One of the most exclusive and prestigious golf clubs in the world. For fifty years, it has been regarded as the best golf course in the United States and consistently ranks among the top courses globally, including in Golf Digest’s list. This is despite the fact that the club does not host major professional tournaments, as the management believes it is “above such events.”
The club is hidden behind a grove of pine trees in Camden County, South New Jersey, with only a small sign indicating the entrance path, which is also discreetly tucked into the landscape. Only club members can play the course; guests can only visit by explicit invitation from a current member. However, the public is welcome to attend the annual Cramp Cup—a high-level amateur tournament open to players from across the country—and to tour the club by appointment. It is the perfect retreat for America’s elite in finance, politics, and culture, but this is not why it makes the list of top courses worldwide; the reason is its reputation as one of the most challenging courses in the world, if not the most difficult.
The club was founded in 1913 by a group of amateur golfers, led by George Crump, a Philadelphia hotelier and one of the best golfers of his time. Crump sold his hotel and invested most of his fortune and effort into the club. According to the club’s history book, he “designed the golf course hole by hole.” Crump established several fundamental principles for the course, including: no parallel holes, no more than two consecutive holes in the same direction, and ensuring that players could only see the hole they were playing at the moment. The combination of these principles created a course where each hole requires significant effort and thought from the players. Thus, hole by hole, the world’s most challenging course was born.
Bottom Line: The most challenging, the most exclusive.
