With its relatively lower-lying terrain, the course does not at first seem visually striking. But its subtleties gradually reveal themselves. The scalloped bunkers and lightly terraced greens all display Tillinghast’s vision. At the 381-yard 2nd hole, low-slung staggered bunkers suggest a left-to-right approach. By the time the golfer reaches the 630-yard 17th, its 16 bunkers offer greater depth and far more terrifying prospects.

Robert Trent Jones Sr. modified the course for the 1954 Open, making it more accommodating to the modern power game through added length, bigger teeing ground and somewhat broader target areas. He also had a hand in refashioning Baltusrol’s most famous hole, the 194-yard, 4h. An old photograph hanging in the mane’s locker room reveals that Tillinghast’s original design for the hole featured a lake fronting a bowl-shaped green, with bunkers behind. Jones lengthened and expanded the tee, sharpened the pond edge and built a back ledge to the putting green, making it more receptive for the longer shot.

When members complained that the new hole was too severe, Jones put it to the test during a round with longtime club pro Johnny Farrell and two senior club officials. Jones pulled out a 5-iron, took a swing and watched as the ball plopped into the hole. End of discussion.

Nearly a century after its founding, Baltusrol maintains its grace. The clubhouse is a monument to Old World sensibility, and the courses have fended off generations of players and affirmed the virtues of Golden Age architecture. Indeed, there seems something in the very ground at Baltusrol that enables the past to adapt and live on.

Proof of this can be found behind the 5th green of the course. There, towering over the putting surface and visible from a half-dozen holes, is a glorious American Elm—like Baltusrol itself, one of the last survivors of a magnificent species.

Lower Course
Par: 72
Yardage: 7,400
Year founded: 1895
Architect: A.W. Tillinghast

Upper Course
Par: 72
Yardage: 6,975
Year founded: 1895
Architect: A.W. Tillinghast