Another Long Island Unknown

[Craig Disher]

This one was located on the S coast near Montauk. The aerial was taken in June or July 1938 and the course obviously has been abandoned. Does anyone recognize it?

[Mike_Cirba]

Craig;

Might we be looking at the original Montauk Downs course, over which the existing RTJ Sr. (actually Rees working for his dad in his early years) course was built?

[Craig Disher]

Mike,
I don't think so. The abandoned tract is to the west of what I think is the original Montauk course. Is this a picture of it?

[Mike_Cirba]

Craig;

YEP, that's it!

How cool is that??!  The bunkering looks to be on quite the awesome scale, courtesy of one Captain H.C. Tippett.  

Does anyone know WHY this course was vanquished, only to be replaced by a very good Jones course?  

I can't believe the current course is nearly as good as the old one looked.

[Craig Disher]

The bunkering on the hole that runs along the top of the picture is wonderful. Tippett seems to have placed the first 2 fairway bunkers on either side of a fairly high diagonal ridge. Then there are those 3 cross bunkers and 2 greenside bunkers to negotiate. Why indeed was this course plowed under? I'm really getting depressed uncovering pictures of these lost courses.

[AndyI]

Almost every green in the Montauk Downs picture is surrounded by a dark band.  Is that rough?

[Craig Disher]

I've seen a similar effect in most of the old aerials taken in the summer. I believe it is the greening of grass around the greens from hand watering the putting surface. Most likely, the grass surrounding the green was cut at close to the same length as the fairway.

[WilliamWang]

craig-

was the other unknown aerial ever identified?

[Craig Disher]

It was not. I was hoping George Bahto would come across this thread. I looked at the site on Mapquest and it's all homes now (if I have the site correctly identified). It's possible that what is shown is just a routing that never became a golf course - perhaps construction was interrupted by the Depression.

I've been so interested in the Montauk Downs aerial (it's also highlighted in Wexler's Missing Links) that I forgot the original purpose of the post.

In both pictures I noticed little loops of trail or road. One can be seen to the right of the 3rd hole and they are all over the unknown picture. Wexler's section on MD says that the original owner purchased 9000 acres for his grand resort. Unfortunately, I didn't get the exact distance between these  courses but I believe they are less than a mile or two apart and could possibly be within the same 9000 acre area. Perhaps the unknown course is an abandoned attempt by the owner to add another 18 holes to his resort.

[Craig Disher]

I believe Dan Wexler has cleared this up. He said a brochure from the resort definitely mentioned an additional 18 holes. The proximity of the two courses - and the absence of other courses nearby - must mean that this unknown is the other 18. Whether it was completed and abandoned or started and never completed may never be known. Tough luck for HC Tippett.