Neshanic Valley (Ridge & Lake)

Somerset County Park Commission is proud to operate a total of five public golf courses and it markets the 27-hole complex at Neshanic Valley as its number one facility.

Routed around a massive 350-acre property in Branchburg, the three nines – Ridge, Lake and Meadow – were laid out by Michael Hurdzan and Dana Fry, with the Ridge and Lake circuits forming the premier 18-hole course.

There’s a certain symmetry to a round using this configuration as the more challenging holes on either nine are found at the 2nd (each of them a short par four) and the 5th (both of which are demanding par fives).

On the Ridge loop, the 379-yard 2nd doglegs left past a nest of bunkers to a green that’s protected at the front by a single pot bunker whilst the corresponding hole on the Lake nine starts the 362-yard flight from the tee with a forced carry then doglegs right to a shallow green.

Hole number 5 on the Lake measures 588 yards from tee to green and the narrow fairway plays uphill all the way, into the prevailing wind. Its counterpart on the Ridge nine – probably the most strategic at Neshanic Valley – finds the fairway split by an environmentally sensitive area that has to be crossed by one of a number of small bridges en route to a triangular-shaped green.