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PGA Championship

Quail Hollow Club



    Baltusrol Golf Club: Lower

    Baltusrol Golf Club: Lower

    201 Shunpike Rd

    Springfield, NJ 07081-2160

    United States

    Overview

    Jack Nicklaus won two U.S. Opens on Baltusrol's Lower Course, setting a tournament record each time. Phil Mickelson and Jimmy Walker won PGAs on it. But the Lower’s most historic event was the ace by architect Robert Trent Jones in 1954 on the par-3 fourth, instantly squelching complaints of critical club members who felt Trent’s redesign made it too hard. Trent’s younger son, Rees, an avowed A.W. Tillinghast fan, lightly retouched the Lower’s design for the 2016 PGA Championship. But there has been another changing of the guard at Baltusrol, as architect Gil Hanse and his team took over as the club’s new consulting architects, and re-opened the restored Lower course—after carefully examining Tillie's old plans and reclaiming green size and rebuilding bunkers—in May 2021. The results, while praised, did not alter the course's standing in the 100 Greatest ranking--it remains at no. 45.

    About

    Holes 18
    Length 7550
    Slope 145
    Facility Type Private
    Year Opened 1922
    Designer A.W. Tillinghast/(R) Robert Trent Jones, Sr., ASGCA/Rees Jones/(R) Gil Hanse

    Awards

    100 Greatest
    Best Courses in Every State

    Ranking history:

    100 Greatest: Ranked since 1966.
    2023-'24 ranking (and previous): 45th.
    Highest ranking: 15th, 1985-1986

    Best in State: Ranked in Top 5 in New Jersey since 1977.
    Current ranking (and previously): 2nd.

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    Golf Digest Logo Panelists

    Ratings from our panel of 1,900 course-ranking panelists

    4.7

    100 GREATEST/BEST IN STATE SCORES

    Shot Options
    7.7485
    Character
    7.9688
    Challenge
    7.8645
    Layout Variety
    7.7102
    Fun
    7.5918
    Aesthetics
    7.6445
    Conditioning
    8.0625

    Reviews