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Mountain Ridge Country Club Golf Course Map /Mountain Ridge Country Club Golf Holes Map
Mountain Ridge Country Club Golf Course Review in Caldwell, NJ in 07006
CALDWELL WEATHER
Hole MAP
Hole 1
Hole Name FROM THE BACK TEES
From The Tee A drive that flirts with the right side is rewarded with a better approach to the green, which angles away to the left. The greenside bunker to the left is one of the longest on the golf course.
From The Fairway
On The Green “When Ross did his field sketching,” Ron Prichard said, “and he took a couple of days to do it on site, he actually sketched every bunker.” Ross’s instructions here were to raise the whole green not less than three feet, and dig the bunker to a depth of four feet. The ramp up to the green at front is described in the field sketch as “a sharp terrace.”
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Hole 2
Hole Name A BLIND TEE SHOT
From The Tee
From The Fairway In Ross’s time, fairways were more likely seventy-five yards wide rather than today’s thirty or forty. Such latitude suited a hole like this one, giving the player room to swing freely, while rewarding those who mix power and precision with a more open approach shot.
On The Green
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Hole 3
Hole Name A FINE SHORT HOLE
From The Tee A FINE SHORT HOLE that has been through many changes. Until the 1960s, the straight path to the green was unencumbered. Around 1970, two willows were planted, encroaching on the left side of the fairway at about 210-230 yards. A big oak on the right impeded the approach shot from that side. In Ron Prichard’s renovation, the willows and the oak were removed,
From The Fairway a set of bunkers now pinch the left side, and a stream was brought into play on the right with the fairway running up to it.
On The Green The plateau green is perched above deep bunkers at the front left and right; it is one of the few putting surfaces on the course where the ball must arrive through the air.
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Hole 4
Hole Name UPHILL SHOTS
From The Tee Until the 1950s, the far right side of this hole abutted Ferncliff, a public golf course. One player went out with a new caddy, hit the ball way right past the few trees that divided the courses,
From The Fairway
On The Green saw a green in the distance, and played to it. He continued his round and ended up at the Ferncliff clubhouse, where they noticed he had no day pass on his bag. Pro shop personnel called Mountain Ridge to come and get him.
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Hole 5
Hole Name FROM THE FIFTH TEE
From The Tee The green slopes from back to front away from the clubhouse, so it is essential to keep your ball below the hole. It also features a false front, and bunkers left, right, and well short.
From The Fairway “Ross didn’t generally stick a false front on holes where the putting surface is clearly visible from the fairway,” Prichard said. “His inclination was to put one on an uphill hole—like #6, for example, where the surface is really hidden. On holes where you can see the base of the pin, it wasn’t something he did very often. But I like this one.”
On The Green
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Hole 6
Hole Name ROSS NEVER
From The Tee ROSS NEVER put a par number on a hole. He would not be concerned that long hitters can routinely
From The Fairway
On The Green reach this green in two; this is one of the many “par four-and-a-half ” holes on the course, and the green provides all the defense anyone could ask for.
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Hole 7
Hole Name THIS UPHILL PAR THREE
From The Tee THIS UPHILL PAR THREE, the 2014 renovations brings the green back to Ross's original sketch. Ross’s diagram shows a notch that was never put in at the top of the green, with undulations two-and-a-half feet high.
From The Fairway
On The Green A bunker on the right of the green pin-high was added in the 1960s, possibly to keep shots from running down to the maintenance sheds. It was removed early in Prichard’s restoration, when he also put in a mid-green bunker on the left that Ross had indicated but was never built. A cross-bunker in the ridge 100 yards from the tee was removed in the ’60s.
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Hole 8
Hole Name AN EPIC VIEW GREETS YOU
From The Tee AN EPIC VIEW GREETS YOU as you complete the climb from the 7th green.
From The Fairway The fairway tosses and tumbles far below, and the entire property seems to stretch out before you.
On The Green The roll of the generous fairway hides the landing area, but there is little danger as the left bunkers are well out of reach. Those, and the bunkers to the right that are 70-100 yards short of the green, pinch the approach shot visually, but there is ample room to run the ball in.
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Hole 9
Hole Name ANOTHER PAR FOUR-AND-A-HALF
From The Tee Ross recognized a natural saucer at the top of the hill where he placed the green.
From The Fairway The fairway bleeds smoothly into the front of the putting surface, but the slope is steep and shots hit short will roll several yards back down.
On The Green A chipping area left of the green replaced a bunker that got little play.
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Hole 10
Hole Name ORIGINALLY THE FIRST HOLE
From The Tee ORIGINALLY THE FIRST HOLE, this is a brother of the current opener. The tee, like that at the 1st, was once bordered by hedges.
From The Fairway The inviting fairway is in full view from the elevated tee. The bunker left is mostly a visual hazard; the bunkers on the right are 300 yards from the championship tee, giving long hitters something to think about from the member tees.
On The Green
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Hole 11
Hole Name MEMBERS DELIGHT
From The Tee MEMBERS DELIGHT in not telling first-time visitors about the pond 100 yards ahead of the tee on the blind drive; it was a narrow ditch until the 1960s.
From The Fairway
On The Green The fairway slopes left to right; the bunker on the right side helps guard the 14th green from errant drives.
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Hole 12
Hole Name THREE PINE TREES AT THE INSIDE CORNER
From The Tee At the same time, the stream between 12 and 13 was extended towards the inside corner of the dogleg,
From The Fairway a framing bunker was placed at the outside, and a bunker in the ridge at the start of the fairway was returned to where it had been until the 1960s. The leading edge by the pond also was lowered to make the hazard visible from the fairway.
On The Green
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Hole 13
Hole Name HOLES 12, 13, AND 3
From The Tee For many years, there was a tin cup on a chain alongside the brook feeding the pond in front of the tee. Golfers walking past could dip the cup into the cool, clear water, and take a drink. Those days, sadly, are long gone. The cup has been preserved as a memento of simpler, cleaner times.
From The Fairway
On The Green
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Hole 14
Hole Name IF 10 AND 1 ARE BROTHERS
From The Tee 7 and 14 are at least cousins. Both are uphill par threes of similar length, with pinching bunkers in front.
From The Fairway
On The Green
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Hole 15
Hole Name THE ORIGINAL TEE ON 15
From The Tee was just steps away from the 14th green, where the drink-ing water is now. This would make for a ninety-degree dogleg today, but the corner was gentler before the tree-planting binge of the late 1960s. “It was an iron shot, a 1-iron, 2-iron,” Ned Steiner said. “It was hard for women, because there was only one tee and they couldn’t get around the dogleg.” Aerial photos from 1931 show two bunkers a
From The Fairway
On The Green
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Hole 16
Hole Name THE SHORTEST PAR-THREE
From The Tee THE SHORTEST PAR-THREE on the course has always required a short-iron over water to a large and undulating green. Until the 1960s,
From The Fairway
On The Green three bunkers guarded the green at front left, front right, and on the side to the right. Additional bunkers left the increasingly rounded putting surface surrounded by parentheses of sand. The original green was over 110 feet from side to side. Much of that width has been restored by Prichard, who took out the extraneous bunkers and added a chipping area on the left side. “Chipping areas are not
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Hole 17
Hole Name A PRETTY UNCOMFORTABLE
From The Tee tee shot, isn’t it?” said Ron Prichard. It certainly looks uncomfortable. With two bunkers and trees to the right and the boundary woods on the left, the shot looks much harder than it actually is. The bunkers are easy to carry, and the long grasses in the distance are well out of play and run parallel to the hole, not perpendicular as they appear.
From The Fairway
On The Green
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Hole 18
Hole Name GREEN IS NATURAL
From The Tee very slight grading required to finish the surface on 2 levels.” Donald Ross wrote that. Of course, he couldn’t imagine modern green speeds or mowing heights.
From The Fairway
On The Green The final green, in all its severe glory, is the green Ross intended for the hole. It is difficult, but there are several places to put a cup; it’s always been that way, it has a great deal of character, and at least members know what to expect from it.
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