hole because it was suggested that the best way to play it was with a 5-iron off the tee and a 10-iron (pitching wedge) into the green. Call it whatever you want, but I call the 12th hole (6th Center) pure fun! Tipping out under 300 yards, this short par four is often regarded as one of the finest holes Tillinghast ever designed. The 2,200 square foot green is extremely narrow, 11 yards at its widest point, and is triple that distance in depth. If you are going to try and drive the green, you better have the accuracy of a sniper! Even laying up you better have your wedge game dialed in. Despite the challenge, this short hole is still your best opportunity to throw a birdie on the card and is the type of hole you want to play over and over again.

Bogey Beware:  7th Hole – 467 Yard Par 4 – There is nothing easy about the 7th, a hole that will separate the contenders from the pretenders. The tee shot plays uphill to a fairway guarded by bunkers on both sides; the larger of which are on the right. The hole doglegs to the left, but slopes to the right, while ascending a total of 25 feet from tee to green. If you cheat the dogleg too much, a tree is likely to swat your ball into the bunker below, but if you go too far right the fairway will send your ball to the rough or sand. The long, skinny plateau green is flanked by bunkers on each side and slopes hard to the right. During the Barclay events, this hole played the most difficult for professionals.