jamesdeluxe
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2020
One of my oft-repeated stories is that when I moved in 2003 to New Jersey (which I'd previously only seen from interstate highways on my way to upstate NY, Newark airport, or to visit in-laws in Virginia), I had to overcome a number of lifelong biases against the state -- namely, that it was nothing more than a collection of polluted Superfund sites, traffic-choked tollways, oil refineries, sprawling faceless suburbs, ugly crumbling cities, and dumping grounds for Mafia hits. In short, it was exactly what you see from Tony's car window in The Sopranos' opening sequence.
After living here the past 17 years, I can say that while those negative stereotypes definitely exist (mostly within a specific geographic corridor), NJ gets an unearned bad rap and it has piles of great options for outdoor people, many attractive historic towns, and a fair portion of the state is surprisingly rural. However, that's a discussion for another day; I'm here to talk about polluted landfills in unpleasant industrial zones! Specifically one in Jersey City that was transformed into impressive Skyway Golf Course at Lincoln Park West.
Opened in 2015 after Hudson County reportedly spent more than $20 million to repurpose the approximately 50-acre site (here's a brief overview), it's built alongside and named after the Pulaski Skyway, a 3.5-mile steel truss bridge/causeway completed in 1934. There are several other well-known landfill courses throughout the NYC tri-state region, including Bayonne, Ferry Point, and world-famous Liberty National only two miles away along the Hudson River. In the early 00s, I played Marine Park, a comparatively unmemorable Robert Trent Jones layout on top of a landfill in outer Brooklyn.
Check out this air shot from the course's website along the winding Hackensack River, only four miles as the crow flies from Manhattan. Not the verdant setting that most people associate with a relaxing round of golf! Other than unsightly but necessary fencing to keep tee shots from hitting traffic on two holes, it looks like a normal course, including a large number of bunkers and water hazards.
The Skyway experience starts inauspiciously at the clubhouse, which is housed inside what appears to be a large transport container (quite fitting if you consider what surrounds it: a motley collection of railyards, truck stops, warehouses, roadside diners, a county jail, a cemetery/mausoleum, a couple car washes, a chemical plant, and a housing project). Given the space constraints, you can certainly understand why they didn't build a larger structure.
They'd just finished end-of-season maintenance including aeration and serious top-dressing, which you can see on the practice putting green and many of the tees:
At the first tee, the starter gives you a helpful two-minute overview of the course and answers any questions. We ran into three different rangers over the nine holes who make sure that everyone keeps up the pace.
The part of her presentation that made all of us laugh was this detail -- apparently the rough is more of a concern to maintain than the fairways:
Here's a hole-by-hole walk-through on the website and a more detailed review from the Worldgolfer blog. I'm not familiar with the designers, Jeff Grossman and Roy Case; however, they received a lot of acclaim for their work here.
From the first hole, you can see the World Trade Center. Despite the recent maintenance, conditions were fantastic with soft but fast greens:
The Hackensack River to the right with the Bayonne Bridge off in the distance:
Thick rough around the sand traps:
Impressive how they sculpted the property to make it undulate so much. You can see a drain on the fairway to keep it from flooding during downpours:
A comparatively easy sand shot:
Approaching one of the few greens not directly protected by bunkers:
For those interested in a challenge -- from the back tees on the par 5 Hole #8, that's a 230-yard drive to clear the marsh and the fairway landing area is only 20 yards wide:
Hole #9, a 175-yard par 3 surrounded by nasty bunkers on the far side of the green:
Here you can see the long sand trap along the left, which is where I ended up:
A few professional photos from the website to provide additional context:
Par 3 Hole #2 during a vivid sunset:
In short, Skyway is a unique and surprisingly challenging golf experience. I'm sure that my friends who know more about course architecture could spend a while dissecting this layout and the choices made.
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