#63 - Somerset Hills Country Club - All About the Greens

There are thousands of good golf courses in the world, interesting enough to captivate your mind for about 4 hours.  There are hundreds of great golf courses.  Great courses utilize the land they sit on exceptionally well, make you think, challenge you, reward you, and inspires a sense of awe.  There are 100 courses that are considered the best in America, which factor in routing, layout, difficulty, experience, conditions, and history.  Among those 100, a few courses stand out for having one or two truly exceptional features.  For Oakmont, it’s the history and the difficulty.  Pebble Beach has the natural beauty.  Erin Hills has sheer scale.  Although arguably much less famous than those three, Somerset Hills has some of the most unique greens I have ever seen peppered amongst some truly stand out holes.

A great green changes the complexity of the hole that precedes it.  The size, slope, and surrounding elements impact best way to approach a hole.  At Somerset, aiming for the flagstick is rarely the ideal option.  It seems that the club understands success will be found on the short grass as the driving range leaves much to be desired.  A set of bays aimed out into the space between the 4th and 10th holes leaves each of the fairways littered with range balls, and has warmups limited to wedges while golfers pass through the holes.

While the conversation about Somerset Hills often starts and ends with the second hole, a 175 yard par 3, world class redan, the green on the first hole has plenty of movement built in to get the round going.  The only way to get close to the back right pin is to land your approach on the front left section of the green. Aiming at the pin is sure to have your shot bouncing down the slope off to right.

Hole #1 - Par 4 - 440 Yards - "Orchard"

The opening hole is a downhill, dogleg right with the namesake apple orchard running down the right side.

Next comes the most famous hole at Somerset.  The 2nd hole is so singular that many consider it the greatest redan in golf.  The par 3 requires a tee shot to the right side of the green to trickle down to the left.  From tee to cup, the green poses challenges with its severe slope.

Hole #2 - Par 3 - 175 Yards - "Redan"

The front pin placement took a little bit of the teeth out from the full nature of the hole, eliminating the threat of the left bunker but did bring the false front into play.

Hole #3 - Par 4 - 360 Yards - Bunker Hill

Climing back toward the first fairway, the third hole has more elevation at the green than meets the eye.

Hole #4 - Par 4 - 427 Yards - "Dolomites"

The green complex has mounds protecting the back and left of the green invoking Italian Dolomites.

Another exceptional green comes on the short par 4, 5th hole.  The defense of this hole comes with the back half of the green which looks like a crumpled-up car bumper after a fender bender.  If you find yourself back amongst the waves, your only hope is a boomerang putt around the mounds.

Hole #5 - Par 4 - 329 Yards - "Nairn"

Hole #6 - Par 5 - 491 Yards - "Plateau"

The second dogleg right of the front 9, this one in the form of a par 5 that is reachable if you cut the corner slightly.

The mesmerizing greens don’t stop there. The 7th green slopes right to left almost as hard as the redan hole.  The 10th hole has a massive false front.  The 13th hole has a Biarritz green with a valley in the middle.  The 14th green is full of sweeping undulation.  The 15th, with an aerial approach required over the diagonal creek, has a select few spots to land the ball while holding the green.  Finally, the 16th hole had a sucker pin on the right side, but the tee shot needed to land on the center left of the green and funnel down to the hole.

Hole #7 - Par 4 - 445 Yards - "Racetrack"

Somerset Hills is built on the sight of an old racetrack, which cuts through the fairway of the 6th hole and must be carried off the tee on the 7th. The green has a massive right-to-left slope.

Hole #8 - Par 3 - 205 Yards - "Dip"

A relatively straightforward but lengthy par 3 starts to turn us back toward the clubhouse.

Hole #9 - Par 5 - 514 Yards - "Westward Ho"

The first dogleg left on the course has a demanding and somewhat blind tee shot. The fairway is bisected by some mounds that come into play on the second shot, and the green has plenty of complexity to keep the approach difficult.

Hole #10 - Par 5 - 485 Yards - "Sunningdale"

An aggressive line can carry the bunkers down the right side off the tee, as Joe and I both did. With that type of start, the hole becomes very reachable, but a false front and cratered green provide some small justification that this hole remain a par 5.

Hole #11 - Par 4 - 388 Yards - "Perfection"

Perfection is an apt name for my favorite hole on the course. Distance control off the tee is needed to ensure clearing the corner of the dogleg right without overshooting. The stream running down the right side comes across the fairway and feeds into the collection lake. Beyond that, the hole rises to an elevated green requiring 1-2 extra clubs into a slight breeze.

Hole #12 - Par 3 - 140 Yards - "Despair"

A supremely fun par 3 that is short and beautiful, with a tempting pin baiting you to bring the water into play.

Hole #13 - Par 4 - 391 Yards - "Corner"

The star of this hole is the Biarritz green. Though not as long as some of the other Biarritz out there, the necessity of getting to the correct tier remains true.

Hole #14 - Par 4 - 366 Yards - "Ridge"

One of the most diabolical greens on the course, the front right, back right, and left side of the green all move in different directions. The front pin position forced us to land well short of the green, roll past the hole, and then putt back up toward the hole.

Hole #15 - Par 4 - 375 Yards - "Happy Valley"

Anything less than a perfectly placed drive on the dogleg right has bogey written all over it. The approach must carry a stream to a complex green with a hump in the back right.

Hole #16 - Par 3 - 162 Yards - "Deception"

The 16th hole plays almost as a reverse redan, a mirror image of the 2nd hole. In order to get close to the hole on the right, you have to land the ball on the middle-left of the green. Anything right is dead.

Hole #17 - Par 4 - 370 Yards - "Quarry"

Similar, yet more dramatic than the 11th hole at Myopia that we played a few week prior, the 17th rises up over a blind ridge and then shoots downhill. All tee shots funnel to the right, but a good drive down the left side can leave a short pitch onto the green.

Hole #18 - Par 4 - 321 Yards - "Thirsty Summit"

The 18th hole shoots straight up a slope, and is a slightly underwhelming way to end a spectacular round, but the drinks awaiting in the clubhouse as the sun fell in the sky were an excellent close to a great round.

It has taken me a few months to sit down and write the post about our outstanding day at Somerset.  Since then, the course has solidified itself as one of my favorites.  The variation in holes, the distinct nines, and pristine conditions all compliment the one-of-a-kind greens.  I consider holes #2, #5, #11, #15 and #17 for my “Dream 18”.  Putting it all together, Somerset Hills stands tall even among the best of the best golf courses.