While only 6218 yards from the back tees, St. George’s Golf and Country Club
(East Setauket, NY) plays much longer than one would expect due to the rolling topography, especially when the wind blows. It also features a number of subtle humps and slopes in and around the putting surfaces to test even the best of short game players. The course’s only glaring weakness, to my eye, are the tight corridors and back and forth routing of holes 12-15.
Recent efforts to remove thousands of trees, eliminate cart paths, restore native grasses, recapture green surfaces, and refine mowing patterns by Superintendant extraordinaire Adam Jessie (with a master plan from Gil Hanse) have brought St. George’s to a level far above and beyond its tongue-in-cheek nickname, “Royal Bushwood.”
This is a hidden gem. Play it if you can.
Some images:
1st tee (par 4, 374yards)
1st approach
2nd tee (par 5, 574 yards)
2nd landing zone
3rd fairway (par 4, 408 yards)
3rd looking back
4 approach (par 4, 360 yards)
4 mounds (a very deep trench bunker sits between the mounds and green)
4 from behind right
5th (par 4, 356 yards)
5th from behind and right of green. Note tree stumps left to stabilize mammoth slopes.
6th green from left side (par 5, 465 yards)
7th left side view (par 3,181 yards)
8th landing zone (par 4, 382 yards, green is in shadow)
9 (par 3, 147 yards)
10th green hard against Sheep Pasture Road (par 4, 380 yards)
11th (par 3, 194 yards)
12th looking back (par 4, 420 yards). More trees are pegged for removal in this section of the property, which remains a bit constricted at present.
13th approach (par 4, 450 yards… into the wind on this day)
13th looking back at the amazing fairway contours.
14th (par 4, 388 yards)
15th (par 3,164 yards)
16th approach (par 4, 318 yards)
17th (par 3, 122 yards)
18th (par 5, 535 yards)
18th fairway bunkers
Golf is great here.