Crystal Springs (Wild Turkey)

Although the Ballyowen course is typically held as the best of the four at the Crystal Springs Resort in northern New Jersey, the designer of the Wild Turkey route doesn’t feel too bitter. After all, it was probably his stellar work in creating Ballyowen that got Roger Rulewich the job on Wild Turkey!

The course — the last 18-hole route constructed for the resort — serves somewhat as a hybrid between two of the courses that already existed. Those who have played Ballyowen will find some similarities in a part of the property known as “the Hollow,” a rolling piece of treeless area that houses holes nos. 3 as well as 12 through 17.

The other holes play on land that bear resemblance to the resort’s namesake course, a more “heroic” approach that plays over and around a series of water-filled quarries. The signature hole at Wild Turkey, like that at Crystal Springs, is a par three that calls for a tee shot over a quarry pond, which sits well below the green. Accordingly, with the dramatic terrain on this portion of the course, few of the holes offer opportunities for run-up approaches, requiring accurate carries from the fairway.