The Bayonet at Bayonet/Black Horse Golf Course - Public Review

Course Review and Comments

Good news: The course is being rehab'ed. Most of the areas off the fairways have been cleaned up. The areas underneath the trees are vastly improved. The renovation will improve the fairways and traps. That's... the good news.

Bad news: it's a gimmick course, specifically, in/around the greens. The greens are fast. That is fine, no issue, even on a course with people who think that maximizing a Stimp meter must make a green "good". Fast, but playable. However, many of the greens have severe undulations that take play beyond "challenging" to "where's the windmill, skee-ball jump and clown face?". It is not atypical to have a hole on the edge of a severe transition. If you putt with the intent of rolling 16 inches past on a miss, watch out! You may end up 80 feet away, 25 feet off the green. Remember the fiasco at the Olympic Club, 18th hole, where players were putting up hill to the hole, running it a bit past, ball starts back and rolls farther away than it started? Well, welcome to Olympic Club #2.

It's unfortunate but the layout of the greens makes this a course to avoid. Pasatiempo, DeLaVeaga, Spyglass... heck, even Aptos Seascape has better greens.

If you want a cute experience in silliness then try this course. However, just be aware that because you hit an approach shot within 18" and it comes to a stop, doesn't mean it will stay within 30 yards by the time you get there. There are very few rewards for a good approach shot. It's chance, nothing more, nothing less. And that, in my opinion, is not "golf".