Fifty miles south of Manhattan, on the northern stretch of the Jersey Shore, the town of Deal became a summer refuge for New Yorkers in the early 1900s. It was far enough from the city to feel like an escape, quieter than Long Island and removed from the bustle of Westchester. The region has stayed something of an under-the-radar retreat, and so has Hollywood Golf Club, which sits in the heart of Deal, next door to Deal Golf and Country Club. In a region rich with golf, it has a way of slipping past unnoticed. The club was restless from the start. Formed in 1898, it played a nine-hole course for just four years, moved to another site for eleven more, and then settled on the ground it holds today. The founding members were never quite convinced by their early designs, including the first one on this site. A Scottish professional, Isaac Mackie, laid out an eighteen-hole course there that opened in 1913. It did not satisfy for long. Walter J. Travis was brought in, perhaps in 1913 itself or within a couple of years of the opening. He was a three-time US Amateur champion between 1900 and 1903 and winner of the Amateur Championship at Royal St George's in 1904. Working with Greens Committee chairman Frank B. Barrett, he set out to totally revamp the layout. He dispensed with many of Mackie's sand traps and green complexes, combined some holes, removed others, and added new ones. When the course reopened in 1915, it carried no fewer than 220 bunkers, and no fewer than 57 of them were assigned to the 12th hole alone. That hole is known as the Heinz 57, and it is one of the most photographed holes in golf. In 1921, Marion Hollins won the Women's US Amateur here, beating Alexa Stirling 5&4 in the final. The hunger that drove the club in its early decades never really faded. Dick Wilson remodeled the course in the mid-1950s, Geoff Cornish carried out further modifications in the 1980s, and Rees Jones completed a renovation in the late 1990s. The work was meant to keep the course current and to preserve the integrity of Travis's design, though it may also have taken something from his brilliance. Over those years the greens and bunkering, two Travis hallmarks, slowly evolved away from what he had made. In 2013, early in the restoration movement, Hollywood chose to keep up with the times by going back to the original. Working with Tom Doak's Renaissance Golf Design and architect Brian Schneider, an avowed fan of Travis's greens, the club moved slowly and in increments. Greens were expanded and recontoured. Bunkers were broken up and restored. On the 12th, where many bunkers had been lost, Schneider's team brought the count back to 39, still a whopping sight from the tee. In 2014 the club hosted the US Senior Women's Amateur, won by Joan Higgins. Tom Doak has called these some of the old man's best greens. He has noted that the four-tiered 7th is not as excessive as it sounds and has called the lower back-left hole location at the 9th a thing of beauty. This is arguably the best set of Walter Travis greens in existence. Walking the course feels like moving through a museum of some of the most intricate green complexes in golf. The final piece of the restoration was a complete rebuild of the 17th, a par 3 that now stands among the course's many showstopping greens. Schneider built a tunnel through the mound to the right of its green. It is not the natural route to the 18th tee, but it makes for a fun photo and an added quirk. Superintendent Michael Broome has pointed out a newer tee for the 18th, hidden on a hill of heather near the 4th green, which Doak recommended while Schneider was at work. From there the closing hole becomes a short and very fun finisher, and you can reach it by walking through the tunnel. Through the tunnel and up the hill, Hollywood offers one last bit of delight.