12/7/2020 - By William Buehn

You know those home-course features that everyone loves to hate? Think the giant oak tree that guards the dogleg and tempts tee-shots with a risky (often regretted) over-the-top line, the stream that sucks up every fade that’s the slightest bit off centerline, or the perfectly placed bunker that forces everyone to take a trip to the beach. Well, at Mountain Ridge CC in West Caldwell, New Jersey, there long was a group of trees that evoked that same ambivalence from their members—until recently when the trees were removed, creating opportunities for the club that few could have foreseen.

As folks there used to finish up their rounds, a patch of Oaks—one gargantuan tree in particular—would take pleasure in denying any tee shots that failed to bow down to the branches. The hole design (schemed up, along with the rest of the course, by Donald Ross) forced golfers to consider a low stinger to get around and under the tree, creating a love-hate relationship with the membership.

However, it wasn’t the members who wanted to see the trees fall—in fact, there was some strong opposition initially—rather it was the nearby county airport who wanted them gone. The trees interfered with the air traffic’s final approach route, and the airport was looking for clearer, safer sight-lines.

Ultimately, the club and the airport agreed that the trees should be removed for the safety of the aircraft, but what about the void that would surely stem from their absence? The trees had always served to create separation between holes 10 and 18, which play parallel to each other and extend out from the foot of the historic fieldstone clubhouse.

In order to maintain that separation, Mountain Ridge superintendent, Cliff Moore, says they relied on the experience of Ron Prichard (golf course architect) and his familiarity with Donald Ross designs. “He’s an expert when it comes to Donald Ross,” says Moore.

Prichard elected to incorporate a series of tall fescue mounds to take guard over the trees’ prior post. The eye-catching redesign (implemented in 2018-19) honors the original Ross layout and creates a unique, unassuming penal element to the two holes. It also resulted in expansive, open views of the course from the clubhouse—views that nobody knew they were missing.

Moore says, “We went from members being very upset and confused and not agreeing upon the direction that we were going in, to, “It's the best thing we ever did.” You know, it really opened the views up on the golf course. Aesthetically, it really looks good, it photographs great, and you can see golf being played from the back patio. So, we went from some negativity, to 100% positive. It turned out excellent.”

After the overwhelmingly positive response to the course’s fresh new look, the club decided to update some other parts of the grounds, like the driving range, 17-green, halfway house, and even the clubhouse. The golf world must have agreed with the club’s new direction (as well as the course’s consistent tournament-quality conditions), as Mountain Ridge was recently listed No. 90 on Golf Magazine’s Top 100 Courses in the U.S. for 2020-2021.

The club and members are very proud of the accomplishment, and for good reason. Moore says, “We got an issue [of the magazine] for every member, and some people are framing it or they're displaying it in their offices. So, you know, they're really, really excited.”

Historically a quieter club that has preferred to fly a little more under the radar, Mountain Ridge might not have received the recognition with as much enthusiasm in the past. However, the membership is now much more open to the notoriety that they deserve, and the renovation has opened a lot of eyes to the potential of the club’s future.

What will that future look like? Moore says, “They want to see views now. They're all excited because they know they have a special place. Normally, they didn't want the world to know. Now they want the world to know.” He adds, “Everything we do is just an improvement upon what is already there. It's just trying to get it back to [the course’s] originality, but with a 2020 vibe to it that makes sense to our membership now, as opposed to what it did back when it was built in the 30’s.”

With more open views on the horizon and the potential to blend more of Prichard’s new designs with the old, hopefully we’ll be seeing a lot more from Mountain Ridge in the future.

Wondering what happened to that big tree?

Despite all the double bogeys that the tree might have started over the years, nobody wanted to see her come down. So, how do you honor such a formidable opponent? With a farewell party, of course. Through coordination with the tree removal company, they were able to arrange for her to be the last tree to take down. On the day that she fell, members were able to come out and see her off, celebrating her life and toasting to her dominance on the course.

It was a sad day for some, but the tree’s presence lives on at Mountain Ridge—literally. They’ve kept a lot of the wood from the tree to make things like branded ball markers for the members and cheese boards for the club kitchen. Even some members have taken smaller portions of the tree to make tables and other items for their home. And with a large portion of the wood still untouched, who knows where else (or in what form) you might find the club’s former favorite frustration in the future.