[mark chalfant]

Hows the vaiety and character of the par 3s and par4s, here
Is there an equal balance of  Tiilly and Emmet holes. how are the greens/surronds.....some nice internal contour on putting surfaces ?

[TEPaul]

mark:

You're a lucky man. A Mr Chippendale Oat IV can tell you all you'd ever need to know, and perhaps more, about Rockaway Hunting Club. He may not be on here for a month but when he is and sees the title of this thread he will be all over it like ticks in a hot August hayfield.

[ChipOat]

Mark:

Tom Paul is correct - I know it well although the actual breakdown of holes-by-architect is in my RHC history book and not my head.

Many on GCA have played Rockaway.  Excellent green complexes; fine routing;  2 or 3 wonderful golf holes; only 1 "weak" hole IMO (#10); #'s 17 & 18 controversial regarding work that was done to accomopdate a bigger practice range.

Rather short at 6500 yards (stretched) but not an easy medal play course; very frustrating to local pro's during USGA and Met PGA qualifiers as even par is usually the low round and all the 73-75 shooters think they've had an awful day (except they qualified, too).

On a warm and windy day, the Rockaway experience isn't so far below being on Long Island's South Fork as one might assume.

A truly charming place with a course that is much appreciated by those who've played it.

I could play it every day.

[M. Shea Sweeney]

-one of my favorite courses on Long Island. a very underated course on LI. I think its mainly because its not very difficult, in my opinion.  fun greens, some great holes by the water make for a good time.  

[ChipOat]

M. Shea:

Unlike Shinnecock, RHC isn't difficult for the good player to avoid a high score (which is why people think it's "easy"), but it is WAY more difficult than rated to shoot a low score.

I dare say that, while not the architectural equal of National, Rockaway yields less under-par rounds - and only partly because of the 73/70 comparison between the two courses.

[wsmorrison]

I was looking forward to your contribution to this thread, Chip.  Thanks.  If anyone has photos of Rockaway Hunt and wouldn't mind sharing them, please post.  I'd be happy to post them if the individual would email them to me should they not be able to post.  As good as you describe the course, Chip, a picture is worth a thousand words  

[Thomas_Brown]

I've only played it once.
Some of the holes are very impressive.
The setting certainly is special.

felt like some of the holes were seaside, while others meadow.

I didn't score well on the course either.
But, it didn't feel easy to me.
The greens are easy - to 3 putt.

At the very least, the locker room has to be one of the top 100 in golf.

[M. Shea Sweeney]

chipoat-

What I ment to say was that the hunt club has a "reputation" of not being very difficult. Everytime i come back from playing there I always say how much i love it, people always say "yea its a good course, but its not that hard" or something along the lines. Yes maybe its not that difficult, but when you get the wind goin and get those greens slick, its no piece of cake. Either way its still a great course, gotta love the location.

[ChipOat]

M. Shea:

I agree with all of that.

Wayne:

No pix - sorry.  Will lend you my club history next time you're in NYC.

Very few pictures exist prior to about 1992, I'm afraid although not much would look different except for the lack of houses.

[Jason Blasberg]

RHC is a must play if you're in the area, it has a stretch of holes, 7-9 that rivals most anything on LI and if you enjoy seaside links golf it's sure to excite.  

There's an angle of play off the 9th tee with a forced carry and water all down the right side that is very difficult to figure out.  I've played it about 6 times and think I've only hit the fairway once.  

The greens are excellent with difficult contours given the flat topography of the course.  

Chip:

I drove past the other day and they've taken out the trees between the left side of 11 and 12 tee.  They've also redone the greenside bunkering on 11 and from I was able to see form the road it looks like there's a new bunker on the inside of the dogleg on 6.

Do you know about the extent of the work that's currently being done?

It'll be interesting to see.

Jason  

[ChipOat]

I'm glad the bunker is going in on #6 in time for this season; I hope it will drain well as that part of the course is prone to ground water; I suspect it will look more modern than "period" but even ANGC is a work-in-progress with their amendments.

I had seen the begionnings of the rest that you described; there is supposed to be bunkering and mounds where the trees used to be on #'s 11/12.

The real important part of the changes there will be the (I hope) improved drainage.

[Jason Blasberg]

Chip:

The bunker on 6 looks very shallow, not suprising given that 6 and 15 are literally under water in wet times but it was a bit difficult to discern the bunker from the road (since I would never dream of trespassing in Winter )

The mounding is already there between 11 and 12 but from the angle I had it's impossible to tell how it looks in the field of play.  The mounding is understated and ostensibly symetrical.  It also looks like the bumps in front of 11 green have been removed.   11 is a penal green if above the pin so anything that's done to improve the quality of the tee shot will enhance an already challenging hole because if the pin is in the front there I've never been comfortable even with a wedge approach.  


Jason

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