If you want to see why public golf still matters, you owe it to yourself to play Francis Byrne. This place does not come with a lot of pretense. It is just a classic walk in the park, loaded with history and authentic design. Tucked away in West Orange, NJ, it stands as a living example of how good municipal golf can be when a course leans into its roots.
Francis Byrne was born in 1926, originally as the second course for Essex County Country Club, and was laid out by Charles Banks, one of the template masters in the lineage of Seth Raynor and C.B. Macdonald. While decades of public play and renovations have smoothed some of the edges, the bones of classic architecture are alive and well here. If you know what you are looking for, you can spot Banks’ fingerprints everywhere. The bold bunkering, broad greens, and template holes are woven right into the fabric of the course.
What really stands out is how Byrne’s recent investment shows up on the ground. The bunkers are the best I have ever seen on a muni. The edges are crisp, the sand is great, and the placement is spot on. They look and play like something you would expect at a much more exclusive address. You can tell real money went into the renovation, and it paid off in a big way.
This round was also a training day for the next wave of Evans Scholars and local caddies. I had the chance to walk with a caddie who already loops at another nearby club. It is always fun to see the energy and perspective a newer caddie brings to the job. We talked a lot about the game, but also about their plans for college, their hopes of studying political science in D.C., and how they recently helped out in a school play and played cornerback on the flag football team. What really stood out was their determination to revive the golf team at their high school. That mix of drive, curiosity, and willingness to take on new challenges is exactly what this program is all about. You could tell they were soaking up every detail out there, asking smart questions, and already thinking about how they could improve not just their own game, but the opportunities for others at their school.
From a design standpoint, the early stretch of the course is a history lesson in itself. Hole two is a pure Banks Biarritz, one of those rare public holes where the deep swale in the middle of the green actually makes you stop and think about your strategy. There is nothing like seeing your ball hit that front plateau, drop into the valley, and if you are lucky, climb up the back tier to a tough pin. It is a template that is hard to find on public tracks, and it is perfectly executed here.
The bunkering throughout the front nine is bold and strategic, with no filler, just features that frame the holes and make you commit to your shot. The investment in course conditioning is obvious. Nine is a gorgeous finisher to the front side, with trees framing the fairway, a classic approach, and a green complex that makes you want to stand there a little longer and take in the view. You get the sense that this is golf that was built to last.
Finishing up at Francis Byrne, you are reminded that golf does not have to be exclusive to be memorable. When a muni course honors its architecture, invests in real maintenance, and gives opportunities to the next generation of caddies, it is doing everything right. This is public golf at its absolute best, affordable, challenging, and a keeper of history that anyone can walk into.