Things To Do in Hopatcong

Within the 5,000-square-foot Ballplayer’s Edge facility, baseball and softball players train to swing the bat faster, throw the ball harder, and play the game better. The facility’s crack team of coaches—led by Joel Burgos, hitting coach for Rutgers University-Newark—improve strength, agility, and instincts with training tools that include four adult-size batting cages and the ProBatter PX2 hitting simulator. The simulator immerses players in game-like situations, complete with virtual pitchers delivering strikes from either the windup or the stretch. Meanwhile, RightView Pro video analysis captures each home-run cut, shown bunt, and taunt lobbed at the computerized player, allowing for side-by-side comparison with major-league swings.

In the summer, Captain Don Cartwright migrates from Florida to New Jersey to captain fishing trips off Sandy Hook and Raritan Bays aboard his 35-foot boat, the Bill Chaser. Cartwright, who has a US Coast Guard master's license and more than 20 years of fishing experience, helps groups hook everything from striped bass and bluefish to larger catches such as bluefin tuna and shark.

Since 1959, the reigns that urge Circle Lanes forward have been handed down through three generations. While the establishment still cultivates the now-retro vibe that characterized its early years, it's also outfitted with modern accoutrements including AMF automatic scoring and regular laser-bowl sessions that set brightly colored accents aglow. The facility features 34 Heddon synthetic lanes, which beckon sure-footed bowlers and discerning woodchucks alike with wood approaches. Bumpers are also available for those who can't yet roll between the lines. Beyond the lanes, Circle Pizzeria stands ready to serve a menu that sates appetites at all hours. Breakfast food such as muffins, omelets, and egg sandwiches gives way midday to a selection that includes roast-beef club sandwiches and pizzas topped with meatballs. Nearby, fellow patrons sit at Cabaret Lounge's wooden bar to sip beer, wine, or mixed drinks. Dartboards, a pool table, and a big-screen television offer additional diversions, ideal for distracting opponents while filling the finger holes on their bowling balls with mustard.

Professional Fencing Coach and Master Slava Danilov, as well as his lieutenant, Samir Machmoud, combine to bring more than 60 years of international fencing experience to Morris Fencing Club. Their collective expertise includes a bronze medal in the 1996 World Cup and an Egyptian national championship, plus coaching accolades that include leading their students to multiple World Junior Championship medals. Despite this imposing body of work, the duo also specializes in teaching fencing to beginners through their club programs, such as group lessons, private instruction, and camps. Regardless of prior experience, whether an Olympic-level epee swordsman or a person whose closest activity to fencing is making shish kabobs, students can comfortably enroll at Morris Fencing Club to build character and stamina through participation in the fun and active sport.

As kids caper about in a world of rides, games, and playground equipment at Giggles Play Station, their parents can rest assured knowing that the amusement emporium was built from the ground up to safely accommodate them in areas divided by age group. Among the indoor playground's attractions, toddlers enjoy exclusive access to their own padded play area, complete with a playhouse and kid-size construction vehicles. In the play station that's governed by specially trained safety staff, kids aged 1?8 clamber up padded ramps, careen down six slides, and plunge into the ball pit, which is sanitized regularly to keep bacteria and the purple cooties at bay. The arcade houses numerous ticket-earning diversions, including skee ball and basketball shooting, and siblings can settle rivalries while competing in games of air-hockey or on the twisty lanes of slot-car racing.

Giggle Play Station caters to adults as well, welcoming them to put their feet up when not cheering for their kids as they conquer slides or tour the facilities on the train ride. In addition to a menu of snacks, the caf? offers a vantage point for parents to keep an eye on their brood while building sculptures out of their mozzarella sticks.

With a 39-stall driving range, a miniature-golf circuit, and a nine-hole par 3 course, Mt. Freedom Golf helps golfers fine-tune every aspect of their game. That par 3 layout features several holes that span at least 100 yards from the tee to the bentgrass greens, showcasing a verdant expanse for players to work their short irons. Players bogey-proof swings at the driving range, where natural-grass hitting areas cater to those who favor a natural feel and provoke artificial mats to crow about how photosynthesis is overrated.

After grappling the yips at the safari-themed mini-golf course, players can seek out putter advice from one three ace instructors. Mt. Freedom Golf also offers a nine-hole Frisbee-golf course that favors those with disc-hurling prowess or enough money to hire a pizza chef as a caddy.

Designed by course architect Geoffrey Cornish—who has designed more than 230 courses—Bowling Green Golf Club blankets the tree-lined terrain of a former dairy farm with a challenging, 6,863-yard golf course. Immersed in a network of rolling hills topped with tall red pines and oaks, the par-72 design provides a scenic escape more enjoyable than burrowing one’s head into a potted plant. Dense tree lines play a prominent role throughout the entire course, and the back nine also runs along native ponds and wetlands that loom near fairways and greens. To help golfers excel in the wooded layout without the use of a chainsaw, Bowling Green Golf Club offers golf lessons and clinics for players of all abilities.

At The Grill Room, guests can enjoy a casual atmosphere of drinks and inventive twists on traditional grill dishes. While digging into grilled filet mignon or Mediterranean chicken with penne pasta and sun-dried tomatoes, patrons can pause to take in views of the rolling hills and give nicknames to each pine needle in the forest.

Course at a Glance:

• Designed by Geoffrey Cornish
• 18-hole, par-72 course
• Length of 6,863 yards from the farthest tees
• Course rating of 73.2 from the farthest tees
• Slope rating of 134 from the farthest tees
• Six tee options
• Scorecard