St. George's (Long Island) - Emmet + Hanse Restoration = awesome! *WITH PIX*

[Jay Flemma]

This is EXACTLY what fans of classic golf course architecture love - an asymmetrical routing, where the holes play into the teeth of terrific terrain (they don't avoid it or bulldoze it!), great old school greens and bunkering, and a membership that strove to preserve what they had...and what they had was a terrific Emmet.  It's not just a hidden gem, it's a Silmaril, a bright beacon to show us that the way back to great strategic principles and shaping/construction should be the way forward.

Out and back routing goes:

4-5-4-4-4-5-3-4-3-4-3-4-4-4-4-3-4-3-5 = 36-34-70  6,240 yards - feels like 6,500.

I'll write more when I have time, but check these pix out:

3 Tee





3 from the green - Modern penal architects would have bulldozed this, but look how beautiful it is!





4 tee - again a blind drive




4 approach





10 approach - semi-blind to green well below the fwy!






12 on the left, 13 on the right - wonderful 450 yard downhill par 4






False front on 16. driveable at 318, but bunkers on left and right and severe contours make it murder!







False front on par-3 17th - 122 yards.  Like 16 at St. G's in England - get over the top of the false fornt or you;re in the bunker.  Simply amazing!





Side view of green's steep fall off.  So glad they resist the temptation to make it more "fair."  Modern penal architects should take note.  Gil Hanse has his act together preserving this type of thing and s do the members.





Check it out...Dev Emmet and his brothers won the first few club championships here.  Apparently, it was Dev's home course.





Paging Mark Chalfant!  Paging Mark Chalfant!  Please pick up the white courtesy phone ringing in the Polo Lounge!

It was exhilarating golf.

[Jay Flemma]

oops...the pic of 4 tee will come through in a sec.  Please also check the re-post of the club champions board with Emmet's name, it didn't get posted the first time.  So cool!

[Joe Bausch]

SGG&CC is a very nice place Jay.

Coincidentally, just this past weekend I gathered up all my photos, and some from a friend, from my visit there last October and built my traditional photo album.  Please note I started my round on the 3rd hole later in the day, so the first two holes in the album are rather dark as I was running out of light.  But many pics in my album as quite good, IMHO.  Go here to view them any or all of them:

http://xchem.villanova.edu/~bausch/images/albums/stgeorges/

[Patrick_Mucci]

Jay,

I'm a huge fan of St Georges.

If you like "quirk" you gotta love St Georges.

The 4th hole green complex is one of my all time favorites.

It's a course that's fun to play, day in and day out.

[Jay Flemma]

Pat, I wonder if labeling it "quirky" does it a disservice - it has a great deal of integrity.  Why is a false front "quirky?"  Why is a false front not a solid architectural design element?  An arrow in the quiver of an architect who can use it to defend a course with out machismo-like length and ubiquitous water?  16 at Inniscrone or 11 at Union Vale I'd call quirky.  Does "quirky" mean something vastly different than the norm?  or does quirky mean when you take a severe feature and make it REALLY severe?  What does quirky really mean? And how can we just chalk it up to "we know it when we see it" if everyone has a different definition?

Here's a dictionary definition:

World English Dictionary
quirk  (kwɜːk) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
— n
1.    an individual peculiarity of character; mannerism or foible
2.    an unexpected twist or turn: a quirk of fate
3.    a continuous groove in an architectural moulding
4.    a flourish, as in handwriting

Another is "something not normal or out of the ordinary, but cool" (urban dictionary)

Is St. George's quirky because we just don't see many courses like it any more?  Isn't one of the purposes of GCA.com to promote courses and tenets like what we see at St. G's though?

I'll be honest, the word crossed my mind yesterday while I was playing - but to me it was more the amount of cool things i saw, and the severity of the terrain and how the holes played into and embraced that severity to create a short, but tough course that was fun to play.

Other than the number of false fronts and the severity of the terrain, what's vastly different at St G's than what we'd find at Garden City?  Is Garden City quirky?  I say no.  Is St. G's quirky?  Maybe, but I think there's too much solid architecture there to sum it up as quirky and move on to the next course discussed on the BB.

Joe, the photos are great, but man you take a lot! 

[Joe Bausch]

Joe, the photos are great, but man you take a lot! 

And I've noticed you write a lot. 

[Jay Flemma]

Yes, but that's my JOB!

[Jay Flemma]

BTW - the pix are excellent!

[Patrick_Mucci]

Jay,

I don't consider "quirk" to be a negative term.

I think the extension of "quirk" might be "goofy". but, "quirk' is a positive in my mind.

I think of "quirk" as a form of architectural caricature, where features may be more pronounced, more accentuated.

I think St Georges has that feel.

How about the pipeline fairway ?

The 4th green complex and many, many more really neat features.

I could play that course every day and never tire of it and that's one of my tests for great golf.

[Keith OHalloran]

Jay,
I am glad that you posted some photos here, I happen to love St. George's. The tree removal over the last few years has had amazing results. I think that you can see about 6 holes from the clubhouse due to the removal. The mowing patterns were also tweaked and I love that the 2nd fairway is mowed right into the 18th, it adds a lot of character to the course.
How were the greens when you were there?
All in all, St George's is one of my favorite all time courses (but I dont have the same portfolio of many).

[Jay Flemma]

That's an interesting analysis and maybe a one good working definition...among other thoughts that others might have here as well.  Maybe the overall effect of 18 holes of severe features done to a caricature level could give an overall impression of quirky too?   But still, I'm glad you agree that there is so much solid architecture there.  What a joy that Gil restored it so faithfully. It says more in 6240 than AAC or Congo say in 7400.

Where's Eric Smith?  I get a LOTR reference in there, and he's nowhere to be found  Remember Bilbo and Frodo's birthday is coming up:)

Keith, the greens were a drop slower than I expected, but I had no problem with that since I was able to charge my putts.  I hear they'll be faster soon.  They rolled smoothly.

[Jay Flemma]

I also have some more pix on my website, and I'll be doing an article soon.  Paging mark Chalfant!  You are due in the on-deck crcle!

[mark chalfant]

The variety of terrain, shot requirements, and green complexes are all exemplary, at times breathtaking here in Setauket. As Patrick noted the course is so fun, on long summer days, even after 36 holes, you feel complelled to go around again. Remarkable character in most green complexes. However like its  magnificent neighbor done by Emmet in 1910, Huntington CC, a valuable textbook/paradigm in vintage bunkering. For serious students of artistic golf design and tactical bunkering Newport, Lawsonia are must plays.  But for budding architects  St. Georges and Huntington should also be definitely "required reading"

As usual Gil Hanse came up with a great masterplan for St. Georges.  Glen Creutz and Miles M. (RIP) remarkable work at Huntington is also inspiring