The Little Club & Big Club on Fishers Island: two photo albums (links fixed)

[Joe Bausch]

Better known as Hay Harbor Club, this is a nifty 9-holer that I had the pleasure of playing on a beautiful fall morning recently.  It is the off-season there now and we had the course to ourselves.  HH is a par 34 course with 7 par 4's and 2 one-shotters.  The views are tremendous.

A handful of pics (all pics are clickable to a larger size) with some brief commentary:

1.  Approach to this par 4 green:



2.  Some believe this uphill par 4 is the hardest hole on the island (I'll disagree since after one play I made a par; grin):









3.  A drop-shot par 3 of 92 yards (view from behind the green):



4.  Sort of an alps hole, a view from behind the green:



5.  Very photogenic uphill par 4 with a skyline green:







6.  Followed by another fun downhill par 3 (150 yards):







7.  View from behind the par 4 7th green:



8.  Approach view on this par 4:



9.  View from behind the green on the finishing par 4:



All photos (and scorecard, hole diagrams, and two panoramic shots) are available here:

http://www80.homepage.villanova.edu/joseph.bausch/images/albums/HayHarbor/index.html

Please, enjoy![/url]

[Matt Frey, PGA]

Hay Harbor is a wonderful nine-hole course. The views certainly don't hurt, but it was be a fun course even without the ocean! I found there was a lot of strategy to the ideal places to hit your tee shots. The greens were pretty special too.

According to the club's history book, Charles Brooks, the club's greenskeeper and golf professional in the 1910s, was trained in remodeling golf courses and is likely responsible for the design of the course as it is played today. The course was 1891 by Scotland's George Strath.

[Paul Gray]

What a cracking looking golf course. Different continent but aspects of it remind me of downland golf here in Britain.

[Sean_A]

Joe


This is a nice looking course!  I am especially taken by the 6th.  Drop-shotters normally do little for me, but as the bunkers are well short I suspect this is a drop and run shot!  You don't often post your pix directly onto GCA.com and I appreciate your taking the time to do so on this occasion. 


Ciao

[Peter Pallotta]

Dear Joe - thanks again. You already know what i think of your photos/archives, so I'll focus on this course instead:


Man, as others have said: what I wonderful courses this seems. Like it does for Paul, it reminds me of some of the courses Sean profiles, for many reasons but mainly for this one:


It is enough of a golf course for any reasonable man to enjoy playing it alone for the rest of his days, and not feel cheated by his fate.


Also, while I have never met either of them, this seems the perfect course for a Jim Kennedy-Jeff Warne matchplay!


After many years enjoying course profiles and not bemoaning how little golf I play and in so few places, I am now growing increasingly desirous of getting some of this great golf and great settings for myself!


Thanks again --

[Peter Pallotta]

Also:


it's fascinating to think of all the rankings and ratings and magazine articles that have appeared in the many decades since this course first opened and that have shaped/driven the conventional wisdom and the consensus 'wants' of several generations, and of all the millions and billions of dollars that have been spent on courses and on private memberships during that time, and of how many hundreds and thousands of golfers over the past century have waited anxiously on years-long waiting lists for the chance to join some ultra-exclusive and (for the moment) fashionable club, and of all the hustle and bustle and self promotion and renovations and restorations and ego and pride....and to think that for all those years this 9 holer has been there, humbly serving those wise enough to keep golf and golf courses in perspective, and healthy of spirit enough to gratefully accept what is there right before them instead of endlessly searching for the 'great' place that everyone is talking about.


Peter

[Joe Bausch]

Also:


it's fascinating to think of all the rankings and ratings and magazine articles that have appeared in the many decades since this courses first opened, and that have shaped/driven the conventional wisdom and the consensus 'wants' of several generations, and of all the millions and billions of dollars that have been spent on courses and on private memberships during that time, and of how many hundreds and thousands of golfers over the past century have waited anxiously on year-long waiting lists for the chance to join some ultra-exclusive and (for the moment) fashionable club, and of all the hustle and bustle and self promotion and renovations and restorations and ego and pride....and that for all those years, this 9 holer has been here, humbly serving those wise enough to keep golf and golf courses in perspective, and healthy of spirit enough to gratefully accept what is there right before them instead of endlessly searching for the 'great' thing that everyone is talking about.


Peter

You really should drop down into my area Peter. 

You might not want to leave.  Grin.

[Sven Nilsen]

Joe:


Great tour of a what looks like a very fun course to experience.


Matt:


1891 sounds a bit early, not only for the course but also for Strath's involvement.  He didn't come over here until 1895.  My guess is the course was built around 1901.


Sven

[Peter Pallotta]

The more I stare at No. 2, the more it looks to me to be the perfect golf hole.
Peter

[David Davis]

We had a great time on this little gem of a course as a kind of icing on the FI cake.


I was really wondering if Raynor might of had something to do with that 6th green or perhaps he was at least an inspiration for it. The other greens don't seem quite as engineered with the shapes to me. Most are oval and then all of a sudden this one is squared off and has these very unnatural squared angles.


Thoughts?

[Tim Martin]

It is a cool course for sure and the 2nd is quite a hole. For those that get the chance when they are out there Hay Harbor should not be missed.

[J_ Crisham]

Joe, Nice pics- thanks for posting. Fishers Island would be a nice place to grow old and write your memoirs.

[Jon Wiggett]

Thanks Joe for a wonderful tour of a great looking 9 holer.

[PCCraig]

Looks incredible and a lot of fun...thanks for posting.

[George Pazin]

Good stuff - great stuff, actually. #5 looks most cool to this guy.


Wonder how they feel about squatters on FI?

[Joe Bausch]

After the Little Club, we visited the Big Club. 

Some very nice photos:

http://www80.homepage.villanova.edu/joseph.bausch/images/albums/FishersIsland/index.html

[jeffwarne]

Stunning.
The scenerey is so good I had forgotten how good the shots were


critics of blind and/or uphill shots , and up and over tee shots should be forced to play a round at Fshers with blinders on

[Bret Lawrence]

Joe,


Thanks for the tour, great photos!  What a perfect setting for golf.  The 18th green at FI reminds me of the 1st green at Yale.  Do you see any similarities?


Bret

[Joe Bausch]

The 18th green at FI reminds me of the 1st green at Yale.  Do you see any similarities?

I do see some resemblance.

I think both greens are sizable, but I believe Yale's green is much larger.

[Jon Cavalier]

Enjoyed the Hay Harbor tour very much, Joe. Nice work, and thanks for the effort.

[Joe Bausch]

I took the time to fix the broken links on this older thread, and I've learned to "enhance" my photos even better.  This tour of Hay Harbor is pretty good IIMSSM!

[Jeff_Lewis]

Thanks for bringing this back up, Joe.  Remarkable.

[Joe Bausch]

The more I stare at No. 2, the more it looks to me to be the perfect golf hole.
Peter

(Forgot to reply years ago!)


Yes!

[Ben Malach]

This looks like the perfect course for a vacation club. I think I will have to try to book a game here if I ever get a chance to see the big club.

[Phil Burr]

Looking at those photos I have to assume that Tony Pioppi has not had the great fortune to be invited to the island (nor have I).  Based on photos I can’t imagine how Hay Harbor is not on anyone’s list of top 10 nine-holers.