Belleville today has two golf courses. One began in the late nineteenth century when the game of golf was imported from Europe and gaining in popularity in the United States. During the 1890s Newark's Forest Hill Tennis Club laid out a nine-hole golf course that was enlarged to eighteen holes by the addition of land across the Erie Railroad tracks in Belleville. The Home of the Hendricks family, who operated the copper mill in Belleville, was leased as a clubhouse. Golfers found real challenges on
the Forest Hill course-they had to hit across railroad tracks, the Second River, and the Morris Canal.

In 1926, when the lease of the Hendricks property was about to expire, the club planned to lay out a new course and build a new clubhouse. This time the Forest Hill course extended across the Bloomfield-Belleville border north of Belleville Avenue. Many golf tournaments, including the New Jersey State Open Championship, have been held on this course.

The Hendricks Field Golf Course, owned by Essex County, opened in 1929. Named for the Hendricks family who donated some land for it, the course has hosted numerous Professional Golf Association tournaments.

Source: Belleville: 150th-Anniversary Historical Highlights 1839-1989 by Robert B. Burnett and the Belleville 150th-Anniversary Committee Belleville, New Jersey. 1991.