Scotch Hills Country Club

Short straight and great course to practive on. 9 holes in about 90 minutes

Great nine hole course when you want a quick round never overly busy short but hilly

This 9 hole course was designed by Scottish pro David Smith Hunter and built in 1900.

It retains all the personality and charm of a very old course with blind drives / approaches, small, slow greens which place a premium on shotmaking and greenside play.

I hit all the clubs in my play set (brassie, spoon, iron mashie, mashie, mashie niblick, pitching niblick) and was challenged to make a good shot on many occasions.

Being the first Black-owned golf club and home course of the first American golf pro, the course and clubhouse is on the National Register of Historic Places. Many famous Black artists relaxed and played here.

The tees, fairways and greens are in excellent shape. The greens fees are reasonable.

Travel back in time to Shady Rest and be sure to wear your Plus Fours!

An extremely narrow and hilly course, coupled with a pair of extremely slow players in front of us made for a very long nine holes. An interesting course that needs someone to look after pace of play.

I love this course. Can always get a convenient tee time, never too crowded and for a relatively short 9 hole course, quite challenging. Most of the fairways are narrow so if you pull to the left your ball is gone. There are trees everywhere, except the 9th hole, so there is plenty of shade on a hot day leading to plenty of challenges.

Some tight driving holes and tough greens make this small course more challenging than the yardage would imply. Fun course, fast pace in early am.

Course was very difficult, fairway had hills that would roll your ball into the rough. Tough views of green which would cause confusion as to which green you're shooting at.

The 8th hole had a creek in the middle of the fairway on the downslope of a hill sitting dead center about 80yds from hole (so essentially your set up shot would fall in the creek that wasn't visible until you roll up over the hill).

The 2nd hole had a slope left starting from the middle of the fairway which could potentially leave your ball in the rough for the neighboring hole. So even if you hit fairways, you're in the rough. 9th hole made 0 sense because you have to turn around (on the same cart path) and backtrack to the tee box. The greens were nice and tight so that was probably the best part of the course. $25 tee time for a reason i guess.

Found a cheap tee time ($20) so it was worth a visit late in the day.

Course is unchanged as far as experience from past visits years ago, is that good or bad? Tight course, holes are very close together. Tee boxes on some holes are in play when other players hit errant shots. You have to be aware of all players around you. Almost got beaned by an errant shot, not the first near miss here, happens frequently IMO. No fore given by the group of kids, but they will learn.

Players of all skill levels there when we played. Foursome of 14 years olds who are beginners to a Foursome of big hitters hitting driver on every par four.

Rough isn’t cut short and is full clover making it challenging to find balls sometimes.

The group behind us hit up on us twice on the same hole. Makes no sense if you are big hitter to tee off on the 8th hole which is 360 yards? when I’m still in the fairway after my tee shot. I’ve met this type of player many times before, and it won’t be the last time. Once is an accident, twice, not so much. You know the type.

If you want a quick nine, come here. You could player twice if you want. BTW, It was called Scott Hills for a reason. The hills so you will be up and down a few hills, not a flat course.

When it’s busy, I feel like everyone is on top of each other which can’t be avoided, just tolerated. So come here with an open mind.

Advice to players would be to keep the driver in the bag and play irons off most the tees. Fairways other than hole one and eight aren’t wide. On Eight keep the ball left the fairway feeds to the right. There are a few blind tee shots on the par fours, no dog legs the holes are pretty straight.

Staff was friendly.

Value for money, average.

Jersey Mike's put cheese on my turkey sandwich but Hey! whatcha gona do bout it? Shot a 64.

Course was in great condition considering how dry it was the past week. Tee boxes were good except for previous players consistently leaving their tees. Greens were in good shape, bunkers were in great shape.

For a short course, the pace was very slow because of the two groups in front of us. It's a small local course so I wasn't expecting golf etiquette but common sense should have been used. Multiple times, both groups in front of us tee off multiple times, even with people waiting. No care for the course either with carts being driven right up to the greens, within 5 feet.

Decided to get 9 holes in with a few friends at the last minute and this course had lots of openings which made me a tad concerned. All that concern went away quickly. Really nice and slightly challenging course but a fun time was had by all. Will definitely be back!

Wanted to play 9 holes with my boys and this course was great. Interesting hole layouts with each hole offering a little something different. Definitely coming back.

Shadyrest was the first black American golf club in the US. It’s an exciting and very well-maintained Nine hole golf course in the heart of Scotch Plains. Great care is taken to maintain the grounds and the customer service in the pro shop is outstanding. You can’t go wrong playing a round in Shady rest.