The first tee is only 15 miles from Wall Street. In the old days, club members used to arrive via a private railway. Now a six-lane highway connects the region to New York City. Throughout the area, what used to be quiet farmland and wooded countryside has long since been transformed into suburbia. But here, the tree-covered driveway up to the Tudor-style clubhouse serves as a time tunnel back to an age of classic grandeur, a survivor of the onslaught of the modern world.
Baltusrol Golf Club was founded in 1895 by an upscale jack-of-all-trades named Louis Keller. Once described by a contemporary as a “gentleman—but just,” Keller in 1887 came up with the idea of New York’s Social Register, a list of the most important people in town. Chief among them, of course, became Keller himself, since he served as a committee of one with the power to bestow social standing.
His proposal for a nine-hole golf course caught on quickly. Prominent businessmen were eager to learn the game, and 50 of them subscribed. The first tournament on this 2,372-yard course was held on a cold day in February 1896. Two years later, when the membership reached 400, the course was expanded to 18 holes.
In the gutta percha era, the course served well enough. But the advent of the rubber-core Haskell ball rendered many courses obsolete, including Baltusrol. Thus, the layout underwent a thorough transformation in 1905, resulting in what became to be known as the Old course. But a growing membership proved too much for one course to handle, and by 1916 plans were begun for two new layouts, designed by A.W. Tillinghast.
By 1922 the two new courses were complete. The Upper course is routed along the southern slope of Baltusrol Mountain (elevation 350 feet), which rises gently up the right side of the opening six holes.
The Lower course is much more demanding than its counterpart. Two par 5s on the front—the 1st and the 7th—offer the golfer decent prospects for birdies. But when the world’s best players tee it up, these holes become par 4s of 470 yards that require power and accuracy. One oddity of the tournament course, by the way, is that the only par 5s are Nos. 17 and 18.
