Ridgewood Country Club

Ridgewood Country Club is a 27-hole A.W. Tillinghast design in Paramus, New Jersey, one of the architect's most celebrated works. It has hosted The Barclays, the Ryder Cup, and numerous other major championships.

The Ridgewood Country Club holds a distinction that few American golf clubs can claim: it is the oldest golf club in New Jersey. Founded in 1890 as the Ho-Ho-Kus Golf Club in the small Bergen County community of Ho-Ho-Kus, the club predates the formation of the USGA by four years and the first U.S. Open by five. For more than three decades, the club operated at its original location, but by the mid-1920s the membership had outgrown the property and began searching for a site that could accommodate grander ambitions. In 1926, club representatives identified a 257-acre parcel of farmland and woodlands at 96 West Midland Avenue in Paramus, approximately twenty miles from New York City. The property was purchased in 1927, and the club immediately engaged A.W. Tillinghast -- who lived nearby in Harrington Park and was himself a member of the club -- to design the golf courses. The relationship between architect and club was unusually intimate. Tillinghast was not simply a hired designer but a friend and fellow member who would play his own creation regularly and had a deeply personal stake in its success. Complementing Tillinghast's work, architect Clifford Wendehack designed the clubhouse, and the entire complex -- courses and clubhouse together -- opened on May 30, 1929, Decoration Day (now Memorial Day). Tillinghast laid out 27 holes at Ridgewood, organized into three distinct nines: the East, Center, and West. This was an unusual configuration for the era, and it gave the club remarkable flexibility for both daily play and tournament use. For championships, the club assembles an eighteen-hole composite course by selecting holes from all three nines, creating a layout that showcases the best and most demanding holes across the full property. The three nines share common design elements -- Tillinghast's characteristic strategic bunkering, greens that reward precise approach play, and a masterful integration of the course with the natural terrain -- but each has its own personality and challenges. Among the most celebrated holes across all 27 is the sixth on the Center nine, universally known as "Five and Dime." This drivable par 4 of just over 300 yards was built long before short par 4s became a fashionable element of golf course design. The green sits above the fairway, well-protected by massive bunkers and steep slopes, demanding both accuracy and nerve from players who choose to attack. It offers the classic risk-reward proposition: a bold play that reaches the green brings a birdie or eagle opportunity, but any miss is severely punished. The hole has played pivotal roles in multiple championships and remains a discussed short par 4s in American golf. The club's head professional for fifty years, from 1915 to 1965, was George Jacobus, who served simultaneously as president of the PGA of America for seven years. Jacobus was a close friend of Tillinghast's and was instrumental in bringing major competitive events to Ridgewood. His crowning achievement in this regard was securing the 1935 Ryder Cup, only the sixth playing of the biennial competition between the United States and Great Britain. Walter Hagen captained the American squad for the fifth consecutive time, though he elected to sit out the singles matches and watch from the gallery as his team recorded a commanding 9-3 victory over the British side led by Charles Whitcombe.

It was the last time Hagen would serve as playing captain, and the event marked Ridgewood's arrival on the international golf stage. The club continued to attract significant championships throughout the twentieth and into the twenty-first century. Ridgewood hosted the U.S. Senior Open in 1990, won by Lee Trevino, who defeated Jack Nicklaus by two strokes in a duel between two of the game's all-time greats. The club also hosted senior major championships and, beginning in 2008, became a venue for PGA Tour FedEx Cup playoff events. The Barclays tournament was held at Ridgewood in 2008, with Vijay Singh winning, and returned in 2010 and again in 2014, bringing the world's top professionals to northern New Jersey each time. The 2022 U.S. Amateur championship at Ridgewood produced another memorable chapter in the club's competitive history. Sam Bennett navigated the composite course to claim the title, with holes like "Five and Dime" playing pivotal roles in the match-play bracket. The championship demonstrated that Tillinghast's nearly century-old design remained a thorough and fair examination of the best amateur golfers in the country. Since 2000, the club has worked with architect Gil Hanse to restore the course to its Tillinghast-era character.

Using photographs from the 1935 Ryder Cup as reference points, Hanse methodically addressed the changes that had accumulated over seven decades -- tree encroachment that had narrowed fairways and obscured sightlines, bunkers that had drifted from their original shapes and positions, and green surrounds that had been simplified over time. The restoration recaptured the openness and strategic breadth that Tillinghast had intended, allowing players to see their options from the tee and choose their preferred line of attack rather than simply aiming down a narrow tree-lined corridor. The USGA's continued faith in Ridgewood was emphatically demonstrated in 2025, when the club was awarded three future championships: the 2030 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball, the 2035 U.S. Junior Amateur, and the 2042 U.S. Amateur. This extraordinary commitment speaks to the quality of the golf course, the club's championship hosting capabilities, and the enduring relevance of Tillinghast's design. In 2015, Ridgewood's facilities -- including both the Tillinghast-designed courses and the Wendehack-designed clubhouse -- were listed on the National Register of Historic Places, a recognition of their architectural and cultural significance that extends beyond golf. The listing acknowledged what golfers and architects have known for nearly a century: that Tillinghast created something special at Ridgewood, a 27-hole facility where the quality of design is matched by the depth of competitive history. From the 1935 Ryder Cup to future USGA championships, from George Jacobus's fifty-year stewardship to Gil Hanse's careful restoration, The Ridgewood Country Club continues to honor its origins as New Jersey's first golf club while maintaining its place among the most important competitive venues in American golf.