500 St. Andrews Drive
Egg Harbor Twp., NJ 08234
609-927-0006

Alan B. Nichols
Golf Writer

Harbor Pines Golf Club spares no expense in offering one of the best groomed courses anywhere in the Garden State. Owing to its relatively short rough and its superb manicuring, Harbor Pines is promoted as "reminiscent of Augusta National." That may be a stretch, but you should definitely include Harbor Pines on your must-play list.

The club is situated very conveniently on Ocean Heights Blvd. in Egg Harbor Township off Exit 30 of the Parkway. Alternatively, it is a short 25-minute drive south on Route 9 from Absecon.

Home grown designer Stephen Kay routed a fine layout through the dense pines and around 17 acres of lakes. The course is the epicenter of an upscale real estate project comprising some 6500 acres. The seven and eight-figure homes are being carefully planned to protect the environment and appeal to the most discriminating home buyers.

On largely flat terrain, the course features huge impeccably groomed bent grass greens with modest slopes (unlike Augusta), and wide bent grass fairways. Water comes into play on no less than eight holes and, though the bunkers are large, there is less sand here than you might expect. On a layout measuring from 5099 to a modest 6827 yards from the tips, golfers of all stripes can enjoy their rounds. This is a very modern course in every sense of the word except it has no tricks. It is a throwback to good old-fashioned "what you see is what you get" golf. Five sets of tees testify that no level of golfer was left out of the design plan.

The front side meanders through pristine pine forest and offers some outstanding holes including my favorite, the almost 90 degree dogleg right 400-yard (370 from the whites) 4th. It is followed by a much longer par 4 5th which doglegs right around a lake. The backside features a very short par 4 requiring a water carry off the tee, a brutishly long par 4 17th, and a short par 5 finishing hole aimed at bringing smiles to all golfers. Homes line most of the backside holes.

Harbor Pines offers an elegant 20,000-square foot clubhouse, excellent food, and fine instruction at a top quality practice facility.