Pirates of the Golden Galleon Golf

Pirates of the Golden Galleon Golf    1124 Boardwalk, Ocean City, NJ 08226

This one is a bit hard for us, as we have probably been playing these two courses for almost 20 years and have developed a great fondness for Pirates and the memories it brings with it. While we will always find a time to play it on our trips to the shore, we have probably reached a point where we may have outgrown the course, as have probably most any competent golfer.

What is interesting about Pirates that we just figured out this year is that, while some courses want to keep you around, this course would love to get you in and out as quickly as possible, all with a great view of their amusement park during your visit! The two courses are split on the left and right sides of the Boardwalk property. The Starboard (also called the North or right course) is probably the side that has changed the least in our visits, and we think is probably the easiest one compared to the Port course (also called the left course or the Al Shaughnessy course). However, we maintain that both are just far too easy to really give you any challenge.

Perhaps this is a good course to encourage younger kids (our youngest nephew racked up six hole in ones), but if you can hit a ball into a box or in a straight line, you are pretty much guaranteed to have some luck here. The biggest problem with that though is that it can create huge logjams when large groups get aces and are constantly breathing down on each other. However, we will give props on the course design, as from the entrance, you can’t see past the first hole on either side.

The course is generally well maintained and happened to look like things had been freshly painted when we arrived, and it usually gets a touchup each season, although it does have those annoying rubber mats. While some obstacles have been moved around, the general course layout has really remain unchanged for the past many years.

We first played the Starboard course with some extended family, and all six of us were able to stay under the par of 44 (including the 3 under the age of 16). However, just to give you an idea of the simplicity, our leader finished the front 9 with a score of 13, which included six holes in one. The fact that they had the audacity to call one of these holes a par 4 (which 5 out of 6 in our party got an ace on) is a bit absurd. Our winner finished up with a 31 and 8 total aces, and that was including opting out of some ace gimmicks in favor of an easy 2 on some holes to preserve the score. On the Port side, you will find a bit more of a challenge in terms of ace opportunities, but they are still present on about 95% of the holes, and if they are there, they are almost always a sure-thing. Our winner finished up with (only) six aces and a total score of 34.

Overall, it’s a fun course and a hallmark of the Ocean City boardwalk. However, it has just become too automatic to really be a fun time anymore, and we enjoy exploring other courses that may require more skill to get below par.