Shady Rest Golf Club

Shady Rest Golf Club is a 9-hole, par 33 golf course located in Scotch Plains, New Jersey, measuring 2247 yards. Cost tier: Economy. No driving range on site.

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820 Jerusalem Rd, Scotch Plains, NJ 07076-2003

Historic public 9-hole course in Scotch Plains, the first African American country club in the U.S., listed on the National Register.

9 Holes
Par 33
2247 yards
Economy
No Driving Range

About This Course

Shady Rest Golf Club is the first African American country club in the United States. In 1921, a group of Black investors known as the Progressive Realty Company, led by Scotch Plains resident Henry Willis Sr., purchased the property and opened it as Shady Rest Golf and Country Club. The club quickly grew to 200 members and became a center of Black middle-class social life in New Jersey from the 1920s through the 1960s, attracting entertainers like Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, and Count Basie.

Shady Rest was home to John Matthew Shippen Jr., the first American-born African American golf professional. Tennis players Ora Washington and Althea Gibson also played on its courts. In 1964, Scotch Plains Township took ownership and made the course public. The National Park Service listed Shady Rest on the National Register of Historic Places. The nine-hole, par-33 course plays 2,247 yards.

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A wide green fairway on a sunny day with trees lining both sides

March 3, 2026

The best budget-friendly golf courses in America

You do not need to spend $150 to play a good golf course. Across the country, thousands of public and municipal courses charge economy-level green fees and still deliver a round worth remembering. Some have architectural pedigrees from designers like Perry Maxwell and Robert Trent Jones. Others sit in settings that more expensive courses cannot match. The 25 courses below are all priced at the economy level in the FairwayDB directory, and each one gives you more than your money suggests. Northeast The Northeast is one of the more expensive regions for daily-fee golf, but municipal courses and smaller nine-hole layouts keep the game accessible. Several of these have historical credentials that far outweigh their green fees. Coakley-Russo Memorial Golf Course in Lyons, New Jersey was designed by Robert Trent Jones in 1947 and dedicated to New Jersey PGA professionals who died in World War II. The nine-hole, par-34 layout plays 3,300 yards on rolling Somerset County terrain, and the Jones pedigree makes it one of the more notable affordable designs in the state. Shady Rest Golf Club in Scotch Plains, New Jersey is the first African American country club in the United States. Opened in 1921, the club hosted...
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820 Jerusalem Rd, Scotch Plains, NJ 07076-2003

Historic public 9-hole course in Scotch Plains, the first African American country club in the U.S., listed on the National Register.

9 Holes
Par 33
2247 yards
Economy
No Driving Range
More in Scotch Plains
Scotch Plains Courses