Patch Picks: Golfing Locally

The snow’s starting to melt, we’re in for a winter heat wave and spring is right around the corner–so it’s time to stop putting to a pint glass in your living room and start thinking about hitting the links again.

Here are our picks for some of the top courses in the area. Have other suggestions, or want to suggest a future list? Let us know in the comments!

, West Deptford

• The course is getting back to where it was before the previous ownership let things slip, and a new clubhouse is being planned under Ron Jaworski’s watch. Even at less-than-perfect conditions, it’s still one of the most challenging courses in South Jersey–and if the wind is blowing hard off the Delaware, forget it.

Pitman Golf Course, Pitman

• The county-owned links may not have the flashiest design or the most gimmicky greens, but it’s an inexpensive, fun 18. The 11th still ranks as one of the toughest holes in the county, and even those straightaways on the back nine are still a challenge, thanks to subtleties of elevation and fairway shaping.

Town & County, Woodstown

• A quick ride down Route 45 gets you to this great little links-style course–so good, in fact, that we wonder how you can ever score a tee time on the weekends. It has everything you can ask for in terms of a challenge: penalizing rough, an island green, sculpted fairways and an 18th hole that taunts you from beside a pond.

Scotland Run, Williamstown

• Now that Donald Trump bought Pine Hill and turned it private, this is hands-down the best course you can play in either Gloucester or Camden counties. It’s affordable in the off-season, and even at its priciest, won’t thrash your wallet. It’s raked in tons of awards, and was named the 15th-best public course in the country by readers of Golf World magazine last year. Do you need more reasons?

Beckett Golf Club, Swedesboro

• We’re giving them the nod if for no other reason than you have 27 holes to choose from. Don’t like the white nine? Play the reds and blues, or just switch it up every time you go out. The tight, tree-lined fairways and sometimes odd, 90-degree doglegs make for an interesting round.