My original plan on Saturday was to hit up a nine hole course, Aquia Harbour Golf Course, after my round at Forest Greens. Aquia Harbour was right on the way and would have been convenient. Plus, I wasn’t sure I’d end up having enough daylight for a second full round with my mid morning start.
I scrapped that plan after the proshop at Aquia Harbour was nice enough to tell me the course lost their greens this summer. That left me scrambling for other ideas. Not knowing how long my morning round would take I decided not to prebook a second round anywhere. I wrote down a handful of potential afternoon options which I’d then pick from depending on time and weather.
One of the nearby options I was considering (without having to go up to the beltway) was Montclair Country Club. I’ve seen tee times on Teeoff.com for maybe the last six months and I ended up booking a late afternoon tee time while still playing at Forest Greens. As things turned out I might have been better off at Aquia Harbour!
I got over to Montclair around 3:40pm and checked in with the proshop. As you’ll see, I ended up a tad irritated with the experience. The kid in the proshop was less than helpful – I understand, maybe he was having a bad day. What got my goat was arriving at the 1st green and finding out the course lost their greens too. You’d think management would have their employees make mention of that fact when someone was checking in! I’m pretty sure the tee time was prepaid, so I would have played anyway knowing that the greens were toast. Still, it rubbed me the wrong way, as I’m sure you can tell!
The greens were mostly compacted dirt with some green spots and bits of crab grass popping up. Rolls were interrupted by the transition from dirt to grass and I had putts bounce off the crab grass. The dirt patches were firm and wouldn’t stop rolling – it wasn’t pretty. I chipped one shot about 10 feet short of the flag and it rolled back off the front of the green! After the 1st hole I opted to putt with my putter if I hit the green and my wedge if I chipped onto the green. That way, I could zip through the round. What is crazy is that the bermuda fairways were beautiful! They yielded lush lies and the ball sat up, the fairways really looked awesome. Just take a look at my picture of the 9th fairway and you’ll see what I mean! The tees and two bunkers I was in weren’t good and were consistent with a course struggling financially.
Unfortunately, if I’m honest, Montclair CC’s design is almost as bad as the dirt greens were. But before that, how about some good news?! I scurried around in less than two hours and made two two birdies, so that took some of the sting off my experience! And, the tee boxes were nicely landscaped. Okay, now about the design. The course is in a community with many nice looking homes, built during the 70’s or 80’s, I’d guess. The course heads through those homes and crosses a creek a couple of times. Around the creek the land drops harshly and what you end up with is very little good land left for the course. The course crowds the homes and you basically drive the cart along people’s yards while going from one hole to the next. To me, the golf course seemed like an afterthought by the community planners!
Maybe three or four holes were decent, but all the other holes seemed squished onto the remaining land. There are harsh doglegs, narrow alleys to drive the ball and uncomfortable, uneven lies. I played the blue tees which are 70.4/133/6083 (par-71). That is as far back as you can play, so you might be able to find some pars or birdies on the short holes.
I suppose one glimmer of hope when it comes to the design are the par-3’s, which I enjoyed playing. On the front nine, I thought the par-3 4th was a great little hole. It is 143 yards and plays over water to a peninsula style green. You can bail a bit right, but you need to be accurate! On the back nine, the 234 yard par-3 11th is likely one you will remember! It plays from an elevated tee down to a green that is on the other side of the creek. You play through a tunnel of trees to get there so a long, straight shot is needed to have any hope at a par.
In hindsight I probably should have tried my luck somewhere else for my afternoon round, oh well. Even with decent greens, my suggestion would be to avoid Montclair CC because of the goofy routing and some silly holes. If you are just dying to check this one off your list then at the very least I’d wait until the greens are redone.
Course Pictures (click any picture to scroll through the gallery):