New Jersey’s first new municipal golf course in a decade has its soft opening

A soft opening for the driving range, putting green and miniature golf course took place on Thursday.

It had been more than a decade since a new municipal golf course has been built in the state of New Jersey, but the soft opening of the Old Bridge Golf Club at Rose-Lambertson, nicknamed “The Rose,” put an end to that drought on Thursday.

Old Bridge’s mayor, Owen Henry, was part of a contingent on hand this week for a ceremonial opening.

“This is a jewel, and this is going to be here for the current and the future residents and generations of Old Bridge,” Henry told our network partner, the Courier News.

Although a soft opening for the driving range, putting green and miniature golf course took place on Thursday, the 18-hole course won’t open until mid-October.

Old Bridge Golf Club at Rose-Lambertson, called “The Rose,” (Photo: Alexander Lewis/myCentralJersey.com)

Here’s more from MyCentralJersey.com.

The project is located on about 218 acres of township-owned property – the Rose and Lambertson Tract area – on the north and south side of Lambertson Road. In a series of transactions, the township used state Green Acres funds to purchase the property to maintain it as open space.

Designed by New Jersey golf architect Stephen Kay, the complex includes a par-71, 18-hole course, an illuminated 30-bay driving range and a miniature golf course with lighting, water features and rolling terrain.

There’s also a 6,000-square foot clubhouse with a pro shop, concession area, cart barn and restrooms, as well as a 5,000-square-foot maintenance building and 110 parking spaces. The rental electric carts will be equipped with GPS screens.

The routing of the 18-hole layout was driven by wetlands and the natural topography. Unlike most American golf courses, the 9th hole does not return to the clubhouse because of the property’s unique features.

The Rose is the centerpiece of a more than $35 million public-private partnership between 2020 Acquisitions and the township.

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Tiger Woods, Mike Trout announce routing for Trout National in New Jersey

The golf star teamed with the baseball star to build a private club on an old silica mine and rambling farmland.

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Tiger Woods and baseball star Mike Trout announced in March they were partnering to build a new private golf course, Trout National – The Reserve, in New Jersey about 45 minutes south of Philadelphia.

The routing, perhaps the most important part of the design puzzle, is now complete. The group released a map of the routing Friday in a media release, timed with a new social media video of Woods and Trout at Trout National. The course – par 72 at 7,455 yards – is slated to open in 2025.

With the course designed by Woods’ TGR Design, the club will also feature a “cutting-edge” practice range, short-game area, clubhouse, restaurant, “five-star” lodging, a wedding chapel and more.

Trout National Tiger Woods
The planned routing for Trout National – The Reserve in Vineland, New Jersey, includes a former silica sand mine and rambling farmland. (Courtesy of Trout National – The Reserve)

Trout recently spoke on Bleacher Report’s “On Base With Mookie Betts,”  about what inspired him to build a course and his love of working with Woods.

Here’s the full release on how the routing came together:

(VINELAND, N.J.) – Trout National – The Reserve, a world-class golf club collaboration between Mike Trout, the three-time American League MVP and 10-time Major League Baseball All-Star, and local partner and businessman John Ruga, announce the course routing by golf icon Tiger Woods’ TGR Design.

The 18-hole, par-72 golf course, which is slated to complete construction in 2025, is routed through two unique natural landscapes giving distinct character to the course. A former silica sand mine and rambling farmland offers ample playable sandy waste areas as well as sprawling fairways offering multiple routes from tee to green. Large and undulating greens with low-cut surrounds emphasize the challenging, yet fun design where risk-reward opportunities create the ideal environment.

“Some of my favorite golf experiences have been ones that have challenged my game while still having fun and that’s what we wanted to create at Trout National – The Reserve,” said Trout. “Tiger, John and I walked hole by hole and this course will do just that. Our vision and his design is creating something special here in my hometown.”

“Mike and John found a site with a lot of character to make some outstanding golf holes,” says Tiger. “The sandy and diverse terrain has so many great natural features that have given us a lot of options on how to create a world-class golf course.”

“The land that is home to Trout National – The Reserve has great history here in the city of Vineland,” said Ruga. “Tiger and his team were able to incorporate the history and let the land shine through in this championship golf course. It will truly be a memorable experience on the course.”

Accompanying the 18-hole championship golf course, the golf offerings at Trout National – The Reserve will also include a flexible short course and expansive putting course along with world-class practice facilities and performance center. Other club highlights include a modern state-of-the-art clubhouse, five-star lodging, innovative amenities, a chapel and more.

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When MLB star Mike Trout’s golf course purchase fell through he teamed with Tiger Woods

The original plan was for Trout to purchase an existing course, but after COVID hit in 2020 he said things “fell through.”

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Major League Baseball star Mike Trout has risen to fame with the Los Angeles Angels, but the superstar hails from New Jersey and that’s where he’s building a golf resort with Tiger Woods’ architectural firm.

In a recent episode of Bleacher Report’s “On Base With Mookie Betts,” Trout talked at length about his love for the game and what led him to build his course, Trout National — The Reserve.

The original plan for the 11-time All-Star and three-time American League Most Valuable Player was to purchase an existing course that was for sale, but after COVID hit in 2020, he said things “fell through.”

According to a story by Kaitlyn McCormick of the Cherry Hill Courier-Post (which is part of the USA Today Network), Trout then realized an even better plan was to work with the Tiger Woods and his designed team on a 27-hole resort.

“He’s the reason I started to golf,” Trout said.

Trout also said that his own experience with golf, which he’s been playing seriously since he was 16, allowed him to figure out just what sort of course he wanted to bring to South Jersey.

During the off-season from his time wowing the crowd as an Angel, Trout says he’s involved a lot with the project and the meetings that are necessary, but it was harder to schedule when he was back out killing it in center field.

Recently, the city’s Planning board OK’d a construction application for more than 27,000 square feet of buildings and facilities, including an administration building, an outpost building and an equipment building.Woods and his architecture firm, TGR Design, is also creating a new short course as part of Cobbs Creek Golf Club in Philadelphia.

The course complex will also have a practice range, short-game area, clubhouse, restaurant, five-star lodging, a wedding chapel and more.

Golf fanatics can look forward to the luxury-style private course’s 2025 opening date.

See why millions flock to Gateway National Recreation Area

Explore the beauty of Gateway.

In 2022, over 8 million people visited Gateway National Recreation Area. That year, this special National Park Service (NPS) site also celebrated its 50th anniversary. Established in 1972, Gateway still draws in tons of visitors seeking an outdoor escape.

What keeps people coming back to Gateway? For some New York and New Jersey locals, the recreation area is the ideal place to go for a daily walk. For others, it’s a region perfect for beach days, kayaking trips, and birdwatching. From Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge to Fort Hancock, Gateway has a lot to offer. Discover eight of Gateway National Recreation Area’s best sights and things to do in the list below. Check out even more park guides here.

A USGA staffer captured a prestigious state golf championship

He oversees in-house administration for championships, with a focus on helping golf organizations.

EMERSON, N.J. – Brent Paladino expects to be razzed by his co-workers when he returns to his job at the United States Golf Association.

“I’ll be getting a few texts to bring in [food],” Paladino said, “and being asked where I’ve been the last few days.”

He spent three days winning the 103rd New Jersey Open Golf Championship, rallying during the recent final round to capture the title by one shot at steamy Hackensack Golf Club.

Paladino shot a sizzling 7-under-par 65 for an 11-under 205 to finish one stroke ahead of fellow pro Nick Bova of Hamilton Farm, who closed with 69 in the New Jersey State Golf Association championship. Paladino, 36, earned $20,000, so bringing a nice spread to the USGA office in Far Hills is the safe play.

Bova was in it until the par-4 18th, when he pulled his drive onto the rough of an adjacent hole and suffered a bogey. On the par-3 17th, he maintained his share of the lead with a par-saving 12-foot putt.

“It stinks, obviously,” said Bova, 38, a Hillsborough resident who earned $12,500. “To bogey the last hole today, and to make a double there [Tuesday] and lose by a shot, is pretty tough.”

The second-round leader, Troy Vannucci of Little Mill, and Jack Simon of Rockaway River, this year’s New Jersey Amateur runner-up, shared low amateur honors at 8-under. Simon shot 70, Vannucci 73, and they shared third with pro Danny Harcourt of Fiddler’s Elbow, who closed with 70.

Teen Thomas O’Neill, Hackensack’s club champion, made another good showing in front of the home crowd. O’Neill shot 70 for a 209 to tie for sixth with fellow amateur Chris DeJohn of Arcola, who closed with 71.

“It’s a dream week,” said O’Neill, 19, a Bergen Catholic graduate and incoming freshman at Holy Cross. “I had this date circled on my calendar for almost a year now. I’m just happy to perform and I had a lot of fun out there.”

Paladino lives in Hackettstown and is in his fourth year working for the USGA. He oversees in-house administration for championships, with a focus on helping golf organizations administer the approximately 700 qualifiers across the country.

This is Paladino’s third consecutive top-five finish at the State Open, as he was fourth last year and fifth in 2021. Each time, he climbed the leaderboard in the final round, and he started Wednesday’s final round five strokes off the lead and in a tie for 10th.

Paladino’s 65 was one shot shy of tying the course record, according to an NJSGA official. He had eight birdies and one bogey, getting hot with five consecutive birdies, on Nos. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. On the par-3 sixth, he hit the face of the hole and tapped in for the birdie.

“I hit a lot of really good wedges, 8- and 9-irons,” said Paladino, who twice this season has won New Jersey PGA majors. “I didn’t drive it especially well, but I hit a lot of [approach] shots to three or four feet, especially on the first part of the round.”

With his grandfather as his caddie, this legally blind golfer is winning international acclaim

Tyler Cashman is legally blind, with less than 5% of vision in his left eye and 20% in the right.

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HIGH BRIDGE, N.J. — Nothing seemed unusual as Tyler Cashman stepped up to the first tee at High Bridge Hills Golf Club for a mid-July practice. The golfer from Oldwick took a long look out toward the green, then stepped back and tried a practice swing.

Cashman, a 20-year-old business major at the University of Richmond, lined up over his bright orange golf ball.

His grandfather, George Cashman, quietly gave instructions.

“A little right,” he advised. Tyler shifted his weight, adjusting his feet by millimeters. “Right there,” his grandfather said.

Cashman teed off and watched as the ball soared toward the fairway, as any other player might. But he couldn’t follow his shot.

Tyler Cashman is legally blind, with less than 5% of vision in his left eye and 20% in the right. He was born with better eyesight, but, for reasons doctors still haven’t been able to explain, “it’s been deteriorating since then, and it’s still deteriorating,” he said.

Cashman sees “blurry blobs” without detail. Things are most clear about 3 inches away from his better eye. That’s where he holds his phone, and anything else he wants to read — including printouts of college exams, the letters blown up to a 36-point font.

On the golf course, Cashman needs an aide — called a caddie, spotter or coach — to make sure he’s pulling the right club out of his bag, putting his tee in the right spot and lining up his shots correctly.

He relies on his 69-year-old grandfather to point him in the right direction.

“Without him, you’re just beating balls God knows where,” Cashman said. “I probably couldn’t play a single hole without a spotter.”

Team Ca$hman is a family affair

Tyler Cashman was the youngest player in the 2022 International Blind Golf Association’s Vision Cup, where he helped Team North America capture its first title. In March, he won the B2 division at the association’s South African Open, took one day off, then finished second out of 15 entrants at his vision level at the IBGA World Championship.

Earlier this month, after Tyler was second among visually impaired golfers at the U.S. Golf Association’s Adaptive Open in North Carolina, fourth-place finisher Bill Pease declared, “The future of blind golf is right here.”

The IBGA has 400 members, 76 of whom are also registered with the U.S. Blind Golf Association, a nonprofit established in 1953 to grow the game among the visually impaired. Since the inception of the USBGA’s junior golf program in 1992, more than 5,000 people have been introduced to this unique version of the game.

“Tyler has no idea what’s in front of him. He doesn’t know if it’s a par-4, par-5, par-3,” said George Cashman, who grew up in Florham Park and now splits his time between Phoenix and Ortley Beach.

“He relies on me. There’s a real trust factor there. I know his swing so well. I know how to adjust. All the little swing tips he can’t see, I help him with.”

Tyler Cashman looked like any other golfer on the practice green at High Bridge Hills, his home course. He has the standard clubs in his beige golf bag, which is decorated with personalized badges from the U.S. Adaptive Open, World Blind Golf Championships and elite courses like TPC Sawgrass and Pinehurst Resort & Country Club.

Tyler and George Cashman compete in matching bright blue collared polo shirts to which Tyler’s mother, Casey, has added the “Team Ca$hman” logo.

On the green, Tyler counts paces from his ball to the hole. Unlike most golfers, he putts with the flag stick in place. Sometimes George will rattle it to help his grandson locate the cup. The most challenging part of blind golf, Tyler said, is judging any slope on the greens. For his practice round, he birdied the par-5 first hole.

“When things get really bad, I get fired,” his grandfather joked. “Thank God that’s happening fewer and fewer times as his golf game continues to improve and evolve.”

Even with George Cashman sidelined after knee replacement surgery, Tyler and a last-minute replacement caddie finished second in the visually impaired category at the United States Golf Association’s Adaptive Open earlier this month.

The reunited Team Ca$hman is scheduled to compete at the Canadian Open Blind Golf Championships in late August and the USBGA’s 77th National Championship in September.

“I wouldn’t play without him. He’s the reason I play,” Tyler said of his grandfather. “I fire him a lot, but he keeps coming back.”

Tyler Cashman, a 20-year-old legally blind golfer from Oldwick, plays a practice round at High Bridge Hills Golf Club on July 20, 2023. Tyler’s grandfather tells him what direction to hit the ball and how far it needs to go. Photo: Chris Pedota, NorthJersey.com-USA Today Network

From ‘small adaptation’ to big inspiration

In fourth grade, Casey Cashman thought her son just needed glasses.

Tyler had kept his declining vision a secret, memorizing the eye chart the school nurse used. But after she switched to a new chart, Tyler got nearly every letter wrong.

He doesn’t have a diagnosis, but doctors believe his vision loss is genetic.

Cashman played baseball with sighted kids until eighth grade, when his doctor decided it wasn’t safe anymore. Undaunted, Cashman switched to the New Jersey Titans beep baseball team, a squad of visually impaired players who play a modified version of the national pastime. He was the offensive Rookie of the Year at the 2019 National Beep Baseball Association World Series in Oklahoma, with a .650 batting average. Two years later, Cashman hit .581 and was named to the World Series offensive all-star team.

Cashman also followed his grandfather’s passion for golf onto the greens, “because the ball doesn’t move and there’s no contact, so they couldn’t stop me.” He converted his baseball swing at the since-closed Golf Range in Branchburg. Cashman tried out for the Voorhees High School golf team and made junior varsity as a freshman with Voorhees English teacher Mike Crane, a beginner golfer, as his volunteer caddie.

“His love for the game overcame the frustrations,” said Carmen Cook, a retired Voorhees physical education teacher and coach. “One of the first times he was out on the course with me, I said, ‘Hey, great shot. Did you see where that went?’ He said, ‘I have no idea.’ He really lost vision of the flight once it took off.”

Cashman moved up to varsity as a sophomore and junior. In his senior year, he was one of Voorhees’ top three players and a co-captain on a team that went 15-3.

“At first, I didn’t like how (my vision) was so out in the open,” Cashman said. “But it was a good thing that it was so obvious for other people. … I started to look at (the caddie) as a small adaptation I had to deal with so I could play on the same level.”

Cashman, who is studying marketing, hopes his future career will raise awareness of visually impaired people. He also plans to continue raising money for the U.S. Pain Foundation, the largest nonprofit for individuals living with chronic pain, as his mother does.

When Tyler was in seventh grade, the Cashmans launched Pediatric Pain Warriors for kids and families. Since then, they have raised $250,000, hosting three weeklong summer camps and family retreats at Disney World, Great Wolf Lodge Water Park, and Morgan’s Wonderland in San Antonio, as well as a virtual retreat during the COVID lockdown.

A rising junior at the University of Richmond, Cashman gets audio versions of most textbooks, and uses iPad apps that can scan and verbalize print pages. He also uses Fusion, a computer program that both enlarges and reads text.

Cashman has participated in two clinical trials to try to slow his deteriorating vision: one for a new medication and another, in Cancun, in which his stem cells were removed and then reinjected. Neither has reversed his condition, though the interventions could have slowed his decline.

“He won’t let the vision define him,” said Pease, a former University of Virginia professor who is also legally blind. “That’s not who he is. He won’t make excuses. He’s a real role model at 20 years old. I look up to him. … He’s got this disease and it’s not curable, but he just keeps going. He doesn’t keep going just for himself. He’s trying to help others. He’s already done more for others than most of us on this Earth.”

Jane Havsy is a storyteller for the Daily Record and DailyRecord.com, part of the USA TODAY Network. For full access to live scores, breaking news and analysis, subscribe today.

Email: JHavsy@gannett.com; Twitter: @dailyrecordspts

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Notre Dame apparently too stuffy of a place for Brian Kelly

Sorry you had to work harder with the Irish, Brian.

We get it. We know you don’t want to hear about Brian Kelly anymore. He’s part of Notre Dame’s past and just want to leave him there. But some things are just hard to ignore.

Kelly, entering his second season as LSU coach, was in Nashville for the annual SEC Media Days. Even though he’s been gone for the Irish for over a year-and-a-half now, he simply can’t avoid questions about his former employer. It seemed inevitable that someone would pose one, and it came while he was interviewed by SiriusXM College Sports Radio. When asked to compare coaching the Irish as opposed to the Tigers, he said this:

“Well, I don’t think you have to wear a tie every day at the job if you know what I mean. It’s a little bit more relaxed from that perspective. That’s not good or bad, but there is a much more relaxed [feeling] because you’re in the south. You’re around people that are very easy to get along with. Not that they were hard to get along with, but there are rules you have to follow in an environment like Notre Dame. And you can’t cross those lines. So there is a little bit of a difference there.

Well, excuse Notre Dame for wanting everyone to look and dress proper, Mr. Kelly. We’re not sure what you expected from a Catholic university with high academic standards, but we guess everyone has their thing.
Not only that, but Kelly doesn’t seem to like traveling far for recruiting either:

“I would say the biggest one other than that small narrative that I gave you is that I had to be on a plane and I had to pull the best player out of California, out of Texas, out of New Jersey. I don’t have to do that at LSU. The best player in the state of Louisiana, if we do a really good job recruiting him, he wants to be a Tiger. That’s a difference that, more than anything else, allows you to really focus on what’s important within your program and that is the state of Louisiana and player development.”

Based on this, maybe Kelly never was comfortable with Notre Dame being a national school and having to do everything to keep that reputation going. But it’s OK because not everyone embraces the national spotlight. Sometimes, it’s best to stay regional, which he seems to enjoy in Baton Rouge. Good for him, we guess.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Tiger Woods, Mike Trout golf course construction expected to start in 2024

One planning hurdle for the approval was the massive use of walls in an area where traditional fencing is the rule.

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VINELAND, N.J. — A complete development plan for Trout National – The Reserve is expected to arrive at City Hall in about six months, and developers of the championship-style golf course are forecasting construction work starting in 2024.

The project design for local government review and approval purposes is happening in two parts. The public now is able to look over the relatively simple details for creating the outlying features of the course, which is going into an approximately 280-acre corner of East Vineland.

At its July 12 meeting, the Planning Board heard from representatives of the project team working for landowner NEP Real Estate of Vineland NJ Urban Renewal LLC. The goal at present is to have the course in use in 2025.

Trout National will be hidden by miles of walls, landscaping

Board members unanimously approved the design for a four-building maintenance area and about 4.5 miles of perimeter walls. The walls, mostly textured concrete panels, and extensive landscaping are promised to seal off the course from view and to a great extent from sound.

“We anticipate being back before the board in about six months or so with the overall site plan for the entirety of the project,” project attorney Michael Fralinger said at the hearing Wednesday night. “You can imagine, with 281 acres, with the perimeter fencing and the walls that are being constructed, it’s going to take a while.”

The 280 acres approximately are off Hance Bridge and Mays Landing roads, sections mostly zoned for agricultural uses and woodlands. One small area is designated a redevelopment area.

The Vineland Planning Board on Wednesday night reviewed and approved a first phase site plan for Trout National _ The Reserve, a golf course proposed for East Vineland. Project attorney Michael Fralinger (left) and engineer Tim Ruga testified on features of a maintenance facility and the extensive perimeter wall system. The exhibit next to them is the site plan map. The next plan to be submitted will be for the golf course proper in about six months. Photo: Joseph P. Smith/Courier Post/USA Today Network)

The property does have an industrial past as a sand mine and an industrial present as home to Northeast Precast and its related private business park. The property is near Route 55, and beyond that Millville.

“We have about 99.8 percent of what we need for the overall site plan,” Fralinger said. “But it’s just being properly positioned. We have some of the best experts — I’m just going to say it — in the world who are working on this project.”

TGR Design, a company owned by golfer Tiger Woods, is designing the course. Architectural work is by Marsh & Associates Inc., a specialist firm. The project was disclosed in March.

One planning hurdle for the approval was the massive use of walls in an area where traditional fencing is the rule.

Chain link fencing is to be used inside some wooded sections to avoid large scale removal of trees. Stamped concrete walls varying in height from 6 feet to 8 feet to 14 feet will range most of the perimeter, however.

Security guarantee for golfers, entourages a design priority

Engineer Steven Filippone is consulting on the design. His background includes designing golf courses in the state. The use of walls provides security as well as aesthetics and is not really an option, he said.

“When we talk about world-class golfers coming to a location like this, it’s not just the golfers,” Filippone said. “They need to be safe and secure. It’s not just the golfers who come. It’s their family. It’s their trainer. It’s their sports management team.

“These are world-class people,” the engineer said. “If you turn on the Golf Channel or turn on any golf tournament, they have an entire contingent that come along with them. They won’t come to this site if it’s not safe and secure.”

Filippone said the walls, made to look as if assembled by stacking slate, will have landscaping weaving along both sides on a scale rarely seen on any other kind of development.

Joe Smith is a N.E. Philly native transplanted to South Jersey 36 years ago, keeping an eye now on government in South Jersey. He is a former editor and current senior staff writer for The Daily Journal in Vineland, Courier-Post in Cherry Hill, and the Burlington County Times.

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Pain-free Nelly Korda comes into KPMG Women’s PGA at Baltusrol off a month-plus break, has new instructor

Nelly Korda tackles Baltusrol with a pain-free back and a new coach.

SPRINGFIELD, N.J. – Nelly Korda didn’t touch a club for several weeks after lower back pain resulted in a forced spring break. When the 24-year-old returned to work, it was with a new swing instructor. Jason Baile, director of instruction at Jupiter Hills Club in Florida, started working with the former World No. 1 a week and a half ago and this week is at Baltusrol Golf Club helping Korda prepare for the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.

“A couple of my sister’s friends work with him,” said Korda, who noted that LIV’s Peter Uihlein is among them. “I heard he’s really good, so testing him out.”

They’ve mostly worked on setup, she said, moving closer to the ball and getting her right shoulder more through the ball rather than stuck behind it.

Korda, currently No. 2 in the world, hasn’t won this season but has notched six top-six finishes. She’s one of four players on tour ranked in the top 20 in both strokes gained off-the-tee (third) and strokes gained putting (16th).

Korda trails only Jin Young Ko in strokes gained total per round.

This isn’t the first time Korda, an eight-time winner on the LPGA, has dealt with lower back pain, which caused her to withdraw from the KPMG at Aronimink three years ago after the first round.

HOW TO WATCH: 2023 KPMG Women’s PGA

This time around, Korda couldn’t point to a specific shot or movement that caused the pain, but she immediately talked to her doctor about it and decided to take several weeks of rest before it worsened. Korda’s last round on the LPGA was May 12 at the Cognizant Founders Cup, where she missed the cut. She’s now pain-free.

“There’s a lot of torque in the golf swing,” said Korda, “so I feel like I’m not the only golfer that kind of struggles with the low back.

“Also, when you’re traveling four weeks in a row, different beds, flying out right after your round, sometimes you just tweak it and you just need to take rest.”

Nelly Korda walks the first fairway with her team during a practice round before the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Baltusrol Golf Club on June 19, 2023 in Springfield, New Jersey. (Sarah Stier/Getty Images)

Nelly’s sister, Jessica Korda, 30, announced late last month that she was taking a break from the tour indefinitely to try to get her back healthy.

“I think coming from a family that has played sports throughout their entire life, it just comes with it,” said Nelly. “You look at so many athletes, they all go through something. I can only speak on let’s say tennis, where you see (Rafael) Nadal, who battled with so many injuries throughout his entire career.

“It’s something you constantly learn from.”

Korda said her split from her previous instructor, Jamie Mulligan, was about time management more than anything else, and they remain close. She also still considers David Whelan part of her team. She sees Whelan often at Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Florida, when she’s at home, mostly casually. Korda started working with Whelan at age 14.

“Even when he doesn’t say anything, just the fact that he is there with me at practice makes me very comfortable,” she said. “I am where I am because of him.”

As the world’s best women take on Baltusrol’s Lower Course for the first time since 1961, Korda said the first four holes will be crucial. Getting through them in even par is a big goal for the week.

“They’re big, monstrous kind of holes,” she said.

Baltusrol’s dual courses (the Upper and the Lower) have hosted 16 USGA Championships and two PGA Championships. The championship tradition began in 1901 with the U.S. Women’s Amateur. Jack Nicklaus won two U.S. Open titles on Baltusrol’s Lower Course. Mickey Wright and Phil Mickelson won here, too.

“The club just bleeds major championship golf,” said PGA chief championships officer Kerry Haigh.

Korda was blown away Monday by the condition of the A.W. Tillinghast design, which was restored in 2020 by Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner and reopened in 2021. The Lower ranks No. 35 on Golfweek’s Best list of classic courses in the U.S., and the Upper ties for No. 62. Both courses rank among the top 10 private clubs in New Jersey.

With rain in the forecast, players will face a different test than they’ve seen so far in sunny and dry practice rounds. The club’s new drainage and sub-surface air system might be put to the test before the weekend.

The rough, last cut on Sunday, is right where they want it. Korda said she tried to hit 6-irons from the rough and they came out as knuckle balls, dead left. Haigh said the PGA plans to top it off Wednesday and again Friday if needed.

“I enjoy these kinds of golf courses where you have to kind of think a little bit more,” said Korda, “and it’s a very demanding golf course as well … everything has to click for you this week in order to perform well.”

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What’s the holdup with this new municipal golf course and complex in the New York City metro area?

The facility includes an 18-hole golf course, driving range, short-game practice area, practice putting green and mini-golf area.

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OLD BRIDGE. N.J. – A spokesperson for a township just south of New York City said its new golf complex will not open until a management firm is found to run the facility.

The complex’s driving range is expected to open by the end of July, but that is subject to finding a management firm, Township Business Administrator and Director of Finance/CFO Himanshu Shah said.

“The range opening may be delayed if we don’t have a management company in place,” he added.

The course is expected to open in late fall, Shah said. Old Bridge is just south of New Brunswick, which sits near the southern tip of Staten Island.

“It is very difficult for a municipality to operate such a facility,” Shah said. “There is a lot of intricacy required.”

Old Bridge Golf Club at Rose Lambertson is located on the north and south side of Lambertson Road. The facility includes an 18-hole golf course, driving range, short-game practice area, practice putting green and mini-golf area.

Old Bridge Golf Club at Rose Lambertson is expected to open later this year.
The project also includes a 6,000-square-foot clubhouse, 5,000-square-foot maintenance building, eight bioretention basins and six wet ponds for stormwater management throughout the golf course.

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As part of a redevelopment agreement, Efrem Gerszberg, owner of 2020 Acquisitions, a national real estate development company, agreed to build the course, at no cost to the township, and turn it over to the township.

At its June 13 meeting, the Township Council unanimously approved going out to bid for a management company to operate the complex.

The township will maintain ownership of the land and the golf course, township officials said.

One of the conditions of the contract, Shah said, is the selected provider make annual payments to the township,

It’s unusual for a governmental entity to operate and manage a golf course because employees don’t have the expertise, Township Attorney Mark Roselli said.

Roselli explained that competitive contracting is being used because it is “designed for specialized services and the operation of a golf course is certainly a specialized service.”

“It’s not a situation where you go out for the lowest responsible bidder because there’s so many different issues involved in managing and operating the golf course,” he said.

The management firm will be responsible for the operating, upkeep and maintenance, but also acquiring the necessary equipment for operating a golf course and the concession stand, Roselli said. The concession stand will also be management’s responsibility, he added.

“It’s not unusual to do it this way,” Roselli said. “It’s a win-win. It’s a large undertaking, but the goal is to seek and obtain it from someone who has the expertise in operating it, so that we can move forward.”

The course will have a four-tier rate schedule, with the lowest rate for Old Bridge residents, followed by Middlesex County residents, then state residents and then out-of-state residents, as required under the Green Acres agreement.

Email: sloyer@gannettnj.com Susan Loyer covers Middlesex County and more for MyCentralJersey.com. To get unlimited access to her work, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

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