About West Nine
Well before famed golf course architect Donald Ross created one of his most famous masterpieces at Plainfield Country Club, like many older American clubs Plainfield originally did not feature golf. So prolific Scottish golf course architect Tom Bendelow was hired to build Plainfield's golf course, which opened in 1898 at 5,239 yards (then considered quite sufficient yardage for a golf course). In 1916, the Club purchased an additional 60 acres of rolling farmland on the southeastern edge of club property (now the Plainfield West Nine) and hired Ross to add yardage to the Bendelow layout. Ross had a better idea - build a new course instead, with him at the design helm.
The Plainfield West Nine is the last vestige of the Club's original course. This property was incorporated with the 18-hole Ross course when it was brought into play in 1921, giving Plainfield Country Club a 27-hole private golf complex. Eleven years later, early in the Depression, it was set apart to be operated as a semi-private facility. It has since continued as such, and is today open to public play all year round, with a par of 33. Enjoyed by golf enthusiasts of all ages who come to learn, practice and perfect their skills, the Plainfield West Nine is known for its challenging greens and holes with uneven lies, including three par-3 holes.
Tom Bendelow, Architect
Thomas “Tom” Bendelow was one of the pioneer architects of American golf. In a career that spanned slightly more than 35 years, he is credited with laying out well over 700 golf courses across the U.S. and Canada. His boundless energy and enthusiasm for the game of golf was conveyed across the country with every course he helped establish and in every community in which he worked.
Bendelow’s was a “naturalist’s approach,” in that he strove to utilize the natural features of the chosen site to its maximum advantage. “If a site had an especially unique feature, rock outcrop, stream, grove of trees, scenic view, he would work his hole placements in such a way as to take full advantage of the features even if that meant working his layout from the middle out,” according to the American Society of Golf Course Architects. Bendelow, nicknamed “The Johnny Appleseed of American Golf", personally designed 25 courses in New Jersey, including the Plainfield West Nine in 1898.
Bill Castner, Head Golf Professional & General Manager Bill Castner has been teaching and coaching golf in New York, New Jersey and Florida professionally for over 28 years. The Head Golf Professional and General Manager at the Plainfield West Nine Golf, Bill is one of a handful of golf professionals nationally to gain his specialty certification in golf instruction, teaching and golf rules.
A golf player since his teen years, Bill was fortunate to learn from many great teachers including Tom Strafaci, Carl Lohren and Mike Hebron. In 1983, he earned his Class A membership into the Professionals Golfers Association (PGA). He has since served as Head Golf Professional at various golf courses in New York/ New Jersey, including The Golf Club at Mansion Ridge, Colts Neck Golf Club, LaTourette Golf Course, Van Cortlandt Park Golf Course, and the Randalls Island Golf Practice Center. For the past seven seasons, Bill has been the Director of Instruction at the Hyatt Hills Golf Complex in Clark.
He is a Quarter-Century member of the PGA of America and one of only three PGA Golf Professionals in New Jersey to hold the designation of Master Golf Professional.
Bill has won the NJPGA Section Junior Golf Leadership award for the past three seasons (2006-2008). He has also been a national finalist for Junior Golf Leader since 2007. As a member of the NJPGA Board of Directors, Bill is the Chairman of the Junior Golf Committee of the NJPGA, and is an active member of the NJPGA Junior Golf Foundation Board of Directors since its inception.
Bill is one of a select few PGA members to also be a Certified Golf Machine Instructor. He has studied the Golf Machine throughout his career and believes in Homer Kelly's golf philosophy.
Bill is also an accomplished golf writer and has worked extensively with junior golfers. He has written for publications in New Jersey, New York and Florida over the past twenty years. For the past two seasons, he was the PGA Affiliate for the First Tee in Newark and now is excited about the new program which he will head at the First Tee of Plainfield. Plainfield Country Club is the first private club to have a First Tee program.
He was Director of the NYC Summer of Golf Program, which brings golf and all its positive values to our children. Bill has also coached the Youth Games, bringing boys and girls from New York to play in a national competition similar to the Olympics. He was a member of the Metropolitan PGA Junior Committee and co-founder of many orginial junior golf programs in the PGA Metropolitan Section.