Trump National Golf Club Colts Neck
Trump National Golf Club Colts Neck is a private golf and country club in Colts Neck Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey. The facility opened in 2005 as Shadow Isle Golf Club, featuring an 18-hole course designed by former U.S. Open champion Jerry Pate, and was acquired by The Trump Organization in 2008. Following the acquisition, golf course architect Tom Fazio oversaw renovations and the club was rebranded under the Trump National name.
History
The site originally hosted Colts Neck Airport, a small general aviation airfield that ceased operations in 2002. In 2005, the former airport property was redeveloped into the Shadow Isle Golf Club. The Trump Organization purchased the golf course out of foreclosure in late 2008, and commissioned Tom Fazio to modify several holes and update the course infrastructure. The club officially re-opened as Trump National Golf Club, Colts Neck following these renovations and rebranding.Facilities
Golf courses
The primary layout is an 18-hole, par-72 championship course measuring 7,550 yards from the back tees. It features bentgrass fairways and greens, links-style bunkering, and the signature par-5 18th hole with an island green.A separate five-hole par-3 short course provides practice and learning opportunities. The club has appeared in Golf Digest Best in State rankings for New Jersey, placing within the top 20 in multiple years.
Additional amenities
- A 60,000-square-foot driving range and 18,000-square-foot putting green
- Clubhouse with dining rooms, event spaces, and a grand ballroom
- Fitness center and swimming pools
- Tennis courts
Tournaments and events
Trump National Golf Club Colts Neck has hosted several state and regional golf events. In 2009, the club hosted the New Jersey State Mid-Amateur Championship, the first New Jersey State Golf Association tournament held at the course since its opening. That same year, it also served as a qualifying site for the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship. In subsequent years, the club continued to be a venue for competitive golf: it hosted the 2012 New Jersey PGA Senior Professional Championship and the 2014 NJPGA/NJSGA Senior Open Championship, both significant events for area golf professionals and amateurs. In 2017, Colts Neck was selected to host the NJPGA’s Lincoln Charity Clambake, marking the club’s first time hosting a New Jersey Section major championship event.In 2019, Pete Hegseth married his current wife Jennifer Rauchet at the golf club in an event attended by the Trump family. Other guests included Hegseth’s Fox colleague Sean Hannity and his now fiancée Ainsley Earhardt, another luminary of conservative broadcasting.
Controversies and public issues
Heliport approval
In 2011, the club applied to the New Jersey Department of Transportation for a license to operate a private helistop on the property. Colts Neck Township’s zoning board initially denied the application, citing local ordinances against helicopter pads and expressing concerns about noise and the impact on the area’s rural character. However, in December 2012, the New Jersey Appellate Division upheld the state DOT’s approval of the helistop. The court’s decision allowed Trump National Colts Neck to operate the helistop under strict conditions: usage was limited to the club’s owner, his family, or designated guests, for up to 48 daytime flights per year. Local officials and some residents had opposed the helipad, and the mayor publicly criticized what he described as Trump’s aggressive approach in pursuing the approval.Alcohol service and fatal crash
On August 30, 2015, an intoxicated patron who had been served alcohol at the Colts Neck club caused a fatal car accident a few miles from the course, resulting in the death of the patron’s father. The incident led to an investigation by the New Jersey Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control. Authorities determined that the club had overserved the patron and also violated state regulations by serving alcoholic beverages from mobile carts on the golf course. The ABC brought administrative charges against the club in 2019. Trump National Colts Neck ultimately pleaded no contest to the charges. In a July 2021 settlement, the club agreed to pay a $400,000 penalty and accepted a temporary suspension of its on-course alcohol service as conditions of the agreement. The fine was reported to be roughly 6.5% of the club’s 2020 revenue, and state officials noted that the penalty was in line with settlements for similar cases of serving intoxicated patrons. This case was reportedly the first in New Jersey where a golf club faced such sanctions for serving a visibly intoxicated person who later caused a fatal crash.Water use and environmental compliance
After a regional drought, The Trump Organization sought to increase the club’s permitted water allocation by over 300% in 2011, arguing that more water was necessary to properly irrigate the golf course. This proposal was controversial, coming on the heels of dry conditions where many local homeowners’ wells had run low or dry. Local residents and officials voiced strong opposition to the large increase, fearing it would deplete the area’s groundwater supply. State regulators did approve an expanded water allocation later in 2011, but they attached conditions: the club was required to construct or enlarge several irrigation ponds on the property and implement water-saving measures to ensure that the additional irrigation draw came from captured rainwater and surface runoff rather than the aquifer. Despite these permit conditions, Trump National Colts Neck repeatedly exceeded its water usage limits in subsequent years. For five consecutive years, the course used more water than allowed, leading state environmental authorities to issue multiple violation notices warning of substantial fines.The Trump Organization was slow to comply with the required changes, but negotiations with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection eventually led to a settlement. In April 2016, the DEP and the club entered into a consent order resolving the water-use violations. Under this agreement, the club committed to several remediation steps: reducing overall irrigation, planting more drought-tolerant grass species, irrigating fewer acres of turf, upgrading to more efficient sprinkler systems, and purchasing a portion of its water needs from a public water utility to lessen the draw on local wells. The consent order also imposed an environmental fine. While the DEP could have levied a much larger penalty given the repeated violations, the settlement fine was $147,000 — an amount that reflected a negotiated reduction in exchange for the club’s cooperation and compliance efforts.
Even after the 2016 settlement, concerns lingered. In 2017, it was reported that the Colts Neck course had exceeded monthly water limits on several occasions in 2016, suggesting ongoing challenges with compliance. As of the last reporting on the issue, the state had not announced any further enforcement beyond the 2016 consent order.