Special to AWITP by Rodney Zilla
MONROE TOWNSHIP, NJ – For the seventh time in eight years the storied Banks Course at Forsgate Country Club will play host to the Writer Cup, the annual head-to-head battle between Philly and New York City golf writers.
Brainchild of wunderkind Chris Schiavonne, who has resurrected numerous golf courses in his career, the Banks Course rightfully gets a chance to shine brightly in the pages of the Sports sections of the country’s most widely read papers, as the list of writers who attend yearly is a Who’s Who of the craft. Hank Gola, Mike Kern, George Willis, Mark Cannizzaro, Joe Logan, Gerry Dulac, Larry Fine, and Marc Hermann are among the star-studded line-up that come to ride the bucking bronco of a goof course that, though only measuring 6,400 yards for the tournament, simultaneously beguiles and terrifies the many fine players in the field.
“It’s the hardest 6,400 yard course you’ll ever play,” echoes player after player.
Restored by Stephen Kay in 2008, the Banks Course is the last American design by celebrated Golden Age architect Charles “Steamshovel” Banks, the last in the venerable Macdonald-Raynor-Banks bloodline of golf architecture. The course features all the staples of the Bloodline’s repertoire, with particular emphasis on dramatic green contours. Nearly every green features two or more distinct tiers. Moreover, bunkers are cut deeply below grade so as to be not just penal, but frightening.
“On every hole, there is a right side to miss, where you can putt onto the green, and a wrong side to miss, where you’re most likely in a bunker eight to ten feet below the green,” explained golf expert Bruce Moulton. “It’s a short enough a course that you can miss on either side usually, (as long as you’re not in the trees), but accuracy on the approaches is a must or you’ll drop shots fast.”
The par-3s are all museum pieces: Eden, Redan, Short, and Biarritz. Although they were often repeated at Bloodline courses, perhaps nowhere is the collection of the four – with four different distances on the card – perhaps nowhere is the collection as difficult as it at Forsgate, the Swan Song for Banks in America.
“The par-3s at Forsgate are all perfect textbook examples of those hole templates. They are also extraordinarily difficult,” explained sports writer and radio broadcaster Jay Flemma. “The Eden Hole in particular (#3) is possibly the most difficult hole on the course for an amateur. 210 yards uphill, flanked by hip high rough and bunkers 15 feet below the green The green, by the way, is bisected by a hog’s back running its entire longitude. Other than that it’s a pushover,” he quipped puckishly.
With a Biarritz that can stretch to 275 yards, 100 of which is green bisected by an eight-foot deep swale, and a Reverse Redan (or Nader, if you prefer), guarded by a 20-foot deep bunker, the par-3s are indeed where good rounds go to die.
“The course uses the terrain to defend itself well. What Stephen Kay and Schiavonne did in restoring it cannot be overstated,” Moulton noted poignantly. “It’s an important golf course nationally and historically.” The course also features other staples of the Macdonald-Raynor-Banks repertoire, including a Double Plateau, a Knoll Hole, a Punchbowl, a Chocolate Drop, and a Narrows hole to name a few.
“It’s a glittering scene, to be sure. Waterford crystal trophy to the winners, grand ballroom all alight, sunset fading over the golf course…with the right kind of eyes, you might think it’s 1934. The course has that much of a timeless feel to it,” Flemma concluded.
Philadelphia, known as the “Fighting Donkeys” leads the all-time series 5-2 over New York, including a rout last year at Shackamaxon G.C., the only time the event has been held away from Forsgate.
“I love the event! The ambiance is second to none and the golf course is immaculate,” said podcaster Stacy Solomon. “We look forward to this all year.”
