Pine Barrens brings to mind many things and adds good golf
By 
JACKSON, N.J. - What's in a name? Not much if it's Pine Barrens Golf Club, a course that has little link to the images its New Jersey famous name is likely to send dancing through your head.
Maybe, you're a Sopranos fan and the Pine Barrens brings back scenes of Christopher and Paulie getting lost in the woods chasing a Russian. Maybe, you've actually been to the protected state parkland and the Pine Barrens conjures up remembrances of remote nature, beautiful sunsets over the towering trees.
Whatever the case, it's unlikely anyone's ever heard Pine Barrens and thought of strip mall stores, cheesy minor league baseball and a sprawling amusement park. Yet that's what is all around this course advertised as a remote treasure. A course that is two turns and three minutes from every imaginable fast-food restaurant in creation on bustling Route 70 and seven minutes from a 7,500-seat Class A minor league park that promotes Eyeball Races (don't ask), is not exactly "desolate" as head pro Michael Yevchak suggests. At least not in the way Yevchak means.
Not that there's anything wrong with what Pine Barrens Golf Club is. It's a 7,118-yard track with a bunker population roughly equal to the seagull population on the nearby boardwalks. It's a welcome addition to the Jersey Shore golf scene, worthy of a side trip on the way to Atlantic City or New York.
Only Pine Barrens doesn't quite seem satisfied to be that. Like a fisherman whose tale has to grow grander and grander then the next guy's, this is a course that hits you over the head trying to impress. The first thing anyone sees walking into the clubhouse is the course's four-star rating plaque from Golf Digest. It practically trips visitors crossing the threshold. Right next to the plaque is the Golf Digest Architecture Editor Ron Whitten's proclamation declaring Pine Barrens "A Dead Ringer for No. 1.'' No. 1 being, of course, the nearly-mythical, closed-gated Pine Valley in South Jersey that always contends for top course in the country. This is akin to calling an art student's painting "A Dead Ringer for the Mona Lisa.'' Even Yevchak, Pine Barrens own head pro, admits it's not a terribly truthful tie.
"The only hole that really looks like Pine Valley is the 7th hole,'' Yevchak said, "with its narrow approach. Look, Pine Valley is a course that's been around since the turn of the century. We've been around since the '90s. It's a whole different deal.''
Still, hype doesn't hurt the sell. Pine Barrens is in the process of making the transition from a public course to a members-only one and it uses Whitten's quote in its brochures. Something seems to be working. Ninety-one of the 200 memberships the club plans to offer are already sold, which has the owners considering pushing up the 2006 timetable for the complete switch.
"The layout's challenging and it's kept in great shape,'' said Rob Hoffman of nearby Wall, who's already a member. "We've got a new groundskeeper this year and he's really working wonders."
For some it doesn't have to be about the green grass to be about the scenery.
A few holes up from Hoffman's group, Pine Barrens first-timers Chris Grant, Bob Clark and Bob Castner are involved in a different kind of nature appreciation.
"The Beer Cart Girl is hot,'' Clark laughs. "Don't think that doesn't matter too. The par 3s are tough and the beer chick is hot. Nice.''
And Pine Barrens thought it needed all those star ratings?
Whether greens or girls have caught your fancy, the waste bunkers are sure to catch your golf ball sooner or later. Waste is the term Yevchak prefers. Many of the bunkers are actually shoulder deep, capable of swallowing up a small man let alone a golf ball. And these aren't dainty Sunday country club-style neatly-manicured bunkers. These are overgrown beasts, many looming more like Mars craters against the surrounding pines than little golf obstacles.
Is that a bunker or a dirt road?
"That's the biggest thing you hear from people,'' Yevchak said, smiling. " 'I was playing from the waste bunkers all day.' It's 7,200 yards and waste bunkers are in play every hole."
None more intimidatingly than the crater right off the elevated tee on the par-3 14th, which includes a 40-foot plummet to the green. A nervous flub here all but guarantees at least double bogey.
The 14th is the start of a closing stretch that provides almost all of Pine Barrens' memorable moments. Not coincidently, this is the most remote, most Pine Barrens-like part of the course. You can actually hear the cars whizzing by near No. 12 and No. 13, but by the time you take a crazy cart path turn around the 15th hole, it almost feels like you're swallowed up by the woods.
"People say it's rural,'' Yevchak said.
Not quite. But it will do.
The Verdict
If you show expecting to be overcome by Mother Nature, you'll be disappointed. If you show up expecting a carbon copy of Pine Valley, you're delusional. If you show up for a nice, unique round on the Jersey Shore, you'll leave satisfied.
The front nine is relatively easy, almost disappointingly so. This is, as Yevchak said, "where you can post a score,'' where the average bogey golfer can build up a cushion on a good day. Once you make the turn, the course noticeably toughens, right from the heavy-bunkered 10th. It is the closing run of 14 to 18 that makes Pine Barrens. On these last five holes, the scenery truly becomes a daunting obstacle.
The pars 3s are tougher and more memorable than the par 5s. Pine Barrens rewards accuracy over distance. It is something of a one-trick pony, however. Water and those natural pines never really come into play. The obstacles are waste bunkers, waste bunkers and more waste bunkers. That holds up well on first play, but after a while it could grow monotonous.
The tall trees on the course borders do block out most signs of the nearby suburbia, and the long distance between tees makes it likely that you won't be staring at other groups of golfers all day. The spread-out layout makes a cart a necessity, however, and Pine Barrens factors that into its $77 greens fees.
Places to stay
With a summer-packed Six Flags Amusement Park nearby, there are plenty of chain hotel and motel options in the area. For something a little quieter, try the Shore towns of Avon-by-the-Sea and Bay Head. The Atlantic View Inn (732) 774-8505 and Conover's Bay Head Inn (732) 892-4664 are both good choices.
Places to eat
Jeffrey's (732) 914-9544, a New American BYOB in nearby Toms River, is hard to beat, frequently garnering top ratings in New Jersey Zagats. For something simpler, go for the thin-crust pizza at Federici's (732) 462-1312 in Freehold. Bruce Springsteen is known to stop by.
Fast Fact
The course is in the process of being converted into a private members' facility.
If you go
Pine Barrens Golf Club
pine barrens.com
classicgolfgroup.com
Tee times: (877) 746-3227
October 14, 2005
Any opinions expressed above are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of the management.
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