Sands Point - 'Field of Dreams' Reports

[Tim Gallant]

I hope the club and members don't mind me sharing this, but I found some incredible 'journal-esq' reports from the work that Keith Foster has been doing at the NY club. For all us would-be architects, I think this is as good as it gets in terms of being a fly on the wall during a renovation.


I've not played the course, but would love to see it after reading about it.


http://www.sandspointgc.org/


(Scroll down on the homepage and you'll see 4 links for 'Field of dreams')

[Tommy Williamsen]

Interesting, but those holes look very close to each other.


Looking at the gallery of photos makes the course look pretty special.


http://www.sandspointgc.org/gallery

[Steve Lapper]

Interesting, but those holes look very close to each other.


Looking at the gallery of photos makes the course look pretty special.


http://www.sandspointgc.org/gallery

Keith has done a wonderful job there. It's very small piece of property, but one that has been architecturally maximized and treated with plenty of TLC.


In an area rich with exceptional & noteworthy courses (yes the Northeast again :`), Sand Point is an intimate and fun place to play.

[Michael Felton]

Interesting, but those holes look very close to each other.


Looking at the gallery of photos makes the course look pretty special.


http://www.sandspointgc.org/gallery

I've played it a few times a few years ago. I'm pretty sensitive to holes being close to each other since I occasionally can spray it somewhat. I never felt constricted round there. I guess 4, 5, 6 are all fairly close, but not excessively so. Lovely golf course.

[jeffwarne]

Interesting, but those holes look very close to each other.


Looking at the gallery of photos makes the course look pretty special.


http://www.sandspointgc.org/gallery

I've played it a few times a few years ago. I'm pretty sensitive to holes being close to each other since I occasionally can spray it somewhat. I never felt constricted round there. I guess 4, 5, 6 are all fairly close, but not excessively so. Lovely golf course.

Edit-
just read the "Field of dreams"-fascinating stuff-especially after playing the course
Only thing missing was a "before" set of pictures, but I am equally guilty when we did the work at The Bridge(but I do have enough photos to make a comparison-much of it due to Tom Doak's crew posting pictures online when they came over to play while building Sebonack)
Interesting comments in the blog on Hurricane Sandy which we all lived.
Wish I had kept such detailed notes, though our project was over a 6-7 year period.


Great project.
Excellent golf course-low key club, clubhouse.
A standout course in a very tough neighborhood.
In any other state would be a Top 10 course.(or Top 3 in many.most)
Despite its proximity to the water, there are no water views, but excellent on course and across course views.
Just played the LI Open there+ a practice round.
Other than  #1, I never felt like the holes were near each other.and didn't feel constrained there either.
For the event ,#18 fairway was marked internal OB when playing #1 due to taking that route shortened #1.
Didn't seem like a great play (on purpose) due to several tall trees blocking route and a less than ideal angle into the green if one did that-but I'm sure many do play it that way-often by accident as I nearly did in round 1.
My back was out(still is) and I barely made it to the first tee both days(literally) but I really enjoyed the course, and I was able to find reasonable relief both days and complete the rounds.
Perhaps the best conditioned set of greens I played all year-firm fast and true(that said, I felt other than 3-4 of them, they seemed quite softened(I didn't play them before) to accommodate their modern extreme speed)
Pretty randomly penal rough and scattered accent native areas with some beautiful specimen trees coming into play on several holes.
An excellent course and renovation-very enjoyable to play.

[Jeff Schley]

What a lengthy history on the website and well written. Detailed letters and key times in it's history. Thanks for sharing.