Nassau County Golf Courses
Browse our directory of public golf courses located in Nassau county Long Island.Suffolk County Golf Courses
Browse our directory of public golf courses located in Suffolk county Long Island. Long Island Golf History
Long Island Golf Courses, Schedules, & Events
Long Island Golf - History of Long Island Golf
The history of golf on Long Island is essentially the origin of all of golf in the United States. The first course to officially open in the USA was Shinnecock in Southampton, Long Island in about 1893. Since then more than 150 public and private courses have been built on Long Island. Around the turn of the twentieth century, the wealthiest industrialists and financiers of the United States lived on Long Island…. Pratt… Whitney… Vanderbilt… Morgan… Coe… Guest… Grace… and many others were involved in creating some of the most prestigious tracks on the Long Island Golf scene…. Clubs like Nassau Country Club…. The Creek… Garden City Golf Club… Meadowbrook… Piping Rock… Deepdale… National… Inwood… and Maidstone are considered ‘hallowed ground’, and their membership rosters include some of the oldest families in America, in fact, it is often joked that “ If your family ancestors did not come to America on the ‘Mayflower’, you had little chance of ever seeing the first tee at any of these exclusive clubs…” no matter how much money you may be willing or able to cough up for membership !
Eight US OPEN championships have been played on Long Island Golf courses included four since 2002!! In 1923, Bobby Jones won his first Major US OPEN title at Inwood, and later in 1930 he won the Grand Slam of golf… the only golfer to ever achieve this amazing accomplishment in one year!
Even today, Long Island Golf represents some of the elite… the exclusive… the ‘out of reach’ tracks which, for most of us, are just a dream or hope to ever play. Most recently, the newest shrine on Long Island, is the private club, ‘Sebonack’, a spectacular private club designed and built by Jack Nicklaus in Southampton with a high six figure membership cost that few could ever hope to swallow… yet; there is already a waiting list to join this magnificent and elegant club!
If you want to know more about the legacy of ‘golf shrines’ on the Long Island Golf scene and the historic significance of many of these courses, a recommended book to get a good overview of the richness of Long Island golf is called “America’s Linksland: A Century of Long Island Golf” published in2002, and written by William Quirin, or you can also write to us here at LongIslandGolf.com if you have specific questions about any courses on Long Island.
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