Secrets of Long Island Private Golf: A 1-Member Club, Hamptons Hideaways and Caddie Confessionals

Secrets of Long Island Private Golf: A 1-Member Club, Hamptons Hideaways and Caddie Confessionals

Welcome to the most sought after stretch of asphalt in the entire golf world. We are here on the east
end of Long Island. Southampton, where directly to my left
sits National Golf Links of America, and directly to my right
sits Shinnecock Hills. These are two of the greatest,
most historic golf courses in the entire world, and they sit
just feet apart from one another. We’re here on our journey
through Long Island Golf in pursuit of finding both public
and private glory. Right here
is where the heart of it exists. But that doesn’t mean
that this is all the glory that private golf in America
and on Long Island has to show. We’re about to check out
some of the coolest, most community based private clubs
Long Island has to offer. Not everything in the world of golf
is as pristine or as heralded as the land
that we’re standing on right now, but that doesn’t mean
that it’s not worth visiting. We can’t wait to show it to you. This is a local’s course, truly,
through and through. I mean, it has a lot to say
about the courses next door, but this course, when you come here,
it is guys that – from all walks of life. This is where they are. And this is where this is
what our township was built on. I think here is where I think you encompass everything
about golf and history and architecture. Yeah, it’s just incredible. You had some altitude on that one. I think the culture here is
just so special. It’s in, you know, 1925. We’re so lucky, right? We’re celebrating our centennial year
this year. Any course
that’s able to celebrate centennial year has to feel so privileged
and fortunate to be able to kind of, you know, reflect back on the history
of how that course evolved, right? When, Charles Sabin donated his farmland, it was basically to to provide the golf facility for the townspeople
and the, you know, the people that were living here and working here
and the surrounding towns in Southampton. This is the community golf club. You know, all of your,
your doctors, business people, tradespeople, firemen, policemen. That’s our membership. It’s 100% about community. I mean, we’re at this course,
you park your car, you come at the first tee,
you get your group, and you play golf. It’s it’s it’s that easy. Oh Connor, you’re in trouble, buddy. Well, it’s a typical Seth Raynor golf course with a lot of the features
that you see at most Seth Raynor golf courses. So there are, risk and reward options
all over the place out there. The way that the course was designed,
there are specific holes that need to be played, certain ways and approaches
that need to be made in certain ways. So if you get to know it,
you’ll play well. So you come to a Seth Raynor course. You expect to see a couple of template
holes. The original original template
holes are in Scotland. They’re across the Atlantic from here. But the originals in the United States
are like within a mile of here. Basically,
this just like it’s so beautiful and natural and, like,
thought provoking, like every shot is. It’s like you just feel your synapses
firing as you’re thinking about what you’re trying to play. That’s a good swing right there. This is a true par 70, but wow, what happens like the front nine
plays probably two shots. I think it plays 2 to 3 shots
harder than the back. Straight through here
like a half mile from here is Shinnecock. As a child growing up on Long Island. I like never fathomed
that I would ever make it here in my life. I just thought that that was like a bridge
too far for me. So to be here, like, you know,
you learn something about about yourself and, Yeah, it’s it’s it’s
sort of emotional being here, honestly. That’s that’s how it feels. Unlike Bethpage, where there is tee time after tee time,
it is a machine and it never stops. It is booked seven days a week. This is another level. It’s right now it’s 3 p.m. there hasn’t been a divot on the course
because no one has played it. And it’s not that no one has been here today, it’s
because no one has been here, period. There is one member. It is the owner. And this is your sneak peek
at this private property, Three Ponds
Farm on the east end of Long Island. It is unlike anything I’ve seen before,
and I’m not talking about on Long Island. I’m not talking about the Hamptons. It is unlike anything
I’ve seen in golf, period. The beauty of this is was Three Ponds
Farm is across the street from Atlantic. I would play golf with Ed Gordon,
who bought this property. He asked me if I could build a few holes because he was going to build a house
here. And then I came up with the routing
for nine holes. Then, Ed, actually, you know, let’s have
two flags and play 18 holes. So then we expanded the greens,
made them bigger so that we could do that. Ryan worked at Bethpage. He also worked at Sebonack. Yeah, it’s definitely different. Yeah, Bethpage it’s
just it’s kind of complete opposites. 50,000 rounds a year to maybe 100. It’s not a one through 18 routing. We have fairways that zigzag. We have greens
that are shared by four different holes. It is a wild property. As far as the routing of the holes,
Ivan is very much involved with that. As far as which holes we picked
because there are a combination of more than 18 holes here. Now, as we’ve added holes, we’ve added
more interest, more intrigue, more, more thought provoking features. So we’ve got a blind par four,
a little short blind par four. We’ve got that green that plays
the par three and a tough drive par four. Since this is a private golf course,
we kind of do a lot of features that you wouldn’t have
on a normal golf course, like having a barn
in the middle of a hole. Then we have this, the 13th hole
and the third green. That is probably one of the harder holes
on the golf course. And then the 18th hole, a really tough
finishing hole. Everybody comes here. They’ve pretty much been around the world
playing golf everywhere. They love golf. They come here and it’s special. It’s Disneyland of golf. Golf on Long Island is second to none. There are some of the greatest golf
courses we have ever seen built here. You know my favorite view
is, is coming up 18 at Atlantic, and I think it’s just,
it’s just a great view. It’s a par five. I had heard one of the local papers
had a little article about a new golf course
being built in Bridgehampton somewhere, I believe it was the first golf course
built in almost a half a century. I had some time to kill, so I decided to drive over to Bridgehampton
and see if I could find this golf course. And coming out of one of those service
roads in the on the property was Lowell Schulman. You know it was a random event. I happened to run into the guy
that developed it. He had such passion
about the place, about golf. You could see it, you could feel it. And I was immediately,
you know, enticed to, to be a part of it. Well, the Atlantic
Golf Club really changed my life. Lowell Schulman and I became very close. He took a big risk. It was all his money behind this course. And, we stood right behind him
and achieved the goal for him and achieved the goal for us. I think what The Atlantic is,
if you, read the history of the club, is it’s a golf course where you can play the aerial game or the ground game,
so you don’t play one or the other. You can play both. But the East End is the golf is amazing. Golf courses are amazing. But really you have to set yourself apart. And we try to set ourselves apart
with service. And also with what Tony does
with the golf course. I think what makes Atlantic special is, it’s a very welcoming club. We like to have really good conditions
on a daily basis. And I think, as far as an East End golf course,
it has a really rough feel. East End feel. We have a lot of New York City people. So it’s like we know our seasons short. So we’re here for
we call it 90 days, 100 days. And everyone’s always so excited
to be here. Right? In my mind I feel like it
encompasses just pure Hamptons, Berkeley Cup. What we do is we get nine of the local
East End clubs. They have their top eight golfers
in their caddie yards. And we just you know, we celebrate
the services that caddie programs provide. Caddies are very unique. I found a hidden gem here at Atlantic. You know, the membership and Rick
has taught the staff to treat guests here. That’s huge, that’s just something
that you can’t you have to build that. It has to be planted
and seeded and grown and matured. And you feel that when you come here. Fittingly, we are here at the wonderful, glorious Sebonack Golf Club, and I think we’ve stopped at probably the coolest looking of all of the golf
courses out here. What is special about Sebonack? I think the piece of land
that we have here, and the ability to see just endless pieces
of the North Fork and Connecticut and the view of the bay, on top of that,
there’s an incredible amount of history that started from the Bayberry mansion
that was actually between these two trees. Here they have pieces of the mansion
that are all throughout the property, even on the driving range. They’ve taken the tiles
that used to be the roof of the mansion, and they’ve made them into, like,
the bluestone that leads down into the driving range. So it’s also kind of unique in the fact
that the club was built in 2006. And so we’re definitely
the new kids on the block by a lot. And I think that also adds
to the awesomeness of being here and the type of people
that it attracts, as well. We are currently at Rockaway Hunt Club. This is the Long Island Open
and it is a three day medal event. We love the LI Open
because you get a taste of everything. You get the juniors,
get the college kids, the mid-ams, and then obviously sprinkle in all the
the local pros. I think what makes Rockaway
so special is the history and the, collegial sportsmanship
that goes on here. Everybody participates in everything. And this club has been around since 1878. It’s coming up and it’s
150th anniversary. It’s one of the oldest clubs
in the United States. It’s a true Seaside Links golf course. We got out and in. Then most of the,
fescue around the course. Very little trees, 13 holes
touch the water. First time I was ever here. It’s
absolutely beautiful. You can see that the wind blows here
pretty good. You know, it’s an interesting course,
a little bit of a links style, but, yeah, we like it here. This is the seventh hole
crossing over this canal. It’s as good
a golf hole as there is on Long Island, which makes it as good
a golf hole as anywhere in the country. I would say it’s
kind of that hidden gem, right. So as you kind of hear from it,
word of mouth. And once people get here,
they’re like, wow, I can’t believe I haven’t been here
before. Whereas the likes heard of National like,
all right, I’m going to play National or Shinnecock. Yeah, everybody knows that. But very few people know about Rockaway. There aren’t a lot of clubs like this one
in this area. You know,
I think of our peers are probably, you know, more North Shore based or out
on the end of the island clubs that have been around a long time. And so we’re just absolutely thrilled to be able to host
this tournament, playing the tournament’s. I’ve gotten to meet so many people,
and that’s the most special thing. But also the mix of courses. Right? You right now, we’re on this like marshy, linksy kind of course, it’s never ending. The type of golf you can play. Here vs parkland vs links. I mean, some of the best designers
have designed courses here. I would rate Inwood as fun and as good and as interesting
to play on a regular basis as any of them. Top ten, top hundred, top 50. What I would even rate above that,
though, is the membership of this club. We’re ridiculous
and not ridiculous at the same time. It’s the best kind of membership
you can have the people make Inwood. You know,
we have a great history, great tradition. But, at the same time,
all the new members that come in, all the members that have been here
forever, the people here are fantastic. Most of our members
are from Manhattan and Brooklyn. So we have a ton of culture and, and,
and a great community. People aren’t here because they live close
by and it’s convenient. They’re here because,
they love the golf course. And, that’s, really
what what binds us together. One of the cool parts about Inwood
is we have this tremendous history that’s been built up over, now
going into our 125th year. And a lot of that is based on the golf
history of the club. This is the 11th tee box. All right. And back in 1921
when we had the PGA Championship here. So Walter Hagen used to hit it down 18
and come across. They were trying to block his shortcut. And a group of pros
paid to have a willow tree transplanted from the 16th hole
to this spot right here. So they actually moved the willow tree
on property to this spot. This is the Bobby Jones plaque. He won the 1923 U.S. open here. This is the 18th hole. That’s the green over there. He hit a shot with his two iron from here
to six feet to force a playoff
with, Bobby Cruickshank. For the most part, you play golf,
and you still hang out with the same people at the beach club,
which, you know, is great because everybody
is together all the time. And the community here is fantastic. All right. Every story has a beginning,
and this one is mine. We’re here at the Rockville Links Club
in Rockville Center, Long Island. This is a real egalitarian club. It’s a town club. It’s a place where people from the area come and get together to be around
friends, to be around family. And truly, it’s unlike any golf club
I’ve ever been around. In the sense that it is a community
much more than it is a golf club. I know this because I worked here. I was a caddie here
for four glorious years in college. I was a caddie scholarship recipient,
and now I’m back here reprising my role as a caddie for,
some of the best members here. They’re already yelling at me,
so I got to go. Place has just had a renaissance. So not only do a waiting list
for membership, but we also have predominantly younger membership
than we used to have. And a lot of Rockville Center families. So but we’re really in a good spot. So and like my family. My wife plays,
my daughter is a member here. My son’s a member here.
My son’s two time club champ here. You know it’s like they’ve been here for
you know. They love this place. Obviously it’s a dream for everybody. You know, you’re retired. You come out here on a Wednesday
afternoon, you get an 18 hole
round in with your buddies. But that’s not the case
for everyone here at the links. And in fact, the vast majority of the club
here are people who are still working. They’re out grinding whether their jobs
are on the island or in New York City. But they come back here to play golf
and to hang out and to have that community space. And in fact, that’s
why we’re here on Wednesday. There is a Wednesday night league
that is comprised of the vast majority of the members here
who are professionals. And I don’t mean that in terms of golf. I mean not in terms of careers and life. It’s a summer long tradition that culminates in a big playoff run in the fall. everybody out here on a Wednesday night,
back into the grill, have some dinner, you know, fraternize
with the with the friends. And that’s really the big element. out here at the links. The membership is looking out. The people are looking out for one
another. They’re trying to help one another. And I think that that is, is really like,
fitting for, for this environment. All right, folks, stay tuned with us for our next episode
in the Long Island Golf Series. We’re going to Bethpage.

From the East End to the Gold Coast, private golf clubs on Long Island are renowned for their unique designs, high-powered memberships, and beautiful natural settings. GOLF.com’s own Long Islanders, James Colgan and Tim Reilly, explore the special stories from some of the most community-focused members clubs here on Long Island. We visit Southampton, Atlantic, The K Club at Three Ponds Farm, Sebonack, Rockaway Hunting Club, Inwood, and Rockville Links Club throughout our journey.

As the Ryder Cup approaches, the eyes of the golf world again turn to where the game first found its footing in America, Long Island. Stay tuned for our final episode of our series all about Bethpage Black. And make sure to watch our first video, highlighting public courses like Montauk Downs and Bethpage Red throughout the island.

0:00 Starting Out East
1:16 Southampton’s “Locals’ Course”
4:05: One Man’s Backyard Track
6:14 Meeting the Atlantic Family
8:54 “The New Kid” at Sebonack
9:59 The LI Open at Rockaway Hunt
12:04 Championship History at Inwood
14:02 Looping at Rockville Links

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