CORNWALL, N.Y. – Few sights are quite as powerful as a golfer on a mission.
Almost none of us will ever play the game at a high enough level to make others care about what we shoot. But world-class putting and 300-yard drives aren’t required for a golfer to make an impact. Passion for the game and the vision to reinvigorate a tired old nine-hole course into a force for good through golf can be more than enough.
That is the aim of David Gang, whose Storm King Golf Club is poised to become not just an engaging and innovative new course, but a safe, fun new space where the game he and so many others love can be truly inclusive.
Storm King Golf Club is 130 years old and brand-new
Located 65 miles north of New York City and 15 minutes south of the city of Newburgh, Storm King Golf Club has existed in one form or another for 130 years. Its striking crown-and-lightning-bolt logo proudly cites 1894 as its founding year. Recent years have seen its original nine-hole routing transformed from a tired, neglected relic into a visually stunning choose-your-own-adventure playscape with ball and clubs.
Storm King’s physical envelope has not changed, but the number of possible holes to play has mushroomed to more than 50 thanks to a more free-form approach to its design.
Storm King has no defined holes as such. Instead, a network of rollicking fairways connects multi-sectioned greens that perch above deep, flat-bottomed bunkers. A pond at the center of the property spells potential greenside danger on several holes. Deciding which club to hit off a tee requires first deciding which green to play to. A handful of semi-formal nine-hole routings have emerged, as has a 19-hole par-3 loop that zigzags the land and approaches greens multiple times.
As golfers chart their own treks down from the first tee and back up again, Storm King’s tract tumbles 200 feet from top to bottom, crosses a road and tackles streams, ponds, stone walls and long native grasses. It has everything you could want from a northeastern inland golf course. Long-range views across the property often make it feel several times larger than just 63 acres. More intimate parts of the routing embrace golfers and bring a cozy feeling.
The severity and shape of the Storm King property may be a double-edged sword for some golfers. Even on longer holes – there are more than 50 different variations that have been charted across the property – it can be tricky to smash driver at times, though recent tweaks have mellowed out some landing areas. My main takeaway is that it might be the most fun place to practice irons and wedge shots that I have ever visited. The boldness and variety of the greens, the rise and fall of the terrain and the play-your-own-way ethos make it a ball-striker’s paradise.
Unconventional courses like Storm King invite experimentation. Another free-form golf course that’s gotten a lot of attention over the years is the Horse Course at The Prairie Club in Nebraska. It’s a 10-hole, par-3 course by Gil Hanse and Geoff Shackelford, though, nothing to the scale of Storm King.
Any type of shot from 10 to 220 yards at Storm King is waiting to be attempted. The green at the farthest and lowest-lying end of the property features three distinct, squared-off sections. I couldn’t resist hitting a few 80-yard end-to-end putts across its pristine bentgrass surface. With the course to myself for a couple of hours late one afternoon in June, I had the time of my life trying all manner of unusual approaches, pitches and chips, too.
Playing golf at Storm King is an immersion in the peace and solitude of golf, as well as a look at what the future could look like. A fleet of 18 unmanned, GPS-guided Husqvarna mowers quietly tends the course’s greens, fairways and roughs. In the air, drone copters buzz above the turf to spray chemicals and nutrients. Storm King is one of the first golf facilities to go all-in on such an approach to maintenance.
One of several autonomous mowers cheerfully clips grass at Storm King Golf Club. Tim Gavrich/GolfPass
The mowers are surprisingly quiet and there’s a cheerfulness to the hum of their electric motors when they wander nearby. Even “Big Cat,” a robust fairway mower, purrs demurely. Watching them fan out from their charging station in the middle of the property and go to work is a hoot, bridging past and present while adding novelty to one of America’s most charming golf experiences.
The precise business model for Storm King is evolving, but the overall aim is for members to receive a number of days of exclusive access to the course per year. Some may choose to bring several foursomes of clients to enjoy one of the semi-set routings; others might invite a more intimate group to wander the property, hitting golf shots and laughing for hours before repairing to the hilltop clubhouse, which is currently undergoing renovations.
But beyond member access, it’s what happens several other days each month that will set Storm King apart as a standard-bearer for golf’s better nature.
Why Storm King Golf Club is about more than golf
Storm King Golf Club owner David Gang has a deep passion for golf and a bold vision for his course. Tim Gavrich/GolfPass
David Gang, a computer engineer-turned-software executive who founded Brightspot, a company that supplies content management systems to numerous websites and media organizations (including, in the interest of full disclosure, this one), is the lord of Storm King. He is obsessed with golf: he seemingly eats, sleeps and breathes the game. He has cultivated friendships across the sport, including with major champions, but his favorite golf buddy is his son, Matthew, who was born with Down Syndrome.
In big, important ways, Storm King is for Matthew. Beyond a place for private groups to simply enjoy a day of golf, Storm King is dedicated to raising awareness and funds for noble causes as well as providing golf access to people associated with those causes. Adaptive golf – a growing movement that facilitates increased access and playing opportunities for people with physical and intellectual differences – is dear to Gang’s heart. So are organizations that rally around wounded military veterans and first responders. He has centralized support for these and other charitable causes into a non-profit called the Hudson Valley Golf Foundation.
Revenue generated by club memberships will help underwrite golf opportunities for Foundation-sponsored groups throughout each golf season. The first formal events on the books for the newest chapter in Storm King’s history include a competition between West Point alums and the current Army golf team in August and a fun match-play event between a team of veterans and a team of golfers with intellectual disabilities in September. “Inclusivity” is a popular buzzword in golf these days; Gang is acting on it with Storm King Golf Club as the vehicle.
Try as golf developers might to bootstrap some personality onto courses that have barely taken root, most of those efforts tend to feel forced or inauthentic. But Storm King Golf Club already exhibits a considerable sense of soul. This is thanks in part to the fact that golf has been played on site for more than a century, on top of Gang’s clear-eyed, uncompromising vision to turn a unique piece of golf design into a force for good.
An important ritual during and after David and Matthew Gang’s rounds of golf: ice cream, which will always be close at hand for those teeing it up at Storm King Golf Club. Call it a little treat on top of a big one.
