Francis A. Byrne GC - West Orange, NJ

This is a municipal course in Essex County, New Jersey. It is also designed by Charles Banks, making it one of the few golf courses that the average person can play designed by the Macdonald/Raynor/Banks crew. The course is not perfect and is certainly not National Golf Links or Fisher's Island. That said, it is easy to see what once was a tremendous golf course if you take the time to look. I've worked a bit with Anthony Pioppi, Executive Director of the Seth Raynor Society, to try and determine what template holes exist on the course. Years (scores of years, even) of degraded maintenance practices make this difficult. Indeed, the forward part of the Biarritz green was already in disuse as early as 1954 according to some old aerial photographs. So, a tentative listing of template holes:
1. Road (confirmed)
2. Biarritz (confirmed)
3. Punchbowl (partial, tentative)
4. Sahara (tentative, severely degraded)
5. Short (confirmed)
10. Bottle (tentative)
13. Cape (tentative, green only)
14. Eden (Confirmed)
15. Raynor dog-leg (tentative)
18. Home (Confirmed)

There are several other holes that I believe are likely template holes, but I can't yet place them certainly enough in a category to include them. With that, on to the ranking:

Variety of Design: The course has only one par 5 and it's the first hole, the Road. That hurts the course a bit. The par 3s have great variety, ranging from 235 to 140 yards. The par 4s range from 360 to 465 yards, so a fair variety in distance, but limited variety in direction. Of the 15 holes, 10 are straight, 3 work to the right, and 3 work to the left. The green sizes, while shrunken and degraded from their original sizes, all fit the shots required and work well. 7 out of 10

Flow of the Course: The course ebbs and flows through the round quite nicely. The start is difficult with the only par 5 followed by a very difficult par 3, but the course gives the player a break on the 3rd hole. The Short hole appears as the 5th hole and, while severely degraded from its original state, still mandates precision from the player. On the back nine, the holes alternate between difficult and moderate from 10 to 13, before playing the final par 3 and then 2 very difficult holes before coming out for a nice closing set in the 17th and 18th. 7 out of 10

Course Conditioning: Not very good. The fairways were reasonably smooth, but they were still spotty and were very damp. The greens were very soft and bumpy as well. The greens are maintained at slow speeds in an effort to improve pace of play; that should be commended. The course was just fair in condition. 4 out of 10

Walkability: The course can be walked very easily. There were a few significant hills, but one of the players in my group was in his 60s and was able to walk the course fine. There were a few slightly longer walks, but nothing major. 7 out of 10.

Atmosphere: None. It's a standard municipal course, not really the place to go expecting some cool vibe. Just pay the fee and go. And that's fine. 1 out of 10

Total: 58 out of 100. In my opinion, this is the best public golf courses I've played in New Jersey. I've played 3 courses in Gulfweed Magazine's Top 15 best in state (Neshanic Valley, Hominy Hill, and Galloping Hill). This course tops all of them by a pretty wide margin.

Pictures and a hole-by-hole look at the course will come shortly.