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The 2026 Hoffman Cup Finals Venue is Set: Liberty National Golf Club 

(January, 2026) Nationally acclaimed Liberty National Golf Club has graciously agreed to host the 2026 Hoffman Cup Finals on Saturday, July 25.  The Hoffman Cup Finals are the season-ending climax to the two-and-one-half-month-long, all-scratch interclub competition among thirty-six Northern New Jersey clubs. (More to follow)

A more complete 2026 competition schedule may be found below.

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2025 Red Hoffman Cup Matches Recap 

(July, 2025)  Baltrusrol Golf Club successfully defended its 2024 Hoffman Cup with a convincing showing at amazing Hollywood Golf Club, capturing its fourth title since 2012. Perennial contender Arcola Country Club finished second in the Finals after hanging near the top for most of the afternoon. 

Baltusrol's eight team members fashioned an impressive seven-under 267 led by Ryan Fountaine and Gregg Angelillo, but still had their hands full against a determined Arcola. The Paramus club, stung by last year's loss to Baltusrol at Bayonne, responded with an excellent 269. Arcola's balanced 67-67-67-68 would have captured the day in any other Hoffman Cup Finals, but the sheer strength of Baltusrol's roster was not going to be overcome.

Baltusrol's dominance was no surprise. It steamrolled through preliminary play with 31.5 out of 36 possible points, and its finals lineup featured two nationally-ranked amateurs, Mark Costanza and the newly crowned New Jersey State Amateur Champion, Barnes Blake. But it was Gregg Angelillo and Ryan Fountaine who led Baltusrol’s victory charge with a sparkling 65. 

It should be noted that – between Baltusrol and Arcola – all eight sides broke 70. This impressive display of skill and depth from both clubs foreshadows more close finals to come. (Detailed finals scoring can be found at 2025 Competition, above).

Montclair Golf Club finished third at 275, extending an impressive semifinals showing. Deal Golf and Country Club, in the running much of the day, followed at 276. Manasquan River Golf Club rounded out the field at 279.

While Baltusrol took the Cup, Hollywood GC, with its heaving greens, memorable bunkering, and pristine conditioning – was a star in its own right. One finalist summed it up best: “Playing Hollywood is like playing golf in a really great museum.”

The Red Hoffman Cup Matches were created in 2005 to foster interaction and friendly competition among northern New Jersey golf clubs. Annually, 500 leading New Jersey amateurs and professionals from 36 clubs play in a no-handicap, four-ball competition designed to effectively identify the strongest cohort of players in one club in northern New Jersey.

Groups Announced	Intragroup Matches	Semifinals	Finals
When: Mar 1, 2026	When: Ideally, Sat, May 2; Sun, May 3; Sat, May 9 (all matches must be completed by Sun, Jun 14)	When: To be played between Sat, Jun 20 to Sun, Jul 14.	When: Sat, July 25
Who: Your club and three others will form a single Group. Captains should start setting up matches.	Who: Your club vs. one of the other three clubs in your group.	Who: All Intragroup  winners, minus the bye club, which will have a bye directly to the Finals.	Who: The four Semifinal match winners, plus the bye team; that is five teams (40 players).
	Where: Each day, two four ball matches at home, two away.	Where: Two matches home, two away (same as Intragroup Matches).	Where: Liberty National  Golf Club
	Format: Two man, four ball, match play, Nassau point system. Team with the overall highest point total (a.k.a., the bye club) advances directly to Finals.	Format: Adjusting for the bye club, seeding will be determined by points earned in the intragroup play;  sudden-death tie breaker would be in effect.	Format: For each club, four x two-man teams; four ball, medal play; all four scores count; sudden death tie breaker in effect.

2026 will mark the 22nd anniversary of the Hoffman Cup Matches; the first Finals were held in 2005. That year, in a field of only four clubs, Fairmount Country Club came out on top with an 8-4 win led by Allen Small and Craig Smith, two top amateurs who had just returned from Ireland as members of the MGA's Cary Cup squad. A year later, Montclair extracted revenge by winning the Cup, then winning four more Hoffman Cup Finals in a row.  

While the first Hoffman Cup involved four clubs and a total of ~36 golfers, this year's event features 36 clubs and more than 500 golfers. Seen through the Hoffman Cup prism, twenty-two years has gone by quickly.

View the results of each Hoffman Cup season, 2005-2024, in "Cup Archives" in the navigation, above.

As always, thank you to the captains and professionals who make this competition hum!