Running Deer Golf Club
"The only way to win tournaments is with the short game." - Phil Mickelson
(Played on June 5th, 2018)
Running Deer Golf Club is a parkland-style golf course, located in Pittsgrove, New Jersey, and it is without a doubt, one of the greatest public golf courses in New Jersey. It is hidden away, deep in the woods, very far away from the main road you drive in on.
Running Deer is run by Ron Jaworski, the former Philadelphia Eagles Quarterback. In addition to owning Running Deer, "Jaws" also runs Riverwinds, Blue Heron Pines, RambleWood, ValleyBrook, and Downingtown.
A lot of locals have many different opinions on Jaworski, but we believe that his golf company does one hell of a job running the many courses in the area for such an affordable price. We paid around $45 for an early afternoon tee time, and didn't have to wait until the back nine.
When you arrive to Running Deer via Google Maps, it doesn't actually bring you right to the golf course. Once you "arrive", you still have about a mile of driveway through the trees before you see the clubhouse.
We believe that this course is truly underrated and underplayed for being such a relatively inexpensive course in our area. It may be a little out of the way than most courses, but considering the condition of the course and the superb routing, we are already planning another trip soon.
Chris Pusey couldn't attend due to car troubles, so it was just Chris Colman, Thomas Pusey, and a fill-in for the day, our good friend Jake.
Other than the conditioning, what really makes Running Deer a special public course are the green complexes. For a lot of public courses in our area, the greens are very rarely as undulating as the ones in play at Running Deer.
It doesn't really ease you into the sloping greens like Riverwinds does. Instead, it slaps you in the face and expects you to stay on your putting game all day. For someone like Colman, who has been infected with an incurable case of the yips, it made putting an absolute nightmare.
The pictures don't do it justice just how many ways the greens slope, especially the third green. It has three tiers, and every tier has so many breaks and bumps, just holding the green is quite the challenge.
Although Running Deer is very treelined, the course is reasonably open if you are able to drive it between the trees. The fairways are also very generous, and the bunkers are not too deep either.
Although none of us typically played to our best abilities, which is quite a common theme along the Sunday Golfers, Running Deer is still a whole lot of fun to play, with a lot of different holes to test almost every club in the bag.
The best, and number 1 handicap, hole on the course is the 450 yard+ par 4 twelfth hole. The twelfth hole doglegs hard to the right, and plays to a perched green. We all agreed that this hole is exceptionally difficult, from the tee, to the approach, all the way through the large undulating green. And if the winds blows in your face, like it did when we were playing, God help you.
The tee shot on 12 plays to a green that slopes toward a large creek on the right hand side. If you hit it through the fairway, the approach shot to the green is nearly impossible.
Although the hole is very difficult, it is not impossible if you are playing the correct tees. We played from the blue tees, which were about 50 yards back from the whites on the 12th hole.
Although we'd love to talk more about the course, there just isn't enough good things you can say about Running Deer if you haven't played it. Here are more photos from our day on the course:
Golf Styles magazine said it best, "Many courses in South Jersey want to be Pine Valley, Running Deer... comes closest." We tend to agree. The lush tee boxes, fairways, rough, and greens were almost private-country club conditioning, and every hole felt very unique. The Sunday Golfers don't believe this is their favorite course they have played, but we believe that it is one of the best. We will certainly be back as soon as possible.
- The Sunday Golfers
"The only way to win tournaments is with the short game." - Phil Mickelson
(Played on June 5th, 2018)
Running Deer Golf Club is a parkland-style golf course, located in Pittsgrove, New Jersey, and it is without a doubt, one of the greatest public golf courses in New Jersey. It is hidden away, deep in the woods, very far away from the main road you drive in on.
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| The approach to 12, the number 1 handicap. |
Running Deer is run by Ron Jaworski, the former Philadelphia Eagles Quarterback. In addition to owning Running Deer, "Jaws" also runs Riverwinds, Blue Heron Pines, RambleWood, ValleyBrook, and Downingtown.
A lot of locals have many different opinions on Jaworski, but we believe that his golf company does one hell of a job running the many courses in the area for such an affordable price. We paid around $45 for an early afternoon tee time, and didn't have to wait until the back nine.
 |
| The Running Deer Clubhouse |
When you arrive to Running Deer via Google Maps, it doesn't actually bring you right to the golf course. Once you "arrive", you still have about a mile of driveway through the trees before you see the clubhouse.
 |
| Our buddy Jake raking a fairway bunker on 1. |
We believe that this course is truly underrated and underplayed for being such a relatively inexpensive course in our area. It may be a little out of the way than most courses, but considering the condition of the course and the superb routing, we are already planning another trip soon.
Chris Pusey couldn't attend due to car troubles, so it was just Chris Colman, Thomas Pusey, and a fill-in for the day, our good friend Jake.
 |
| Lefty Thomas teeing off on 1. |
Other than the conditioning, what really makes Running Deer a special public course are the green complexes. For a lot of public courses in our area, the greens are very rarely as undulating as the ones in play at Running Deer.
 |
| Thomas putting on the very sloping third green. |
It doesn't really ease you into the sloping greens like Riverwinds does. Instead, it slaps you in the face and expects you to stay on your putting game all day. For someone like Colman, who has been infected with an incurable case of the yips, it made putting an absolute nightmare.
 |
| The sloping third green again, from a distance. |
The pictures don't do it justice just how many ways the greens slope, especially the third green. It has three tiers, and every tier has so many breaks and bumps, just holding the green is quite the challenge.
Although Running Deer is very treelined, the course is reasonably open if you are able to drive it between the trees. The fairways are also very generous, and the bunkers are not too deep either.
 |
| Hole 2, looking back up from the green to the tee. |
Although none of us typically played to our best abilities, which is quite a common theme along the Sunday Golfers, Running Deer is still a whole lot of fun to play, with a lot of different holes to test almost every club in the bag.
 |
| 6th green, with a devilish pin position on the middle of the hump in the green. |
The best, and number 1 handicap, hole on the course is the 450 yard+ par 4 twelfth hole. The twelfth hole doglegs hard to the right, and plays to a perched green. We all agreed that this hole is exceptionally difficult, from the tee, to the approach, all the way through the large undulating green. And if the winds blows in your face, like it did when we were playing, God help you.
 |
| Nice Guy Jake on the tee on 12. |
The tee shot on 12 plays to a green that slopes toward a large creek on the right hand side. If you hit it through the fairway, the approach shot to the green is nearly impossible.
 |
| Colman and Thomas hitting their uphill approach shots to the 12th green, and they weren't even close... |
Although the hole is very difficult, it is not impossible if you are playing the correct tees. We played from the blue tees, which were about 50 yards back from the whites on the 12th hole.
Although we'd love to talk more about the course, there just isn't enough good things you can say about Running Deer if you haven't played it. Here are more photos from our day on the course:
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| Photogenic Jake and the towering pines on 14. |
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| The run-off collection area behind the ninth green. Something more courses should implicate. |
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| "The pose." |
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| The carry from the third teebox |
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| Colman posing after slicing one off the eighth tee, deep into the trees. |
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| The par 3 seventh green, looking back at the long carry to the shallow green. |
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| What-A-Guy Jake, going driver off the deck on the par 5 seventeenth. |
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| Thomas teeing off on the par 4 tenth, into a sea of bunkers. The fairway is somewhere out there. |
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| The home hole. |
Golf Styles magazine said it best, "Many courses in South Jersey want to be Pine Valley, Running Deer... comes closest." We tend to agree. The lush tee boxes, fairways, rough, and greens were almost private-country club conditioning, and every hole felt very unique. The Sunday Golfers don't believe this is their favorite course they have played, but we believe that it is one of the best. We will certainly be back as soon as possible.
- The Sunday Golfers
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