Deal began as a private estate course on land assembled by industrialist George Washington Young in the 1890s. Club records published on the website credit Lawrence Van Etten with laying out the first nine—the earliest purpose-built course on the Jersey Shore—which the founders formalized as Deal Golf Club in 1898. Those original nine holes, with minor alterations, correspond today to 1, 2, and 12–18.
A pivotal event occurred in 1912, when financial reversals forced Young to sell part of the property to the newly formed Hollywood Golf Club across Roseld Avenue. Deal lost three holes (its then 4th–6th, which became Hollywood’s modern 16th, 14th, 15th), and the membership engaged Donald Ross to undertake a major revision in 1915. The club’s account states Ross replaced the lost corridors with what are now the final six holes on the front nine and changed the finishing stretch to a par-4 / par-3 close (today’s 17th–18th). This establishes Ross’s direct authorship over a significant portion of the present routing and the enduring par-3 home hole.
Later twentieth- and twenty-first-century work reshaped the presentation, but not the fundamental routing choices. A long-range master plan approved in 2012 led the Rees Jones firm to rebuild or move all 88 bunkers beginning in 2013, with specific changes documented at 18 (restoring three fronting bunkers visible in historic imagery), 9, 10, 11, 14, 16, and 17; the firm characterized the aim as restoring an “old-school” look in keeping with Deal’s Ross era while adjusting for modern play. Ongoing phases address tees, fairway drainage, and selective green work.
In parallel, Kelly Blake Moran prepared a master plan circa 2000–03 focused on bunker restoration, drainage and tree work, and targeted adjustments on 12, 13, and 15; this program provided an immediate modernization framework before the Jones plan broadened the scope.
Availability of primary documents. No original Ross drawings, hole-by-hole construction reports, or correspondence have been published online by the club or the Donald Ross Society; the above chronology is derived from club history pages, contemporary project accounts, and credible secondary documentation. Access to original plan sets, construction invoices, or minutes from 1912–1916 would allow firmer attribution of individual greens and bunkers to Ross.
Unique Design Characteristics
Ross’s 1915 work at Deal is most legible in two places: the closing sequence and the built-out back half of the front nine created after the 1912 land loss. The par-3 18th—a rarity in New Jersey—remains the club’s signature closing gesture; historic photos informed the choice to restore three fronting bunkers there during the Jones program. From the same vantage, the 17th bends sharply right with water guarding the inside corner, a late-round angle-testing two-shotter that the club retained while enhancing its strategic bunkering in recent work.
On the outward side, holes 4–9 exhibit the stacked decision-making Ross employed at Deal to regain variety on reduced acreage. The 4th falls away to a green nestled amid hummocks with Harvey Brook lurking right; the 5th requires a precise approach across a pond/stream corridor, a relationship formalized in the club’s local rules designating the brook on 5 as a lateral hazard. The 6th is an uphill long-iron par-3 to a crowned surface flanked by hidden bunkers; 7 uses diagonal bunkering to conceal the green from the preferred angle; 8 is a long par-3 whose “Valley of Sin”-style ridge bisects the green; 9 climbs to a perched target protected by encircling sand. Each of these holes retains the demand for positional tee shots followed by exacting, often uphill or semi-blind, approaches into greens that decline steeply off the sides.
Several features tie to specific modern documentation: the local rules card notes Harvey Brook on 5 and hazards to the right of 17; Rees Jones notes and contemporaneous reporting detail the return to three bunkers on 18, and re-siting bunkers on 9–11 to maintain relevance against modern distances. These decisions reinforce the course’s original strategic asks while preserving the par-3 finish Ross instituted.
Best surviving exemplars of Ross at Deal. Based on the club’s own history (which identifies the sections he replaced and the finish he altered), the clearest through-lines to Ross’s 1915 work are 4–9 and the finish at 17–18—especially 8, for its swaled green, and 18, for the restored fronting bunkers and enduring role as a one-shot home hole. Confirmation at the level of green drawings would require access to club archives or the Ross papers.
Historical Significance
Within New Jersey, Deal belongs to the early wave of Ross activity that established his presence in the state prior to larger commissions such as Mountain Ridge; a USGA historical overview names Deal among his Garden State designs known to contemporaries. Chronologically, Deal is notable as a reconstruction commission triggered by a property loss—the kind of surgical routing and finish change that Ross sometimes undertook for clubs whose early courses were constrained by shifting boundaries. Deal also contributed to the state’s championship fabric, hosting the New Jersey State Amateur three times, most recently in 2006.
Current Condition / Integrity
Routing. The macro routing attributable to Ross—the front-nine build-out (4–9) and the par-4/3 finish—remains intact. The club’s history still identifies 1, 2, and 12–18 as originating from Van Etten’s nine, with Ross’s 1915 interventions adjusting 17–18 without relocating them wholesale, which explains both the continuity of those corridors and their different par values today.
Greens and surrounds. The course today emphasizes short-grass runoffs around many targets, a trait mirrored in the club’s new short-game area designed to replicate on-course conditions; while not proof of unchanged contours, it indicates a maintained identity of canted, fall-away edges that fits the surviving Ross-era holes, particularly on 6, 7, 8, 9, 17, and 18. Detailed green-by-green provenance (e.g., which pads are Ross originals) remains unverified pending primary plans.
Bunkers. The 2013–15 Rees Jones work rebuilt or moved all 88 bunkers, often using historic imagery as a guide (e.g., the three bunkers ahead of 18), and re-sited fairway bunkers on 9–11 to modernize carry distances. The firm explicitly sought to replace non-conforming modern shapes with forms more consistent with Deal’s early-20th-century character. These changes altered exact placements but were intended to re-express Ross-era intentions rather than overwrite them.
Trees, water, and hazards. The Moran plan around 2000–03 addressed drainage and tree management course-wide and introduced targeted alterations on 12, 13, 15. The interplay with Harvey Brook continues to shape play on 5 and 17 (as reflected in local rules).
Events and reputation. While Deal does not appear frequently in national “classic” rankings, it remains an active host for regional competition (e.g., NJSGA Amateur 2006 and recent NJSGA championships and USGA qualifying) and is recognized in state-level directories for its Ross heritage and demanding green complexes.
Citations and Uncertainty
Some secondary sources claim only a subset of holes remain purely Ross and credit him chiefly with the finish and parts of the front nine; the club history asserts more broadly that he replaced the lost holes with what became 4–9 and altered 17–18 to the current 4-3 finish. Without Ross’s original drawings or as-builts, it is difficult to apportion green pads and bunker forms precisely to 1915 versus later renovations. Future research should prioritize: (1) locating any Ross plans or field notes for Deal (potentially in club archives or the Tufts Archives at Pinehurst); (2) aerials from the 1920s–40s to corroborate early bunker schemes; and (3) minutes of the green committee from 1912–1916 to clarify scope and phasing.
Sources & Notes
Deal Golf & Country Club — “About Us” (club history page). Confirms Van Etten original nine; mapping to current holes; 1912 land sale; 1915 Ross revision; par-4/3 finish.
Rees Jones, Inc. — “Deal Golf & Country Club” (client/course description; Ross redesign date; 2012 master plan; scope of bunker/tee/drainage work).
Asbury Park Press (archival article, reproduced via Rees Jones site) — “Deal Golf Club Brings Back Past, Adjusts To Present” (details of 88 bunkers reworked; restoration of three fronting bunkers at 18; specific changes on 9–11, 14, 16, 17).
Bausch Collection (Villanova) — Deal GC album (scorecard images; 1900 hole-sequencing map; 2016 aerial sequencing; hole photography).
AmateurGolf.com — 2006 NJSGA Amateur coverage at Deal (par 71, 6,328 yards).
Monmouth University Athletics — “Deal Golf and Country Club” facility description (historic growth; note on “Valley of Sin”-style green at No. 8). Secondary description.
Golfadelphia — “Deal Golf and Country Club” (field review noting 1915 Ross redesign focus, front-nine and closing sequence; hole-by-hole observations including Harvey Brook on 4–5 and the par-3 finish). Secondary; not a primary source; includes a claim that the Donald Ross Society recognizes only three Ross holes at Deal, which requires verification.