Latona Country Club - A True Hidden Gem
"Be decisive. A wrong decision is usually less disastrous than indecision." - Bernhard Langer
(Played on February 23rd, 2018)
Every once in a while, you come across a golf course where the conditions aren't great, there aren't many stand out holes, and the amenities are nothing special. But those same courses can have affordable pricing, playable conditions, family-oriented model, and a solid routing that makes it a hidden gem of a golf course. That is how we would describe Latona Country Club.
Latona Country Club is a nine-hole public course in Buena Vista, New Jersey, designed by Garrett J. Renn. If you are familiar with that area in New Jersey, it's essentially the middle of nowhere in South Jersey. There is another golf course only a few miles away, accurately called Buena Vista Country Club, and we hope to play there eventually. But for a winter day in February, we were looking for somewhere we could play 18 for $20 a piece, and Latona hit the mark.
Although it's only nine holes, it almost has everything you could want with a golf course that uses so little land. Three strong par 3s, four par 4s, and two par 5s that can be reachable with two good shots, even for the average player.
Playing the nine-holes over again may seem monotonous, but on the scorecard they encourage everyone to play a different set of tees so you do feel like you are playing a either shorter or longer course, depending on which set of tees you choose for your first and second nines.
We had been wanting to play this course for awhile, so we finally found a day where the temperature wasn't below freezing and drove the 30 minutes down to Buena Vista. Although Thomas wanted to come, it was only the two Chris's who could make it.
Colman and Pusey, arrived around 7:45 AM for their 8 o'clock tee time. Not a single car in the parking lot, and nobody to take their greens fee. After waiting on the tee until 8, a random car of the person who we guessed was supposed to be working pulled into the parking lot, and the two Chris's were off and running.
Although we figured the conditions weren't going to be top notch, we were pleasantly surprised that they were very decent. Other than the greens that were extremely slow and nearly cut to the length of the fairways, we were just happy to be out playing golf.
Latona has a very interesting routing. It's fairly open on some holes, allowing golfers like Colman to spray the ball and still have a shot at the green. But it also has holes surrounded by trees that make you be precise or pay the penalty.
One of the great things we found about the course were the bunkers. Although the photos don't really do them justice, most were pretty deep and had big faces that make bunker shots a little more difficult.
One knock on the course would be that two of the par 3s play around the same yardage, while the last par 3, the ninth hole plays a beast of over 225 yards. If one of the par 3s had been either shortened or lengthened, it would have had a lot more variety over the round. Other than that though, all the holes were different and great in their own right.
Although Colman and Pusey played at about the same skill level (pretty shitty) they had very different opinions on their favorite hole on the course.
In the photo above you see Pusey hitting out of a bunker on the par 4 seventh. He declared this 440 yarder as his favorite hole. Although we didn't get any photos of it, which is a shame, walking up the short hill and seeing the hole slowly move to the right really amped him up.
Colman probably didn't choose the seventh as his favorite because on both occasions, he was busy in the trees to the right.
Colman's favorite hole was the par 5 second. Miss it left, you find the main road the course is on and you are out of bounds. Miss it right, you don't really have a shot at going for the green in two. And even if you do hit the fairway and decide to go for the green, bunkers surround it and are like magnets for your golf ball.
Highlights from the day included Colman chipping in on the par 3 ninth for a two and the only birdie of the day, and Pusey threading the needle from jail between trees on the par 4 third hole.
Although we used this same kind of picture at the beginning, it really was one of the best photos from our morning. Here are a few more photos from Latona Country Club:
Places like Latona are absolutely important for the future of golf. Not every golfer wants to go out and spend 40, 50, 65 dollars on a round of golf. If Latona had better conditioning or was in a more populated area, it would definitely be more populated. The two Chris's had a blast there, and will definitely play it in the summer, where the conditions will hopefully be a little better, and someone will be in the pro shop when we arrive.
Punxsutawney Phil is calling for an early spring (Despite the recent snow we just received) so we hope that this year we are able to play even more golf than before. There are still dozens among dozens of courses we have been anticipating playing as soon as we can, and with summer slowly approaching and the days getting longer, we know it will be a matter of time before these blogs become at least a twice a month occurrence. Maybe.
- The Sunday Golfers
"Be decisive. A wrong decision is usually less disastrous than indecision." - Bernhard Langer
(Played on February 23rd, 2018)
Every once in a while, you come across a golf course where the conditions aren't great, there aren't many stand out holes, and the amenities are nothing special. But those same courses can have affordable pricing, playable conditions, family-oriented model, and a solid routing that makes it a hidden gem of a golf course. That is how we would describe Latona Country Club.
 |
| Chris Pusey going for the par 5 second green in two. |
Latona Country Club is a nine-hole public course in Buena Vista, New Jersey, designed by Garrett J. Renn. If you are familiar with that area in New Jersey, it's essentially the middle of nowhere in South Jersey. There is another golf course only a few miles away, accurately called Buena Vista Country Club, and we hope to play there eventually. But for a winter day in February, we were looking for somewhere we could play 18 for $20 a piece, and Latona hit the mark.
Although it's only nine holes, it almost has everything you could want with a golf course that uses so little land. Three strong par 3s, four par 4s, and two par 5s that can be reachable with two good shots, even for the average player.
 |
| The first green at Latona. |
Playing the nine-holes over again may seem monotonous, but on the scorecard they encourage everyone to play a different set of tees so you do feel like you are playing a either shorter or longer course, depending on which set of tees you choose for your first and second nines.
We had been wanting to play this course for awhile, so we finally found a day where the temperature wasn't below freezing and drove the 30 minutes down to Buena Vista. Although Thomas wanted to come, it was only the two Chris's who could make it.
Colman and Pusey, arrived around 7:45 AM for their 8 o'clock tee time. Not a single car in the parking lot, and nobody to take their greens fee. After waiting on the tee until 8, a random car of the person who we guessed was supposed to be working pulled into the parking lot, and the two Chris's were off and running.
 |
| Colman teeing off the first hole at Latona. |
Although we figured the conditions weren't going to be top notch, we were pleasantly surprised that they were very decent. Other than the greens that were extremely slow and nearly cut to the length of the fairways, we were just happy to be out playing golf.
Latona has a very interesting routing. It's fairly open on some holes, allowing golfers like Colman to spray the ball and still have a shot at the green. But it also has holes surrounded by trees that make you be precise or pay the penalty.
 |
| Colman hitting a poor bunker shot on the fifth hole. |
One of the great things we found about the course were the bunkers. Although the photos don't really do them justice, most were pretty deep and had big faces that make bunker shots a little more difficult.
 |
| Chris Pusey's exceptional bunker play. |
One knock on the course would be that two of the par 3s play around the same yardage, while the last par 3, the ninth hole plays a beast of over 225 yards. If one of the par 3s had been either shortened or lengthened, it would have had a lot more variety over the round. Other than that though, all the holes were different and great in their own right.
 |
| "The Pose" only steps off the second tee and the road. |
Although Colman and Pusey played at about the same skill level (pretty shitty) they had very different opinions on their favorite hole on the course.
 |
| Chris Pusey in a green side bunker on the long par 4 seventh. |
In the photo above you see Pusey hitting out of a bunker on the par 4 seventh. He declared this 440 yarder as his favorite hole. Although we didn't get any photos of it, which is a shame, walking up the short hill and seeing the hole slowly move to the right really amped him up.
Colman probably didn't choose the seventh as his favorite because on both occasions, he was busy in the trees to the right.
 |
| One of our favorite shots from Latona. |
Colman's favorite hole was the par 5 second. Miss it left, you find the main road the course is on and you are out of bounds. Miss it right, you don't really have a shot at going for the green in two. And even if you do hit the fairway and decide to go for the green, bunkers surround it and are like magnets for your golf ball.
Highlights from the day included Colman chipping in on the par 3 ninth for a two and the only birdie of the day, and Pusey threading the needle from jail between trees on the par 4 third hole.
Although we used this same kind of picture at the beginning, it really was one of the best photos from our morning. Here are a few more photos from Latona Country Club:
 |
| Colman thinning his ball somehow onto the green on the par 3 fourth. |
 |
| Pusey chipping out behind a tree on the par 5 eighth. |
 |
| Pusey threading the needle on the par 4 third hole. Yes, he got out of this. |
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| Colman on the par 3 ninth. |
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| We'll gladly return to Latona soon. |
Places like Latona are absolutely important for the future of golf. Not every golfer wants to go out and spend 40, 50, 65 dollars on a round of golf. If Latona had better conditioning or was in a more populated area, it would definitely be more populated. The two Chris's had a blast there, and will definitely play it in the summer, where the conditions will hopefully be a little better, and someone will be in the pro shop when we arrive.
Punxsutawney Phil is calling for an early spring (Despite the recent snow we just received) so we hope that this year we are able to play even more golf than before. There are still dozens among dozens of courses we have been anticipating playing as soon as we can, and with summer slowly approaching and the days getting longer, we know it will be a matter of time before these blogs become at least a twice a month occurrence. Maybe.
- The Sunday Golfers
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