Medford Village Country Club began in the mid-1960s as Sunny Jim Golf Club, named after its owner Jim Himmelein, who wanted the course to be a difficult test. It’s since been shorted and widened but it remains tough.
Overall rating
Medford Village Country Club began in the mid-1960s as Sunny Jim Golf Club, named after its owner Jim Himmelein, who wanted the course to be a difficult test. It’s since been shorted and widened but it remains tough.
Medford Village
The words from founder James "Dutch" Himmelein to William F. Gordon when designing the course at what is now Medford Village Country Club: "Create a golf course that will be as challenging as Pine Valley." Well alright then! That’s a tall order, so the course will be forgiven if it doesn’t live up to the notoriety of the nearby south-Jersey icon.
Still, those playing from the tips at Medford will have a lot to think about. Among those things, however, one should rise to the fore: accuracy. The club advertises its tight fairways, measuring 30 yards on average, as core to its defensive strategy; a misplay off the tee is the quickest way to losing a hole in competition. The course begins with the more expansive holes during the first half, before diving into a claustrophobic back nine that loops around the property’s edge while demanding utmost accuracy from players.
Gordon took at least a few visual keys from Pine Valley (even if his sand budget was ultimately lower): No. 5, a par five, features a huge bunker crossing the fairway, which will prevent all but the best tee shots to allow crossing in two…”Hell’s eighth-of-an-acre” might be a fitting nickname.
Believe it or not, the course has actually been shortened since it was opened (to "just" 7,150 yards).
