Trump National Philadelphia* (formerly Pine Hill GC)- Private

Pine Hill, NJ

www.golfpinehill.com

2000, Tom Fazio
White 76.0, 142

Directions:
Rte 42S to Camdem County College (Blackwood/Pine Hill) exit, approx 7.5 mile from Walt Whitman Bridge
Bear R on ramp, R @ stop sign onto Blackwood/Clementon Rd for approx 2.6 miles (8 lights) to Branch Ave
R onto Branch Ave for approx. 0.7 mile to course on R

'07 Summer Rates 
Open  2PM $150
2PM  4PM (Twilight) $110
4PM  Dusk (Super Twilight) $75
Off Season Rates  
Open  2PM $130
2PM  4PM (Twilight) $90
4PM  Dusk (Super Twilight) $65

#31 2002 Golf Magazine Top 100 You Can Play

Fat Guy Update, 2010:  Well, they finally pulled it off.  The former Pine Hill Golf Club finally went private after it was bought out by Donald Trump.  Hopefully you had a chance to play it during the 10 or so years it was public, it's a great one.

Fat Guy Review, 2008:  [Fat Guy Note:  When I played this course in 2008, it was still a public course called Pine Hil GC who's members desperately wanted to go private.  Trump bought it 2 years later.]  

Despite the fact that Pine Hill is still an outstanding semi-private course accessible to the public, everything about this place screams private club wanna-be.

It starts in the parking lot.  There are Members Only parking spots and Reserved For Club Champion parking spots.  Enter the upscale rustic cedar plank clubhouse, and you're greeted by a large plaque listing about 50 founding members. 

  Pine Hill's hilltop clubhouse

The locker rooms have big Members Only signs on the doors (I went in anyway).  The lockers have member's names prominently displayed on metal plates.  Even the driving range has an area labeled Members Only.  I started to feel like I should have saved my Members Only jacket from the '80's.  According to the starter, members can jump ahead of public tee times anytime they feel like it.

Overall, you come away the strong feeling that back in 2000, the founding members were a collective of nouveau riche guys who are still pissed they'll never have the pedigree or the contacts to be invited to join nearby Pine Valley.  The staff is friendly, helpful, and anything but snooty, but the overall vibe of the signage from the parking lot to the first tee isn't overly inviting to Joe Public Golfer.

Normally I wouldn't balk at this much member's orientation at a private club, because that's the expectation.  But the distinction here is that this is still a public-access course... In my mind I'm screaming, 'Hey, members, guess what your dues would look like without me here to park at the back of the lot, put my shoes on leaning on my trunk, overpaying to play here, and waiting for you to tee off in front of me?'

Although every article I've read on Pine Hill since 2005 has trumpeted "plans to go private soon", the starter was of the opinion that it may never happen.  "The members want it.  The owners don't,"  he explained.  "Between the $13,000 initiation and the annual dues around $5,600, they just don't have the numbers."

Despite all that, the course is a great one.  I've never actually seen Pine Valley in person, but from the first tee at Pine Hill, Tom Fazio's masterful use of elevation changes, rough-edged bunkering, and borrowing of George Crump's sandy valley carries off the tee can't help but conjure up visuals of it's more famous neighbor.  While Fazio claims his design isn't an ode, the hilly terrain, sandy soil, scrubby pines, and rough edges are a dead ringer for the original on many-a-hole.  Much like the clubhouse, the layout is rustically beautiful.  It's a course laden with signature vistas; probably 12 or so of these beauties could be the scorecard picture on nearly any other course in the country.  There were numerous elicitations of "Wow, that's a pretty hole," from our threesome as we approached many of the tees.

   Other than the round tees, tell me you wouldn't mistake this pic for Pine Valley

The 397-yard par-4 9th is a classic example of Tom Fazio's genius.  From ground level, the basic design would have been a solid but unremarkable uphill soft dogleg with a devilish bunker complex guarding the downhill left side of the green.  But Fazio took the visual of the 9th's climbing expanse to the next level by cutting down the trees behind the green.  After you've finished playing the hole it provides great vistas from the hilltop, but from the tee it focuses the player's tee box view on the solitary hilltop flag billowing against the sky in the distance (rather than having the flag blend into the former treeline).  The result is a full understanding of the strong drive necessary to find the green in regulation, and the image of that lone flag burns into your memory.  I have to admit, I never even noticed the much-hyped views of the Philly skyline; a quick scan of the horizon from the elevated clubhouse after the round revealed only treetops and radio towers.

The 6,229-yard white tees are very maneagable, and it's not so tight that you're standing on the tee with your knees shaking.  However, Fazio's flashed-up bunkering creeps in on sloped, angled landing areas, dictating preferred lines and shot shapes, and occasionally tempting you to try to clear a bunker or two.  A few mature tree branches were left strategically hanging just off the edges of tee ball flight paths to prompt further forethought as to the best route to get to position A.  The safe line is usually readily apparent, but something about the rugged edges and short porches looming just over fairway bunkers tempts you to go for the hero shot.  Elevation changes and fairway bunker angles create some deceiving distance illusions from the tee, but surprisingly for a course of this caliber, the carts don't have GPS (of course not… why would members need GPS on a course they know so well?!).  I'd recommend buying a yardage book.

Despite the fact that it doesn't feel that tight from the tee, you'll soon find the generous-looking short grass isn't quite as easy to hit as it first appears.  Angled fairways are cut into hillsides which slope off into scrubby forest.  10 degrees off-line here, or a little extra spin there, will leave you tromping through rocky sand wastelands, scrub brush, wispy fescue, and wooded pathways finding plenty of balls... except yours.  Once you find the fairway, it's still no bargain.  Save for a couple breather holes early in the round, many of the greens are elevated and surrounded by deep, frog-haired bunkers.  Even the green shapes offer strategy choices:  risk a rainmaker approach over a deep bunker to get at a pin on a shallow green shelf, or maybe shape a shot around the trap towards the flag, or play it safe to the fat half of the dance floor with three-clubs-worth of distance leeway.  Fazio also throws in a few atypical doglegs that bend hard in the last 150 yards, rather than succumbing to the traditional temptation of creating severe angles from the tee.

Nearly all of the holes are nicely isolated.  There are a few brief glimpses of a surrounding housing development through the trees.  Be careful not to ding up your club heads in the waste areas or under the pines, as the sandy soil here is extremely rocky.  Don't walk this monster; there are several serious climbs, as well as long distances from green to tee.

Overall, it's a tough track flanked by gorgeous rough edges, and a very fun experience.  Definitely among the top 2 or 3 choices of the upper echelon of Philly-area/South Jersey upscale publics.  Striking similarities to Pine Valley aside, Pine Hill could also be described as a combination of Bobby Weed's natural edges at Glen Mills and the uniqueness of Stephen Kay's sandy wastelands at Scotland Run.  Pine Hill is certainly worth the $80 weekday afternoon rate we paid, and worth a half-day vacation to save the extra $70 off the prime time greens fees.

The on-site restaurant has been heralded as serving great meals (as evidenced by a few elderly Blue Blood ladies finishing lunch as we arrived), although our stop at the turn revealed a semi-clueless bartender and a 5-10 minute wait for a hotdog.  The boomerang-shaped clubhouse with large windows provides expansive views from what they claim to be the highest elevation point in New Jersey at this former ski resort.  The bar is a study in flagstone-and-cedar, with several oversized-HD-plasmas, and is the kind of spot where you'll get into some random game on ESPN just as an excuse to kick back at the bar for a few hours. 

The cart grrl, hostess, and a couple of the waitresses were also serious hotties.  Between the highly-visual rustic course, the contemporary masculine clubhouse, and the lookers on staff, this is definitely a guy's playground.  You almost start to wonder where to find the private back room where they keep the strippers.

In total Pine Hill is top notch, despite the private club wanna-be vibe.  Just in case they ever do get the numbers to go private, play it soon while you still can.  This may be as close to the coveted Pine Valley round as you'll ever come.  Rating:  9

T&L Golf gave Pine Hill 4/5 stars, saying "While not an ode to neighbor Pine Valley, Fazio's flashed-up bunkering draws the inevitable comparisons. Fazio's routing imbues each elevation change with stategic purpose. Exciting par 4's, daunting doglegs, ticklish club selections on par 3's, and inspirational ascents."

Where To Booze & Grub Nearby:  Upscale grill on premisis. For fairly good Italian nearby, try the upscale Filomina's (1245 Blackwood Clementon Rd, 856-784-6166). Great roasted pepper app, well-doctored filets, good fish specials, OK veal parm.

There's not many party spotsover in Jersey except for sports bar/club Taylor's (formerlyTop Dog,Rt 70 Cherry Hill), classic Jersey cheese-factor at Adelphia in West Deptford or Bahama Breeze(Rt. 38, Cherry Hill, 856-317-8317, www.bahamabreeze.com).

For grub nearby, hit the flagship of the Lamberti's chain on Rt. 70 in Cherry Hill with South Beach style architecture, or the nearby Cheesecake Factory.  For wings, head one town over to Berlin for the Golden Nugget Tavern's famous Buffalo sauce (433 New Freedom Rd, Berlin, www.goldennuggettavern.com).  Max's Seafood Café (34 N. Burlington St, Gloucester City, 856-456-9774) is a great old style tavern redone into a modern seafood restaurant with outstanding fresh fish preperations.  If the prime time greens fees here have left you broke, go downscale for 30 different varieties of grilled cheese sandwiches at the Pop Shop (729 Haddon Ave, Collingswood).  When your grilled cheese prompts Bobby Flay to drop by for a Throwdown, you know it's good.

Where To Booze & Grub, Philly:  Since this is the closest uber-upscale course to Philly, see Fat Guy's Philly Golf Weekend for where to belly up to the bar and strap on the feedbag in the City Of Brotherly Shove.