Explore the Upper Montclair Courses

Hole Description

A great starting hole in terms of fairness. Always look where the pin is to determine club selection. A 225 yard drive is all you need to have less than 150 yards left for your second shot. Long hitters beware of the short shot in, it's very difficult to control your spin with such a challenging green.
- Michael Holiday, Director of Golf, Upper Montclair Country Club

Hole Description

A great short Par 4 that will tempt the player to challenge the fairway bunker down the left hand side to leave a flip wedge into the green. The best way, however, to play the hole is to hit something less than driver from the tee, leaving a full shot into the green. The second shot plays steeply uphill to a green guarded by bunkers on all sides.

Hole Description

This medium length Par 3 is defined by the challenge in the green. A large green that features a "buried elephant" creates numerous tricky hole locations on this putting surface that is well guarded by two of Jones' well known "amoeba bunkers".

Hole Description

A terrific Par 4 that usually plays into the prevailing breeze making it play longer than the yardage on the scorecard indicates. Driving the ball in the fairway is a premium all around UMCC, on this hole it is a must. Any drive missing left will be tree troubled and a miss to right can find the player in a pair of uncomfortable fairway bunkers or worse, a lateral hazard. The green is severely undulating and tilts mainly from back to front. Par on this hole will most certainly be well-earned.

Hole Description

Yet another risk-reward Par 5 that begins with the tee shot. An aggressive play over the trees of this dogleg right will leave the player with a decision to make on the second shot, go for the green, or lay up short of the creek. The green is guarded by a creek in front and mounds in the back.

Hole Description

A gentle dogleg left, the Par 4 6th hole is more than meets the eye on the scorecard. Often playing into the prevailing breeze, the medium length Par 4 plays longer than you might expect. The green is guarded on all sides by deep bunkers. With a dramatic false front, the up and down from short of the green is no easy task.

Hole Description

This Par 5 often plays longer than the yardage on the scorecard. The right fairway bunker yawns at players as they hit their tee shot, waiting to grab a tee shot that misses right. The hole is defined by the fairway bunker that crosses the fairway 80 yards in front of the green.

Hole Description

The Par 3 8th hole can play as long as 200 yards or as short as 150 yards. The challenge of this hole is in the steeply undulating greens and large bunkers that guard the green on both sides. A putt from below the hole is the best opportunity at birdie.

Hole Description

A Par on 9 West will most certainly be a well-earned score. This challenging Par 4 begins with a tee shot to a fairway flanked by bunkers on both sides. A narrow landing area that is a must-hit in order to find this green in regulation. The approach shot is played one club up the hill to a green guarded by a pot bunker right, a coffin bunker back, and 2 cavernous bunkers on the left. Any shot that comes up short will traverse back down the hill some 20 yards short of the green.

Hole Description

A good drive to the left side of the fairway provides the best approach shot with a long to mid iron. A large bunker guards the left side of the green. Go right and you'll be chipping from a difficult position in the line of trees. The green slopes from back to front.

Hole Description

Golf legend Arnold Palmer considers 2-South one of his all time favorite golf holes. Palmer recognized the 2nd hole of the South in his book titled ARNOLD PALMER"S BEST 54 GOLF HOLES, one of America's finest and beloved golfers, Palmer wrote the following:

"I admire more the par-five 11th (2-South played as the 11th hole in championship play), a 530 yard hole that offers the same challenge as the two par-fives on the second nine of Augusta National - a chance to reach the green in two if you gamble to cross the water. However, this requires a long, left to right tee shot safely into a tree lined fairway.

For most players, the hole plays with a tee shot, a mid-iron short of the creek and a wedge onto the green. That, of course, these less skilled players keep the ball out of the rough and trees.

Interestingly, Bobby Nichols got the stroke he needed to edge Lebron Harris in the 1970 Dow Jones Classic by knocking his third shot out of the trees and on to the green, then holing the birdie putt. Bobby is a man after my own heart - undaunted when he puts his ball into trouble, always figuring, as I do, that there has to be a way out."
- Arnold Palmer

Hole Description

Widely recognized not only as Upper Montclair's signature hole but as one of the MET section's most challenging Par 4's. The hole bends sharply left in the drive zone then rolls slightly downhill to a boomerang shaped green protected by a small bunker in the front and a pond front and right. In 1982 this hole played as part of the region's "Dream Course" , the foursome led by professional Ben Crenshaw traveled a total of 750 miles by helicopter to play what the Metropolitan Golf Association called "a dream course of choice holes in the metropolitan area". Crenshaw escaped with a hard earned par after hitting a miraculous 4-wood from the right rough 200 yards away from the green.

"The image of Upper Montclair, while not set in such a spectacular environment as Augusta, nevertheless gains it's general character and its strength from its similar pattern of architecture: Its plateaued greens, its undulating green surfaces, and its water holes. The fairways are more tightly trapped than Augusta's, and the targets from the tee, for professional golfers, more confining...When stretched to its full length and with the rough drawn in, Upper Montclair is a superb test of golf."
- Robert Trent Jones, Sr., reflecting on his work at Upper Montclair during a Thunderbird Classic in the 1960's.

"Ahh... the 12th (3-South played as the 12th hole in championship play) that's the one to watch here. I mean it's the hardest damn hole in the world! In the old days we played a lot of jewels like Upper Montclair. These kinds of traditional golf courses are disappearing... This is a lovely course to play, a traditional golf course"
-Lee Trevino, at the 1993 NFL Cadillac Classic

Hole Description

After a stern test of golf to start the South course, we enter a 2 hole stretch in which birdies can be had with good golf shots. This relatively short Par 4 starts with the decision on the tee box. A player can reach for the driver, which will shorten the hole considerably. However, driver will also bring into play a variety of tricky situations. A conservative tee shot down the right center of the fairway will leave a short iron into a green that slopes severely from back to front and is well guarded by deep bunkers on both sides of the green. The ideal approach shot will be placed below the hole allowing the player an uphill putt at birdie.

Hole Description

This medium length Par 4 presents the player with a number of options off the tee. The conservative approach with a 3 wood or less will leave the player with a mid-iron into this severely undulating green while the aggressive approach with a driver will yield a short wedge approach. The key to the tee shot, regardless of club selection, is to aim for the middle to right center of the fairway. Any drive that misses the fairway left will be swallowed by a series of deep fairway bunkers while a tee shot that finds even the left side of the fairway will leave a second shot influenced by the large tree that guards the left side of the green. A hole that looks rather benign on the scorecard, but will test your game with its nuances.

Hole Description

The Par 3 6th hole can play as long as 190 yards or as short as 140 yards depending on hole location and positioning of the tee markers. This makes for great variety on a hole that features many challenges. If the hole location is back left, player beware of firing at the hole location. The contours of the green will funnel a well played shot to the middle of the green back to the pin. When the pin is up front, the hole will play shorter but will also bring into play the shaved bank in the front of the green that is not generally kind to shots that come up even a few feet short of the green.

Hole Description

A medium length Par 4, the fairway is guarded left by deep fairway bunkers and right by a collection of over hanging trees. Hitting this fairway is a must to set up the approach into a very large, undulating green.

Hole Description

Arnold Palmer once referred to this hole as "the most difficult Par 3 I have ever seen in my life". A bold statement that brings to light the subtle challenge of this great Par 3. In the 1962 Thunderbird Classic, Jack Nicklaus made an explosive run of 10 birdies in his closing 14 holes on Saturday afternoon, setting up a race to the finish on Sunday. Nicklaus was unable to continue the momentum he built on Saturday, making only 2 birdies in Sunday's final round. The 17th sealed his fate as he took 3 shots to get up and down from the front of the green.

Hole Description

Off the tee you must avoid the entire right side, there is plenty of room down the left. Get as aggressive as you can trying your best to advance your second shot within 125 yards (nothing more or your in trouble) of the green. The rest is simple, time to throw a dart.
- Michael Holiday, Director of Golf