Golf on Long Island: Flyover: Spy Ring Golf Club

When a public golf course longer than a pitch-and-putt was last built on Long Island, the world was a very unfamiliar place. Taylor Swift was a young up-and-comer preparing her debut album, Facebook was not yet available to the general public and golf courses were still arriving at the tail end of a fast-and-furious building boom. (And, speaking of which, "The Fast and the Furious" was only on its third of a dozen-or-so iterations.)

Golf course design was in a different place too back in 2006, when Pine Ridge Golf Club emerged in a freshly cut section of Coram pine forest. On Long Island, swaths of agricultural land — sod farms, potato fields and the like — were converted to 18-hole courses with dozens of traps, prominent water hazards and a clubhouse that doubled as a catering hall. That era came to a close soon after Willow Creek (2005) and Pine Ridge emerged, and today, the national course-building trend is focused more on course quality, no matter the hole count. Sweetens Cove is the most notable example, a universally lauded nine-hole course built on the grounds of a failed 18 in rural Tennessee. Closer to home, the same designers behind Sweetens Cove took a spent 18-hole course in upstate New York near New Paltz and transformed it into a modern nine called Inness.

That brings us to Spy Ring Golf Club, Long Island's first public golf course in nearly two decades and its most ambitious public golf project since Harbor Links was crafted at the bottom of a barren sand pit in 1998. It's ambitious for several reasons — one, the team behind Spy Ring sees the high bar that Sweetens Cove set as the standard and is intent on reaching it. Beyond that, the team is confident Spy Ring's brand of golf will succeed in a place with a deeply ingrained golf culture, one that doesn't just let innovative ideas waltz in without putting it through the ringer first. Nine-hole courses are the stuff of county munis and wee executive courses, the thought process goes. Spy Ring, however, brings the goods.

Tyler Rae designed Spy Ring on the grounds of the former 18-hole Heatherwood Golf Course, an executive-length fixture in Setauket since the 1960s. The old course was completely gutted, and Rae's task was to create something new and modern that would ring around a newly built residential complex. Previously Rae worked alongside acclaimed figures in the architecture field, and his resume features restorations and renovations of Golden Age courses, primarily Donald Ross classics. Spy Ring is his first solo design, and since its conception he's become one of the most sought-after names in the design field.

"Golf intellect is very high on Long Island," Rae told Golf On Long Island in 2022. "You can't just come in with Mickey Mouse bunkers and flat greens and expect to have success. Especially with a course like St. George's right down the street."

What he created is a course with big, undulating greens, spacious fairways and a variety of unique contouring that allows for the course to be set up in many different ways. Spy Ring is designed to play firm and fast, rare among Long Island publics. Broad green entrances on all but one hole mean the ground game is in play. The course maxes out at 3,100 yards.

Spy Ring has been featured by The Met Golfer, Newsday and several golf-architecture publications. It officially opened for play in May 2024.

LAYOUT:
Rae's layout begins with what he calls a "handshake," a gentle introduction to a course that builds in physical movement and general intrigue as it moves along. The opening par-4 also gives a brief preview of what's to come throughout the round — expansive bunkers, massive fairways and gaping green entrances. A 200-yard tee shot should clear the huge right-side trap and leave a favorable angle into the green. From there you can approach with a short iron or use the kick-friendly shaping of the fairway to run a shot up onto the green. Left-side approaches will have to contend with a deep front trap with a high face. The par-4 second plays back toward the start. A tree serves as the target line on this flat dogleg and another oversized fairway bunker threatens to catch tee shots that venture up the left side. From Spy Ring's most spacious stretch of fairway, players have a wide-open look at a squared-off green. But here, the green falls off dramatically behind and to the right, and waves and dips in the putting surface make for some funky pin placements.

The course takes on a much different personality from the third tee forward. Starting at #3, a downhill-then-up par-5, Spy Ring begins a series of descents and climbs along the site's naturally hilly terrain. At nearly 40 yards wide and pinched in spots by two bunkers, the third fairway is a deceptively roomy target, and a tee shot of 220-plus will take the first trap out of play. But the second shot will be uphill, and the blind green in the distance falls off to the right. Ahead at #4, some big hitters might be tempted to go for the green on a short par-4 that plays 320 from the middle tees, though a short-right bunker suggests an alternate strategy. Instead, the wise play is a tee shot that will use the right-to-center tilt of the fairway and rough to set up a short wedge to a diagonal green. Misses left off the tee could find a sole fairway trap; on the right, mishits risk getting caught up in hillside rough that severely complicates approach shots.

Hole #5 is Spy Ring's first par-3, and it's a doozy. Rae's green contours really come out to play on a hole just over 180 yards from the tips and slightly downhill. Perched up on a plateau, the green is narrowest at its center and falls off sharply into left and right bunkers. In the back half, the green runs downhill toward the long-right edge, and up front a slope works to repel balls off the short side of the green. It's a green with plenty of spots for fun, hard-to-reach pins. Spy Ring's other par-3 is the course's signature hole. The 145-yard seventh calls for a high shot over four larger-than-they-look bunkers that stand guard in front of a fan-shaped green. A ridge splits the green into high and low halves with a right-side kickplate ready to scoot balls toward the center.

Each par-3 is followed by short par-4s. The sixth plays significantly uphill and culminates with a punchbowl-style green. Its squared putting surface is raised in the back to funnel balls onto and around the green's waves and ridges. At #8, where the green is potentially within reach, a large waste area on the left calls for a more cautious play. The green falls off in the back and descends into a sloped collection area on the right.

Spy Ring ends with some of its most dramatic elevation change. The par-5 ninth runs downhill from the tee, and around the midpoint of the fairway it starts ascending back uphill while turning to the left. A massive green awaits — the entrance is huge and unobstructed with a sneaky false front. The green narrows in the center and back as one last hefty bunker presses into the right side.

CONDITIONS:
Spy Ring stands apart from nearly all Long Island publics because it sits atop a sandy base. With course construction slowed by pandemic-related delays, Rae and his team of builders had time to shape every feature on the course to their exact specifications. They stripped off all the topsoil from the site, leaving behind nothing but sand. "It's going to be freakin' dry," Rae told GOLI during the grow-in phase. On top of that base, Rae seeded turfgrass adapted for sandy, firm-and-fast golf. Shots will bound down fairways and roll over mounds more than they do at other regional publics. "We set it up to be a turnkey firm-and-fast course," Rae said. "Very easy to maintain."

Responsible for that maintenance and conditioning is Adam Jessie, formerly of the neighboring St. George's Golf and Country Club. The plan is for the course to play fast, allowing for that bounding ground attack as well as the high-lofted aerial game. Rae built greens with plenty of pinnable space and a wide range of difficulty, and Jessie's role includes ensuring the nuances in Rae's greens will shine.

Spy Ring features a large practice green with a separate practice bunker and chipping area. There is no driving range on site.

The residential complex does come into play on holes 3, 4 and 6, though it is set back enough to only impact severe mishits. There are out-of-bounds stakes along the right sides of those holes. Small berms are in place to help keep balls on the course.

Tee times are spread out by at least 12 minutes. Management is focused on providing a fun, comfortable playing experience. Between the lengthy tee-time intervals and the minimal lost-ball opportunities, waits at Spy Ring should rarely be a problem.

HOLES TO REMEMBER:
Rae built Spy Ring's signature seventh with elements of a volcano par-3, a hole type often associated with Donald Ross. From the tee, #7's four bunkers appear to be standing in line across the front, though the sand traps actually wrap around the left, front and short-right sides. The triangular green is propped up on high ground with falloffs into sloped rough and sand. Depending on tees and pins, the hole might call for a touchy wedge just over the traps or a short iron to a pin stuck way in the back. A ridge, kickplate and front tongue all add intrigue once the ball is on (or just off) the surface. One thing is certain — you do not want to be in the bunkers. They are deep, steep and much bigger than they appear. Front pins here, between the traps and the green's center ridge, will be fun.

AREAS TO AVOID:
You can't see it from the tee, but sitting way down below the left side of #5 green is a long, narrow bunker. Wind up there and you'll face an awkward recovery to a raised green with a bigger trap waiting on the other side. It could be worse though — go any farther left and you'll be out of bounds.

NEARBY COURSES:
Pine Ridge (5 miles)
Willow Creek (5 miles)
Spring Lake (8 miles)

CONTACT:
303 Arrowhead Lane, Setauket, NY 11720
(631) 540-0704
www.spyringgolfclub.com

Comments

You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

Is there going to be a senior men’s or mixed league at Spy Ring? There is an audience in my opinion for a morning or evening league that would attract the many retirees in and around East Setauket, Stony Brook and Port Jeff. Also is there going to be a membership club involved in Spy Ring?
Thank you.

Posted by: Albert Gabrielli | May 07, 2024 at 11:41 AM