Knoll (West)

The Knoll Golf Club features two 18-hole routings; the West course designed by Charles Banks and the East course, added 30 years later by Hal Purdy. Although the latter is totally public, the former also offers a limited number of tee times to unaccompanied visitors.

Banks was an acolyte of Seth Raynor, and accordingly brought the template style to multiple courses across New Jersey. Among the most popular of those templates featured at Knoll West are No. 6, a “Short,” and No. 13, a “Biarritz” (it’s worth noting that the latter features only the second plateau cut at green height...with the exception of Yale Golf Club, this is actually how Raynor intended the curious hole to be maintained).

This course also shares something with Blue Mound Golf Club in that it features a double set of “Redan” holes; the No. 3 par three plays in the traditional Redan style, while the closing par four also features a Redan-style green set high above a deep bunker. If traditional Redan holes give you fits, consider the difficulty in playing a par four measuring 440 yards that ends with such a green. A centerline bunker in the fairway does no favors.