cover story cover THE NIFTY FIFTY

Our ranking of the Met Area’s top 50 courses reveals outstanding quality, depth and a wealth of championship venues BY BILL QUIRIN PHOTOGRAPHY BY L.C. LAMBRECHT

en years ago, the MGA asked a panel of local club pros, top amateur players, journalists and course architects to submit their votes for the best golf courses in the Met Area. In the inter- vening years, a number of notable new No. Tcourses have been built, public and private, through- out the region. 2Shinnecock Hills 26 THE MET GOLFER • APRIL/MAY 2007 WWW.MGAGOLF.ORG WWW.MGAGOLF.ORG THE MET GOLFER • APRIL/MAY 2007 27 No. No.

Friar’s Head 14 6 Quaker Ridge

Top Courses by Region Long Island 1 Shinnecock Hills This wave of construction elicited many 2. Bethpage (Black) 3. National GL of America questions as we set out to compile an updated Met Area course ranking. Among the burning Westchester questions were the following: 1. Winged Foot (West) 2. Quaker Ridge • How do courses such as Friar’s Head, 3. Winged Foot (East) Hamilton Farm, Laurel Links, Manhattan Woods, The Bridge and the New Jersey two Trump National courses compare 1. Baltusrol (Lower) with the likes of Shinnecock Hills, 2. Plainfield Winged Foot, Quaker Ridge, and 3. Ridgewood Baltusrol Lower, the top four on the Connecticut 1997 survey? 1. Country Club of Fairfield • How would the “class of 2006” – 2. Stanwich 3. Brooklawn Bayonne, Liberty National and Sebonack – measure up?

28 THE MET GOLFER • APRIL/MAY 2007 WWW.MGAGOLF.ORG WWW.MGAGOLF.ORG THE MET GOLFER • APRIL/MAY 2007 29 grand fortress of magnificent classic golf courses that characterizes the Met Area been able to withstand the challenge? To get some answers, a group of 46 pan- elists was assembled and asked to rank the courses with which they were familiar, plac- ing them into one of four categories, and in particular, to rank their top ten courses in order. Here’s how it worked: The panelists assigned a “1” if they felt the course belonged in the top 10, a “2” if it should be in the 11-25 range, a “3” for the 26-50 bracket, and

No.

Country Club of Fairfield 10 Best-Kept Secret ome Met Area courses, like those at • How do Ballyowen, Centennial, Long Bethpage, are open to anyone who can Island National, and Hudson Hills fare Spay a green fee (and snag a tee time). against Bethpage Black, king of public Others are less accessible, and therefore virtually unknown to the masses. That’s why courses ten years ago? we asked our panelists to name the course • Have Atlantic, Hudson National, they feel is the Met Area’s “best-kept secret.” In Metedeconk National and the Golf Club general, these courses don’t host big tournaments or otherwise seek publicity. So if of Purchase, who made it onto the 1997 you ever get the invitation to play one, accept list as relatively new courses, matured it on the spot. into contenders for the top spots in the 1. Fishers Island rankings? 2. Country Club of Fairfield No. Furthermore, we wondered if impressive 3. Tuxedo 4. Blind Brook renovations at clubs such as Essex County and 5. Bedford Golf & Tennis Seawane changed some opinions. Or has the 11 Plainfield

30 THE MET GOLFER • APRIL/MAY 2007 WWW.MGAGOLF.ORG WWW.MGAGOLF.ORG THE MET GOLFER • APRIL/MAY 2007 31 King Tillie here is no question age rank” that gave us our list. The panelists that, since golf first were asked to only vote for courses with Tcame to the Met which they were familiar, and were to avoid Area more than 120 years ago, every prominent golf ranking courses they had not played or seen course architect has either first-hand. worked here or wanted to The results, revealed in our gatefold on work here. The list of distinguished pages 38-39, show that, at least in the Met designers is long, and just about all of Area, the more things change, the more they their names appear on the top 50 course remain the same. Of the top fifteen courses ranking. Once again, A.W. Tillinghast has of 1997, fourteen remain in that category, the most courses to his credit. Here is the breakdown of architects and the number though in a somewhat different alignment. of their courses that appear in the top 50: Winged Foot (West) and Shinnecock Hills are 1. A.W. Tillinghast (17) again the top two courses – in reverse order. 2. Seth Raynor (6) Winged Foot’s rise to the top, by the slight- 3. C.B. Macdonald (4) est of margins, can be attributed to the uni- T4. Charles Banks (3) versal acclaim the course received as host to Donald Ross (3) the 2006 U.S. Open, when players and spec- Walter Travis (3) tators alike were treated to a glimpse of the Winged Foot Tillinghast envisioned, the a “4” if they felt it did not belong in the top course that hosted the 1929 U.S. Open. This 50 ranking at all. These numbers were then is due largely to bunker restoration, green assigned values and computed into an “aver- enlargement and a tree removal program

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32 THE MET GOLFER • APRIL/MAY 2007 WWW.MGAGOLF.ORG No. 33 Hamilton Farm

which were overseen by architect profound impact, suggesting an Tom Fazio. More than a thousand emerging preference among Met trees came down, especially ones that Area golfers for courses in the style of encroached on fairways and greens the ancient seaside links of Scotland and blocked sight lines. These did not and Ireland. Surprising, then, was the diminish the course’s challenge, as absence of Bayonne from our list. the course is still well-populated by Only a handful of panelists had seen mature, majestic trees. Just ask Phil Eric Bergstol’s creation on the shores Mickelson. of New York Harbor, so we’ll have to Bethpage Black, basking in the wait until next time to learn its ulti- continued glow from the 2002 U.S. mate destination in our rankings. Open and awaiting the champi- Another new course which made onship’s return in 2009, made the a splashy debut on the rankings is strongest move at the top of the list, Trump National-Bedminster, a Tom moving up from fifth to a close third. Fazio design that rolls and tumbles These three were tightly bunched sta- across the New Jersey horse country. tistically, and well ahead of their near- est pursuers. Such was Bethpage’s Going Public superiority in the public realm that he rankings reveal a relative not one panelist who had played the scarcity of public-access course voted for anything else in the Tcourses, with only the Black Best Public Course category. and Red courses at Bethpage State Moving into the top ten this time Park earning enough votes to make it into the top 50. However, that doesn’t were two coastal courses – Fishers mean the Met Area is lacking in high- Island and Country Club of Fairfield quality public venues. Here are the – built by Seth Raynor. Best liked of public courses that earned some high the new courses was Friar’s Head, a marks from our panel, but did not dunes-laden Coore/Crenshaw gem receive enough support to push them that overlooks Long Island Sound into the half-century club: near Riverhead, N.Y., which came in 1. Ballyowen 5. Long Island Nat’l at number 14. Overall, there were 2. Hominy Hill 6. Montauk Downs seven courses among the first seven- 3. Grossinger’s 7. Spook Rock 4. Royce Brook 8. Centennial teen where a coastal location has a

WWW.MGAGOLF.ORG THE MET GOLFER • APRIL/MAY 2007 35 National Ranking Comparison It was built on the former estate of John DeLorean, and surely will have more staying Here’s how are the top ten Met Area courses ranked in power than the car bearing his name. Other Golf Digest and Golf Magazine’s most recent listing of newcomers include Hamilton Farm and Man- the top 100 courses in the U.S. (national ranking in parentheses): hattan Woods, two private clubs that have already established strong pedigrees. Golf Digest Golf Magazine As for the architects, A.W. Tillinghast lost Shinnecock Hills (3) Shinnecock Hills (4) just a touch of the stranglehold he had at the Winged Foot West (8) National Golf Links (11) top of the rankings in 1997, when his designs National Golf Links (9) Winged Foot West (16) claimed positions two through six. This year, Fishers Island (16) Fishers Island (17) “only” five of the first nine are Tillinghast courses, as Garden City Golf and The Nation- Bethpage Black (29) Bethpage Black (19) al Golf Links of America moved up slightly. Quaker Ridge (30) Baltusrol Lower (25) But when the entire list of fifty courses is con- Winged Foot East (34) Quaker Ridge (35) sidered, Tillinghast had a challenger – the Baltusrol Lower (40) Winged Foot East (36) Macdonald/Raynor /Banks school of golf Somerset Hills (42) Maidstone (38) course design. Tillinghast is represented in the Garden City Golf (46) Garden City Golf (39) top 50 by 17 courses that he either designed

Pull open for Top 50 list.

No. 34 Metropolis

or to which he made significant contributions; these, you are doubly fortunate. Macdonald/Raynor/Banks courses account So how did our panel’s collective opinion for 11. In fact, both contributed holes to compare to those employed by such national Essex County’s challenging course, which magazines as Golf Digest and Golf Magazine? moved up eight notches to no. 28 this year. Pretty well (see sidebar, on page 36). Another interesting tidbit about the rank- Nine of the ten in each listing appear in The ings is the prevalence of clubs or facilities that Met Golfer’s top ten. The difference is the had super siblings – meaning they had two of Country Club of Fairfield, ranked by our their courses make the top 50 list. These clubs panel the second best-kept secret in the Met are Winged Foot, Bethpage, Baltusrol and Area (Fishers Island was first), and obviously Canoe Brook. If you regularly play at any of a well-kept secret nationwide. Waiting in the Wings inceGolfer the last top 50 courses ranking appeared in The Met S ten years ago, a slew of outstanding new courses have opened in the Met Area. These include three just last year – Sebonack, Liberty National and Bayonne – as well others including The Bridge (right), East Hampton, Laurel Links, Fiddler’s Elbow (Forest) and GlenArbor. While these No. courses were under consideration for the top 50 and many received high marks, they were not seen by enough Bethpage (Black) of our panelists to qualify for inclusion 3 in the list. JIM KRAJICEK

36 THE MET GOLFER • APRIL/MAY 2007 WWW.MGAGOLF.ORG WWW.MGAGOLF.ORG THE MET GOLFER • APRIL/MAY 2007 41 No. 15 Maidstone When it comes right down to it, the best- The Panel kept secrets show that a top 50 list in the Met Our Panelists represent a broad cross section of area golfers. MGA Area is almost unfair. After all, these courses Committee and staff were not part of the selection process. could, if they were in just about any other Casey Alexander, Farmingdale, N.Y. Darrell Kestner, Manhasset, N.Y. region of the country, form their own top 50 Andy Anello, Plainview, N.Y. Scott Kmiec, Piscataway, N.J. list. They are representative of a much larger Cheryl Anderson, Stamford, Conn. Ann Ligouri, Westhampton, N.Y. pool of terrific golf courses that scored very Dave Anderson, Tenafly, N.J. Kammy Maxfeldt, Wesport, Conn. well but simply fell a bit short of the top 50. Eric Bergstol, New City, N.Y. Jim McGovern, Oradell, N.J. These courses included Old Westbury, Glen Peter Bisconti, Scarsdale, N.Y. Pat Mucci, Clifton, N.J. Oaks and Westhampton on Long Island; Jay Blumenfeld, Parsippany, N.J. Greg Muirhead, Montclair, N.J. Woodway, Round Hill and Rockrimmon in Gene Borek, Hartsdale, N.Y. Mark Mulvoy, Rye, N.Y. Connecticut; Sunningdale and Siwanoy in John Carlone, Jericho, N.Y. Tom Nieporte, Bayville, N.Y. Westchester; Crestmont, Upper Montclair Ken Cohen, Jeffersonville, N.Y. Scott Niven, Greenwich, Conn. and Knickerbocker in New Jersey; and The Jerry Courville Jr., Milford, Conn. To m N o l a n , Ridgewood, N.J. Concord in the Hudson Valley. Transport Missy Crisp, Fishers Island, N.Y. Pat Norton, Westport, Conn. these courses away from their more famous Jon Doppelt, Great Neck, N.Y. J.P.O’Hara, Stamford, Conn. neighbors, and they immediately lead the hit Jimmy Dunne III, New York, N.Y. Nancy Paton, Rye, N.Y. parade. Peter Famiano, West Orange, N.J. Maury Povich, New York, N.Y. But there is hope for these and other Gail Flanagan, Rye, N.Y. Greg Rohlf, White Plains, N.Y. courses that did not crack this edition of the Bryant Gumbel, New York, N.Y. Joe Sommers, Stamford, Conn. top 50. Courses fall in and out of favor, and Sean Hartman, Huntington, N.Y. Chuck Stogel, White Plains, N.Y. newer courses will eventually elbow their way Bobby Heins, Purchase, N.Y. Bob Thomas, White Plains, N.Y. in. In fact, the list includes ten courses built Russ Helwig, Essex Fells, N.J. Donald Trump, New York, N.Y. after World War II, eight of which were cre- Bob Housen, Brielle, N.J. Ed Whitman, Blairstown, N.J. Rees Jones, Montclair, N.J. Tom Yellin, New York, N.Y. ated in the last twenty years. Maybe things are Stephen Kay, Egg Harbor, N.J. Greg Zorilla, Eastchester, N.Y. changing, at least a little. Check in again in another ten years. ■ LEONARD KAMSLER

42 THE MET GOLFER • APRIL/MAY 2007 WWW.MGAGOLF.ORG