Ballyowen Golf Club

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 !

On a Thursday afternoon took 4:50 to play a round. Waited on every shot, multiple times multiple groups waiting on same tees. So many other courses where price is half the price and just as nice. Driving range in poor condition and every green had ball marks like crazy.

They do a great job with everything there.
Course is hard but fair. Bring your A game and several extra balls. The fescue grass is always hungry.

i generally shoot in the low to mid 90's, so basically an average duffer. You must stay on the fairways here. If you don't, the fescue will eat your ball and even if you find it, good luck with getting a good shot out. The fairways are large enough so you have a chance on each hole. The greens are also fairly large, many are undulating and they are fast. 3 putts are not uncommon. They have quite a few player assistants on the course who helped spot balls when necessary and keep play moving. All in all, enjoyed the course and will go back when I get the chance.

Another's quality round at ballyowen. Course was in great shape and just a pleasure to play. Staff knows how to run a busy golf course.

My friend and I played this course on a Wednesday afternoon. It was in excellent shape with the fairways being very tight and the greens extremely fast. The only issues I had were the pace of play and the noise. It was almost a 5 hour round and since the holes are close together with no trees, you could hear people from the next hole and gas powered carts everywhere. Other than that, it was a great course that provided a tough challenge.

Great course, fast greens. 90 plus degree day and NO water in the 2 water stations. Rangers just shrugged. Paid to play during premium time, more attention to detail would be appreciated.

Played at twilight for 55 bucks because I didn't feel like GETTING RIPPED OFF before then [ it's like 110 bucks before that ! ] but the course was still in INCREDIBLE shape - especially the GREENS !! They were REALLY FAST BUT TRUE so there were no surprises. I'd played it three times before but the last time was 15 years ago so I didn't remember too much. It definitely DIDN'T DISAPPOINT !

I really enjoyed seeing how each hole really had a unique look to it, and it made the day much more exciting. I was playing as a single and paired up with 1 guy in front of me who left after nine. I started the back nine playing behind a pretty slow group (and there were more slow groups in front of them) and when I finished the tenth hole, the ranger told me I could go back to the front nine and play from there. He was very helpful and I played that nine in an hour and twenty minutes or so.

Booked an early tee time because it appeared they were very busy. Not a lot of people on the course. Had to play thru the maintenance crew cutting and wiping the dew from the greens- played 14 holes that had not been prepped- Great course but for the money I paid for this early round - it was an overpriced experience.
However will definitely play again.

Pace of Play was terrible. Twosome in front of us ruined the rhythm of the game.

Great day. Cordial and professional staff. Range balls included. Off on time. Course handled 90 degree carts even after substantial weather the evening before. Pace of play was good, under 4 1/2. Each hole has its own unique personality. A fun course to play.

It was beautiful day and I really looked forward to playing this great golf course. It, however, ended up becoming a bad golf day due to the extremely wet condition at the golf course. It must have rained hard the previous day but there really is no excuse for all the water we had to deal with on the fairway. This is supposed to be one of the top class golf club in NY/NJ area and I was shocked to see so much unmitigated water.

There are not too many links style courses in the area, so this is a rare treat. I've played in Ireland and this reminds me of that, but it's not quite up to that standard. At $130 a round it is a bit pricey, but this is the one course in the area that I think is worth it. So I'll drive an hour at 5 am every time with my wallet in tow for this one.

We played at 6:10 on Saturday morning and were finished by 10:10. We were warned once for slow play, but the ranger was pretty nice about it. One of our group is 83, and that coupled with the fact that our foursome was following the first twosome out that morning probably led to the gap in front of us.

One thing I learned about links style courses is that it can be very difficult to find balls that roll even a few feet into the rough. I think that lso contributes to the pace of play. You can't drive your cart everywhere so you almost always have to get out to search for your ball. You really neeed to keep your eye on where you land, and use landmarks to find your ball. My advice is to look for one minute, and then drop, unless your playing for all the money in the world.

The course is in great shape, and the greens are fast and true. We played from the middle (blue) tees, and there were birdie ops out there. I would imagine that from the tips with a bit of wind, the course really tightens up.

This course in beautiful. Very tough and links courses are tough when sunny, hot and humid which it was when I played. Course was also wet from previous nights rain so it was cart path only which meant a lot of walking up and down a lot of rolling hills. People were friendly, and helpful. Cart girls were very attractive and nice. Everyone wears kilts to add to the feel. Well worth the drive, I went an hour + and would do it again.

We had read that it has been called the top public course in NJ, so we had to give it a try. It was nice enough (very well maintained), but the layout was a little disappointing--apart from a series of three on the front nine that surrounded the lake, the rest seemed very similar with no real standouts.

What keeps this review from being a 5 star was the presence of one very rude ranger. Twice on the front nine he came up to our group (roaring up in his cart while I was mid-putt, by the way) to tell us we were falling behind. While I have no problem with rangers trying to keep pace of play, the group behind us was an entire hole back, so it was not like we were keeping anyone from playing through. Additionally, his rationale for accosting us was that we had fallen behind the group in front of us. Well, the group in front of us was a two-some! Of course the two-some is going to play faster than the foursome! To cap it off, he then followed us for about 5 holes (always staying about a shot length's behind us). Very frustrating. It's a shame, because the rest of the staff was very friendly.

Only problem was "cart path only".Fescue makes the course difficult if you go there

It is very enjoying to play on this course! Great sheep!