Plainfield Country Club

A Donald Ross course in Edison, New Jersey, known for severe greens, blind shots and a ridge that shapes the routing. Restored by Gil Hanse, it hosted the U.S. Women's Open and two Barclays.

Plainfield began in 1890 as the Hillside Tennis Club and is among the older clubs in the country. Donald Ross laid out the current course, which opened in 1921. Land bought in the 1930s led to new holes 13 through 15, which never fit the rest of the course well. Leighton Calkins, a Plainfield member and later the town's mayor, devised an early golf handicap system in 1904, and a set of tees carries his name.

Ross used a large ridge across the property to create blind drives, blind approaches and greens set on its slopes. The greens are the course's best-known feature: steep, heavily contoured and quick. The par-4 7th asks for a carry over a bunker complex cut into a ridge in front of a punchbowl green. The par-5 12th is crossed by a winding ditch that then follows the left side of the green.

Gil Hanse began a master plan in the late 1990s and completed it in stages through 2015. The work restored more than 100 bunkers, returned many greens to their original size, refit the 1930s holes and removed trees. Tour golf followed: Dustin Johnson won the shortened 2011 Barclays and Jason Day won in 2015. Plainfield also hosted the 1978 U.S. Amateur, the 1987 U.S. Women's Open and the 2025 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball.

Holes to know

7

Par 4 · 460 yd

The approach must carry a bunker complex cut into a ridge in front of a punchbowl green.

12

Par 5 · 585 yd

A winding drainage ditch crosses the fairway and then runs up the left side of the green.

16

Par 5

A huge bunker complex splits the fairway, and the large green falls back to front from below the 17th tee.

Championships

• U.S. Amateur 1978
• U.S. Women's Open 1987
• The Barclays (PGA Tour) 2011, 2015
• U.S. Amateur Four-Ball 2025

Design history

• 1930s: new land added and holes 13–15 rebuilt
• 2000–2015: Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner restoration of more than 100 bunkers, greens returned to original size, tree removal, new tees