Golf on Long Island

2024 closing dates at Long Island's public golf courses

The handful of public golf courses that close for the Long Island winter typically go dark between the end of Thanksgiving weekend and the middle of December.  Some might hang on until Christmas week if warm weather lingers, but usually the only courses still open by then are the ones that welcome players year-round.

So, with that said, now's the time to get in the final swings on Long Island's seasonal golf courses, otherwise your next tee times at places like Eisenhower Red and Timber Point will be in early spring.  With the exception of Bethpage Red and Black, all of the Island's seasonal courses reopen by the end of March.

The following golf courses will close for the 2024 season in the coming weeks:

• Bethpage Red – December 1
• Bethpage Green – December 1
• Bergen Point – December 1
• West Sayville – December 1
• Middle Bay – December 1
• Eisenhower Red – December 8
• Holbrook Country Club – December 15
• Brentwood Country Club – December 15
• Timber Point – December 15
• Sandy Pond – December 31
• Cherry Creek - Woods Course – TBD/mid-December
• Sumpwams Creek – TBD/mid-December
• Bay Park – TBD/mid-December
• Harbor Links – TBD/mid-December
  
• Christopher Morley Park -- TBD

Some courses have already closed for 2024, including:

• Bethpage Black

Check back daily as other courses are added.  And for more information on Long Island's winter season, stay tuned for our annual Winter Golf On Long Island primer.

2024 Thanksgiving golf outings at Long Island courses

For the many Long Island golfers who do not play golf year-round, there is usually a distinct point where the golf season comes to an end.  Some might call it a year at Halloween, others Thanksgiving.  Some might end it the first time they put the heat on at home, others might end it at the year's first frost delay.

Only one of those particular times, however, comes with a slate of golf outings and events.

Local players consider Thanksgiving morning the border between fall golf and winter golf, and they celebrate the transition by layering up and hacking around a local scramble.  Conditions are often dicey, but with the winter playing season only one blizzard away from getting wiped off the calendar, a brief November chill is tolerable.

Golf On Long Island will update the 2024 Thanksgiving slate of scrambles and shotgun starts as information is made available.  All Thanksgiving outings are designed to get you home at a reasonable time for family and football.  Listed below are many of this year's special holiday events (all are on Thanksgiving, November 28, unless otherwise noted).  These outings tend to sell out very quickly, so it's best to book early.

Cherry Creek is offering 18 holes on the Links Course with cart, range balls, hot breakfast, raffles and on-course contests for $79 per player.  Shotgun tee time is 8:30 a.m.  Call (631) 369-6500 to register.

Crab Meadow is hosting a Turkey Trot that includes cart, range balls, breakfast, food and beer.  Call the pro shop at (631) 757-8800 to register.

Harbor Links will host its 18th annual holiday Turkey Shoot.  Registration and breakfast begin at 8:00 a.m., followed by a 9:00 shotgun tee time.  Golf, cart and breakfast are $75 for Town of North Hempstead residents; $85 for non-residents.  Call (516) 767-4816 to sign up.

Middle Island Country Club will tee off with a holiday shotgun start.  Call (631) 924-3000 for details and reservations.

Mill Pond (pictured) will host its 17th annual Thanksgiving Turkey Shootout.  Format is four-person team scramble.  The event always sells out fast; book in person or by calling (631) 732-8249.

Pine Hills Golf & Country Club continues its tradition of hosting a holiday outing on Black Friday (November 29).  This year's event includes cart, range and prizes for $85.  Shotgun start is 9:30 a.m.  Call (631) 878-7103 or visit the pro shop to sign up.  Part of each outing fee benefits Toys for Tots.

Spring Lake Golf Club will host its annual Thanksgiving Day Shotgun, which includes breakfast and 18 holes.  Tee time is 8:00 a.m.  Cost is $80 per player due at registration.  Call (631) 924-5115 for a spot.

Swan Lake's holiday outing begins with 7:00 a.m. breakfast and an 8:30 shotgun start.  Beverages and BBQ will be available until 1:00.  Entry fee is $70 and covers golf and cart only (food and drinks not included in fee).  Call (631) 369-1818 to sign up.

Check back through November for updated information.

Momentum building toward Golden Age-inspired restoration of Timber Point

Stars aligned in recent years to free Long Island's original Lido Club from grainy black-and-white photos and resurrect it halfway across the country at Wisconsin's Sand Valley.  Now it seems they might be positioning themselves again to inspire another Golden Age rebirth, one that stays right here on the Island's south shore.

The restoration of Timber Point, for decades a far-off fantasy confined mostly to circles of golf historians and design enthusiasts, is making its way toward reality.  Peter Ganley, assistant to Suffolk County Parks Commissioner John Giannott, is leading an effort that would bring the course a century back in time to golf's architectural Golden Age, when Timber Point was a sand-swept 18-hole course designed by Charles Alison.  Golf writer Daniel Wexler once wrote that Timber Point would be a top-25 American golf course if it still existed in its original form.

Specific details on designers, project costs and timelines are unavailable or confidential at the moment, but the next step in what has been a positive process to date, according to Ganley, is a meeting with Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine and other political officials.  The plan is to raise enough money from foundations and private sources to limit the costs taken on by Suffolk County. 

"We don't want to use county money," Ganley says.  "The intent is to keep Timber Point an affordable golf course."

A full restoration of the course includes revitalization of the site's natural wetlands, which were filled in when the course was remodeled in the 1970s, a decision that would never be permitted today by New York State's Department of Environmental Conservation, Ganley says.  The DEC has been "exceptionally understanding" so far regarding plans for the property, he says, adding that the restored wetlands would alleviate water concerns and decrease pesticide use. 

Ganley envisions a restored Timber Point as a world-class, championship-level public golf destination that is Suffolk County's version of Bethpage Black.  "Timber Point is so intriguing because of what it once was," he says.  Of the course's 18 original holes, 12 remain in place on the current Blue and Red courses, including the famed "Gibraltar" par-3 and the subsequent bayfront par-4s.  The course would be brought back to its 1920s design and likely its sandier-on-the-edges layout, lengthened in spots to accommodate the modern game.  Yardage from the tips will potentially be in the vicinity of 7,500 yards.  Off the course, upgrades to the historic clubhouse, marinas and other facilities are planned.  Added perks like a par-3 short course are also under consideration.

For years, historians and golf-architecture followers have weighed the potential of a Timber Point restoration.  Designers have walked the grounds and drawn up detailed building plans.  In 2021, The Fried Egg listed Timber Point as one of America's "sweet 16 of golf courses we'd love to see restored to their original glory." 

"So maybe Timber Point’s best move would be to shed nine holes and restore as many of the rest as possible.  After all, there’s certainly a demand for great accessible golf on Long Island," wrote The Fried Egg's Andy Johnson.

Timber Point has been a 27-hole facility since the early 1970s, when Suffolk County took control of the once-exclusive private club and hired William Mitchell to build an additional nine holes.  Under the proposed redesign, the biggest change to the existing layout would be the elimination of Mitchell's White Course.  In its place, restored native wetlands and several reoriented holes would connect the interior and waterfront portions of the course.  During the course's early-1900s prime, players emerged from Timber Point's wooded front nine onto a sprawling sandscape with Great South Bay in the distance.  The tenth played toward the bay, and #11, a wind-aided par-4 with multiple fairways, brought players back to the current "Harbor" hole — #2 on the Blue Course.  Ganley says the revival of Alison's 10th and 11th holes would be "special."

"County Executive Romaine wants to create a masterpiece — that's the plan," Ganley says.  "It will be a nice giveback by Suffolk County to the public."

[PICTURED: TOP TWO — The famed Gibraltar par-3 today and as it appeared in the early 20th century, when Timber Point was more of a sandy links than a parkland course. BOTTOM TWO — Modern and early views of the Harbor par-3, currently #2 on the Blue Course.]

Bethpage Red, Montauk Downs highlighted on Golf Magazine's affordability list

Two of Long Island's top public golf courses known for being hard on scorecards recently earned some praise from Golf Magazine for going easy on golfers' wallets.

Bethpage State Park's Red Course and Montauk Downs both made the cut in Golf Mag's 2024 list of America's best golf courses for $100 or less, "where memorability meets affordability," as determined by Golf's course raters and editors.  The list features 101 golf courses in four different regions of the country where peak-season weekend walking rates do not exceed $100.  The selected courses "represent exceptional bang for the buck."

In addition to the green-fee requirement, selected courses must be open to the public and offer "the kind of golf experience you’d recommend to a friend."  

Of the 19 golf courses representing the Northeast region, five are from New York State.  Bethpage Red and Montauk Downs are joined by En-Joie in Endicott, Saratoga Spa State Park in Saratoga Springs and Seven Oaks in Hamilton.  The Northeast has the lowest regional representation, mostly due to high costs around metropolitan areas, according to Golf editors.  Approximately 40 percent of the featured courses are municipally owned.  List editors praised "those public officials who understand the value and importance of funding exceptional public golf."

Bethpage Red and Montauk, of course, are fixtures on another annual list, the "Best Courses You Can Play" ranking published by Golfweek.  That list highlights the best publicly accessible golf courses in all 50 states.  In the 2024 Golfweek ranking, the Red Course landed at #6 with Montauk Downs one spot behind at #7.

[PICTURED: The signature par-3 12th at Montauk Downs.]

Sandy Pond Links debuts new routing, state-of-the-art mini golf course

Two years into its rebrand in Riverhead, Sandy Pond Links continues to spruce up its nine holes on Roanoke Avenue all while it cuts the ribbon on a newer and much shorter 18 right next door.

The first of two planned attractions at Sandy Pond made its debut last week, a state-of-the-art miniature golf course complete with in-play waterworks, a snack bar and a locally brewed house beer.  Sandy Pond's new clubhouse, the second development in the works on the north end of the property, is tentatively scheduled for a 2026 grand opening.

On the course, crews remain busy installing new irrigation and refurbishing Sandy Pond's nine greens.  When new ownership took over during the 2022-23 offseason, much of their focus was on restoring the greens to their original size.  Time and maintenance changes had reduced the greens to small, circular targets, far from what co-owner Brian Stark recalled from his early days living near and working on the course.  "You can still see areas where the contours were lost, and how the greens have shrunk significantly over time," Stark told Golf On Long Island in 2023.  "They used to have more character and pin positions."

The most startling change at the moment is the rerouting of the course to accommodate the new starter's booth, currently housed at the mini-golf course until it's eventually relocated to the clubhouse.  Players now start on the former ninth hole, continue to the old opener and finish on what had long been #8.  Along the way they'll pass the landmark red shack, which will likely stay in place.  Players will also have access to a patio near the first tee that's lined with Adirondack chairs, yard games and even a mini version of the iconic Big Duck down the road in Flanders.  The snack bar is stocked with a house IPA from Riverhead's Long Ireland Brewery, and cupholders built into each mini-golf hole sign serve as handy beer caddies.

Co-owner Earl Truland says the mini-golf 18 will be a family-friendly destination that doubles as a community gathering spot and a vehicle for revenue to cover upgrades on the par-3 course.  The mini golf includes uphill and downhill holes and a series of waterfalls, one of which flows into an in-play stream that carries balls under a bridge and onto the tenth green. 

"We've had people tell us they'd love to play mini golf while they wait to tee off," Truland says.  "Now instead of passing by when we have leagues on Wednesday mornings, they can come in and spend time here before they play."

Plans for Sandy Pond's future clubhouse include a simulator room, a small bar and food service, Truland says.  The structure still needs approval form the Town of Riverhead, and ownership hopes to break ground by spring 2025.

For more on the planned changes at Sandy Pond Links, see this post from January 2023.

Street Names: The Ghosts of Long Island Golf's Past, Part 7 — Dix Hills Golf Club

Street names can give clues about a community's past.  That's especially true with golf courses.  When Long Island streets are tagged with golf-related terms, it often means that buried beneath sidewalks and front lawns are the remains of a long-forgotten (or fondly remembered) course.

This series of posts looks back at courses that have been lost — some for a few years, some close to a century — and whose presence is only marked by what developers scratched on road maps and signs.  To see other courses in the "Street Names: The Ghosts of Long Island Golf's Past" series, click the links at the bottom of the post.

******

Tucked away amid winding, wooded roads in western Suffolk County is a small, newly built residential community made up of nearly two-dozen luxury homes.  The homes, each carrying a price tag comfortably north of $2 million, stand tall and glamorous along a pair of dead-end streets.  By the sound of it, the developer in charge is not the type to lay up on par-5s.

Appropriately, the two streets — Long Drive Court and Eagle Court — end at cul-de-sacs of the exact shape and size of a putting green.  From beginning to dead end, or let's call it tee to green, Long Drive is laid out like a double-dogleg par-5, roughly 500 yards in total.  The only hiccup in the planning is that Eagle Court runs the length of a mere par-3.

And, coincidence or not, the development, titled Oak Hill Estates, shares its name with the renowned Rochester, New York golf club and famed championship venue.

Just a few years ago, though it wasn't yet Oak Hill Estates, the property was home not only to long drives and eagles but a dogleg par-5 oddly similar to what is now Long Drive Court.  Back then, local golfers knew the site as Dix Hills Golf Club, the lengthier, more challenging alternative to the nine-hole Dix Hills Park Golf Course nearby.  It was a par-35 with nine holes totaling around 2,600 yards.

The non-municipal beginner course has become an endangered species on Long Island, but before it closed in 2012, Dix Hills GC filled that niche across six decades.  Built in the 1960s, Dix Hills was bookended by par-5s, and a series of short par-4s and unique par-3s filled out the middle.  Its most prominent feature was the deep gully that cut across the front section of the course.  Shots to the green on holes #3 and #5 needed to carry the pit or settle somewhere far below.  It also featured deep, sticky rough that complicated what were otherwise simple holes.  Like a lush, well-fed (future) Oak Hill lawn, the rough could snatch and turn a clubhead with ease.  

Dix Hills' vibe was quaint and laid-back.  An old-fashioned cottage with shuttered windows served as the clubhouse, shaded and nestled comfortably beneath tall trees.  Players parked in a gravel driveway out front.  The course, rising and falling over the hills and densely wooded in spots, had a pastoral feel.

The par-3s at Dix Hills were certainly diverse.  The tiny fourth could be mistaken for a sled hill had there not been a green at the bottom.  A generous 116 yards on the scorecard, the hole dead-ended abruptly at a fenced corner of the property.  Ahead at #5, short or middle irons needed to clear the gully to reach a little green ringed by thick rough.  And #8, listed at 239 yards, played nearly as long as the course's par-4s.

Quietly, with little notice to anyone beyond the inner circle of Dix Hills-area players, the course closed up shop in 2012.  For more than two years it sat in a state of decay — behind the roadside entrance sign, weeds overtook the gravel driveway and obscured the empty cottage.  By 2015, the future Oak Hill development was formally announced and broke ground on the site.

The course is remembered as a place where local players got their initial taste of golf.  And its beginner-friendliness wasn't confined to its casual routing and vibe.  One of Dix Hills' local rules — in the course's later years, at least — said bad misses to the right on the two par-5s (as in over the trees onto adjacent holes) could be picked up and dropped on the correct side of the tree line with no penalty. 

All the more reason to go hard after long drives and eagles.

[PICTURED — TOP: Dix Hills' shaded cottage clubhouse. LEFT: Next to the clubhouse, #3 green sat behind a deep gully.  The course's dense rough was cut close to the greens.  BOTTOM: Dix Hills, as seen shortly before its closing in 2012, with the present-day roads depicted.  (Image credit: Google Earth.)  Long Drive Court is laid out on nearly the exact footprint of the par-5 ninth.  Also, the course's 2009 scorecard.]

SEE OTHER STREET-NAME POSTS:
Part 1: Cedar Point/Meadowlawn/Westwood — North Woodmere
Part 2: The Lido Club — Lido Beach
Part 3: Valley Stream Country Club — Valley Stream
Part 4: Sayville Golf Club — Sayville
Part 5: Riverhead Country Club — Riverhead
Part 6: Mill Pond East — Medford

Long Island Golf Junkies hosting July Social outing at The Hamlet Golf & CC

The Long Island Golf Junkies players group, one of the largest and most active groups in the region, will hold a July Social outing next month at The Hamlet Golf and Country Club in Commack.  Event date is Monday, July 15 with a shotgun start scheduled for 10:00 a.m.  The LIGJ outing is open to all players.

Entry fee is $155 per golfer for 18 holes and cart.  Format is individual stroke play with contests for closest to the pin and longest drive, plus raffles and prizes.  Visit the LIGJ website to reserve spots for singles and groups and for full registration guidelines and details.

The Hamlet is a private club redesigned in the 1990s by Stephen Kay.  It is a par-70 with heavily bunkered fairways and greens and several prominent water hazards.  

LIGJ hosts several formal outings, casual rounds and social/networking meet-ups each season at both public courses and private clubs.  Interested local golfers can become members via the Long Island Golf Junkies Facebook group.

Bethpage, Montauk Downs listed among Golfweek's 2024 Best Courses You Can Play

There are certainties in Long Island golf life — group photos at the Black Course warning sign, wind at Montauk Downs, and Bethpage and Montauk ranked highly in Golfweek's list of the region's top public golf courses.

Golfweek's 2024 Best Courses You Can Play rankings were published earlier this month and Bethpage Black finds itself on familiar ground atop the local list, followed closely by its next-door neighbor Bethpage Red and its New York State sister course at Montauk Downs.  The Best Courses You Can Play list ranks the elite publicly accessible courses in all 50 states.  The three courses are typically locks for New York's top eight with the Red Course and Montauk Downs jockeying for position.  This year the Red Course at #6 edged out Montauk by a spot.

Also of local interest, Bally's Ferry Point (formerly Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point) in the Bronx is ranked third behind only the Black Course and Leatherstocking in Cooperstown.

Bethpage Black is featured prominently on Golfweek's broader lists as well.  The Black moved up one spot to #9 on the national Best Courses You Can Play list, jumping ahead of the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island.  It also held its #26 spot on the Best 200 Classic Courses list, which ranks public and private courses built before 1960.  That list showcases Long Island's enormous depth of internationally renowned golf courses, with three courses in the top 10 (Shinnecock Hills, National Golf Links and Fisher's Island) and a total of 15 courses overall.

For many years, Golfweek included a fourth Long Island course in its annual Best You Can Play — Tallgrass Golf Course in Shoreham.  Tallgrass is gone, of course, but another "lost" course with local ties — sort of — did crack the list.  The resurrected Lido at Sand Valley in Wisconsin lands at #15 on the national list and #2 in the state.  That course is a nearly identical replica of C.B Macdonald's original Lido Club located on Long Island's south shore from 1917 to 1942.

For more on the three Long Island publics, including a Closer Look breakdown of Red #13 (and Tallgrass #8, just for old time's sake), check out the course flyovers via the above links.

[PICTURED: Bethpage Black #5 in spring 2024.]

Newsday: Stonebridge Golf Links ownership withdraws on-course housing proposal

A development plan that would have built 28 additional homes at Stonebridge Golf Links and Country Club in Hauppauge and shortened its 18-hole golf course into abbreviated nines has been withdrawn by ownership, according to Newsday.  All that remains now are lingering questions and concerns about the future of the current golf course.

Newsday's Jean-Paul Salamanca reported last week that Stonebridge representatives sent a letter of withdrawal dated May 7 to the Town of Smithtown's Planning Board, roughly six weeks after a public hearing in front of the board and members of the community.  At that March 20 meeting, attorney David Altman and Islip-based architect Jerry Rumplick presented a plan for new houses along Stonebridge's western perimeter.  To build the proposed homes, Stonebridge asked the planning board to consider amending the longtime covenants that restrict new development on the site. 

The most notable exchange took place near the end of the meeting when board member Rick Lanese pressed Altman to explain how Smithtown residents would benefit from a plan that adds housing to an environmentally sensitive site and negatively impacts the existing Stonebridge course.  Altman said they benefit because the alternative would be total loss of the golf course.

Now that the plan has been withdrawn, that back-and-forth between Altman and the board takes on much greater significance.  Stonebridge representatives declined to comment to Newsday about the withdrawal, Salamanca reported, and Altman has not responded to questions about the golf course from Golf On Long Island.

Stonebridge replaced and redesigned the former Hauppauge Country Club in 1999, at which time covenants were put in place to limit future additions to the 105-home residential community and changes to club membership and the golf course itself.  The two golf courses have occupied the Veterans Highway site since the 1950s.

Residents and neighbors spoke out against the plan at the March 20 meeting, citing concerns over the course modifications, environmental impact, proximity to the adjacent county park and decline in home value.  Under the proposed plan, new homes would have replaced the 17th and 18th holes, and the western half of the current course would have been reduced to an executive-length nine-hole layout.  The eastern half likely would have remained as a separate full-length nine.

Stonebridge's course design pays tribute to renowned early-1900s designers C.B. Macdonald, Seth Raynor and Charles Banks.  Macdonald biographer and historian George Bahto redesigned the previous Hauppauge course to include replicas of holes typically found at famous American and European clubs, making it unique among Long Island's roster of public golf courses.  The 17th hole, which would have been destroyed under the housing proposal, is modeled after Macdonald's "Eden" par-3s.  Other replicas include the Redan at #4, Biarritz at #7 and Hog's Back green at #16.

For more on the course, see the Stonebridge flyover.

SEE ALSO: Proposed homebuilding plan calls for major modifications or possible closure of Stonebridge Golf Links

Flyover: Spy Ring Golf Club

SEE ALSO:
Spy Ring Golf Club in Setauket working its way toward a soft opening this fall (2023)
Coming Soon: Heritage Spy Ring GC, Long Island's first shot at the Sweetens Cove model (2022)

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

SEE ALSO:
Spy Ring Golf Club in Setauket working its way toward a soft opening this fall (2023)
Coming Soon: Heritage Spy Ring GC, Long Island's first shot at the Sweetens Cove model (2022)