The Architects Golf Club

The Architects Golf Club opened in 2001 in the Lopatcong area near Phillipsburg, in New Jersey's Warren County. Owners Dennis and Larry Turco set out to build a course that doubled as a history lesson, and to do it they teamed architect Stephen Kay with Golf Digest architecture editor Ron Whitten. The concept is unique: each hole pays tribute to a different era or figure in golf-course design, tracing roughly 70 years of style from about 1885 to 1955. As players move through the round they encounter design ideas echoing the game's most influential architects, from strategic bunkering to template greens and hazards drawn from classic layouts. Measuring around 6,800 yards at a par of 71, it plays as a thoughtful, varied test. A large clubhouse and banquet facility followed in 2007.