Ballyowen Golf Club at Crystal Springs - 7th
Crystal Springs Golf Resort's Ballyowen Golf Club cracked New Jersey's Top 10.
1 Wild Turkey Way, Hamburg, New Jersey 07419, US
(973) 862-4351
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About Crystal Springs Resort

Crystal Springs Resort is a 4,000-acre playground located only an hour across the New Jersey state line from New York City. It is one of the country’s largest golf resorts with six courses - Ballyowen, Black Bear, Cascades, Crystal Springs, Minerals and Wild Turkey – and three driving ranges. The Grand Cascades Lodge houses 220 guest rooms with an inspired welcome: An outdoor putting course leading to an indoor lobby with high ceilings, wood beams and a stone fireplace. Both it and the 175-room Minerals Hotel feature their own spas and pools. Children will love the Biosphere, an indoor pool complex with an aquarium, vortex pool and caves, 140-foot waterslide and café, all in a tropical theme. Twelve restaurants are spread out among the course clubhouses and hotels, delivering a variety of menus and price points. Between the Mineral Sports Club and Adventure Center, there’s always a new activity or program to enjoy.

Facts

Price Range$$$$, $$$
Property Class★★★★
Acres4000
Year Opened1972
Number of Units300-500

Amenities

RestaurantsFine, Bar, Casual
Room TypesRoom, Suite
PoolIndoor
Short CourseYes
TennisYes
Fitness CenterYes
Practice FacilityYes
Beach AccessYes
Golf School/AcademyYes
Banquet SpaceYes
SpaYes

Services

Room ServiceYes
ConciergeYes

Rules

Is the resort pet friendly?No
Is resort stay required for a tee time?No

Golf courses at Crystal Springs Resort

Images from Crystal Springs Resort

Reviews

4.1
1620 Reviews (1620)

Reviewer Photos

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Overall Rating
Recommended
Handicap
Age
Type of Golfer
Gender
Played On
Reviews 12
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played

Tough but great

Great course but you better be on the faiwarways or your in for long day. . Even fairways are tough as full of undulations and mogels. Good luck and love signature 11th!

Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Played On
Reviews 1
Handicap 15-19
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a month
3.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing
Perfect weather
Used cart

A very difficult course

If you are a single digit golfer or alternatively, you want to score 10 strokes (or more) higher than you usually do, play this course. It is very pretty but too challenging for the average golfer and let's face it, most of us are average :-)

If you play and shoot your handicap, you will be very proud of your accomplishment.

Conditions Good
Value Good
Layout Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Average
Amenities Average
Difficulty Extremely Challenging
Played On
Reviews 243
Skill Advanced
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing
Conditions Good
Value Average
Layout Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Excellent
Played On
Reviews 15
Skill Advanced
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played

Cascades

Good experience. Cart path only was disappointing but necessary.

Conditions Good
Value Average
Layout Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Average
Played On
Reviews 3
Handicap 20-24
Skill Intermediate
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
3.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played
Conditions Average
Value Average
Layout Average
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Good
Played On
Reviews 37
Skill Intermediate
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played
Conditions Good
Value Good
Layout Good
Friendliness Good
Pace Good
Amenities Good
Played On
Reviews 3
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
3.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played

Hint Hint

I’ve played the course many times before and enjoyed it thoroughly. Unfortunately, they had airated and OVER(hint hint) sanded the greens. I say this with zero exaggeration, they were about 70%-80% unputtable. There was up to a 1/2” of sand in some spots. Very inconsistently done to the point where the green looked yellow in some places and green in others. Mostly yellow around the holes which added to the disappointment. (Hint hint) teach your greens crew better practices. Oh, and $70 is enough of a discount for those conditions.

Moral: normally a great course, but definitly call ahead to find out if they airated and sanded.

Conditions Poor
Value Fair
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Average
Pace Good
Amenities Fair
Played On
Reviews 2
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Played On
Reviews 1
Skill Advanced
Plays A few times a week
3.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing
Conditions Poor
Value Poor
Layout Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Good
Played On
Reviews 8
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
Conditions Good
Value Good
Layout Good
Friendliness Good
Pace Good
Amenities Good
Played On
Reviews 86
Handicap 15-19
Skill Intermediate
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
3.0
Top 500 Contributor
New Jersey Advisor
First Time Playing
Perfect weather
Used cart

Greens too Fast for a Resort Course

Wild Turkey is a beautiful course and it is right at the Crystal Springs resort if you decided to get a "Stay & Play" package. The resort is great so I do recommend staying at Crystal Springs.

The biggest issue with the Wild Turkey course is the speed of the greens, which are extremely fast and caused very good golfers in my group to three-putt more holes than they do normally. At a resort course you get all levels of golfers and fast greens are a pace of play nightmare.The greens were interesting enough without adding the degree of difficulty of super fast greens.

One thing women golfers will want to be aware of is that some holes are really too long for the par value. For example, Hole 5 is a 378 yard Par 4 (in comparison, BallyOwen, #1 course in NJ and part of the Crystal Springs family of courses) hole #10 is a 386 year Par 5 (so only 6 yards longer and a fair PAR value at 386, which is fair).

If you can only play one course in the Crystal Springs area, play BallyOwen.

Conditions Good
Value Average
Layout Fair
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Fair
Amenities Excellent
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging
Played On
Reviews 13
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Previously Played
Perfect weather
Used cart

Absolutely perfect

Course in fabulous shape. Sand traps need more sand.Best conditions i have played on ever. You need Charmin in men's bathroom instead of the sand paper there now.Me and my son had a very enjoyable day on a GREAT COURSE!!!

Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Difficulty Extremely Challenging
Played On
Reviews 2
Skill Advanced
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Previously Played

Bunker issues continue

This course could be a gem but the long reported bunker issues continue. Some traps don’t have enough sand to hit an explosion shot. Many have tiny rocks. The pot bunker in front of the 18th green has significant bed lining protruding through the minimal, rocky sand. Wrist injury waiting to happen...

Great staff and otherwise great course, it doesn’t make sense they let the bunkers get so bad.

Conditions Good
Value Average
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Excellent
Played On
Reviews 2
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing
Conditions Good
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Played On
Reviews 74
Handicap 15-19
Skill Advanced
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
Top 1000 Contributor
Previously Played

Black Bear Golf October 2017

Black Bear Golf Course was in great condition this past Tuesday. Greens were slightly fast and pin location was challenging on several holes. As the season begins to wind down you can expect frost delays for the earlier starts. Sand traps varied in depth and greens were susceptible to ball marks due to their softness but easily repaired. All of the staffing were very helpful and friendly. Looking to return soon.

Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Good
Played On
Reviews 3
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a month
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing

Surprisingly Challenging

No mercy if you leave the fairway. Greens in good shape for this time of year. Great value at 35, but normal rate is 50. Not worth that.

Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Layout Good
Friendliness Good
Pace Good
Played On
Reviews 1
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing
Perfect weather
Used cart

good vale

enjoyed our round at Cascades.Challenging course in great shape.

Conditions Excellent
Value Good
Layout Good
Friendliness Good
Pace Good
Amenities Excellent
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging
Played On
Reviews 24
Handicap 15-19
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing
Wet weather
Used cart

Foggy but beautiful

When you are playing good - nothing can be bad about the course or the round of golf. I went out as a single and was matched with 3 gentlemen (and I don't use the term lightly). Despite them having a tough round they were more than happy to point me in the right direction (they had played the course before - I had not) and they cheered my "success" - shooting an 84 on a course I had never played before is something that has never happened to me. Although the conditions were wet from fog and early morning dew (we were the 2nd group out), the practice greens were the same conditions and contributed highly to my success. There is a driving range that was available also (included in price of round is small bucket) and the staff turned on the lights for the pre-dawn warm-ups. I've only played Crystal Springs in this group of courses before and will definitely be back! The only thing better would have been if I got a discount - will scour GolfNow for that :)

Conditions Excellent
Value Good
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Good
Pace Excellent
Amenities Good
Difficulty Moderate
Played On
Reviews 19
Handicap 5-9
Skill Advanced
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Previously Played

Great course, slow round.

Turkey is a great layout, in very good condition. But this round took 5 hours. Too slow.

Conditions Good
Value Good
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Good
Pace Fair
Amenities Good
Played On
Reviews 1
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played

Ungelation

The course has up shots and down hill shots and that's in the fairway. But the elevation changes are awesome to. If ur a shot maker just will enjoy.

Conditions Good
Value Excellent
Layout Good
Friendliness Good
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
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