With golf season set to start, public high school told it can’t use Tillinghast course — but private school can

TINTON FALLS, N.J. — To use a golf analogy, the Monmouth Regional High School golf team is stuck in a sand bunker with no wedge to get out.

On March 4, just days before spring practices were to begin, the local course it uses for practices and games — Suneagles Golf Course in Eatontown, a small town about 10 miles north of Asbury Park — informed the team’s coach that they weren’t going to be allowed to use the course for the season.

Renowned architect A.W. Tillinghast designed and created Suneagles Golf Course in 1926. It was part of Fort Monmouth. The fort was decommissioned in 2011 and its properties are being sold off to private owners.

Head Coach Andrew Wardell is now scrambling to find a new course. A worst-case scenario is they don’t have one and they play all matches on the road or have to cancel the season.

The team has 12 varsity members and its first home match of the season was scheduled for April 7 against St. John Vianney.

What irks Wardell though, is Suneagles’ golf pro informed him that Ranney School, a private school in Tinton Falls, is being allowed to use the course.

Also, Wardell said they could have used more notice that they wouldn’t be invited back.

Suneagles is owned by Martelli Development. The owner Sal Martelli did not return a call.

Ranney School’s athletic director did not return a call or email.

Wardell said historically, the government let Monmouth Regional use the golf course for no charge. When Martelli Development purchased the course in 2017, it required $2,500 in course fees, which he said the school paid.

When Jersey Shore native Dan Radel is not reporting the news, you can find him in a college classroom where he is a history professor. Reach him @danielradelapp; 732-643-4072; dradel@gannettnj.com.