The Essex County Parks golf courses, Weequahic Park Hendricks Field and Francis Byrne are three terrific golf courses to go and play.
All three updated with new renovations, the Essex County courses are now even better, as well.
A beautiful rolling property, Essex County’s Weequahic Park Golf Course is a challenge with brand new bunkers that have greatly enhanced its strategic and visual appeal. Tucked in the corner of historic Essex County Weequahic Park, this is, also, the oldest public course in New Jersey, having been designed by Baltusrol Golf Club professional George Low in 1913.
While Weequahic measures slightly less than 6,000 yards, the course offers an ideal golfing landscape with its small greens make low scoring a challenge. Among the best holes on this lovely course are the uphill par five 3rd with two large bunkers carved in the hillside, as well as the long par four 16th that plays to the crest of this same hill and down to the green that is set in the base of its long slope.
Designed by architect Charles Banks, Essex County’s Hendricks Field golf course features well contoured putting surfaces and many interesting holes. Opened in 1929, renovations at Hendricks have included the reconstruction of tees and bunkers, as well as extensive upgrades in drainage that have significantly improved playing conditions. Hendricks has a number of classically designed holes, such as the par four 4th hole that has a cluster of Principal’s Nose bunkers in the center of the fairway. The par three Sixth, meanwhile, has a green that is, like the world-famous “Postage Stamp” Hole No.8 at this year’s British Open’s Royal Troon Golf Club, almost entirely surrounded by bunkers.
The narrow fairways and well-guarded greens at Hendricks require both accurate and thoughtful play to add to golfers’ enjoyment at this hidden gem located in Belleville.
Francis Byrne Golf Course, which dates back to 1926, was designed as a private country club course by Banks. Through the recently completed Renovation Project, many of the course features have been restored to their classic roots, making Byrne one of the premiere public golf destinations in the state. The course features a number of holes are based on famous courses from Scotland, including the par five 1st hole that is modeled after the Road Hole at St. Andrews.
Among other classic holes on the Byrne Golf Course are the long par three Biarritz 2nd hole. The hole goes well over 200 yards from the championship tee and the short 14th that is similar to the Eden hole that is also found at St. Andrews, as well as many of the best private clubs in the United States. The back nine at Byrne includes several long par four holes such as the 12th and 15th. World Golf Hall of Famer, and golfing legend, Bobby Jones, considered 15 to be one of the most difficult holes in America.
Hole#16 Green
Start of Construction
This beautiful course in West Orange features deep bunkers, hills and rolling greens that combine to create a wonderfully challenging layout that measures nearly 6,800 yards and offers public golfers the rare opportunity to play a course from golf’s Golden Age of Design.
“ We are very proud of our efforts to restore, actually more like rebuild three historically significant golf courses in Essex County,” said Essex County parks Director of Operations Tim Christ. “ We first did a rebuild/renovation of Hendricks Field Golf Course. This was a significant undertaking since we designed several new holes and built a First Tee facility second to none. Originally the only ever golf course designed by Charles Banks specifically for public golf, Stephen Kay Golf Course Architect assisted us in the process to keep the integrity of the Charles Banks design. While keeping his design principles intact we took on the challenge of rerouting the course and building some new golf holes that included a Rail “Road” hole #11 575 yards. This hole runs along an old rail line and utilizes the strategy of the St. Andrews Road Hole. The other hole that we built is the #12 154 yard Wee “Biarritz”, that can vary from the back tee as little as 128 yards and as much as 172 yards.
“ Hendricks Field Golf Course was a significant investment for Essex County, but when you have a visionary such as Joe DiVincenzo, Jr as your County Executive, he knows how important recreational open spaces can be. After we finished Hendricks Field with great success it was time to move to our other Charles Banks/Seth Raynor golf course Francis Byrne Golf Course. This Golf Course will host the State Public Links Championship August 15th this year. Originally built in 1928, it was purchased by Essex County from the Essex County Country Club in 1978. With the surge in golf popularity it was time to renovate/restore some of the original intent of the design as well as improve upon many of the possibilities we had to make Francis Byrne Golf Course, our crowned jewel. It now has 6 sets of tee combinations and can accommodate golfers with all skill levels. For the Championships it can play a Par 70, 6,970 yards. We have two new finishing holes, # 17 is a 219 yard par three Reverse Redan that slopes to the Rahway River. Your best bet is to play it off the slope on the left and let the ball feed into the green softly. The final hole is what we call the “Executive Decision”. From the back it is 598 yard Par 5 and requires 3 good shots to make a very large green.”
There are lots and lot of great places to get to golf in Central New Jersey, and the Essex County Golf Courses of Weequahic, Hendricks Field and Francis Byrne are among the very, very best of them. Go try your game at one, or all, of them if you can.
Francis-Byrne
1100 Pleasant Valley Way
West Orange, NJ
Phone: 973-736-2306
Hendricks Field
220 Franklin Avenue,
Belleville, NJ
973-751-0178
Weequanic
1 Thomas Carmichael Drive
Newark, NJ 07112
Phone: 973-926-2520
