The Pine Hill Golf Course is arguably the most unique daily-fee public course in South Jersey.

Because:

•Pine Hill spans 365 acres. Holes 5, 6, 7 and 8 are stretched and wrapped around land preserve.

•Pine Hill occupies the highest land point in South Jersey. Once the site of Ski Mountain, you can see the Philadelphia skyline from the clubhouse as well as the third and 13th tee boxes. The layout is up and down with a lot of undulation.

``In this part of South Jersey, everyone seems to think all the terrain is flat,'' said Glen Christen of Howell. `` All these ups and downs is fantastic.''

•Every hole at Pine Hill is a picture postcard.

``Every hole is different,'' Steve Raynes of Philadelphia said. ``Every hole gives you a different look. On a lot of other courses you get two, three holes that are alike. Not here.''

•Pine Hill gives the player a fantasy round of what PGA Tour professional players experience week in and week out.

•With all the ups and downs and undulation of the fairways and greens at Pine Hill, the player better be in fairly good physical condition to make the climbs from cart

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to ball and from cart to tee boxes and greens.

Pine Hill plays from five different tee boxes.

The Black (for handicaps 0-5 only) plays 6,969 yards to a par 70 with a 74.2/140 slope rating. The Blue (for handicaps 6-12) plays 6,642 yards to a par 70 with a 72.4/ 136 slope rating. The White plays to 6,248 yards to a par 70 with a 70.8/132 slope rating for men and a 76.0/142 slope rating for women. The Gold plays 5,745 yards to a par 70 with a 68.3/126 slope rating for men and a 73.0/133 slope rating for women. The Red plays 4,922 yards to a par 70 with a 68.3/121 slope rating for women.

``It's difficult, but fair,'' Pine Hill PGA head golf professional Matt Wentzel said. ``There's plenty of room for the person who is hitting the ball well to score. The fairways are wide, the greens large, but the penalties are severe if you are off the fairways.

``Once you miss the fairways, there's very little room on the sides for the ball to be in the rough. It's either in a waste bunker or it's in the small pepper bush siblings that you see out there that you can't hit out of. So the penalty strokes are at least one stroke for being off the fairway.''

Too difficult?

``I don't think so,'' Wentzel answered. ``I think the average golfer needs to play his appropriate tee. If they are on the appropriate tee I think the course is very fair.''

At first look though, the layout looks as tight as a picture postcard. But ...

``The course looks harder than it plays,'' Scott Becker of Laurel Creek said. ``I had a 91 and could have easily shot an 85, 84. I three-putted six greens. If you keep the ball on the fairway, you can score.''

To help the player navigate the course, each golf cart is equipped with Global Positioning Systems computer. The GPS, as it is known, gives the player an overall graphic look at the hole he is playing, a graphic with distances to the pin, and an advice column on how to best play the hole.

It's $130 a round, seven days per week to play Pine Hill, with a reduced rate of $100 between 2 and 4 p.m. and $70 after 4 p.m.

Is there a market for such?

``Absolutely,'' Wentzel answered. ``We could use more players in this economy. Who couldn't? But for the most part, we have 150-200 players a day. The way we look at it, this is a $200 value for $130.''

Based on?

``The quality of the golf course, the services we provide,'' Wentzel said. ``... the locker room facilities for both men and women, the showers, the attendants. It's not your typical golf course. It's a private club open to the public. That's really what it is.

``We provide amenities that no one else does. We have a full-service restaurant with great quality. You don't see that very often at good golf courses or even country clubs for that matter. We have nice courteous services from when you drop off your bag at the bag drop to when you get your clubs scrubbed after your round. And our GPS system has some of the best graphics I've ever seen. The distances to the pin are accurate within a yard or two. It's just a great golf course.''

The course was designed by noted golf architect Tom Fazio for Eric Bergstol and Empire Golf.

``We wanted to give those who can't play Pine Valley the feeling of it,'' Bergstol said. Pine Valley, the nation's No.1 golf course, is 1.8 miles from Pine Hill.

``I never like to make a comparison to Pine Valley,'' Wentzel said. ``Pine Valley is Pine Valley. Pine Hill is Pine Hill. I've played Pine Valley and the differences are obvious. Pine Valley is a 3-wood all day. Pine Hill is a driver all day. There's really no comparison between both golf courses. In fact, I can think of more differences than I can comparisons.''