Baltusrol. Two courses. One champion.

This week: The DROP prepares for the 125th New Jersey Amateur at Baltusrol, including a hole-by-hole breakdown of both courses from head golf professional Jaimie Pierson. James Nicholas punched his ticket to The Open at Royal Birkdale and Mike spent a week in South Jersey calling Mays XII the future of golf.

— The DROP Podcast

#GolfingInTheGardenState

Dunning Golf x DROP Partnership: Code DROP20 for 20% off your first order.

The New Jersey State Amateur has existed for 125 years. It has produced champions who went on to win on the PGA Tour, on the Korn Ferry, on courses around the world. But when you ask most people in NJ golf what they remember about the State Am, the honest answer is: not much.

This week might change that.

On Monday, 102 of the state's best players tee it up at Baltusrol Golf Club. Day one: the Lower Course, playing as a par 70 with holes 1 and 7 converted from par fives into long, demanding par fours. Day two: the Upper Course, par 72, restored by Gil Hanse and reopened in May 2025. Then, for the 40 players who make the cut, 36 more holes on Wednesday, morning on the Lower, afternoon on the Upper with a US Amateur exemption at Merion and a place in 2027's final stage of qualifying waiting for whoever survives.

The DROP has been building toward this all year, three consecutive episodes dedicated to one single event. The preview. The Lower course preview. The Upper course preview. If you listened to all three, you have a better course guide than most of the 102 players walking into Monday's first round.

Jaimie Pierson has been the head golf professional at Baltusrol for five seasons. He plays the Lower Course more than almost anyone. And his most important advice to every competitor stepping on the first tee Monday morning is this:

The Lower, after Gil Hanse's 2021 restoration, is a course that punishes ego. The rough sits the ball down — a different grass type that makes it nearly impossible to control spin from off the fairway. The greens run 13.5 to 14, and they have subtleties that the LPGA Tour's caddies called "perplexing" at the 2023 KPMG.

Hole 11's green is one of the biggest on the property and had tour-level professionals arguing about whether a 20-foot putt broke right or left. (It broke both ways on the same line.)

Then there's the par-five problem. With holes 1 and 7 playing as par fours, competitors won't see their first par five until the 17th hole. Sixteen straight par threes and par fours, most of them genuine tests. Jamie's honest about his own record: he's birdied hole 5 — the hardest on the front nine — fewer than three times in five seasons.

His projected cut number: +6.

His target score for Monday: "If you shoot 75, you may not feel good about it. But at the end of the day, you're going to look at that leaderboard and you're going to say 75 is going to hold up."

When Mike was on-site for the Upper Course's media day in June 2025, the message was clear: this isn't a companion piece to the Lower. It's a championship course in its own right. Four major championships have been played on the Upper — the 1936 U.S. Open, the 1985 U.S. Women's Open among them.

Jaimie Pierson has heard it enough times now that he says it without surprise: "You'd be amazed — the amount of times where guests come and play both, and I say, which one did you like more? They say: the upper."

After Hanse's restoration (greens 33% larger, seven fairways over 50 yards wide, city skyline views reclaimed from overgrown trees), the Upper is where Tuesday's round is played — and where the championship ends on Wednesday afternoon. The front nine plays generous: three par fives, legitimate birdie looks out of the gate. The back nine is where the damage happens. Holes 10, 11, and 12 demand precision. The dual greens on 14 — a restored Tillinghast feature, two separate greens with entirely different demands — are going to be the most-photographed hole of the week.

And then, Jaimie's prediction for the winning score over 72 holes across both courses: plus four.

Mike was stunned. "That high? I thought even par, plus one."

Jaimie's reasoning: the Lower overwhelms the Upper's generosity. Anyone who walks off day one at +3 or +4 and then shoots even on the Upper might win this thing.

Looking to show your Jersey golf pride this season. Check out our selection of shirts, hoodies, and hats in The DROP pro shop. Find quality gear like the DROP rope hat. Lightweight, comfortable, and perfect on or off the course.

Before the NJ Amateur preview even started, Mike put in one of the most packed weeks in DROP history — visiting four South Jersey courses in a single stretch, all of which will get full course features this summer.

Brigantine Golf Links — Being revived by the City of Brigantine under Marc Kimminau. Five minutes from Atlantic City. New clubhouse under construction. Better bones than the reputation suggests.

The Legacy Club (Cherry Hill) — A private course rebranded by the Lahn family. Spectacular 18th hole with a creek and pond in front of an elevated green. In shape that would make any fully funded private club jealous.

Great Bay CC — Chris called it "sneaky underrated" on a social reel and the membership sent their thanks. A fun, fair, challenging layout worth knowing about if you move in the right South Jersey circles.

MaysXII (Mays Landing) — This is the one Mike couldn't stop talking about. Formerly Mays Landing CC, now a 12-hole course with full real golf holes, a lit 18-hole synthetic putting green, LaScala’s restaurant coming in, bocce, corn hole, a bar patio. Two hours and you're done. Mike called it the future of golf, and he meant it.

Full course features on all four coming to the DROP this summer.

Jaimie Pierson, who plays both Baltusrol courses more than almost anyone alive, says the Upper might be the more enjoyable round of the two.

Mike has called the Lower "perfection in every way." After 72 holes across both, the DROP wants to know, if you could only play one of the two Baltusrol courses for the rest of your life, which do you pick?

Reply and let us know.