Montclair Golf Club

Montclair Golf Club sits in West Orange, New Jersey, a few miles west of downtown Montclair on a hillside property where fairways climb and fall across ravines and benches beneath the Watchung ridgeline. The club is private and today offers 36 holes arranged as four distinct nine-hole loops—First, Second, Third (all attributable to Donald Ross), and Fourth (by Charles “Steam Shovel” Banks)—each beginning and ending at the clubhouse so that multiple 18-hole combinations are possible. Practice facilities include a full driving range and a modern short-game area added as part of recent course work; the club also maintains extensive racquet and aquatics venues contiguous with the golf campus. The course experience is defined by abrupt elevation changes, sloping landing areas, and firm, canted greens. Streams in the lower valley influence play on several holes, and the short but exacting par-70 combinations—often described as “the longest short course”—reward precise placement and deft recovery over brute force. In championship setups the club has paired the Ross nines with the Banks nine to produce demanding routings, and the grounds team’s recent tree management, fairway expansion, and bunker restoration have re-emphasized angles and ground movement that are central to how Montclair plays today.