Wildwood Golf and Country Club

Located immediately between the Garden State Parkway (Exit 9) on the west and a salt marsh on the east in Cape May Courthouse, the course at Wildwood Golf & Country Club is one of the nation's great vintage golf layouts. Designed by Donald Ross contemporary Wayne Stiles, the course is a pearl situated on flat pineland terrain heavily influenced by the fresh salty air.

The course, which Arnold Palmer used to play frequently when he was with the Coast Guard in south Jersey in the early 1950's, is a tight track with numerous east-west parallel holes that include some fabulous designs, notably the 545-yard 15th, which many consider to be one of the most beautiful and challenging par 5's on the East Coast. Adjacent to the pine forest on its left, the hole proceeds in a straight line out toward the marsh with its tall arborvitae and at about 300 yards begins to curve around a lake on the right to a slightly elevated well bunkered green. Beyond the need to place the tee shot in the fairway, the principal challenge of the hole is the second shot to a landing area between the marsh and lake that looks like a tiny strip from a distance. Whether you par the hole or not, you have played a great golf hole.

As for the rest of the course, the poanna greens, like many classic courses such as The Cascades in Virginia, are terrific putting surfaces that are superbly maintained to a high speed. Equally well conditioned are the bent fairways marked by rye/fescue rough. Many of the holes are lined with intermittent stands of trees. A forest separates the newer holes, Nos. 11 and 12 from the rest of the course. These beautiful holes that include a slight dogleg left 409 yard par 4 and a 509-yard par 5 which right angles at 450 yards out to a lakeside green were constructed in the 1990's to make room for an expanded driving range.

Aside from Palmer's visits, Wildwood had been frequented by many golfing luminaries over its long illustrious existence, including Walter Hagen and New Jersey native son Al Besselink, a prominent Tour player in the 1940's and 50's. The golf club is one of the oldest in the country, having been chartered in 1916.

Wildwood has a modest-sized clubhouse to serve a small number of members, most of whom have been long-time residents of the area. Long associations among its members have created a kind of family atmosphere that you don't have in some of the newer clubs in the more transient markets.

Wildwood is uniquely structured as a not-for-profit association governed by a 20-member board of trustees. Visitors to the Jersey shore are welcome at Wildwood under a reciprocal arrangement with their home clubs, with arrangements for tee times made their home club professional. Various categories of membership include full family and corporate memberships. The clubhouse offers superb dining and has hosted many weddings over the years.