Tee time issues and outing scheduling at this New Jersey municipal golf course lead to ‘season of discontent’

COLTS NECK, N.J. — Humble beginnings are rare in golf, and the Hominy Hill Golf Course is no exception.

The location, tucked away alongside farms and thick woods along Route 537 in western Monmouth County, exudes an unpretentious calm. The course’s meticulously manicured greens are lined with trees that loom like albatrosses, crowning the namesake hill and welcoming a refreshing breeze even on the hottest of days.

The features could make one believe the course possesses an athletic purity reminiscent of the Field of Dreams. Its status as a public course overseen by the Monmouth County Park System is a result of philanthropy from the original builder and owner, Henry Dickson Mercer Sr.

The genesis of the course is believed to be that Mercer, a member of numerous golf clubs including Augusta National, was discontent with the limitations of private country clubs refusing service to several racial demographics. This was not a purely altruistic act by the astute businessman, who was an executive at Chase Bank and Republic Steel and retired as chairman and president of States Marine Corp.; it was also logical sense.

Mercer, who died in 1978 at age 84, needed to entertain a diverse range of clients from across the world and he needed a course that would welcome them. So he built one in 1965, and it quickly became one of the most exclusive golf clubs in New Jersey as he was the sole arbiter to determine who gained entry.

Mercer commissioned Robert Trent Jones, one of the most renowned and iconic golf course designers in history, to create the pristine 18 holes. Jones’s prestige was such that he even coined a self-aggrandizing phrase that has lived on 24 years after his death: “The sun never sets on a Robert Trent Jones course.”

Hominy Hill’s inception was not born out of humble beginnings, but Mercer ensured the course’s legacy would be philanthropic. Henry and his son Dick sold the course to the county at a below-market $2.4 million in 1975, spurning more lucrative offers from developers.

For all the luxury, exclusivity and hubris associated with the course’s genesis, there is at least one constant virtue that has defined the course: it was never about the money.

Monmouth County purchased the Hominy Hill Golf Course in 1976 and has run it as part of its park system since. The scenic nature of the historic course is well-known to local golfers.

A tee time scandal at Hominy Hill?

The illustrious history of Hominy Hill is not lost on the golfers who frequent the course. Over time, a steady balance was struck amongst the ecosystem of patrons as the community embraced rules that kept the locale pristine and also developed a casual decorum in contrast with the pretentiousness of local private golf courses.

“What you would see initially is reduced availability on the county’s website for scheduling tee times,” said Catherine Moraetis. “Tee times are generally released at 8 p.m. one week prior to the day you would like to play. There’s also an opportunity to schedule a tee time 30 days in advance (for Monmouth County residents).”

The latter aspect made it clear to frequent golfers that chunks of desirable times were missing. The issue was an increase in outings; pre-booked time slots for between eight and 48 golfers for mini outings and 72 to 100 golfers for full outings at Hominy Hill.

“When there is an outing… you will observe golfers who don’t understand the etiquette and the rules of play,” Moraetis said. “You will see outing participants ignoring the cart rules for the course and driving their carts on inappropriate parts of the course that cannot withstand the weight of a golf cart. There’s a reason why golf carts are only permitted on certain parts of the course, and that’s to preserve the fidelity of the course.”

The Monmouth County Park System oversees six public courses and data reflects a clear uptick in the number of outings at Hominy. The number of golf outing rounds more than tripled over the course of one year from 2021 to 2022, going from 392 to 1291. That number increased again in 2023 as 1447 rounds were played as part of outings. From 2014 to 2021, the number of golf outing rounds had previously peaked at a mere 493 in 2018.

As the number of outings grew rapidly, there did not appear to be any restrictions on when mini-outings could be booked at Hominy Hill. Weekends and holidays, coveted windows for golfers, were made available alongside weekdays. This year, the booking of mini outings was slightly limited to be after 1 p.m. on weekends with still no restrictions on Monday through Thursday.

By contrast, Somerset County’s coveted Neshanic Valley public golf course restricted all outing bookings to Monday and Tuesday. Another comparison for Hominy Hill is nearby Pebble Creek Golf Club, also in Colts Neck. That private course does not allow outings on weekends.

In addition to the issues outings pose to course conditions and other decorum, there is the straightforward issue of pace of play with such large congregations of golfers. Moraetis recalled such an instance with a golf outing that was from 1 to 3 p.m.

“You might wait an extra five minutes on the first hole and then you might find yourself waiting an extra eight minutes to tee off on the second hole. And then by the time you reach the third hole, you’ll find that you’re waiting 10 minutes between holes to tee off,” said Moraetis. “This becomes particularly important in the fall when the sun sets earlier, and so while you might schedule a tee time that would allow you four and half hours prior to the sunset. If you have the misfortune to get behind an outing, chances are you will not be able to finish that round.”

Moraetis began the process of bringing this to county officials’ attention in October of 2023 after a weekend of outings meant that golfers were unable to finish their rounds. Subsequent letters received an underwhelming response, so she attended a Monmouth Board of Recreation Commissioners meeting last Nov. 20.

Minutes from the meeting show that Ms. Moraetis addressed the board at 7:06 p.m. regarding the issues of outings and the fiscal inefficiencies of the practice relative to standard tee time pricing. She asked the board to reconsider the practice and suggested forming an advisory committee of golfers from Monmouth County. Her suggestions were initially received warmly.

“Vice Chairman Fiore agreed with Ms. Moraetis and said that outings should not be offered on weekends,” read minutes from the meeting. “He also said that golf staff should make better use of social media to get word out on golf course conditions, especially on days when there are frost delays.”

“Chairman Kevin Mandeville thanked Ms. Moraetis for bringing the issue to the Commissioners’attention,” the minutes states. “He directed staff to review the issue with the Board’s golf sub-committee and report back to the full Board at one of the regular December meetings.”

County rebuttal

To a certain extent, some of the grievances against the management of Monmouth County Park System’s public golf courses can be attributed to a simple disagreement over the vision. And steps have been taken by officials to acquiesce the concerns around Hominy Hill and other courses while maintaining the core tenets of the MCPS philosophy.

“The recreation commissioners over the years have been committed to providing an exceptional quality playing experience for Monmouth County golfers,” said MCPS director Andrew Spears. “The six county golf courses are loved by county residents, and they provide a very unique playing experience. And again, the quality of play and the turf is something that’s been a top priority for the management of the golf courses.”

Spears noted that every year the county’s commissioners commit capital funds to invest in playing conditions at the golf courses including upgrades to bunkers or tees and greens. He cited the recently reconstructed driving range at Hominy Hill as one such example.

“The value of the courses to county residents, especially those who don’t play golf, goes beyond the fact that we’re providing a recreational facility,” said Spears. “The golf courses also are permanently dedicated open space, and they’re considered parkland. Some of our golf courses have recreational trails for non-golfers. So from an environmental and open space standpoint, the golf courses return benefits to the residents.”

That philosophy of the courses as multipurpose spaces would seem to underly the increase outings.

“We have really two different types of outings at the golf courses. One is the traditional charitable outing, where we close the course and do a shotgun start,” said Spears. “The other type of outing we refer to is a mini golf outing, and those are the outings where a group of golfers can block off a number of tee times.”

The county’s flier states that full outings can be booked Monday through Thursday at Hominy. Mini outings can be booked at any time Monday through Thursday but must be after 1 p.m. on weekends.

The increase in demand for outing rounds goes hand-in-hand with the upgrades to the facilities at Hominy as the MCPS aims to make the venue into more than just a golf course and potentially a coveted event space with meal complements.

A recent increase in prices also makes the mini outings comparably more valuable in terms of revenue. The cost per person as part of a mini outing is now $103 for weekdays and $118 for weekends, compared to $67 and $84 respectively for a single tee time.

But the push to make the courses into event spaces with meal complements hasn’t sat well with the regulars. The issues led to a season of discontent at Monmouth County golf courses.

Issues to present day

With a busy golf season already underway, the Monmouth County Parks commissioners convened at scenic Thompson Park for their bi-weekly meeting on June 17. The consternation amidst local golfers had persisted, and a few more voices had joined the calls for changes to the managerial approach to the golf courses.

“I’m here in part because I’m a little bit concerned about this outing program, most particularly focused at Hominy,” said Pamela Herzberg. “I was in the women’s golf clinic, and friends and I would sign up and make a habit of signing up every time registration was open. And we would try to and get together to take the clinic and then we could all play foursomes together at Bel-Aire (golf course in Wall) until it became harder to get into that program than it is to get tickets to a Bruce Springsteen concert.”

Herzberg, speaking during public comment at the meeting, proceeded to outline the specific issues that continue to chafe the county’s regular golfers.

“It’s ridiculous. We all set our alarms, we all warn each other to have to be online at 8 o’clock to register,” Herzberg continued. “We’re competing against people who, as it turns out, are coming from all manner of counties in New Jersey, not Monmouth County. And you know, good for the golf program, good for the quality of instruction that people think it’s such a draw that they’re coming from all these various counties. I don’t need to compete with them as a taxpayer in Monmouth County.”

To that issue, the county responded by noting state taxpayers chip in for the parks (grants from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection help local governments acquire and develop open space for recreation and conservation). But for longtime local golfers like Herzberg, the sudden impediments to enjoying the county’s courses are unacceptable.

“I’m sure there were plenty of county residents that would have filled those spots if it weren’t for the fact that people were faster on their keyboard in Union County. My husband and I spent $7,500 on golf fees and carts last year in Monmouth County, compared to $12,000 that I pay in property taxes,” said Herzberg. “It gets a little bit unreasonable that as residents of the county, we have to compete with people coming from all over the place who have no vested interest, no history in this county.”

Adding to the frustration is that there is no clear explanation of the vision or management strategy being employed by the MCPS. The significant uptick in rounds as part of outings was a recent development. There are also the recent renovations to the clubhouse to make it more appealing as an event space and a wide-ranging contract with Jacques Catering to be the exclusive caterer of Monmouth County Parks.

Fundamentally, the belief is that the management philosophy should benefit county residents – whether that’s directly through availability of the course for local golfers, or fiscally by generating a surplus of revenue that could support other initiatives.

Abe Sanchez has been a resident of Monmouth County for several years but previously resided in South Florida amidst some of the best, and most expensive, golf courses in the world. He vouched for the elite quality and fair pricing at the courses, but he too expressed a belief that the management of the courses should benefit local residents.

“The maintenance of our courses here in Monmouth County is superb. It’s amazing,” Sanchez said. “For a course like Hominy Hill, it could easily be $120 (per round) and I think still most people would probably pay for it. And a course like Shark River, you would get upwards of $80 or more. So we do have really good rates here for our county residents. It’s something to appreciate, but at the same time to be able to use it and not just be limited.”

While golfers want to see tee times maximized and disruptions to playing pace minimized, the source of tension in many ways can be boiled down to a lack of an articulated vision by the park system. At the same meeting that Sanchez, Herzberg and Moraetis attended, the discourse in the public comment portion of the meeting was framed in a way of voicing concerns while seeking answers about the direction of MCPS management of the courses.

In the absence of answers about the direction and strategy, Herzberg recited the group’s mission statement, then added: “I don’t see anything about out-of-county residents here.”

Regardless of the feedback from residents, the MCPS has pushed forward. Hominy Hill hosted its first “Brewed in Monmouth: Taste of the Tee” event on May 17. On that Friday afternoon after 4 p.m., tee times were only available as part of the event with the cost being $55 for regular attendance and $95 to play nine holes of golf as part of the event. That continued the following month with an event on June 28 priced at $69 for dinner and $109 to include a tee time. That same week in late June, the course also hosted a 3 p.m. “Group Wedding” event with the Monmouth County Clerk.

Those events highlighted the relationship the county has with its official caterer, Jacques Exclusive Catering. In both cases, Jacques was compensated with all the revenues for regular attendance ($55 or $69) whereas MCPS received the portion of revenues that included tee time ($40). All 56 spots with a tee time were sold.

The relationship with Jacques, and the slate of events that come with it, is also a source of ire for the regulars. A series of public records requests revealed that Jacques took over as the exclusive caterer with a two-part bid that totaled $75,300 with terms extending over two years including an option for a third year. It also revealed Jacques was not on schedule with payments, but the county declined to collect late fees when it finally received payments in July for the annual fee and for events hosted up to that point in the year.

“Giving the caterer the opportunity to offer the services to the golfers directly, such a through the Taste of the Tee or through the box lunches or the grill room, contributes to the visibility of the facility as a catering venue,” Spears said.

The numbers

For all the disagreements about management and back-and-forth about policy and approach, the numbers paint the clearest picture of the efficacy of the current direction.

Both the outings at Hominy Hill and additional events as part of Monmouth County Park System’s agreement with Jacques appear to have only marginal economic benefit while potentially alienating the core group of local golfers.

The number of rounds played as part of outings more than tripled at Hominy from 2021 to 2022 as part of a broader trend across Monmouth County’s public golf courses that featured more outings. But records show that the “golf group program” (outings and mini outings) made up around 1.7% of overall the county’s $16,4 million in revenue in 2022 and around 2% of $18.6 million in 2023 revenue.

There are more peculiarities with the financial data regarding group golf programs. In 2019, 1,610 rounds of golf were recorded played as part of outings and the correlating revenue was $159,025. By 2021, the number of outing rounds played had increased by over 88% to 3,040 rounds, but the associated revenue had only gone up by just over 25% to $199,375.

Hominy Hill records show the course produced revenues of $3.63 million in 2023 and $3.41 million in 2022. Even if the entirety of the county’s $75,300 agreement (which is actually a multi-year contract) with Jacques Exclusive Catering was paid over the course of one year, it would represent 2% of annual revenue.

For all the upheaval, it hardly seems worth it to experiment with the golf courses’ viability in its primary function as a sporting venue, alienating local resident golfers in the process, when the upside appears to present only marginal gains for the county.

The 18th hole

Even as the summer turns to fall and the daylight wanes, the allure of Hominy Hill doesn’t waiver. And neither has the slate of Friday events as another Taste of the Tee event was hosted Sept. 20.

The crown jewel public golf course continues to shimmer even as its direction pivots. Once the apex of exclusivity as a private venue, Hominy is now being pulled in a variety of directions as its inclusivity as a public entity reaches an inflection point. Innumerous stakeholders feel entitled to shape the locale’s future.

It’s difficult to know what Henry Dickson Mercer would think. Surely he envisioned the course being under the public domain as a noble act, giving everyone an opportunity to enjoy the venue he created. Little did he know that five decades later golfers and course managers would clash over the vision.

Hominy Hill’s existence is rooted in the pompous grandeur of those who created, it’s destiny might be defined by something similar. Still, the tree-lined greens and fairways exude a certain kind of humility. The sun may never set on this Robert Trent Jones course, but the concern continues to be what happens in the shadows.