Ballyowen Golf Club

beautiful and well designed

Ballyowen is beautiful, challenging, well kept, and all around great course. Unfortunately, their staff is rude and make me reconsider playing there ever again. We were playing 13-15 minute holes with the closest group TWO HOLES behind us and the ranger followed us for four holes telling us to pick up the pace each hole, obnoxious.

Very challenging course. Not for beginners. Staff was very helpful and service was good.

Great course, not difficult

No bathrooms or place to get beverages

But all and all very nice

Took a trip away from my club and wow What a great facility! They even sent us email updates on the frost delay (yes frost delay, but I guess it is April) we were 30mins delayed but wasted some time on the range. The place looked packed but we got around the course in a little over 4hrs, seems to be well managed. I wish I played better, but will certainly be back this year. Highly recommend!

Let me preface this review by pointing out that I'm ordinarily razzed for being my friends for being an especially deliberate golfer so when I complain about pace of pay, there's a problem. Though I'm very fond of this course's layout and usual playing condition, I don't see a return trip anytime soon. An outing of Asian woman basically brought the course to a standstill this afternoon. I left 3:55 into the round after walking off the 12th green in utter frustration (and, mind you, that was with no stopping at the turn). Shout out to management - sending the rangers around to merely apologize for the delays was a shallow and transparent gesture of insincerity. I thought such events were ordinarily reserved for Mondays. I get it - profit trumps everything else. Be that as it may, while the problem may not have been easily anticipated, perhaps offering a complimentary return trip might have eased frustrations.

Excellent course. Always fun but not easy.

Probably one of the best courses I've played in NJ. Course played well despite having large amounts of rain a day or two prior to playing. Would recommend to anyone looking for a challenging links course.

Course in pretty good shape considering its late in the season. Hope to get out again before the season ends.

They stack golfers too close so the pace of play is affected to the point you're always waiting for your next shot. A 5h12m round on a Friday mid day is terrible. Other than that, beautiful course. Stands up to an expensive resort course quality.

Fescue cut beautifully at this time of year. Fairways and greens still in great condition and receptive as the weather has been somewhat warm recently. Pace of play can get backed up a bit because of the inherent challenges of the course. Overall a pleasure to play these links.

swirling 15-20 yard wind, 55 degrees, excellent greens and fairways, will be back for another go

magnificent course!. very scenic, course in excellent condition, very playable for everyone. except for the day we were there. they had an employee day and the superintendent decided to put all the pins in the worst possible places. thats nice for your family of employees, but for the paying public it was a bit ridiculous. plus they had the blue tees back on the back tee boxes most of the time ,even the whites were moved back. then, they had a full house there and no ranger on the course to help pick up the incredibly slow play. every hole we came to had the same 3 groups playing the same hole. not good. other than that , we enjoyed the course for what it is and hope that next time we come there , the pace will be a lot better. for what they charge to play there, no one should have to put up with that slow a play.

It was very wet with showers off and on all day but the course is in great shape and worth playing even in inclement weather conditions!

Love this course and will return as often as possible!

I can see why this course is rated #1 in NJ. It's a great layout and challenging, but the pace of play was horrible and the driving range is sub par. Our group tee'd off before noon and finished in 5 hours and 15 minutes. To me, paying $150 and finishing over 5 hours is just unacceptable. They did have marshals on the course, but pace of play never picked up. However, the saving grace is that the course is in great condition and the staff is great. In my opinion, I wouldn't pay more than $75 to play here.

Absolutely awesome course! Can't believe I've never played here before. Totally worth it to go here if you never have. Pace was slightly slow due to a couple of slow groups, and 16 was a bit of a mess - bird droppings everywhere, and pebbles in sand (friend chipped his wedge). But otherwise, one of the most beautiful courses around!

First visit to Ballyowen, since I heard so many good things. And it did not disappoint! Course was in great shape (a little tough for my game), but we played in less than 4hrs, and the staff was incredibly friendly and helpful. Just don't hit it in the the fescue!! I will be treating myself again!

aerated greens is a necessary part of life not being made aware is dishonest great layout almost made up for the greens

Beautiful course not too far from Manhattan. My major complaint was pace of play. We left after 15 holes in 5 hours. Group in front of us was crazy slow and there were no rangers pushing them along. Besides that the course is great but also very difficult, wouldn't recommend for beginners.

Had a blast playing this course. We played on the Sunday over Memorial Day and went out at 3:30... We were the first to tee off in an hour (so nobody in front of us for miles.. and the last to tee off for the day, so basically we were the only 2 people out on the course on a beautiful day. It was a great time, the conditions were excellent and maintenance was top notch. You can tell they really put work into keeping this maintained. I have nothing bad to say about it. the elevation changes are fair and the Fescue is, tough, as Fescue is.. Keep it straight, and you will be alright !