Plainfield Country Club (1890)
1st Hole / 432 Yards / Par-4
Architect: Donald Ross (1921)
Updated: Gil Hanse (2000)
Edison, New Jersey, USA
Compelling golf architecture for opening holes is a difficult balancing act to achieve.
The reason is simple.
Far too often opening holes can be pedestrian for the challenge provided. Serving nothing more than a stretching of the muscles for the remaining 17 holes that follow.
On the flip side — certain opening holes present an overly demanding test. Such holes don’t provide an engaging introduction but more of a bludgeoning impact that can be off-putting for the broadest range of player handicaps.
Among the top five clubs in New Jersey is Plainfield County Club. Located in Edison, the club is no stranger to elite competitions.
This May it will be the venue for its third USGA Championship – the men’s Four-Ball. Previously, the club hosted the 1978 U.S. Amateur and the 1987 U.S. Women’s Open. Two other USGA events are planned in the coming years with the 2031 Senior Women’s Open and the 2038 U.S. Senior Open respectively.
Plainfield Country Club twice hosted The Barclays on the PGA Tour. Dustin Johnson, the 2016 U.S. Open champion and 2020 Masters winner, won the first one by two strokes in 2011. Jason Day, the 2015 PGA Championship winner, powered his way to a six-stroke triumph that same year. A member club of both the Metropolitan Golf Association and the New Jersey State Golf Association, the club has also hosted six Met Amateurs, five Met Opens, five New Jersey Amateurs and seven New Jersey Opens.
Architect Gil Hanse was hired by the club in 1999. The reason? Bring back to life the original fingerprints of renowned designer Donald Ross. Approximately 1,200 treees were removed. Hanse’s effort included restoration of over 100 bunkers, expansion of half the greens — all to their original size and shape — new tees on 14 of the holes, and restoration of chipping areas and fescue.
This process opened up strategic playing angles and enhanced views across the eye-catching property.
Plainfield’s opening hole commences directly in front of the golf shop. The cozy atmosphere makes for an intimate setting.
General wind conditions are often favorable and assisting the player. The 1st is blessed with ideal terrain movement. The fairway provides the appearance of waves on a stormy ocean.
Lurking to the far right is out-of-bounds. Hanse’s efforts included fairway widening. The sole fairway bunker on the left was brought into play by simply eliminating rough grass that often times prevented balls from rolling into it.
Players finding the bunker need to have enough room in front of them in order to clear the lip.
The landing area does narrow the closer you get to the aforementioned fairway bunker.
Players can face a daunting approach because the terrain from 80-120 yards in the fairway has a ridge that blocks one’s view of the green.
The putting surface is just under 9,000 square feet and includes a pronounced back-to-front tilt. Various pin positions can cause much anxiety – especially for players facing a daunting side-hill putt of any sizeable length.
Green speeds at Plainfield can routinely reach 13 on the Stimpmeter so it pays to keep one’s approach below the hole. Birdies are possible but bogies and more can happen ever so quickly.
New Jersey is home to several worthy openers with the likes of Pine Valley, Alpine, Galloway National, Somerset Hills, to name just a few. However, Plainfield’s opener is the quintessential starting hole. Credit the Ross foundation and Hanse’s brilliant updating.
In sum — a tour de force hole.
